November 08, 2004 | The Cubicle Wall

Dozens of CIA employees are now working with FBI agents in Joint Terrorism Task Forces to help them conduct domestic intelligence operations, according to this USA Today piece by Kevin Johnson.

Remember that there has been much talk about breaking down the wall between intelligence gathering and criminal investigations and between the FBI and the CIA.

Officials at both agencies say the deployment, which pairs CIA officers with FBI agents in the bureau's offices to assist with terror-related investigations, also represents the CIA's broadest association with federal law enforcement since the CIA was created after World War II.

The CIA was created to gather foreign intelligence and is prohibited by law from participating in intelligence-gathering operations against U.S. citizens. It also has no law-enforcement powers. Intelligence and FBI officials say that the CIA officers are not involved in criminal investigations.

CIA agents have been assisting FBI agents by giving them access to intelligence databases so that the FBI can see if subjects of domestic terrorism investigations have links to international terrorism suspects or organizations.

The ACLU is wary.

"The location of these CIA officers definitely gives me pause," says Ann Beeson, associate legal director at the American Civil Liberties Union. "We have been very concerned about the growing surveillance power of the government through these task forces. We still know very little about these task forces. It would be very troubling if the CIA were to be involved in a broader surveillance operation."

Beeson is correct. The CIA was created explicitly to work outside the country and to limit its operations to non-U.S. persons.

Kicking a hole in the wall between the FBI and the CIA may prove to be useful and necessary, but do not think it is without risk.

Posted by Ryan Singel at November 8, 2004 01:47 PM

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