US govt wants to keep secrets in FBI lawsuit

US Attorney General Eric Holder has invoked state secrets rules to prevent information from being released in a lawsuit filed by Southern California Muslims who claim the FBI monitored their activities solely because of their religion. In a legal declaration filed late Monday, Holder makes a rare assertion of the state secrets privilege, arguing that it could cause significant harm to national security if the government is forced to reveal the subjects of a mosque-surveillance operation in 200 6 and describe how the monitoring was carried out. A judge must weigh the request, which comes after many details from the investigation, dubbed Operation Flex, have already been made public. The key informant in the case, Craig Monteilh, turned against the FBI and described how his agency handlers taught him to ingratiate himself into the Orange County Muslim community then secretly gather cell phone numbers, email addresses and record conversations. Monteilh claims the FBI even told him to talk openly about jihad in an attempt to solicit terrorist sentiments from community members. But instead of responding to his violent rhetoric, mosque-goers called the FBI to say they were worried about his statements. Holder's declaration came in a motion to dismiss the bulk of a lawsuit filed against the FBI in February by the ACLU of Southern California and the Los Angeles office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Many of the allegations were based on Monteilh's claims. The FBI has said it does not initiate counterterrorism operations based solely on a group's religion. In its filing, the agency said a range of details Monteilh provided for Operation Flex remain properly protected counterterrorism investigative information. "This includes ... precisely what that investigation entailed and why it was undertaken, the identity of particular subjects, and the reasons they were investigated," the document states. Holder goes on to argue that if individuals knew they were under surveillance, they could "anticipate the actions of law enforcement and intelligence officers, possib ly leading to counter-surveillance that could place federal agents at higher risk. The Department of Justice said in a statement Tuesday it conducted a thorough review "to provide greater accountability for the use of privilege" by invoking it only in seeking dismissal of Monteilh's claims of illegal electronic surveillance. "Officials specifically looked for a way to allow this case to proceed while carving out national security information, and concluded that some information about the allegations could be made available without compromising sensitive national security information," th e statement said. ACLU attorney Peter Bibring said it was extremely unusual for the government to invoke the state secrets privilege, especially in a domestic case being investigated by a domestic law enforcement agency. The secrecy rules are usually only requested in extraordinary matters overseas, such as the targeted killing by drones or extraordinary rendition. "The government's position here is the FBI's conduct should be beyond the review of the courts, which would render the protections of the constitution meaningles s," Bibring said. "Following the government's argument, any domestic law enforcement operation deemed to effect national security would be beyond review." Bibring said the ACLU would oppose the government's motion. Meanwhile, a poll found Tuesday that US Muslims are more optimistic about the future than other faith groups, but while they overwhelmingly reject terrorism, nearly half report discrimination. The survey was carried out ahead of the 10th anniversary of the Sept 11 attacks and looked at how well integrated the 2.6 million Muslims living in the United States are in the wake of the "war on terror" launched by former president George W Bush after the deadly plane hijackings. It found that Muslims tend to be more optimistic about both the economy and politics following the election of President Barack Obama, who enjoys 80 percent approval among Muslims, higher than from any other major faith group. Sixty percent of Muslims said they were "thriving" in the United States, compared to 61 percent of Jews, 54 percent of Catholics and 52 percent of Protestants, according to the poll. Only 37 percent of Muslims said they were "struggling", less than both Christian groups but a single percentage point higher than Jews, while just three percent of Muslims said they were "suffering". Fifty-four percent of Muslims said the US economy was "getting better", a far higher percentage than any other religious group. "Muslim Americans are satisfied with their current lives and more optimistic than other faith groups that things are getting better," said the report, which did not distinguish betwee n different Muslim groups. However, 48 percent of Muslims surveyed said they had "personally experienced racial or religious discrimination" in the past year, compared to 31 percent of Mormons, 21 percent of Jews and 20 percent of Catholics. Muslims tend to have more negative views of the US military and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the report said, attributing such feelings to the "war on terror" seen by some as focusing heavily on Muslims. Muslim Americans are also far more likely than other groups to blame unfavorable vie ws of the United States in the Muslim world on the US government's actions, rather than "misinformation", the report found. However, Muslim Americans also led all other groups in opposing attacks on civilians by individuals or groups, with 89 percent opposing such actions. The poll by the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center - a Gallup research hub in the United Arab Emirates - used data from interviews conducted between Jan 2008 and April 2011 with 868,264 adults, including 3,883 Muslims. The other faith groups examined in the poll were Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons and "no religion/atheist/agnostic".