Is the FBI a Criminal Organization?

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Last week, in a piece I wrote for The Huffington Post on the hypocrisy in the Bradley Manning trial, I argued that “The law is for the powerful to defy with impunity, and for the weak to be punished with.” As evidence, I mentioned several high crimes committed by the Bush and Obama administration, crimes for which they will never be prosecuted.

And then in yesterday’s USA Today I saw this remarkable article reporting that government documents show that the FBI committed 5,658 crimes in 2011 alone. That amounts to 15 crimes a day, on average, that FBI agents explicitly authorized. And far from being part of a rogue, covert program kept hidden from a judge, this is standard operating procedure on which the Department of Justice provides oversight.

The FBI gave its informants permission to break the law at least 5,658 times in a single year, according to newly disclosed documents that show just how often the nation’s top law enforcement agency enlists criminals to help it battle crime.

The U.S. Justice Department ordered the FBI to begin tracking crimes by its informants more than a decade ago, after the agency admitted that its agents had allowed Boston mobster James “Whitey” Bulger to operate a brutal crime ring in exchange for information about the Mafia. The FBI submits that tally to top Justice Department officials each year, but has never before made it public.

Agents authorized 15 crimes a day, on average, including everything from buying and selling illegal drugs to bribing government officials and plotting robberies. FBI officials have said in the past that permitting their informants — who are often criminals themselves — to break the law is an indispensable, if sometimes distasteful, part of investigating criminal organizations.

Let that last sentence sink in for a moment. The government must break the law in order to catch and punish lawbreakers. Does that not offend even the most superficial understanding of the rule of law this country was supposedly founded upon?

According to the USA Today report, this number of 5,658 crimes in one year barely scratches the surface:

USA TODAY obtained a copy of the FBI’s 2011 report under the Freedom of Information Act. The report does not spell out what types of crimes its agents authorized, or how serious they were. It also did not include any information about crimes the bureau’s sources were known to have committed without the government’s permission.

Crimes authorized by the FBI almost certainly make up a tiny fraction of the total number of offenses committed by informants for local, state and federal agencies each year. The FBI was responsible for only about 10% of the criminal cases prosecuted in federal court in 2011, and federal prosecutions are, in turn, vastly outnumbered by criminal cases filed by state and local authorities, who often rely on their own networks of sources.

“The million-dollar question is: How much crime is the government tolerating from its informants?” said Alexandra Natapoff, a professor at Loyola Law School Los Angeles who has studied such issues. “I’m sure that if we really knew that number, we would all be shocked.”

If you read Trevor Aaronson’s meticulously reported book The Terror Factory: Inside the FBI’s Manufactured War on Terrorism, you’ll get a glimpse into how the thuggery at the FBI works in the war on terror. Aaronson thoroughly documents all those “terror plots” that the FBI has “foiled.” By and large, the FBI uses untrustworthy delinquents as informants in order to entrap unsuspecting halfwits that never would have been able to carry out a terror attack without  FBI encouragement and facilitation.

Far be it from me to prejudge, but Antiwar.com has been requesting FBI documents on this website through the Freedom of Information Act since 2011, to no avail. Thankfully, the ACLU is suing on our behalf. Requesting surveillance of this website and its founders, as the FBI did, and suspecting we may be an agent of a foreign power – all for exercising our First Amendment rights- seems like it fits perfectly within the Bureau’s modus operandi.

52 thoughts on “Is the FBI a Criminal Organization?”

    1. Correct Howard… The FBI, often working through informants under their control, has been an active player in large terror operations in all the high profile cases… the Congressional 9/11 Investigation is a good source that documents the FBI role in supporting the hijackers and concealing their attack preparations.

  2. The creature J. (John) Edgar Hoover who formed the FBI was far from being one who contained moral integrity.
    He greatly suffered from moral turpitude when it came to spying on individuals without the means of using warrants. Hoover truly abused the system and the constitution with his pragmatic theory of "the ends justify the means."

  3. It more than seems like J. Edgar Hoover's amoral judgement and legacy is very much still in play within the current day FBI.

  5. Is like asking: Edward J. Hoover was a "honest" man by collecting personal informations about senator Kennedy and everyone out there that might have been a democrat.., was he a honest man? If your answer is yes or no, that doesn't matter, the system of EJH is back in action and there is building named after him.

  6. The question is too specific. It should be – Is the US government a criminal organization?

  7. Antiwar and it's contributors are thought to be agents agents of a foreign power? What does it say when people supporting the US constitution are considered this way, whilst agents for Israel are not considered 'agents of a foreign power'? Which country is foreign here and which has the power?

  8. Pingback: All along the Watchtower.. | Zephyr Global Report

  9. No, the FBI is not a criminal enterprise per se, the entire U.S. Government — from the National Park Service to the NSA — is the largest one ever out into action — probably need to throw in the Federal Reserve, though it is only a quasi-government agency doing the master's bidding.

  10. The US Government is Occupied and has been for several generations. What's really scary? They use to try and hide it. Now? Hillary said it best, "Who Cares?!" It is escalating and America needs to Wake-Up and show that "THEY CARE" while they still can.

  11. Americans know the FBI is a criminal enterprise, but have not fully fathomed how deep the criminality goes.

  12. I seem to remember the FBI turning its head as Whitey Bulger committed serial murder during his reign of terror, so USA's summation of the heinousness of FBI informant criminality falls far short of the mark.

  14. Considering that the entire Republican/Democrat junta is nothing more than one big organized crime syndicate, how could the FBI, or any other federal enforcement agency be anything other than a criminal organization?

  16. I shall deport al Saud from Macca haram and serve Nass with Adl: imagine OPEX leaders naked in Madina AbuGhraibmoza resort

  17. And what about all of us who are working for the outer space alien spies, the ones wih green eyes who land in wheat fields and come like characters out of Gogol to buy dead souls.
    And in America for a buck we sell anything!

  18. Pingback: Is the FBI a Criminal Organization? | Stop Making Sense

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  21. The more information government gathers on people, the more power it has over them. The more government surveillance, the more intimidated Americans become.

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  43. Comey and Lynch have subverted Justice to protect Hillary. PERIOD.

    Wikileaks Podesta emails confirm conspiracy and obstruction of justice.

    1. I’m surprised I haven’t seen anyone commenting on the latest Podesta dump yet. Search on the term “Israeli Official” in the subject line. It includes reassurances that despite the reputations of some around her Clinton is so “pro-Israel” that any future Clinton “peace process” negotiations will include the US recognizing the West Bank “settlements” as “part of Israel.”

      1. Not surprising that her positions are all over the map… She lies to every group she adresses.

      2. That really doesn’t surprise me… Hillbags wouldn’t openly have a position counter to her corrupt bosses… Or she might be summarily thrown under the bus.

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