The American Civil Liberties Union is one of many organizations that have condemned the FBI's "October Plan". The plan could, amongst other tactics, use "aggressive - even obvious - surveillance" techniques on individuals who are not even suspected of having committed a crime, in advance of the November 2 general election. An internal e-mail notice to FBI agents, distributed by the bureau's "'04 Threat Task Force," described an intensified law enforcement effort to "to foster the impression that law enforcement is focused on individuals who may be a threat." According to CBS News, mosques will be revisited and worshippers questioned. ACLU affiliates have received calls from Muslims panicked by aggressive FBI action.

The ACLU says that The "October Plan" is the fifth incidence of an explicit FBI dragnet, targeted at American Muslims and Arabs. Over the past three years, Middle Eastern and South Asian neighborhoods and communities have experienced the brunt of the federal government's response to 9/11. After the attacks, more than a thousand, and possibly over 2,000 men were rounded up secretly by the Justice Department, only to be later found to have no connection to the attacks. The fact that this campaign comes right before the presidential election has many observers worried that Muslim and Arab Americans might be afraid to vote, since this kind of intimidation reminds them of political repression in their countries of origin. "The FBI plans to deliberately tail people based on their religion or ethnic origin during a month that is both religiously and politically crucial," said Dalia Hashad, the ACLU's Arab, Muslim and South Asian Advocate. "Instead of bolstering security, the FBI’s ‘October Plan’ is going to stop Muslims and Arabs from attending mosques during the month of Ramadan, and participating in the upcoming election." In monitoring the October Plan, the ACLU is joined by Amnesty International, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Arab-American Institute, Council on American-Islamic Relations, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council.
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