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Mueller Speaks at ACLU Meeting in Washington
Aired June 13, 2003 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: FBI Director Robert Mueller is facing some harsh critics today. He's speaking to a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington. CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena is live in Washington now.
Kelli, it seems like this might be a little bit unusual of a forum for the head of the FBI.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the first ever member conference that the ACLU is holding. And that was pretty surprising to most people. They thought that this was something that an organization this big would do more often. But it's the very first time, and they did invite the FBI director.
And there does seem to be a very public strategy under way by the bureau to reach out to a variety of different groups. As you know, there's been a lot of criticism, some questions about how the war on terror is being fought. And this does provide the FBI with a forum to reach out to some of its harshest critics.
We're told that about 1,000 card-carrying members of the ACLU will be there and there will be a question-and-answer session, so members will have an opportunity to present questions to the director for him to answer. So it's not just prepared remarks that we're dealing with here, Heidi.
COLLINS: So what do we expect to be his main point? Obviously the questions, we don't know what they will be. But if he's there today for sort of an agenda that we're talking about, what would be the main point that he's trying to drive home?
ARENA: Well, some of the issues that the ACLU has had problems with include the FBI's ability to -- under the Patriot Act, which was passed after the September 11 attacks -- to go and collect information from businesses, from libraries. The ACLU has expressed a great deal of concern over privacy issues and how that information will be used.
They've also expressed concern about the way that illegal aliens are being detained. They allege that there is a targeting of Middle Eastern residence in the United States. There's also some concern about the FBI's ability, under new attorney general guidelines, to go into places of worship and political organizations to gather information.
And so we do expect that the FBI director will offer assurances that agents will work within the bounds of the Constitution, that they will have very explicit orders, warrants, so on, to target individuals that are being investigated for terrorism-related purposes, and that this isn't just a dragnet.
This isn't the FBI of J. Edgar Hoover anymore. This is an FBI that knows its bounds and will stay within them.
COLLINS: All right. We'll keep our eye on the podium and make sure we hear what he has to say coming up any moment now. Kelli Arena, thanks so much for breaking that down for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 13, 2003 - 15:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: FBI Director Robert Mueller is facing some harsh critics today. He's speaking to a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union in Washington. CNN Justice correspondent Kelli Arena is live in Washington now.
Kelli, it seems like this might be a little bit unusual of a forum for the head of the FBI.
KELLI ARENA, CNN JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the first ever member conference that the ACLU is holding. And that was pretty surprising to most people. They thought that this was something that an organization this big would do more often. But it's the very first time, and they did invite the FBI director.
And there does seem to be a very public strategy under way by the bureau to reach out to a variety of different groups. As you know, there's been a lot of criticism, some questions about how the war on terror is being fought. And this does provide the FBI with a forum to reach out to some of its harshest critics.
We're told that about 1,000 card-carrying members of the ACLU will be there and there will be a question-and-answer session, so members will have an opportunity to present questions to the director for him to answer. So it's not just prepared remarks that we're dealing with here, Heidi.
COLLINS: So what do we expect to be his main point? Obviously the questions, we don't know what they will be. But if he's there today for sort of an agenda that we're talking about, what would be the main point that he's trying to drive home?
ARENA: Well, some of the issues that the ACLU has had problems with include the FBI's ability to -- under the Patriot Act, which was passed after the September 11 attacks -- to go and collect information from businesses, from libraries. The ACLU has expressed a great deal of concern over privacy issues and how that information will be used.
They've also expressed concern about the way that illegal aliens are being detained. They allege that there is a targeting of Middle Eastern residence in the United States. There's also some concern about the FBI's ability, under new attorney general guidelines, to go into places of worship and political organizations to gather information.
And so we do expect that the FBI director will offer assurances that agents will work within the bounds of the Constitution, that they will have very explicit orders, warrants, so on, to target individuals that are being investigated for terrorism-related purposes, and that this isn't just a dragnet.
This isn't the FBI of J. Edgar Hoover anymore. This is an FBI that knows its bounds and will stay within them.
COLLINS: All right. We'll keep our eye on the podium and make sure we hear what he has to say coming up any moment now. Kelli Arena, thanks so much for breaking that down for us.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
