Definition[]
The so-called Levi guidelines (initially issued in 1976) were guidelines (titled "Domestic Security Investigation Guidelines") issued by Attorney General Edward Levi during the Ford Administration to limit the information, including public information, that law enforcement could gather.
The Guidelines placed specific limits on techniques the FBI could use and distinguished three types of domestic security investigations: 1) preliminary investigations, 2) limited investigations, and 3) full investigations. The Guidelines provided that the FBI could commence a full domestic security investigation only on the basis of "specific and articulable facts giving reason to believe that an individual or group is or may be engaged in activities which involve the use of force or violence."
Sources[]
- Public Response to Alerts and Warnings Using Social Media: Report of a Workshop on Current Knowledge and Research Gaps, at 42 n.1.
- Office of the Inspector General, The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines (Special Report Sept. 2005) (full-text).