Victor Davis Hanson
Can the FBI be saved in its present form? Should it be disassembled, and its bureaus farmed out to other agencies? Should its headquarters be transferred to Kansas City, or maybe Fresno, Dayton, or Boise? Given its record of transgressions and lapses, would we miss its absence?
Or are its Washington hierarchies intrinsically too intermarried with the swamp, too embedded within it, and too compliant in general to the deep state, and the leftwing cultural Washington elite, and the Democratic party to be salvaged?
Is it not striking how the FBI under intense scrutiny and criticism, nonetheless ups its performance-art raiding, its perp-walking, its politicized hounding, its obsequiousness to Merrick Garland’s renegade DOJ?
Are the FBI kingpins delighted with the rightwing criticism—as if to be giddy that they have gotten under the skins of conservatives, terrified them, and thus created a new deterrence? Or is it just FBI bullying, as if Wray et al. are saying, “Yeah, we became weaponized, what exactly are you going to try to do about it?”
Or is it convinced the Left has its back for any and everything, given it can streamline social justice agendas and DNC objectives by fiat?
Thus, does the FBI believe with its new leftwing guardians, it has tapped into the toadish media, the money of Wall Street, the contextualization of academia, the cover of the Democratic Party, the popular woke culture—and that all that is welcome change from being the staid old agency of Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. fame and the accompanying disdain of the cool for its flat tops, Hoover G-men, and square ties? After all, Peter Strzok and Lisa Page are the new faces of the FBI. So is pizzazz of now felon FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith with his puerile “Viva la Resistance!” verve!
Who would have imagined that the last four FBI directors—Mueller, Comey, McCabe, and Wray—have transformed the FBI into a rogue organization? Consider: McCabe lied four times to federal investigators—and was never prosecuted. Indeed, he monetized his lying on cable TV.
Comey claimed under oath 245 times that he could not remember or did not know anything about what was asked. Comey leaked classified memos of private presidential conversations to the media and hired the Clinton-paid hoaxers Steele and Danchenko as FBI informants.
Mueller oversaw the entire Russian collusion hoax that he knew early on was a fraud. Then he lied or proved senile when he ridiculously claimed, under oath, that he had no idea what or who Fusion GPS or Christopher Steele was? He outsourced his entire investigation to attack dog Andrew Weissmann. And on and on.
Wray has turned the FBI into a buffoonish Stasi-like organization. Remember swarming the Stone house after tipping off CNN for full coverage? Marching O’Keefe out in his underwear? Putting leg irons on Navarro? Ambushing The Pillow Guy on the freeway with a squad of FBI cars? Snatching phones at airports? Hatching a kidnapping plot in which FBI informants outnumbered the actual supposed kidnappers?
Also recall the surveilling of parents at school board meetings. Snatching cash and valuables from confiscated lockboxes in Los Angeles. And now descending on the home of a Christian activist, while terrifying his family with a horde of armed agents to pursue a federal harassment charge (a cut finger that required a band-aid?) that the state had already found ridiculous.
The FBI wiped subpoenaed phones clean or claimed they were lost. They sat on the Hunter Biden laptop, lied about its true nature, and thereby warped the 2020 election. They go after whistleblowers, contrary to law, in order to intimidate any who would expose their illegality.
Again, FBI lawyer Kevin Clinesmith altered a document to delude a FISA court—and McCabe and Comey signed on to the affidavit. Lisa Page and Peter Strozk were admitted Trump-hating partisans, despite Trump being the target of their investigations. Mueller staggered their firings to disguise their illicit puppy-dog love affair.
All the above are errors of commission. But from the Boston bombers to the San Bernadino terrorists, the FBI habitually drops leads that are handed to it. It is far more effective going after moms and Christians than it is pursuing known Islamic terrorists who kill and maim Americans.
Discussion (13)
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Now there is a law enforcement org that does need defunding. Previously, it seemed do-able to move what few agents remain into other orgs, like, e.g., the Fed Marshals. Then, I saw the Marshals pin to the ground a father trying to rescue his daughter inside the Uvade school while the other fuzz walked around heavily armed with their hands in their pockets. So then it was obvious that the Federal Marshals suffer the same affliction as the DOJ/FBI. These federal law enforcement agency employees, despite having the req credentials, simply do not merit their pay/pension. Defund and begin anew.
It is not as complicated as you might think. Target 1-3 FBI bad actors, investigate, accuse, indite, try and convict them for treason or other non-slap-on-the-wrist crimes. Put them away for a long time. Target all their fellow colluders. Repeat. This NEVER happens. Until it does, we will continue to experience this foul-smelling rot in our criminal justice system. We need to publicly punish those who work against us in a most unpleasant and unforgettable way. That’s what works. The rest is just arm-waving and jaw-flapping.
President Theodore Roosevelt created the BOI to address the assignation of President McKinley in 1901 as it was believed that anarchist were a threat to the US Government. Roosevelt had dealt with corruption in NYC before becoming president and he was a many of action. The BOI hired thirty two employees originally and now the FBI is a global organization with many thousands of employees. It seems that the FBI leadership has become like so many other federal organizations and no longer understands what its mission should be. The FBI should be reformed to refocus its mission to protect USA from corruption and outside influence.
It was more than 20 years ago when the FBI was feeding confidential information about informants to crime bosses Whitey Bulger and Steve Flemmi. Several of those informants were murdered. Multiple FBI agents were convicted then of various crimes in which innocent people died. One convicted agent, H. Paul Rico was asked if he was remorseful at trial for the deaths he caused. "What do you want? Tears?' was Rico's reply. Those people know they are above the law. Remember that when Pelosi or Schiff wails that 'nobody is above the law.' Mueller was in an FBI supervisory capacity when all this went down and it never caused any impediment to his rise in the ranks.
Excellent analysis as always!
Everything you say is true. I'm 59 and I remember as a kid how the FBI were heroes to me. Now, it give me sadness to remember that and compare where The FBI is today. I have almost zero trust in the FBI now. The FBI, IRS, State Department, and other Federal agencies have all been weaponized for political purposes to suppress ideological enemies. This needs to be fixed as the last few years have been a "dress rehearsal" for a totalitarian, police state. Maybe this November will start the cure.
Let's start with the official mission of the FBI from its own mission page: Protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States That is a pretty broad mission statement; a problem in and of itself. It certainly isn't reflected in the name of the agency; Federal Bureau of INVESTIGATION. The problem of what to do with it pits two countervailing issues against each other -- the need for quick efficient communication and information sharing across great geographic locations and functional sub-specialties against the danger of building an enormous all-encompassing power. All federal agencies are proto-empires and require close congressional scrutiny. If we distribute the FBI functions out among existing federal agencies, the number of functions should still be reduced. Getting the headquarters out of Washington, D.C. (along with all other non-defense agencies) should be a primary goal but, why should the FBI have all of its current functions in the first place? Investigators traditionally work for prosecutors. Therefore, there should be a link to the Attorney General AND the latter should be required to institute such investigations. State attorney generals should be empowered and involved for crimes such as kidnapping that don't cross state lines (including robbing federal banks). Anti-spy missions should move to either the CIA or National Security Agency except when they are military-specific (Defense Intelligence Agency).
There WILL be an associated desperate need to excise the cancer from the "Justice Department." Firings, yes, transfers, of course. Without doubt top down and bottom up restructuring of the Ship of Fools is essential.
Whether moving the headquarters of the institution from DC to Anytown, USA, there remains what is in reality a personnel problem. All organizations are what the people working there make them. Number one...clean out the management as well as the agents and ALL the supporting viper's nest of attornies. The means by which to do this requires a committed President and Congress. Reshuffling this festering bouilliabase will NOT be enough.
If I were the "new improved" Congress, I would begin with a reduction of 5%-10% in the DOJ budget, with a clear declaration that any further shenanigans of political targeting or parent targeting will prompt more. I would begin a 5% appropriation reduction program for either the FBI or DOJ, per instance, on any further stonewalling on information requested/demanded by Congress - and then do it, as the resolve will be tested. While this will create hysteria by the media and the opposite side of the aisle re. defunding the police, stand strong - the public will understand. All that can be done now is strongly send the message. If and when sanity comes back to the Executive Branch, a true fundamental housecleaning can be undertaken.
Clearly, the cultural rot began with Mueller that allowed the current crop of miscreants to rise within the organization. Mueller's tenure began 21 years ago, so the culture is more than likely deeply rooted in the organization of 35,000. Even if we found a young Louis Freeh, the housecleaning would be a Herculean task that would take a long time to execute. Add to that the complication that, attempting a clean-up without a simultaneous effort at DOJ, would be impractical, or only partially effective. I'm not sure where that leaves us bt we certainly have created a real mess for ourselves.
Really rather astonishing, isn't it?
Thanks Victor for the recap (partial) of the fbi offenses. I believe the entire situation you outlined can be summarized by your statement “Yeah, we became weaponized, what exactly are you going to try to do about it?” The question remains unanswered!