Profiling ban near for federal law enforcement

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department is expected to issue a broad new policy in the coming two to three weeks banning religious and other forms of profiling by federal law enforcement officers, department sources said Friday.

The long-awaited policy will not include an exemption for national security investigations, sources said. National security officials and others in the administration concerned about terrorism lobbied hard for such an exemption, according to congressional sources.

The new policy will cover ethnicity and sexual orientation as well as religion. Advocates of the new policy said they were surprised because the debate over the national security exemption had blocked movement for months.

Attorney General Eric Holder, who said Thursday he was stepping down, had been on the verge of announcing the new policy several months ago, but it was put on hold by the White House days before the intended announcement, according to a congressional aide.

The White House insisted the policy be reviewed for its national security implications by the Department of Homeland Security, the aide said.

The new policy, though still being finalized, is expected to prohibit federal agents from conducting undercover surveillance of a mosque, for example, without some information that criminal activity is underway. Under the current rules, approved in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, law enforcement agencies were given broad latitude to monitor specific religious groups.

There may yet be some activities permitted that would rankle privacy advocates and groups representing Muslim Americans. For example, according to a Justice Department source, the recruiting of informants from a particular religious group may be allowed.

The new policy will add to long-standing prohibitions on racial profiling, extending that policy for the first time to national security investigations.

It probably will not extend to local law enforcement, as advocated by Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.

Holder told the annual convention of the Congressional Black Caucus on Friday that he was committed to remaining active in his final weeks in office. He has promised to stay on until his successor is confirmed.