"The F.B.I. has significantly increased its use of stings in terrorism cases, employing agents and informants to pose as jihadists, bomb makers, gun dealers or online 'friends' in hundreds of investigations into Americans suspected of supporting the Islamic State, records and interviews show.
Undercover
operations, once seen as a last resort, are now used in about two of
every three prosecutions involving people suspected of supporting the
Islamic State, a sharp rise in the span of just two years, according to a
New York Times analysis. Charges have been brought against nearly 90
Americans believed to be linked to the group.
The
increase in the number of these secret operations, which put operatives
in the middle of purported plots, has come with little public or
congressional scrutiny, and the stings rely on F.B.I. guidelines that
predate the rise of the Islamic State.
While
F.B.I. officials say they are careful to avoid illegally entrapping
suspects, their undercover operatives are far from bystanders. In recent
investigations from Florida to California, agents have helped people
suspected of being extremists acquire weapons, scope out bombing targets
and find the best routes to Syria to join the Islamic State, records
show."
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