[ClearCase_guy]

Shaheen said. "When FBI agents conduct investigations against alleged mobsters, suspected terrorists, other criminals, do you believe they're engaging in spying when they're following FBI investigative policies and procedures?"

It seems to me that if law enforcement gets a LEGITIMATE warrant through an honest process from a competent judge, then the operation would be legal surveillance of a target in a criminal investigation.

But rogue FBI agents making up dossiers, lying to judges, getting false warrants, going on fishing expeditions to torpedo political rivals ... that would be a spy operation.

[Chewbarkah]

Exactly. Fay Mr. Wray should have asked Shaheen whether the CIA was SPYING when they “surveilled” the Senate Intel Committee in 2014. A whole lot of media blowpipes thought so at the time. A simple search turns up a dozen stories, including by the NYT and MSNBC, with the SPY word plastered throughout headlines and content. Was the Senate Intel Committee Democrat Staff full of mobsters, criminals, and Chinese espionage agents posing as drivers? I retract that last question...