August 16, 1999 New York Times Protecting Privacy, Monitoring Hate To the Editor: In "Stopping Extremism Before the Crime" (Op-Ed, Aug. 12), Abraham H. Foxman ignores Supreme Court Justice Felix Frankfurter's observation that the history of liberty is the history of procedural safeguards against investigatory or prosecutorial abuses. The Federal Bureau of Investigation's history of spying against citizens without cause to suspect criminality confirms Frankfurter's words. Thick dossiers were compiled that served political blackmail more than law enforcement. Mr. Foxman urges relaxation of balanced restraints on the F.B.I. with the goal of shadowing every government-perceived "hatemonger" without evidence of a threatened crime. He warns that "hatred can still destroy." Yes, but the F.B.I. has destroyed as well when it has snooped around as thought police. BRUCE FEIN McLean, Va., Aug. 12, 1999 The writer was an Associate Deputy Attorney General, 1981-82. ================================================== To the Editor: Abraham H. Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, says the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department have been "hamstrung" and "can't act aggressively" in monitoring extremist groups but fails to note the A.D.L.'s role in the imposition of these guidelines (Op-Ed, Aug. 12). In 1993 the A.D.L. was accused of illegally obtaining California police and government records on a wide array of political groups. The league escaped criminal prosecution in return for paying $75,000 to groups that fight hate crimes in San Francisco. Mr. Foxman says "if law enforcement agencies should overstep the line, we should very swiftly take the authority away." Law enforcement, with the A.D.L.'s help, indeed crossed the line, resulting in the restrictions that Mr. Foxman now laments. MITJA C. BAUMHACKL Brooklyn, Aug. 12, 1999