The problem is the leadership, and that starts at the very top. The incompetence and political self-interest have trickled and tainted their way through the agency.
The agency we once respected has been turned upside down by leadership. For months we have all heard about, read about, and watched the issues at the FBI. As a lifetime law enforcement officer, I am ashamed of what seems to be the decline of what was once the most revered and professional law enforcement investigative agency in the world.
While I was actively working in the law enforcement field, the FBI was the top of the heap. Training, forensics, the hostage rescue team, profilers, and more—the FBI was second to none.
If local law enforcement screwed up, the FBI was the agency that stepped in to fix it. They were feared, and we knew they would hold us to the task no matter what. They were the G-Men. Well, Elliot Ness has left the building. The FBI has lost its edge.
As I watch the continuing chain of complete betrayals and bungles, I can only shake my head in disgust. What happened? How did it go so wrong? And more importantly, how deep is this cancer that is affecting the FBI? And can it be treated before the patient succumbs to the disease the agency is so publicly displaying?
What we have seen is the politicalization of the nation’s preeminent law enforcement agency. Director Comey, who so blatantly overstepped his position, made major ethical and legally bad decisions and betrayed the trust of the nation and the FBI personnel he was leading. Director Comey was the most visible. Then you have a litany of other senior FBI and Justice Department officials deserting the ship, either thrown overboard or being shown the door.
This includes officials such as Mike Kortan, FBI assistant director for public affairs; Chief of the Justice Department’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section David Laufman; and don’t forget the two at the center of the text message controversy, Peter Strzok and FBI attorney Lisa Page. Then there is former Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, Comey’s chief of staff, James Rybicki, FBI General Counsel James Baker—and this is only a few.
Bungled Field Investigations
Friday, the FBI acknowledged it had ignored information on the shooter who killed 17 people and wounded 14 others at a school in Florida on Valentine’s Day. They knew who he was but did nothing.
Remember the Boston bombing? The FBI knew those guys too. They had even been given intel that they were radicalized but did not take action and did not follow-up on their initial investigation.
How about the shooter at the Pulse nightclub in Florida? Omar Mateen was interviewed three times by the FBI. Unnoticed, Mateen ended up buying an entire arsenal and then gunning down more than 100 people.
But wait, there’s more! The shooting in Garland, Texas was actually under FBI surveillance. The car immediately behind Simpson and Soofi, the shooters involved in that attack, was an undercover FBI agent. When the attack happened, the undercover FBI agent tried to flee the scene. The FBI had an undercover agent in contact with the shooters for weeks but failed to either discover or simply decided not to stop the terrorist attack.
It is time for a change and a drastic one at that.
Loss of Focus
It seems clear to me that the FBI has shifted their priorities. They do still hire those in the enforcement area, but a large amount of those they hire are lawyers and accountants.
Taken from the FBI’s website, this is what they are looking for in new hires:
STEM: Develop and deploy investigative tools and technologies to keep America safe.
Arts and Communications: Create, capture, and publish valuable information within and outside the FBI.
Business and Administration: Drive the FBI’s mission forward through critical support and analysis.
Facilities and Logistics: Build and maintain systems and locations to ensure the FBI can meet the needs of the nation.
Legal: Provide counsel, research, and assessment to inform the FBI’s activities, tools, and techniques.
Medical and Counseling: Use your medical and counseling expertise to aid operations and ensure FBI personnel are prepared physically and psychologically for their missions.
Police and Security: Implement and advise on secure processes and procedures to keep FBI personnel and facilities safe.
Foreign Languages: Use cultural and language expertise to protect the nation and create relationships with communities.
Surveillance: Collect and report on evidence to move investigations forward.
Forensic Accounting: Ensure accountability to enable the mission, and help us detect and track financial crimes.
Intelligence Analyst: Critically analyze and report on data to mitigate and neutralize threats.
And finally,
Special Agents: Protect the nation and serve your community.
I’m sure glad they did not leave the special agents off the list. Special agents are what we all know the FBI to be; sadly, they are no longer in the forefront. The FBI has gone corporate. Does anyone see the hard-charging protectors of the American people?
I just went through the FBI’s employment website and not a single opening (not one) for a special agent was advertised. The vacancies —97 in all— were for support, administration, and clerical.
It is time for a change, and a drastic one at that. Now there are loads of clichés and sayings about the top leadership of an organization going bad or losing their way, but this is different. Many of the problems at the FBI today are not mistakes.
When the FBI misses something in the field, it is bad; it is dangerous and sloppy. Is this the field agent’s fault? Most likely not. Those in the field are doing the best they can, and I still believe they are trying to uphold the principles that brought them to the FBI in the first place.
The problem is the leadership, and that starts at the very top. The incompetence and political self-interest have trickled and tainted their way through the agency. Leadership is no longer concerned with the job; they are concerned with making political points. They are actively placing their thumb on the scales of justice for their own personal goals, and that must stop.
It is time to hire from outside the agency. It is time to hire a law enforcement officer to lead the FBI who is capable and ruthless in the pursuit of justice. The FBI must regain a nonpolitical stance or risk being completely compromised and irrelevant.
The rot at the top must be excised just like the disease it has become.
