US Agencies Link Up to Spy on ... You

Aiming to fight home-grown terrorism, the US is linking local, state, FBI, and military resources to gather information about American citizens: It’s “the largest and most technologically sophisticated” domestic intelligence system the country has ever assembled, write Dana Priest and William Arkin after a Washington Post investigation that’s spanned several months, 100 interviews, and some 1,000 documents.

Among Post findings:

• US law enforcement uses “techniques and technologies” developed for war
• The FBI has created a “Guardian” database of—so far—almost 162,000 people who local police or citizens find suspicious but are “not accused of any crime.”
• Law enforcement groups have hired employees with “extremist” views on terrorism and Islam that some intelligence officials call “inaccurate and harmful.”
• The Department of Homeland Security piles up “alarmist and often useless” information for local agencies
• Homeland security grants are being used to fight “everyday” crime

(More domestic intelligence stories.)