FBI's New Rules to Give Agents More Leeway on Surveillance

The FBI plans to issue new rules making it easier for agents to spy on suspects or potential informants using techniques like dispatching surveillance teams and digging through trash cans, but an agency official on Monday downplayed the significance of the new methods. 

The changes are expected to be outlined in a new edition of the Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide, a lengthy 2008 document detailing how far agents can go in tracking suspects. 

"I would call these minor tweaks based on feedback from agents in the field who began operating under the original DIOG, which was new a couple of years ago. Not sweeping new powers," the FBI said in a statement to Fox News. 

According to The New York Times, which first reported the updated guide, one of the changes would allow agents to look up people on various databases without opening up a low-level inquiry known as an "assessment." Currently, agents have to take that formal step before looking into someone's background. 

The new rules reportedly would also allow agents to administer lie-detector tests to and search the trash of potential informants. Currently, those techniques are reserved for people they are investigating. 

In addition, the new rules reportedly would allow agents to use surveillance squads multiple times during the "assessment" phase. Currently, those teams can only be used once during that phase.

While the changes have prompted complaints from civil liberties groups, they are touted as a way to give agents more flexibility. The changes come as the FBI is increasingly focused on small-cell or lone-wolf plots.