Lane von Herzen: Untying the FBI's Gordion Knot

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.

Saturday, June 3, 2023

Untying the FBI's Gordion Knot

1. You have been asked once again if you would be willing to accept compensation in lieu of the complete fulfillment of your FOIA request.

Answer: I have been asked again, astonishingly enough.

2. Why is the question astonishing?

Answer: Because the answer is no. It was no last year. It's no today. And it's going to be no until the end of time.

3. You sound decisive on this issue.

Answer: You know, I just need to observe that -- there are many things in this life that are more important than money.

4. Like what?

Answer: How about the truth? How about individual sovereignty? How about human dignity? How about respect for our fellow Americans? How about the inviolable sanctity of the human soul? How about the compassion we choose to extend to one another? How about deep family bonds? How about the human rights on which all our freedoms are predicated? How about our hope for the future of our country? I could go on.

5. To be clear, you are not saying that you intend to publicly humiliate every person who has lied about you or harmed you through participating in the FBI unconstitutional "target of interest" program. But you are saying that you are lawfully owed a complete response to your Freedom of Information Act request.

Answer: Yes. I am simply asking for a complete fulfillment of my FOIA request. And that means I want to see the falsified witness statements. I want to see the fake "evidence" of wrongdoing. I want to see the false claims about DNA evidence. I want to see the fake photos. I want to see the AI-generated film co-opting my likeness. I want to receive this material in its entirety.

6. Why do you feel so strongly about this?

Answer: The secrets and lies generated by far right FBI personnel have brought us to this critical inflection point in the life of our democracy. Payoffs by a corrupt FBI only create more dishonest entanglements with the wrong incentives. The only way to unravel this Gordion knot of falsified law enforcement reporting is with the truth. Someone has to insist on the truth, even under pressure, even under threat, even under duress.

7. Is that someone you?

Answer: I haven't run out of courage yet, so, yes, that someone appears to be me.

8. Let's say that the truth is provided to you in the form of a FOIA report without redaction or omission. What do you intend to do with that truth?

Answer: I intend to wield it in the service of democracy.

9. What does that mean?

Answer: The specifics of that answer will need to be determined in consultation with others who are just as vested in our democracy as I am. But my intention is to untie the Gordion knot. And in order to do that, it's necessary for me to have access to the truth.

10. So, your response to being offered all the riches in the world in return for a redacted FOIA report?

Answer: I am unmoved.

11. Your response to being threatened with sniper assault, car bomb, unjustified law enforcement raid, false arrest, career harms, defamation, DEW assault, on and on?

Answer: My request is unchanged.

12. You are asking for the whole truth regarding the FBI's perpetration of falsified law enforcement reporting against you and your family.

Answer: Yes, I am.

13. And with that insistence, you believe the Gordion knot can be undone.

Answer: I wholeheartedly, determinedly, faithfully do.

Lane MacWilliams

************************************************************************************

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. 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.