What Do We Do about the Biased and Incompetent FBI?
First of all, lemme say that I don't think it's the rank and file - I think we have a leadership problem. I'm still involved in a number of areas of law enforcement, and often have coffee with our local FBI folks. They're as frustrated with the direction of the FBI 'as an institution' as I am. They think the institution has lost its way.
In the old days (I was a cop some 40 years ago) we always enjoyed going to the FBI seminars when they were available in our area, and we knew we were hearing from the best and the brightest professionals. When we formed a multijurisdictional task force for any purpose, the FBI component was top notch.
It amazes me that the FBI has not set up a division to deal exclusively with school shootings, complete with a toll-free hotline and a network of agents to aggressively work those tips. (the local agents I know assure me, to their chagrin, that this has not happened)
Anyway, the article, in part....
First of all, lemme say that I don't think it's the rank and file - I think we have a leadership problem. I'm still involved in a number of areas of law enforcement, and often have coffee with our local FBI folks. They're as frustrated with the direction of the FBI 'as an institution' as I am. They think the institution has lost its way.
In the old days (I was a cop some 40 years ago) we always enjoyed going to the FBI seminars when they were available in our area, and we knew we were hearing from the best and the brightest professionals. When we formed a multijurisdictional task force for any purpose, the FBI component was top notch.
It amazes me that the FBI has not set up a division to deal exclusively with school shootings, complete with a toll-free hotline and a network of agents to aggressively work those tips. (the local agents I know assure me, to their chagrin, that this has not happened)
Anyway, the article, in part....
It's bad enough for a law enforcement agency to be biased. It's even worse for it to be biased and incompetent.
But the latter seems to be an apt characterization of our Federal Bureau of Investigation in the wake of the killings in Parkland, Florida, where, by their own admission, the organization overlooked warnings about the killer that could have saved seventeen students and teachers from mass murder. This is no mere bureaucratic slip-up and the demand by Governor Scott for the resignation of FBI Director Wray is understandable considering the number of dead children in his state.
The incompetence, moreover, is not just restricted to Parkland. It pervades an institution that—frequently blinded by the most rote political correctness—interviewed and then released terrorists who ultimately perpetrated horrific attacks from the Boston Marathon to the Orlando nightclub massacre. (There are several more.)
Those, to be kind, oversights demonstrate aspects of bias mixed with incompetence, but that lethal combination became yet more apparent throughout the Russian collusion investigation. For the last few weeks we have been digesting the nauseating probability that the FBI used a dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign and ginned up by an assembly of creepy political hatchet men and women (Blumenthal, Shearer, Steele, two Ohrs, etc.) with input from various "friends of the Kremlin" in order to spy on an American citizen and, undoubtedly, Donald Trump, before and after he became president.
In other words, the FBI displayed the behavior of a Banana Republic in its bias (well, it's a lot more than that, sadly ) at the same time it demonstrated its incompetence by doing so in a manner that would so easily—despite their myriad redactions—finally be uncovered. Many have stated they felt they could do this—play fast and loose—because Clinton's victory was assured, but even that was no guarantee. Documents exist. Did they think Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch would stop their FOIA requests? Eventually, the truth gets known. Whether anyone does anything about it is another matter.
But the latter seems to be an apt characterization of our Federal Bureau of Investigation in the wake of the killings in Parkland, Florida, where, by their own admission, the organization overlooked warnings about the killer that could have saved seventeen students and teachers from mass murder. This is no mere bureaucratic slip-up and the demand by Governor Scott for the resignation of FBI Director Wray is understandable considering the number of dead children in his state.
The incompetence, moreover, is not just restricted to Parkland. It pervades an institution that—frequently blinded by the most rote political correctness—interviewed and then released terrorists who ultimately perpetrated horrific attacks from the Boston Marathon to the Orlando nightclub massacre. (There are several more.)
Those, to be kind, oversights demonstrate aspects of bias mixed with incompetence, but that lethal combination became yet more apparent throughout the Russian collusion investigation. For the last few weeks we have been digesting the nauseating probability that the FBI used a dossier paid for by the Clinton campaign and ginned up by an assembly of creepy political hatchet men and women (Blumenthal, Shearer, Steele, two Ohrs, etc.) with input from various "friends of the Kremlin" in order to spy on an American citizen and, undoubtedly, Donald Trump, before and after he became president.
In other words, the FBI displayed the behavior of a Banana Republic in its bias (well, it's a lot more than that, sadly ) at the same time it demonstrated its incompetence by doing so in a manner that would so easily—despite their myriad redactions—finally be uncovered. Many have stated they felt they could do this—play fast and loose—because Clinton's victory was assured, but even that was no guarantee. Documents exist. Did they think Tom Fitton and Judicial Watch would stop their FOIA requests? Eventually, the truth gets known. Whether anyone does anything about it is another matter.
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