It’s been painful to see the FBI I served with pride for over 24 years be transformed into a political weapon by idealogues and anti-Trump partisans. Now the FBI faces the prospect of a new director who has a mandate to dramatically change how the FBI exercises the powers entrusted to it. The challenge is to dramatically overhaul the FBI without destroying this once venerated institution.
In 2013 BC (Before Comey) the FBI enjoyed the full confidence of Americans because it focused on the core mission and stayed out of politics. FBI agents dismantled violent gangs such as MS-13, splintered the powerful Colombian and Mexican drug cartels and virtually eliminated almost two dozen mafia families. The BC FBI captured global terrorists and disrupted the espionage activities of foreign intelligence services.
According to a Rasmussen poll, 64% of our citizens believe the FBI has been weaponized. The FBI simply cannot be effective without the support of the American public. Former FBI Director Chris Wray, who resigned on Wednesday, missed opportunities to right the ship. He will probably be replaced by President-elect Trump’s choice of Kash Patel. The new FBI leadership team must regain the public’s trust and restore the concept of an FBI bereft of politics.
Much of the FBI’s good will was squandered by its blatantly political investigation of the Trump campaign and its flagrant abuse of four FISA wiretaps on a Trump campaign operative based on an opposition research ‘dossier’ commissioned by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. High-level FBI officials directing the investigation texted each other about their ability to ‘smell Trump supporters;’ communicated intentions to ‘stop’ Trump and spoke of executing on a purported FBI ‘insurance policy’ against Trump taking office. The FBI leadership team set up an outrageously deceitful briefing of an incoming Cabinet member, respected Army Gen. Mike Flynn, that resulted in his entrapment.
Compare two different FBI cases focused on so-called ‘foreign interference with an election.’ When allegations surfaced in 2015 that the Russians were attempting to influence the Trump campaign, the FBI promptly initiated an investigation, but incredibly it was not focused on the Russian operatives. Instead, they levied their most Draconian powers on Trump campaign officials.
The FBI infiltrated the campaign with informants, initiated four FISA wiretaps on a Trump campaign aide based on the trashy Clinton dossier and targeted Trump appointees and advisors for criminal prosecution. Media leaks by FBI executives were ubiquitous.
In 2024, when the Iranians were caught systematically hacking various Trump communications and feeding them to the Biden campaign, the FBI was conspicuously silent.
In 1982, as a young attorney, I joined the FBI to make a difference. There are thousands of skilled and dedicated FBI employees who joined for the same reason. They are starving for new leadership.
Contrast the reluctant investigation of the Clinton email fiasco and the genteel inquiry into Joe Biden’s reckless storage of classified government documents in the garage of his Delaware vacation home with the FBI’s aggressive predawn military raid on the private Mar-a-Lago residence of former President Trump and his later indictment by a zealous, but ultimately unconstitutional, Special Counsel. The BC FBI would never have abused its powers by conducting such an unnecessary intrusion into the private residence of a presidential candidate at the behest of his political opponent’s prosecutors.
The FBI conducted a similar military style raid on pro-Life activist Mark Houck, who was later acquitted by a jury. They scorched the Earth to identify and arrest many January 6 protesters, who, at worst, trespassed on the grounds.
Yet in the 2020 riots, Antifa and BLM perpetrated hundreds of arson attacks on government buildings and police vehicles, destroyed small businesses and took over entire city blocks. They assaulted police and obstructed public facilities, shutting down important government services. A Portland, Oregon, police station was attacked and abandoned to the rioters to avoid a bloodbath. These offenses against public order were either ignored or charges were dismissed. The FBI was conspicuously AWOL.
The FBI constantly warns about right-wing extremists and has opened thousands of such cases, but its hands-off the left-wing groups such as the destructive and sometimes violent Antifa, which they describe as ‘just a movement.’
One of the greatest embarrassments was the FBI’s lackluster investigation of the Biden family influence-peddling/money laundering scheme and backing the lie that the Hunter Biden laptop was ‘Russian disinformation.’ In the BC FBI the movement of millions of dollars in illicit funds through dozens of offshore shell corporations for the implied or explicit rendering of special services to dubious characters working on behalf of foreign enemies and operatives would have triggered an exhaustive investigation with no stone unturned. In a stunning abuse of its powers, the FBI influenced the powerful social media companies to censor any postings that challenged their Russian disinformation narrative.
Yet the FBI must be salvaged. The country needs a federal law enforcement/ intelligence agency that is formidable and sets the standard for excellence. Four years of open borders has facilitated the entry of terror cells capable of inflicting multiple mass terror attacks such that perpetrated against the Israelis. Over 30,000 young Chinese males have illegally entered our country via a network of Chinese-funded safe houses. Many are intelligence operatives dispatched to steal critical technology and state secrets. South American gangs are terrorizing entire neighborhoods. Mexican drug cartels have become the richest and most powerful criminal enterprises in the world. We need an FBI that is up to the task of urgently addressing these threats.
The incoming leadership team should thoughtfully overhaul the FBI and drain the FBI swamp created by 10 years of partisan influence without doing irreparable harm. That is what the American people expect and deserve.