Topic: Fbi Guidelines

Derek Sharif, a destitute man living in Illinois, was targeted by an informant who provided him with food and shelter before encouraging a plot to attack a shopping mall. Because Sharif had no money, the informant arranged for him to "trade" stereo speakers for grenades provided by an undercover agent. Sharif was convicted of conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and sentenced to 25 years. This case illustrates how the FBI uses its own resources to place defendants under severe sentencing guidelines that they could never have reached on their own.

Current FBI guidelines allow for 72-hour "threat assessments" where agents can search a person's email and trash without a criminal predicate or reasonable belief of a crime. This expansion of surveillance power was notably used in the investigation that led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus. The culture has shifted toward a "suspicious first" model where citizens must prove their innocence against data-mining operations conducted by state fusion centers.