GIVEN that our President has initiated, reasonably enough, stricter
surveillance of possible terrorist activity within our borders, which
I assume translates to more citizens under surveillance
and
GIVEN that I have:
-travelled recently in Muslim areas for religious purposes
-protested against the Gulf War in college (I knew so little about
politics!)
-known people who have known people who are environmental activists in
Colorado
and
GIVEN that there have been funny things happening to my mail, my
email, and  lately there have been clicking sounds on my telephone,

My Question Is:

* How can I find out if there is currently an investigation or
surveillance on me by the FBI, CIA, or local police?

and 
* Has the Freedom of Information Act changed sufficiently in the
past year to make it impossible to obtain a realistic answer to
this?

The third question and of course, my main engine of complaint:  

*If this mail tampering/delay has caused documentable problems with my
employment, can I sue for damages?

{I also assure you that I have never and would never hurt anyone or
do anything anti-American}

Thanks for your help.

Hello,

You can file a FOIA/Privacy Act request with the Justice Department
(which includes the FBI) for any information they have on you. The
address is:

FOIA/PA Section 
Federal Bureau of Investigation
Department of Justice
935 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20535
(202) 324-5520

(http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/attachmentbmay99.htm)

Unfortunately, it can take years for the FBI to respond to a
FOIA/Privacy Act request.

To learn how to ask the CIA for any info they have on you, see
(http://www.foia.cia.gov/privacy_tips.asp).

See the ACLU site (http://www.aclu.org/library/foia.html) for more
information on the federal FOIA.

What information you can get from your local police department depends
on your state's freedom-of-information laws. You can access every
state's law at (http://www.citizenaccess.org/).

A search of acts passed by Congress at (thomas.loc.gov) found no
recent changes of note to the federal FOIA.

Yes, you can sue people for invading your privacy if they are trying
to spy on you. Ralph Nader started his organizations with the money he
won from a lawsuit against General Motors, which was spying on him.
Can you sue the FBI or other agencies for spying on you and defaming
you? Many people do that. Wen Ho Lee, for example, is suing the feds
for turning his life upside down
(http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0038/cotts.php). Would you win?
That depends on the circumstances of your case. Talk to a lawyer to
determine what strategy to take.

Good luck.

---

Clarification of Answer by mwalcoff-ga on 29 Jul 2002 16:31 PDT

Search strategy:

FBI Privacy Act
<://www.google.com/search?q=FBI+Privacy+Act&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=10&sa=N>

suing FBI
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=suing+FBI>

sue government invasion privacy
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=sue+government+invasion+privacy>

FOIA history
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=FOIA+history>

state FOIA laws
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=state+FOIA+laws>

CIA FOIA Privacy Act
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=CIA+Foia+Privacy+Act>

FBI FOIA
<://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&q=FBI+Foia>

---

Request for Answer Clarification by nayna-ga on 29 Jul 2002 16:39 PDT

Wow.  Pretty good answer!  You guys are so much smarter than me and
definitely worth more money!  :)

But clarification please on:
"A search of acts passed by Congress at (thomas.loc.gov) found no
recent changes of note to the federal FOIA."--  IS this the complete
answer to whether FOIA could be employed in a functionally and
qualitatively more aggressive and overarching way than ever before,
given the Homefront Security initiative?

Thank you for your response.

---

Clarification of Answer by mwalcoff-ga on 29 Jul 2002 17:28 PDT

Yes. FOIA is safe for now. However, there are some proposed new
exeptions to the act relating to antiterrorism. See a Reporters
Committee for Freedom of the Press article at
(http://foi.missouri.edu/compromisefoi.html). Changes may have been
made to your state's FOIA law.

Amazing!  Very helpful.  This is such an awesome service.