FBI's "Perverse Culture"

The FBI shouldn't be reformed, it should be dismantled.
The only worse federal agency I have ever dealt with was BATF. I flat out refused to work with those incompetent boobs.

An uncle I respected who spent his own long career in the Secret Service advised me to stay as far away from the field of federal politicized law enforcement as possible, and aside from a term as a deputy sheriff for an old family friend who needed subordinates he could trust and a year spent as a motorcycle cop, I took his advice with no regrets. His observations about untrained and inexperienced FBI *baby agents* with all the ability of naive boy scouts offset by a proportion of others who were outright criminals and goons were not exactly glowing endorsements for that group, and his comments about his fellow Treasury agents of the ATTU [later renamed BATF] who were always accidentally shooting themselves or bystanders weren't much better. If pressed, he'd admit considerable admiration for the investigative determination and thoroughness of the US Postal Service Inspectors and for the uniformed Border Patrol personnel with whom he'd worked. By now, I suspect the political rot has reached proportions to the extent he'd no longer recognize those he once found so worthy.

There always have been some really talented and motivated honest individuals in the ranks of the feds, but as others get the promotions and plum assignments, they learn soon enough what's really expected of them.

-archy-/-

Look at the following, which was published one month earlier, by Nicholas Stix. And at least Stix gives credit by name to the Washington Post reporter who did so much of the work.

FBI Terrorizes Hatfill

Meanwhile, information released by the National Whistleblower Center and the Justice Department concluded that Van Harp, the director of the FBI's Washington, D.C. field office, and the agent in charge of the anthrax investigation, was guilty of misconduct, in botching an internal investigation into the Bureau's handling of the 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge.

In 1992, Rudy Ridge, Idaho, was the site of two of the darkest days in Bureau history. On August 21, U.S. Marshal William Degan and Sammy Weaver, the 14-year-old son of white separatist Randy Weaver, died in a gunfight. The following day, an FBI sharpshooter shot and killed Randy Weaver's wife, 42-year-old Vicki Weaver, while she was holding the Weavers' baby. The sharpshooter had been ordered to shoot to kill. The shoot-to-kill order, issued by FBI officials Richard Rogers and Larry Potts, violated FBI rules of engagement, and was later ruled illegal by a federal judge.

Rather than being prosecuted, dismissed, or suspended, most of the FBI supervisors responsible for Ruby Ridge were promoted.

A secret, 1999 report by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility, cited Harp for having "committed misconduct" by "helping to prepare an incomplete report on the 1992 Ruby Ridge siege that had the effect of protecting high-level FBI officials," according to reporter Dan Eggen, writing in the August 24 Washington Post. Eggen reported that, "The report by Justice Department attorney Richard M. Rogers recommended a letter of censure or suspension for Harp, but Stephen R. Colgate, then the assistant attorney general, rejected that recommendation in January 2001, sources said." Colgate protected all higher-level FBI officials who were responsible for the Ruby Ridge fiasco from being brought to justice.

Eggen noted that groups such as the National Whistleblower Center have complained -- as have FBI agents -- that the FBI has a corrupt organizational culture, in which bad agents and officials rise to the top, through covering up each other's mistakes, while blaming underlings.

Dan Eggen reported that, "In a written statement, Harp said that leaks about his role in the Ruby Ridge inquiries violate 'all sense of propriety' and ignore reviews that exonerated him."

At Steven Hatfill's Sunday news conference, Harp was hoist on his own petard. Hatfill's civil attorney, Victor Glasberg, observed that "Mr. Harp was soundly criticized in a report for ... by the Justice Dept's Office of Professional Responsibility, claiming that he had engaged in substantial misconduct, relative to the Ruby Ridge matter. Well, it turned out that this report ended up getting leaked, and here's Mr. Harp. In a written statement, Harp said that leaks about his role in the Ruby Ridge inquiries violate all sense of propriety. Well, I don't know if that's true. It may, but I'll tell you this: The investigation that Mr. Harp is conducting of Steve Hatfill has as many leaks as the Titanic going down. So, he should take his own instructions...."

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