The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has been caught engaging in prohibited spying on Americans based on religious affiliation or activity...again.  We've had ample warning and plentiful evidence that our government has long been engaged in this type of faith-based targeting, but you wouldn't know it from most of the media coverage on this latest revelation.

This time, press coverage focused on information that was uncovered as a result of a lawsuit filed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The heavily redacted documents, just released, reveal various violations of limits on government surveillance.  What hit most papers is the fact that for eight months, DHS illegally spied on the Nation of Islam (NOI) and then issued a report entitled, "Nation of Islam: Uncertain Leadership Succession Poses Risks." 

In a subsequent "error," the report was widely distributed, hitting almost 500 email addresses at federal, state and local government agencies; intelligence bureaus; congressional committees; and even addresses in the private sector. All of this was done in violation of DHS's own guidelines.

What wasn't discussed in the news media:  In eight months of surveillance, intelligence-gathering and file-building; in the writing, editing and approval process of a 200+ page report; and in compiling a distribution roster longer than my wedding-guest and holiday-card lists combined (and doubled!), why didn't anyone notice that the rules were being violated? Sadly, the answer is because what happened is pretty much how our government agencies conduct business these days.

Without the proper backdrop and context, we don't get the real story, and it's a big one. Most Americans who go to a mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday or church on Sunday would think that this story is divorced from their reality.  To say nothing of vegan leafletters or activists attending local environmental group meetings.  The media largely covered the NOI story as if it were a one-off mistake on the part of our government--an isolated incident involving a "fringe" religious group.

In typical coverage, the Washington Times headline reads: "Nation of Islam Probe Called Improper."  The sub-headline assures us, "Rules 'unintentionally' violated." The "Miss Manners" terminology makes the revelation sound as innocuous as someone using a dessert spoon to eat his soup.

But this isn't an incident that we should view as an isolated mistake.  It's part of documented pattern and practice by government agencies to treat certain religious and political affiliations with suspicion. Fishing expeditions based on religion, ethnicity or lawful political belief and activity are now commonplace. Through various agencies, our government has been infiltrating and/or spying on peaceful Muslim groups, anti-war activists, anti-abortion as well as pro-choice groups, journalists and others, all without any factual predicate, evidence or other cause for reasonable suspicion.

And here's the kicker: For the past year, under new relaxed guidelines, the FBI has been doing this lawfully.

Not so long ago, in ending COINTELPRO (the infamous J. Edgar Hoover FBI program that often illegally spied on, infiltrated, disrupted and harassed social groups) and in establishing new safeguards, we decided that we didn't want to be the type of country where our government spies on religious and other politically protected activity.  Now it is once again legal for our government to use spies and even agents provocateurs to undermine activity protected by the First Amendment and the Constitution. For journalists, this needs to be part of the story.

Dalia Hashad is an attorney specializing in human rights and civil rights.  She has also been a host and co-executive producer of "Law and Disorder," a weekly talk-radio program.