1. How would you describe your reaction to discovering that far-right segments of the FBI have been knowingly engaged in falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives?
Answer: Disbelief. I'm not a fan of conspiracies. They have always seemed unlikely to me. There's just so much work that would be necessarily involved in keeping broad-scale malfeasance a secret. So, initially, it was extremely difficult to grasp that the FBI was utilizing false accusations of espionage and terrorism to strip law-abiding "targets of interest" of their Constitutional rights.
2. How have you handled the realization that segments of the FBI have become corrupted to the extent that our democracy is now at risk?
Answer: There's a tremendous amount of grief in this recognition. The betrayal of law-abiding American citizens by those within the FBI who have vowed to defend the Constitution -- this is a crime that cannot be understated. It has the potential to render a mockery of our ideals, a stage-play of our democracy, an end to all meaningful civil liberties within this country and other democracies around the world.
3. Why do people have such a hard time recognizing that agents within the FBI are being instructed to falsify witness statements, photographs, films and other so-called "evidence"?
Answer: Because we all want to believe that those wielding the badges are the good guys! But as Einstein said, and as history has taught us, "Blind belief in authority is the greatest enemy of the truth." If the FBI were without exception virtuous, why did its personnel falsify the witness statements of the USA gymnasts? There's no viable explanation unless the falsification of victim statements represents broad-scale practice within the agency. And it does.
4. What are your thoughts about the Freedom of Information Act at this point?
Answer: The Freedom of Information Act has been gradually and determinedly dismantled by the FBI and other agencies under its control. Law-abiding "targets of interest" who submit FOIA requests are routinely answered with blank reports. The FBI has learned that law-abiding American citizens do not contest blank reports. And so the deceit has been allowed to persist. So, clearly, FOIA needs to be removed from the auspices of the FBI as a matter of national security. Beyond this, and I cannot emphasize this enough, there must be on the part of our democracy a tremendous bias toward fulfilling FOIA requests immediately and in their entirety. Far right segments of the FBI have relied on the dismantling of FOIA to effect their concealment of falsified law enforcement reporting at both the local and federal level. If someone questions the agency about a particular case, they simply say that it constitutes a special circumstance involving national security concerns. End of discussion. But when the FBI is falsely and secretly accusing law-abiding "targets of interest" of "espionage" and "terrorism," and failing to disclose its activities to the public through FOIA, the freedoms and civil liberties we most cherish within our nation have been placed at risk. Those freedoms must be reclaimed by a renewed commitment to uphold the Freedom of Information Act.
(To be continued)
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At the end of my posts regarding the unlawful actions of far-right personnel within the FBI, I will be adding the following statement. The FBI is a deeply divided agency. There are many FBI employees who view their vows to the Constitution with the utmost seriousness and honor, and who strive to defend the fundamentals of our democracy with courage, fortitude and commitment. The fact that some segments of the FBI appear to have embraced a lawless course is not a justification to assail the FBI in general. The safety of FBI agents should be protected, just as the safety of the American citizenry should be protected. As President Joseph R. Biden has so rightly expressed, violence is never justified in any circumstance. The rule of law must always be honored and upheld. It is our shared determination to preserve the civil liberties and human rights of ALL AMERICANS that renders the United States a democracy. We must never abandon this promise. All of our most cherished freedoms depend upon it.
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