The Associated Press released a long investigative piece on the New York Police Department's program to monitor extremism in the city's Muslim community. The article is underwhelming. Here is the lede of the piece:
Since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the New York Police Department has become one of the nation's most aggressive domestic intelligence agencies, targeting ethnic communities in ways that would run afoul of civil liberties rules if practiced by the federal government, an Associated Press investigation has found.
These operations have benefited from unprecedented help from the CIA, a partnership that has blurred the line between foreign and domestic spying.
Two aspects of these opening paragraphs stood out to me. The story asserts that these targeting programs would run afoul of civil liberties rules if they were practiced by the federal government. But they're not practiced by the federal government. The city obviously has its own, vetted-by-lawyers rules governing these programs, which, I might add, are overseen by a mayor who is a champion of Muslim-American equality, and a police commissioner who is sensitive to civil liberties concerns.
The second aspect of this lede that stood out for me is the assertion that the partnership between the CIA and the NYPD has "blurred the line" between foreign and domestic spying. As the 9/11 Commission found, the attacks 10 years ago might have been prevented had there been more blurring of that artificial line. Since then, of course, the Bush and Obama Administrations have encouraged intelligence and police agencies to share information. I think most Americans believe that, so long as this cooperation is overseen by prudent people, such as those who populate the government of New York City, it is a good thing.