Lane von Herzen: To FBI Informants Who Have Falsified Their Witness Statements: It Is Time to Speak the Truth

My Third Novel's Conclusion, My Heartbreak

My heart begins to break when I think about completing this particular book -- because this narrative has sustained me like no other story I've known. It's both more personal and more universal than my other works. But beyond memory and archetype, it's a cri-de-coeur about needing to become the person one is destined to be. And in the writing, I have met my own life's work, my own fated journey -- having the sense all the while that the pages are suffused with a resonance, an energy, an electrified field that defies explanation. Writers hope and pray to be overtaken by a work in this way -- to be conscripted into passionate service of a profound story. To experience it even once in a lifetime seems a great privilege. I still have several months before this novel is complete, and this constitutes my reprieve. Because I'm not ready for the beauty to end.

Sunday, September 11, 2022

To FBI Informants Who Have Falsified Their Witness Statements: It Is Time to Speak the Truth

It is my belief that we are all accountable for our actions. All of us. When far-right members of the FBI assure informants that their falsified witness statements will never be discovered due to "secrecy" provisions, I believe those informants are accountable, too.

Informants who have signed falsified witness statements for the FBI in matters of concern to me should endeavor in every capacity to correct the record.

The opportunity to do so should not be taken for granted. Federal investigators attempting to ascertain the extent of the FBI's engagement in falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives are laboring in defense of your democracy and mine.

The outcome of that struggle is not assured. It depends on the willingness of everyone connected to these events to speak the difficult truth over the easy lie.

It is much preferable for witnesses to correct the record in private than it is for others to correct the record in public.

Certain matters are best addressed in confidential settings, and I respect that requirement.

My requirement is that the truth now be spoken in service of our democracy.

Witnesses, avail yourselves of the opportunity to speak the truth in its entirety, so you can avoid the need for others to speak it on your behalf.

You will convince me of your respect for our nation's democracy by standing with me in defense of the civil liberties and human rights of all law-abiding American citizens. Those good people require that the truth now be spoken in all matters, great and small.

Several million law-abiding American citizens are reported to have been wrongfully designated as "targets of interest" by the FBI. Speak the truth for them, for their families, and for the nation in which they still have hope.

It is for them that I have embarked on this journey as an FBI whistleblower.

It is for them that the truth will prevail.