Public officials, to the extent they will tell, say that the Patriot Act is the authority under which they are authorized to conduct surveillance "suspected terrorists, those suspected of engaging in computer fraud or abuse, and agents of a foreign power who are engaged in clandestine activities".
When such an emergency arises, several departments, including the department of defense, are authorized to conduct such domestic operations without presidential approval.
Indeed, the judge has made a point of questioning witnesses about whether some searches went beyond what the police are authorized to conduct without further grounds for suspicion.
While the United States can send rescue teams like the Delta Force, Green Berets and Seals abroad, the F.B.I.'s own Hostage Rescue Team is authorized to conduct rescues only in the United States.
Han Shan, a protest member, said he had volunteered to attend specifically to make sure his compatriots were not lured into negotiations that no one in the movement was authorized to conduct.
The agency was authorized to conduct "large-scale graph analysis on very large sets of communications metadata without having to check foreignness" of every e-mail address, phone number or other identifier, the document said.
The finding by Gen. Charles Campbell, who was authorized to conduct a final inquiry into a battle that left 9 American soldiers dead and 27 American and Afghan soldiers wounded, reversed his earlier decision to deliver letters of reprimand to three officers in command at the company, battalion and brigade.
As the trial over the New York Police Department's use of the stop-and-frisk tactic enters its fourth week, Judge Scheindlin has made a point of questioning witnesses about whether officers limited their frisking to external pat-downs or engaged in searches far more intrusive than the police are authorized to conduct without further grounds for suspicion.
The MAAP is authorized to conduct projects using unmanned aerial systems at Virginia Tech with the express purpose of researching and gathering data that it will share with federal authorities.
