The Seattle Times: Nation & World: FBI denies spying on protesters:

"WASHINGTON � Senior FBI officials took the unusual step yesterday of publicly declaring that agents are not using the war against terrorism as a cover to collect information on people who demonstrate against the government.
John Pistole, assistant FBI director for counterterrorism, said recent allegations by civil-liberties groups and some members of Congress about such an intelligence effort are 'flat-out wrong.'
'We have to have some type of predicate, some foundation, some basis for saying, 'This person poses some type of threat,' ' he said. 'The endgame is not to collect intelligence for political purposes. The endgame is to prevent terrorism or criminal activity.'
Some members of Congress are calling for hearings into a bulletin the FBI sent to more than 17,000 state and local police agencies Oct. 15. It warned about anti-war protests being planned for later that month in Washington and San Francisco and urged authorities to report suspicious behavior to the FBI.
The American Civil Liberties Union and other groups say the bulletin raises concerns that the FBI might return to the abuses of the 1960s and '70s, when agents gathered intelligence intended to neutralize anti-Vietnam War protesters, civil-rights demonstrators and other dissenters."