FBI's New Authority Draws Criticism

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration is drawing sharp criticism from civil libertarians and others for new terror-fighting guidelines that will allow FBI (news - web sites) agents to monitor Americans at religious services and in other public meetings.

Attorney General John Ashcroft (news - web sites) on Thursday freed the FBI to visit Internet sites, libraries, churches and political organizations as part of an effort to give the beleaguered agency new tools to pre-empt terrorist strikes.

"Our philosophy today is not to wait and sift through the rubble following a terrorist attack," Ashcroft told a news conference.

But critics said the new guidelines were just another erosion by the Bush administration of Americans' constitutional freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.

"The administration's continued defiance of constitutional safeguards seems to have no end in sight," complained Rep. John Conyers (news, bio, voting record), the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee (news - web sites).