I read with interest an article in the Washington Times about the “whistleblower” who described the FBI as “out of control” and a “culture of corruption.”
I’m rolling my eyes.
You may have read in my work that I do have a problem with the FBI. I believe there is a layer of useless, corrupt, politically biased liberals at the top that needs to be scraped off. This is the group that has attacked Trump and is a genuine threat to the country.
But I believe that the rank and file agents, the SACs, the field offices and the people who support them from headquarters are true believers in justice. I believe they are the best in the world at what they do (which, if you ask them, is “investigations”), and they do a decent job of managing their caseload and solving the most important problems first. I don’t believe the political bias extends to this level.
The FBI is a good organization.
The Times article cites a few cases and generalizes (a logical fallacy, of course). The FBI is comprised of 35,000 people. Do you not think there will be casual affairs, serious affairs, unrequited love and occasional idiotic behavior among that many people? I knew of a case in the CIA where two men were posted together in Africa and by the end of their tour, they were married to each others’ wives. An FBI agent “taking an amorous drive” and wrecking his car, as the Times reports, is salacious when you report it like that, but who really gives a crap?
And of course, the Times cites a letter from someone who believes she was “harassed.” She flaps her wings and says the FBI is out of control. I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is not a trend, it is an isolated case.
The Times also cites a rule about a SAC (special agent in charge) needing a certain number of open terrorist cases. If you have ever been in the government you know how this works. Word comes from on high that there are quotas you have to meet. “On high” means people who are under pressure to report numbers to politicians who don’t understand how real investigations work. So someone has to make the numbers work and s&^t runs downhill. It appears that this has become part of the FBI culture to start new “terrorism” cases on less than pristine evidence – I’m imagining they are targeting people they need to target for other reasons. It is poor management and could be considered “corrupt” if you are a jerk. But you would be surprised how often situations arise in government agencies in the field.
If agents were forced to sign false affidavits to be used in court, this is a serious matter. Since we don’t know the details of this (and probably never will), we don’t know if this was just a minor difference of opinion, or if it was a major untruth. But let’s not generalize to every field office. The Washington Times doesn’t care, they have the story.
As for the “torrent of FBI whistleblowers,” the Times doesn’t cite a source. Again, in an organization of 35,000, you aren’t going to keep everyone happy.
I understand the political need to attack the FBI at this time. But the “defund the FBI” memes are just misguided kneejerk reactions. This bothers me more than a little that my side of the political fence would go this direction. But again, with the recent raid on Donald Trump, I understand.
My solution? Let’s fire the politically biased bureaucrats and keep the good guys who keep us safe.