The FBI Debacle - Felonies & Forgiveness

Almost a year ago, the Justice Department informed members of the US. House of Representatives that FBI agents had been secretly collecting telephone, banking and credit card records of U.S. citizens and foreign nationals living in the U.S., and may have violated the law and/or government policies over 3,000 times since 2003.

Glenn A. Fine, the Inspector General of the Justice Department, also confessed that perhaps 600 of these violations were "cases of serious misconduct," and involved the illegal use of "national security letters" to force banks, credit institutions and telephone companies to turn over their records.

National security letters are like subpoenas except they are issued directly by the FBI and no court review is involved. Fine said this abuse resulted from "mistakes, carelessness, confusion, sloppiness, lack of training, lack of adequate guidance and lack of adequate oversight." But, some agents may have behaved in ways that were "illegal," of "improper."

"Illegal" or "improper?" There's a world of difference between those two words. Improper is like a stupid misjudgment. Illegal could involve jail time.

Now, one year later, FBI Director Robert Mueller is doing a follow-up, telling the Senate Judiciary Committee that "the privacy breach by FBI agents and lawyers occurred a year before the bureau enacted sweeping new reforms to prevent future lapses."

Mueller went on to say that the FBI is "committing to ensuring that we not only get this right, but maintain the vital trust of the American people."

Sorry, it's too late for trust! Now we demand extreme measures to oversee and guard our laws and our rights under the Constitution. [Maybe those "demands" will be met by a new administration?]

There isn't any excuse for the FBI to be so extensively involved in actions that, on the face of it, appear illegal. The FBI, better than any agency, knows the constitutional history as well as the importance of judicial review before warrants are issued. This wasn't a lapse on the part of a few agents, this was a program of illegal avoidance of legal procedures that went on for years!

And if, indeed, illegalities were involved, shouldn't those persons doing the illegalities be punished? If, next time, one of these agents decides to rob a bank, is it enough that he confess his sins and promise to clean up his act?

Of course, when the President and his cohorts provide a regal, real-life example of how to get by with felonious behavior, can we rightfully expect other government agencies to abide by the law and the Constitution?