FBI/DOJ deserve to be "undermined", and Watergate is at fault

[CitizenBBN]

The sudden defense from the Left that questioning the FBI is undermining law enforcement in this country notwithstanding, the FBI deserves to be doubted, questioned, and even investigated and reformed, and the DOJ as well.

This latest failing in Florida is glaring, but far from the only example. At least two reports of this person as a threat to the FBI, plus countless interactions with local law enforcement and social services, and nothing was done. The kid even used his own real name on a youtube post that was reported and apparently the FBI failed to track it down.

But that's just part of it. I know opinions vary, but IMO it's clear the FBI is also highly politicized. The texts that came out from the man basically running the Clinton email investigation and who was on the Mueller team until the texts came out show just how political. Meetings about "backup plans", vitriolic levels of hate for the person they are supposed to work for, etc.

It even goes back to 9/11 and failure to investigate tips then.

Now I'm sure the FBI has also successfully foiled dozens if not hundreds of terror plots and other attacks on US citizens. I'm sure they also have done amazingly good things, and in a nation this big you can't expect them to catch all the issues, all the threats. It's just too much.

But IMO this failure at the FBI goes to their fundamental lack of accountability. They are a bureaucracy like any other, and bureaucracies, both private and public, more often are about careers and internal political expediency than the overall goals of the entity. It's the same for Ford Motor Company as it is for any government agency. You reach that size and rules, regs, careers, etc. all become very powerful.

Prior to Watergate it was a given that the President was the chief LEO of the land, the FBI and DOJ worked for him, and it was his responsibility to see they did their job. But with Watergate that changed, and the idea developed that these agencies needed to be independent of the White House, non-political.

Great idea, but it doesn't work. It's clear the FBI is very political, as is any government agency that needs budget approvals and power.

The problem is, they now don't really answer to anyone. they aren't supposed to answer to the President despite that being the Constitutional structure of things, and they have stonewalled Congressional oversight blatantly and repeatedly for years. Holder as AG refused to turn over ATF documents even after being held in contempt. the FBI and DOJ have stonewalled on the Clinton and Trump matters for more than a year.

They are operating now like the Men in Black, above and beyond the law. The only oversight they seem to have left is the Inspector General's office, which is slow and even they appear to have questions of stonewalling. For example those 5 months of "missing" texts suddenly got found by the IG when the FBI said they were gone. That's good, but is there stuff the FBI is hiding from the IG? With Clinton we know records were outright destroyed so even the IG couldn't get to them.


these agencies are operating without any elected oversight at this point. that can't be good in the long run. You are trusting people to be more than humans can be, and never act in their own interests and be vigilant even when there are no real repercussions for not doing so. After all, that guy Strozk is still getting a paycheck, right? The ATF people involved in Fast and Furious were just reassigned, none of them brought to any kind of justice for their scheme.

So they aren't punished like the rest of us for wrongdoing, they answer only to themselves, and we wonder why they may not be as on the ball as we hope?

The FBI and DOJ need to answer to the President, and the President and his administrative bureaucracy answer to Congressional oversight. If, like in Watergate, those agencies do not act in the interests of the people or the Constitution, then COngress must act through oversight and impeachment. And in fact in Watergate it really worked fine, b/c the President resigned and a dozen people went to jail. In fact it worked better then than it is now with this new notion of independence.

The Founders were far smarter than we are, so let's follow their plan. The President needs to have power over the FBI and DOJ, and then he has to answer politically and legally for failures like the one in Florida.

Right now no one will answer for the failure, which means we are doomed to more.

[Doc]

In their defense, the FBI had that big NCAA basketball recruiting case. It was taking all the resources.