FBI ran background checks on Muslims at community outreach events

Documents show the FBI recorded personal information at events designed to improve the bureau's relations with Muslims
FBI agents recorded information about Muslims they encountered at community outreach events. Photograph: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Heavily blacked-out internal FBI documents released Thursday indicate that the FBI, in some cases between 2007 and 2009, ran background checks on people they encountered at Muslim-related events and recorded personal information such as email addresses, phone numbers, physical descriptions and opinions in reports marked "routine."

The American Civil Liberties Union, which obtained the documents under the US Freedom of Information Act, accused the FBI of misusing its community outreach programs to collect information on people at Muslim-related events that the FBI organized or was invited to attend. Those programmes were intended to improve the relationship between Muslims and the FBI.

The bureau said some of the documents the ACLU published were not derived from outreach programs but were from actual criminal investigations in which it was appropriate to include specific details such as a driver's license number.

The blacked-out parts make it difficult to understand what the reports represent. But the disclosure comes at a time when the FBI has been criticised for some of its other programs, straining the fragile relationship between law enforcement and Muslims who widely believe they are subjected to surveillance and scrutiny because of their religion.

The ACLU said the FBI never told Muslims at outreach events such as job fairs, religious dinners or community meetings that it would record in government files the details about the events or who attended them.

The FBI's Community Outreach Program predates the terrorist attacks of September 2001 and is designed to improve the public's trust in the bureau and build partnerships. After the attacks, federal, state and local government officials stepped up this type of outreach to Muslim communities. Agents who attend such official events are instructed to file reports for what the FBI described as "internal oversight purposes."

Separate from outreach programs, FBI agents who are investigating a person or group may do their own outreach as part of the investigation, said Jeff Mazanec, deputy assistant director of public affairs, who oversees the official programme. But that is kept separate from what a community outreach co-ordinator does, he said.

Since 2001, advocacy and civil liberties groups have raised concerns that Muslim communities are unfairly targeted for counterterrorism purposes because of their religion. An Associated Press investigation into the New York Police Department's intelligence-gathering tactics in Muslim communities revealed widespread spying programs that documented every aspect of Muslim life in New York. Police infiltrated mosques and student groups and secretly spied on Muslims who were considered partners in the city's fight against terrorism.