At Viewsday, Michelle Chen posts about the FBI’s new plan to “harmonize” its new role in investigating terrorism.  When word of a new plan began to spread, it was met with dread as an effort to open the door to domestic spying, according to the Christian Science Monitor.  Members of the Senate Judiciary Committee were briefed about the plan, which has yet to be released publicly.

The initiative folds into the Bureau’s effort to “harmonize” its investigative guidelines, melding its criminal law enforcement and new anti-terror roles. As Attorney General Michael Mukasey explained in a recent speech in Portland, the Bureau wants to “shift its national security focus from investigating crimes after they occur to collecting the intelligence necessary to detect and prevent attacks before they occur.”

This sounds so much better than saying that the government is going to start spying on people, doesn’t it?  Following the briefing, some Judiciary Committee members “issued a counterpoint” to Mukasey’s sweetness:

“We are particularly concerned that the draft guidelines might permit an innocent American to be subjected to such intrusive surveillance based in part on race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, or on protected First Amendment activities.”

This is how one slides down the slippery slope.  It used to be that racial profiling was bad, bad, bad.  But if they sell it right, use new language like “harmonizing” and connect it up to existing step, such as the beloved USA Patriot Act, it really is just a baby step forward.

Little by little, and with the best of intentions, constitutional rights meld into the interest of safety, security and order.  While 9/11 hysteria has faded somewhat, we’ve become so inured to governmental overreaching “for our own benefit” that another smallish step, like domestic spying based on national origin and political beliefs, seems like such a small thing to give away to protect us.

I can’t wait for the new rules to be publicly released.  It should be interesting to hear the rhetoric that accompanies them.