Pentagon seeks OK to spy on Americans

From the Christian Science Monitor--New bill would allow Pentagon to gather intelligence on US residents without their knowledge. : Newsweek reports that the US Department of Defense is looking for the right to gather information from, and about, Americans, without having to tell them that they are doing so. "Without a public hearing or debate," the news magazine reports, "Defense officials recently slipped a provision into a bill before Congress that could vastly expand the Pentagon's ability to gather intelligence inside the United States, including recruiting citizens as informants."
Currently all military intelligence organizations must comply with the Privacy Act. The act is a Watergate-era law that requires that any government official who is seeking information from a resident of the US disclose who they are and why they are seeking the information. But Newsweek reports that last month the Senate Intelligence Committee, in closed session, added the provision that would exempt the Pentagon from this restriction. The bill is S.2386, in specific Sec.502 [link to PDF - Defense intelligence exemption from certain Privacy Act requirements. There is much more food for thought [and links to explore] in Tom Regan's article regarding the struggle for control of intelligence within the US government.