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F.B.I. Failed to Act on Spy [Robert P Hanssen] Despite Signals, Report Says |
2003-08-15 |
August 15, 2003- New York Times When the other side complained about the obvious clumsiness of Hanssen’s betrayal, you’d think someone in the FBI would have noticed. In investigating a series of deadly security breaches in the Soviet Union in the mid-1980’s, F.B.I. officials were so convinced that no one at the bureau was responsible that they focused almost exclusively on a C.I.A. officer and even recommended that he be prosecuted for espionage, the report says. Projection, the common psychological defense mechanism, struck again at the FBI "We now know that the F.B.I. was on the wrong track from the beginning, because the mole the F.B.I. was looking for was Hanssen, an F.B.I. employee," the report states. I continue to suspect the presence of Islamist sympathizers and abetters in the US intelligence and security structure. I don’t believe this possibility has even been considered in the 9/11 investigations done so far. This article also highlights official complacency and denial, factors which also played key roles in letting 9/11 happen. |
Posted by:Tresho |
#3 And, for those who might dismiss some of these points as exceptions, what we (the public) hear about is only the tip of the bureaucratic Bureau's iceberg of flaws. The FBI is almost worthless as a preventative component in the WoT. Thier current "culture" is pure sycophantism and nepotism. Re: Starting over, if you mean firing all personnel above Supervisor, then I absolutely agree. When it comes to populating the structure again, I'd suggest a much flatter org (Read: Stop creating BS slots to hide your friends in!) and consider filling the slots with those who have been repeatedly passed over - if not incompetent, this indicates they were NOT kissing ass - and with promising Field Agents who show initiative and guts, such as Colleen Rowley in the Minneapolis office. Yeah, the one who wanted to get into Zacarius Moussaoui's computer - prior to 9/11. |
Posted by: .com 2003-8-15 5:19:05 PM |
#2 The other thing we have the remember is that the Bureau was busily tracking down spies elsewhere in the government (aldrich Ames etc...), and rebuilding itself as the next Interpol. The problems isnide the Bureau are so deeply ingrained that perhaps the only way to fix it is to shut it down and start over. |
Posted by: Douglas De Bono 2003-8-15 12:52:39 PM |
#1 We already know there are Islamist sympathizers in the FBI. Gamal Abdel-Hafiz refused to tape record "fellow Muslims", was sent to Riyadh(!), then got called back to the US and put on administrative leave. Last I heard, he was under review by the Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility. I've also heard of a translator being put in charge of intercepts relating to a group a spouse belonged to. |
Posted by: Robert Crawford 2003-8-15 12:35:51 PM |