OnIslam.net

WASHINGTON – The CIA has launched an investigation into cooperation with New York Police to spy on American Muslims, a move that has drawn cautious welcome from Muslim groups.

"We are very sensitive to the law and privacy and indeed there is an internal investigation that was requested by the acting director before I assumed the position of director," David Petraeus, newly-appointed CIA director said, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

"I will continue to follow-up on (the investigation) and just to ensure that we are doing the right thing, if you will, in that case."

The investigation will focus on the work of a CIA adviser at the New York Police Department (NYPD) helping counter-terrorism efforts.

The adviser “tries to ensure that there is sharing of information as that is essential," Petraeus told lawmakers during his first Congressional testimony as CIA chief.

The case erupted last month after the Associated Press revealed that the New York Police sent out undercover officers into ethnic communities to track daily life and monitor mosques as well as Muslim student organizations.

The report also revealed that NYPD intelligence had established so-called Demographics Unit using plainclothes police officers to monitor ethnic groups in the metropolitan region.

National Intelligence Director James Clapper insisted that the CIA was providing “help” to the New York police, but was not gathering intelligence.

"There has been help given there,” he told the Congress hearing.

“There is now an embedded analyst, not anyone from CIA who's out on the street collecting 'humint' (human intelligence)," Clapper added.

The CIA has previously defended cooperation with the NYPD, denying it has broken any laws that prohibit the agency from spying on Americans inside US borders.

The CIA’s focus "is overseas and none of the support we have provided to NYPD can be rightly characterized as 'domestic spying' by the CIA," Jennifer Youngblood, the agency spokeswoman, said in an earlier statement.

"Any suggestion along those lines is simply wrong."

The CIA is prohibited from gathering intelligence on American soil, but some have criticized its counterterrorism cooperation with law enforcement services as a de facto domestic spying campaign.

Cautious Welcome

The CIA investigation won cautious welcome from US Muslim groups.

My group “cautiously” welcomes the agency’s decision to examine its relationship with the Police Department, Cyrus McGoldrick of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said.

He added that he would have preferred an independent investigation into the matter.

McGoldrick also said he hopes “the agency’s investigation will be undertaken honestly and transparently.”

The CIA has been struggling to win back the trust of the Muslim minority, who took the brunt of excessive powers granted to the Bush administration in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.

The spy agency was also embroiled in the rendition of terror suspects, without court permits, to third-world countries where they faced torture.

US Muslim groups have threatened to stop cooperation with the FBI over sending informants into mosques to trap Muslim worshippers.

The NYPD chief spokesman, Paul J. Browne, and his colleagues also welcomed the CIA inquiry.

Inquiries by the agency’s inspector general have sometime taken years to complete, and the results of such investigations are rarely made public.

If the inspector general’s office finds evidence that CIA operatives broke the law, he will refer the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution.

New York is home to some 800,000 Muslims, about 10 percent of the city's population.

There are about 100 mosques throughout New York’s five boroughs.