Posted on 01/06/2014 8:20:50 AM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
The FBI's creeping advance into the world of counterterrorism is nothing new. But quietly and without notice, the agency has finally decided to make it official in one of its organizational fact sheets. Instead of declaring "law enforcement" as its "primary function," as it has for years, the FBI fact sheet now lists "national security" as its chief mission. The changes largely reflect the FBI reforms put in place after September 11, 2001, which some have criticized for de-prioritizing law enforcement activities. Regardless, with the 9/11 attacks more than a decade in the past, the timing of the edits is baffling some FBI-watchers.
"What happened in the last year that changed?" asked Kel McClanahan, a Washington-based national security lawyer.
McClanahan noticed the change last month while reviewing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request from the agency. The FBI fact sheet accompanies every FOIA response and highlights a variety of facts about the agency. After noticing the change, McClanahan reviewed his records and saw that the revised fact sheets began going out this summer. "I think they're trying to rebrand," he said. "So many good things happen to your agency when you tie it to national security."
Although a spokesman with the agency declined to weigh in on the timing of the change, he said the agency is just keeping up with the times. "When our mission changed after 9/11, our fact sheet changed to reflect that," FBI spokesman Paul Bresson told Foreign Policy. He noted that the FBI's website has long-emphasized the agency's national security focus. "We rank our top 10 priorities and CT [counterterrorism] is first, counterintel is second, cyber is third," he said. "So it is certainly accurate to say our primary function is national security."(continued)
(Excerpt) Read more at thecable.foreignpolicy.com ...
I thought national security was the job of National Security.
The F, the B, and the I have been the agency in charge of political blackmail all along; everything else is window dressing for the gullible.
It’s difficult to be a law enforcement agency when most of the government is composed of criminals.
Shall I presume this FBI National Security is related to an outreach to Muslims?
More likely, the DNC.
The advantage of a “national security” as a mission is that it is amorphous and can be used to criminalize just about any behavior they choose.
Well then, one of the largest threats to NS is Bammy. He (and E. H0lder) needs to be arrested immediately before he does more damage.
Read the transcripts of the LBJ tapes when he was Prez. Hoover was his personal snoop for getting the goods on his political opponents.
No, it’s the responsibility of Homeland Security, or maybe the CIA or maybe the NSA, or the Coast Guard or the Border Patrol, or the BATFE, or (name your favorite US gov’t paramilitary org. here).
Of course they have. Their new job is to protect the Federal Government from the Citizens that it abuses.
Neither statement is correct. The primary mission of the FBI is identical to that of the Justice Department. Security of the Party. Which party is not too hard to figure out.
Emergence of the American Cheka. With a subtle shift in mission statement, two little words, they can now circumvent ALL constitutional strictures on law enforcement.
Guess who got J. Edgar Hoover that job in the first place?
FDR, wasn’t it?
Show me the man and I’ll find you his crime. - Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), (the ministry which oversaw the state security and police forces.)
Makes me feel better to know we have our own ‘state security’ now! Another long time Progressive dream realized!
The purpose of the FBI is to assist state and local law enforcement and investigate crimes that take place across state lines.
Of course, since 9/11, they have expanded into terrorism, spying and intelligence collecting to a large degree.
https://www.aclu.org/spy-files/more-about-fbi-spying
I’m still waiting for the FBI to release the info from those Solyndra computers that they had to grab before we could see where all the money came from
No, it was FDR’s classmate at law school, Colonel William “Wild Bill” Donovan (US Army National Guard-New York), WWI Medal of Honor recipient and later the head of the OSS (predecessor to the CIA) and a very strong Democrat.
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