Should American Mosques Be Watched By The Government?
Some Americans worry that American mosques may be teaching hostility to America and encouraging terrorist attacks on the U.S. They want mosques to be watched by the government.
From the 1950s to the 1970s, the FBI ran a counter-intelligence program (COINTELPRO), which involved monitoring, infiltrating, and manipulating organizations run by the government’s political opponents. After Congressional criticism, the FBI agreed in the 1970s that undercover agents could only go where there was evidence of illegal activity. Since 2002, however, FBI undercover agents have been authorized to visit mosques to gather information about what’s going on in the Muslim community, even when there’s no evidence of illegal activity. However, wiretaps can only be used when there is evidence of illegal activity.
In 2003, the FBI decided to count the number of mosques in various regions of the country, in order to help determine how many terrorism investigations and wiretaps were needed in each region.
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