February 12, 2026, 11:21 AM
FBI Assessments: A First Amendment and Surveillance Nightmare
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Almost four years ago, and at Cato’s urging, Representatives Jamie Raskin (D‑MD) and Nancy Mace (R‑SC) asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to investigate the FBI’s use of so-called “assessments”—an investigative authority that has no basis in statute and that allows the FBI to collect data, run confidential informants, and conduct physical surveillance against a person or group without any criminal predicate.
A month after the Raskin-Mace request to GAO, the Cato Institute initiated a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking all closed FBI Assessments involving First Amendment-protected activities by individuals or groups. That court action is ongoing, but the GAO report is now public… though not by the GAO itself.
Investigative reporter Ryan Lovelace at the newly launched Racket News got his hands on the GAO report, which is designated “For Official Use Only”—an executive branch administrative control measure designation that, in the author’s view, has no constitutional basis and no business being employed by a congressional support agency charged with making its work public. The story is paywalled, but the report was made possible by American taxpayer dollars, so Cato is making the GAO report available here.
Editor’s Note: The GAO report is also embedded here below:
This graphic from the report tells the core story: the FBI’s criminal predicate-free targeting of over 1,000 individuals and groups from multiple sectors of society, including government employees, religious organizations, and news organizations.
Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.
Continue/Read Original Article Here: FBI Assessments: A First Amendment and Surveillance Nightmare | Cato at Liberty Blog
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