The FBI in Peace and Politics
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the Bush Administration and Congress made a number of panic-induced reorganization and statutory errors. As Senator Rand Paul said at the time, the panic-enacted Patriot Act (2001) would allow our federal intelligence and law-enforcement agencies to have virtually unchecked powers. [By the way, if President Clinton had acted on the three opportunities he had to dispatch Osama bin Laden, 9/11 might just be another ho-hum date on the calendar.]
The FBI raid on the home of former President Trump and other abuses of power by the FBI prove Senator Paul was correct. Moreover, the heavily redacted Affidavit presented to a Clinton-appointed judge to authorize a search of President Trump’s home suggests the FBI may have been trying to recover documents implicating the FBI in crimes against the former President. If so, that would be a case of criminals committing crimes and then committing another crime to recover evidence of their previous crimes.
Here is how to prevent the FBI from further 1st and 4th Amendment abuses: Divest the FBI of any role in domestic counterintelligence. Limit the FBI to its traditional role of catching bank robbers and kidnappers. Under the Office of National Intelligence (ODNI) create an Office of Counterintelligence (OCI). Staff the OCI with counterintelligence-experienced members from the Navy NCIS, Air Force OSI, and Army CIC. Forbid the OCI to hire former FBI agents.
But who should control the OCI? The Judicial Branch staffed by nine unelected judges is not the place. Closer to the voters is the Executive Branch that came is turned over every four years. Closest to the voters is Congress. But Congress has a history of disruptive turf battles between the House and the Senate. So, how about a bi-partisan OCI Oversight Board with members nominated by the President and subject to Senate confirmation?
Dismissed FBI counterintelligence agents can find plenty of work by continuing to do Opposition Research for the Democratic National Committee and for Hillary Clinton. Many police departments were defunded in the wake of the George Floyd riots. Inevitably besieged by crime, the "woke" cities are now hiring cops again and would probably welcome FBI counterintelligence agents trained in breaking down doors, conducting perp walks, and arranging for favored media outlets to film and air their wee-hours raids in progress. Apparently, even Uvalde, TX, could use some aggressive cops.
Taking domestic counterintelligence away from the FBI is no big loss. Recall, the FBI failed to detect the communists in the Manhattan Project who gave Stalin our atomic secrets. The Unabomber eluded the FBI for 17 years. Recall, FBI special agent, Robert Hanssen, who worked for the KGB. Hillary Clinton’s exposure of state secrets via her unprotected, home-grown server went undetected far too long. Indeed, the list of FBI counterintelligence and other failures is too long to recite here. Also, recall Ruby Ridge and the Branch Davidian massacre. Clearly it is time for the FBI to go back to pursuing bank robbers and kidnappers and leave the political hit jobs to the left-loving MSM.
Nota bene: Between 1944 and 1958, one of the most popular radio programs was: The FBI in Peace and War.
©2022. William Hamilton.
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