Perhaps it’s Time to “Re-Imagine” the FBI?
/By: Joel E. Gordon
With all of the accusations of a two-tiered system of justice due to actions and inactions by the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, the time seems right for a thorough review of these agencies. Even Rochelle Walensky, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) director, admits that there have been MAJOR COVID-19 MISTAKES and has announced plans to restructure her agency although calling it simply a “Reset.” Why shouldn’t the FBI and DOJ admit to errors as well?
The recent raid of President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence has revealed some interesting oversights with the apparent failure to follow advance independent Taint Team protocols to review documents so that improper seizure in violation of legally privileged communications, such as attorney-client privilege, or other document seizure overreach is disallowed (such as unauthorized passport seizure). The DOJ uses Taint Teams to review potentially privileged material and determine what may be shared with the team investigating or prosecuting a case, and what must be withheld as privileged. In the absence of this filtering process, if prosecutors improperly review privileged communications, that exposure may taint the entire investigation and make prosecutions difficult or even impossible.
The formerly super careful agents at DOJ and FBI — the kind who dot all the i’s and cross all the t’s — apparently couldn’t even be bothered to proofread the name of the home of the president they were planning to raid.
Is this an example of inadequate oversight, corruption and/or acts of incompetence? Reports of FBI requests that video surveillance of the raid activity be shut down, when normal law enforcement transparency policies typically encourage use of cameras, including law enforcement body-worn cameras to remain on, leads to questions of impropriety. At the very least, I find the apparent lack of judgment and intellect on the federal level to be truly astonishing.
The partially unsealed affidavit in application for the Mar-a-Lago search warrant includes part of a letter a Justice Department official sent to Trump's council after that June visit, requesting that the storage room where documents in question were stored be secured.
The letter, part of which is redacted, explains that because “Mar-a-Lago does not include a secure location authorized for the storage of classified information,” the classified documents that have been held there since Trump left the White House in January 2021 “have not been handled in an appropriate manner or stored in an appropriate location.”
“Accordingly,” the letter continues, “we ask that the room at Mar-a-Lago where the documents had been stored be secured and that all of the boxes that were moved from the White House to Mar-a-Lago (along with any other items in that room) be preserved in that room in their current condition until further notice.”
Not only were documents reportedly secured under lock and key but were part of the protection detail of the president and his primary residence at Mar-a-Lago. Is the FBI suggesting that the Secret Service cannot be trusted to protect property and if so how could they be entrusted to protect life? Is this a battle among the feds, among other concerns?
Isn’t it ironic that the same federal government that is critical of the operations and appearances of local law enforcement agencies born of the 10th Amendment of the Constitution (resulting in numerous consent decrees) has seemingly little to no regard for the appearance of inequities or impropriety in the course of their own operations?
It is shameful for the FBI to fuel the fires of an already untenable situation against law enforcement by risking a stain on the notion that the goal must always be justice for all.
With the admission by Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg that there was FBI influence over social media’s suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop details during election season, the questionable justification and motivations behind the unprecedented raid of an immediate past president’s residence (@ Mar-a-Lago), the appearance of a two-tiered system of justice, FISA warrant issues, the debunked Russia stories and more, is it any wonder that many question the integrity of federal law enforcement agencies?
Where did the deterioration of the FBI’s reputation really begin to accelerate? Highly political operations within the FBI during the J. Edgar Hoover years notwithstanding, the FBI allowing itself to be used to promulgate the anti-piracy warnings and criminality of copyright infringement at the beginning of much video content via the “FBI WARNING” has placed the
FBI front and center promoting what is perhaps the most widely viewed criminal statute in the United States.
Despite its prominent place in the America’s view, the very existence of criminal liability for violating copyright laws is one that has only ever been intermittently enforced. Despite increasingly stiffer penalties, expanded prosecutorial powers and wide public awareness, criminal enforcement for copyright infringement rarely results in serious liability. Does this make the FBI look unserious via a bark with little bite in the eyes of the public? While Hollywood aggressively warns customers of the criminal repercussions for unlawfully sharing a copyrighted work, in reality, governmental enforcement against online copyright infringement is rare. So the next time you see the FBI’s warning label, it should be recognized as a public service announcement on behalf of the entertainment companies rather than a real threat of prosecution from the U.S.’s highest law enforcement agency.
Federal agencies are in desperate need of a makeover, not blanket defunding. We will always need true enforcement of laws in an even-handed and just manner. Political weaponization of law enforcement, as well as use of law enforcement powers primarily on behalf of private industry concerns, however, have no legitimate place in America and our government would be well-advised to be guided accordingly.
Joel E. Gordon is a former Field Training Officer with the Baltimore City Police Department and is a past Chief of Police for the city of Kingwood, West Virginia. He has also served as vice-chair of a multi-jurisdictional regional narcotics task force. An award winning journalist, he is author of the book Still Seeking Justice: One Officer's Story and founded the Facebook group Police Authors Seeking Justice. Look him up at stillseekingjustice.com
