Justice Department formalizes information sharing guidelines

Attorney General John Ashcroft on Monday released guidelines designed to formalize the way in which federal prosecutors share information, including data obtained from electronic surveillance, with the CIA and other intelligence officials.

The guidelines flow from last October's sweeping anti-terrorism bill, which empowered prosecutors to share information obtained through grand jury testimony or through electronic, wire or oral interception of information.

Prior to passage of the landmark anti-terrorism legislation, known as the Patriot Act, prosecutors were specifically barred from sharing such information to intelligence, protective, immigration, defense or national security officials.

Justice Department officials said the changes were designed to institutionalize a procedure for sharing information collected in the course of criminal investigations. Prior to the passage of the Patriot Act, sharing of grand jury and surveillance information was barred "even if that information indicated that terrorists were planning a future attack, unless such officials were assisting with the criminal investigation itself," according to a department press release.

Because information collected and presented to a grand jury has not been subject to the cross-examination and other checks and balances associated with a criminal trial, guarding the secrecy of such information has long been a hallmark of the protections that suspects have been granted under U.S. criminal law.

Section 203 of the Patriot measure allowed the sharing of such grand jury information so long as information identifying U.S. citizens is labeled as such before its disclosure to intelligence officials. But Justice officials said that any information identifying a U.S. citizen should be labeled before being passed to intelligence agents.

And while the identity of such U.S. citizens may be passed to intelligence officials, a top level Justice official said in a background briefing that the names must be deleted prior to any subsequent usage. But an exception is made if its disclosure is necessary to understand the context of the information.

In April, Ashcroft issued a directive to Justice Department officials regarding procedures for such information sharing, and Monday's guidelines formalize them for the department's communication with intelligence, homeland security and other federal officials.