Pubdate: Thu, 18 Jul 2002
Source: Free Press, The (NC)
Copyright: 2002 Kinston Free Press
Contact: http://www.kinston.com/Contact.cfm
Website: http://www.kinston.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1732

FBI-MILITARY ALLIANCE BEARS WATCHING

One can understand the impulse to want to eliminate red tape and get the 
job done. But a New York Times story detailing a closer-than-ever working 
relationship between the U.S. military and the FBI in the effort to hunt 
down suspected al-Qaida operatives in Pakistan nonetheless raises some red 
flags.

The traditionally independent military and civilian law enforcement 
agencies are cooperating in Pakistan even more than in the drug war, where 
the lines of authority previously have been blurred. The experiment in 
cooperation in Pakistan is seen as a possible model for similar 
anti-terrorist activities in the Philippines, Yemen and elsewhere.

There is some disagreement as to how closely FBI agents are working with 
Pakistani police in tracking al-Qaida suspects. Pakistani officials tell 
reporters that FBI agents have gone along on raids. American officials say 
the FBI role is more limited, that the FBI agents develop and hand over 
intelligence information to local officials who then take action.

However the new model is working, it bears watching. Until very recently - 
notably the objectionable FBI expansion overseas under former director 
Louis Freeh - the FBI was seen as a domestic law enforcement agency. There 
are serious questions as to whether the FBI should be operating in Pakistan 
or other foreign countries at all.

It is also worth remembering that maintaining a separation between military 
and civilian law enforcement has been an important safeguard of liberty in 
the United States. "We've seen an enormous escalation of military 
involvement in domestic affairs related to the drug war," University of 
California-Irvine Professor Gilbert Geis said in a newspaper interview. 
"I'm not sure if FBI involvement in what seems like an essentially military 
intelligence operation in Pakistan is a healthy development."

A desire to eliminate bureaucratic barriers to sharing intelligence and 
information is understandable and probably to the good. But blurring lines 
of responsibility between civilian and military agencies carries potential 
dangers for liberty.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager