Our View: Senate should check FBI probes

The Justice department is proposing to loosen the restrictions on when the FBI can open an investigation of suspected terrorists.

In the opinion of six senators, including Arlen Specter, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee, the department may be loosening them too much.

In a letter to Attorney General Michael Mukasey, four of the senators, all Democrats, expressed concern that the proposed new guidelines would let the FBI begin examining records and conducting surveillance "without any basis for suspicion."

Muksasey has agreed to hold off implementing the guidelines until FBI Director Robert Mueller can testify before the committee on Sept. 17. Given the Bush administration's record on privacy issues, these changes warrant senatorial skepticism.