CIA Helping NYPD Spy on Muslims

Ever since September 11, the NYPD has been running a massive domestic intelligence operation with the help of the CIA, an AP investigation has discovered. The department has sent undercover officers to monitor Muslim neighborhoods, and assigned so-called “mosque crawlers” to listen in on sermons without any evidence of wrongdoing. Nor are their activities confined to New York; they’ve run surveillance missions as far away as Pennsylvania and Massachusetts, without notifying local authorities.

The entire program was built in part by an active CIA officer still on the agency payroll, and the CIA has helped train officers, and sent operatives to help out, blurring the line that’s supposed to bar the agency from domestic spying. The NYPD denies some aspects of the report, but says it won’t apologize for taking drastic measures to prevent terrorism—although it admits that it has purposely kept information about the program out of court, because it’s afraid judges might not approve. Click here for the complete report. (More NYPD stories.)