Director of the FBI Defends the Use of Informants in Mosques

In a move that has rights activists irritated over profiling, the FBI’s use of informants within mosques was defended yesterday by Director Robert Mueller. After a Muslim organization in Michigan requested that the Justice Department investigate complaints that the FBI approached Muslims to spy on Islamic leaders, Mueller quickly went on the record, saying, "We don’t investigate places, we investigate individuals. To the extent that there may be evidence or other information of criminal wrongdoings, then we will undertake those investigations. We will continue to do it."

While Mueller did acknowledge some disagreements with Muslim groups, he generally referred to FBI relations with U.S. Muslims as being "very good." The allegations coming out of Detroit, which saw some members of an area mosque claiming that agents approached them and asked them to monitor people attending the mosque and the amounts of various donations, were quickly denied by the FBI office in Detroit.

Some Muslims elsewhere in the country are not so convinced, however, and claim that the FBI has been trying since 2006 to infiltrate Muslim organizations. Said Shakeel Syed, executive of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, "History disputes Mr. Mueller’s statements, at least in Southern California. It doesn’t alleviate anything. It only continues to show the sheer arrogance demonstrated by the bureau in holding Muslim community members, clerics, mosques, as suspects." For their part, the FBI has noted that spying on mosques is probably the best method of finding terrorists and other threats to U.S. national security. Muller, among many remarks, confirmed this mindset, noting, "I would not expect that we would in any way, take our foot off the pedal of addressing counterterrorism."