Agency now has more freedom to search trash
(NEWSER) - A new FBI manual makes it easier for agents to check databases, send out surveillance teams, and rifle through people's trash—often as part of a kind of investigation that gives agents the OK to look into people without having solid evidence that they are involved in terrorist or criminal activity. Among the changes to the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide: FBI agents will be allowed to probe law enforcement and commercial databases without opening a formal inquiry first, as they must do now. They’ll be able to run lie-detector tests and search trash without initiating a “preliminary investigation”—a move that requires suspicion grounded in facts—if they're evaluating a target as a possible informant. More»