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 ...
Over the years I’ve watched the decline of our government from “by and for the people” to “from the people for the government”. I’ve grown more and more disgusted daily... I am not a frog in a kettle. I am, though, fortunate enough to understand that timing of events is key, and that to move too quickly toward an objective is to tip your hand and to be eliminated with little or no headway toward your objective. The fact that an agency that is supposed to deal with criminal issues now claims to be working on national security is only a sign that government agencies are locking arms not for the preservation of our country, but for the preservation of the govrnment itself.
That having been said, I am reminded by this story, of two items from Frank Kafka’s “The Trial”: 1) the way in which Joseph K. is accused, tried and convicted, having never been told with what crimed he is charged; and 2) the quote that, to me, can be applied to our government that believes they can continue down the current path without repercussion: “It’s only because of their stupidity that they are able to be so sure of themselves.”
I really don’t care what an enemy calls itself. An overstepping government is the same no matter the label. The Constitution will be defended... Some say “When?” It will not be on a set schedule... But it will happen. Time is a valuable tool in war... A wise flag-grade officer once told me that “patience can win wars by allowing the enemy’s over-confidence to cause him assumptions which are dead wrong.” In other words, smile at them, let them get within range, let them be comfortable, let them relax, and while they rest, cut their throats.
The FBI does not keep a file on every citizen of the United States.
Just 99% or so.
Correct, but is it codified law as to what their mission is supposed to be? Law enforcement means one thing verses National Security which implies a whole other set of parameters. One's that are not delegated (codified by law) to this branch of government?
Very bad.
I may be wrong, but I do not believe their mission is codified by law. Since their inception, their duties have encompassed criminal justice and (national security) intelligence matters, and has flowed seamlessly between the two. If memory serves, their major expansion into the area of “national security” occurred during World War II, chasing saboteurs and espionage agents, prior to, and subsequently competing with the OSS and its successor, the CIA.
dont forget the DHS
>>Makes me feel better to know we have our own ‘state security’ now! Another long time Progressive dream realized!
Yeah, realized by George W Bush when he created the Committee for State Security (or Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti in the original Russian)...err... I mean the Department of Homeland Security.
Agreed! The DHS should not exist.
But the FBI has previously served a legitimate function.
We seem to be moving towards competing abominations.
PArt of the ACLU’s operations against the FBI were done in the 1970’s (re COINTELLPRO) and led by a covert (but congressionally identified member of the Communist Party USA’s security group) Frank Donner, author of the ACLU’s attack book on the Bureau, entitled “The Un-Americans”.
Donner was the ACLU Surveillance Project leader at Yale Un (or maybe it was Harvard, but Yale seems more logical due to the presence of two CPUSA members/supporters, Prof. Thomas I. Emerson (id.) and Prof. Vern Countryman (supporter), Yale Un. Law School. Emerson was Hillary’s law profesor.
The other top CPUSA anti-intelligence operative, also a member of the CPUSA’s security organization, was Frank Wilkinson, a convict, who was the leader of a CP front, the National Committee to Abolish the House UnAmerican Activities Committee/House Internal Security Committee. [THey changed the name of the committee from House Committee on UnAmerican Activities to HUAC to make it sound silly].
I need to check but I believe Nancy Pelosi once honored Wilkinson for his anti-intelligence work under the rubric of protecting our “constitutional rights”.
Many Democrat congressmen and women support NAAHUAC/HISC, including Drinan, Edwards, Kastenmeier, Burton, Abzug, Fraser, Porter, Conyers, etc. and led the fight to destroy it, which they did in 1975.
Some leading members of the ACLU in the past have been members of the CPUSA front, the National Lawyers Guild and/or its split off, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR).
Don’t get fooled because something says ACLU. They have done good work and they have done treason work. Be aware of just who they are.
When it comes to the real issues of internal security, they are they enemy.
I don’t trust the ACLU at all in most instances.
Every once and a while they will do something to protect someone’s constitutional rights — usually when they’ve be stepped on by the government.
They consider movie piracy to be a threat to national security these days. Just getting their priorities straight, that’s all.
...and with little doubt, more than a little “Geheime” thrown in to make the job interesting.
A very astute observation.
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