Without any level of suspicion

An ACLU lawsuit contends that that FBI possesses thousands of pages in files on civil rights and anti-war protest groups that contain evidence of politically-motivated counterterrorism investigations. The organization requested the files in a December 2004 Freedom of Information Act request that went unanswered.

Keeping politics out of domestic intelligence has historically been a problem for the FBI. In 1976, the Church Committee reported that the agency had infiltrated numerous peaceful groups including the NAACP, NOW, and Students for a Democratic Society. In 1970, the FBI began investigating every member of SDS, stating that the information would be necessary if SDS members applied for government jobs.

The response was a higher standard for opening FBI investigations, the “reasonable suspicion” of criminal activity; however, former US Attorney General John Ashcroft did away with this guideline in 2002 by authorizing FBI agents to enter public places (including meetings) without any level of suspicion.

Combine the history with the fact that a document on protest coordination for the 2004 Republican National Convention was sent to the FBI’s counterterrorism unit, and it’s clear that a better system of Congressional oversight is necessary. Americans shouldn’t have to rely on lawsuits to guard against unjustified civil liberties violations. But until then it's partly up to groups like the ACLU to keep the public informed about their own government.