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JOHNSON: How to Fix the FBI

Dear President Trump:

Before you can fix the FBI, you must understand how it was broken. Three things destroyed the FBI: 9-11, DEI, the Swamp.

Before 9-11, “FBI” stood for the Federal Bureau of INVESTIGATION. After 9-11, it stands for the Federal Bureau of INTELLIGENCE. Director Robert Mueller became convinced that the FBI had to become more like the CIA [Central Intelligence Agency].

Before 9-11, FBIHQ was all about supporting the investigators. Headquarters management were all former investigators. The CIA on the other hand, is run by analysts, not their few street operators. Mueller made the FBI more like the CIA. Mueller brought in people directly from the CIA and other venues as analysts.

He brought in attorneys from outside law firms. In 1986, there were only three assistant directors. All had some street experience. There are currently upwards to 20 deputy directors, assistant directors, and executive assistant directors. Several have no investigative experience at all. This is especially true in the ever-expanding and very liberal legal unit.

Remember it was the legal unit that blocked field agents and their field counsel from obtaining a search warrant for the laptop of one of the 9-11 terrorists prior to the attack. The famous Lisa Page and Kevin Clinesmith, of the Russian Hoax, are examples of the very left-wing legal unit.

Taking out the management, and leaving the legal unit intact, would be a grave error. A few street agents have a theory that the FBI is now a wholly owned subsidiary of the CIA and like the CIA, analysts are running the show. It seems logical for conspiracy theorists that the agency who subvert overseas elections would be able to subvert United States elections by using a bureau that operates here.

Other, even more paranoid employees, whisper that Mueller himself could be a victim of a CIA dirty trick. His rambling testimony after the Russian-Trump investigation made it plain to many he played no part in running that inquiry. Although I never met him, there were many rumors while he was still director that described his mental state similar to Hitler at the very end of WW II, “moving imaginary armies,” because nobody dared to tell him the truth. Could it be that someone took advantage of his impairment to tailor the FBI to their liking? Whether it was Mueller or his handlers, after 9-11 the FBI’s mission changed from its original role to becoming a domestic CIA.

Before DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] was a “thing” the FBI, like most law enforcement agencies, was desperate to hire woman and minorities. During my 29-year career, they lowered standards several times in “doomed to fail” attempts to make the FBI more diverse.

The fact that women make up half the country does not mean the FBI can recruit half its agents from women. It is not the patriarchy that makes many women less interested in law enforcement careers than men. Setting arbitrary numbers does not work, as the Secret Service found out when it tried to set a 20 percent quota of women.

Further, lowering standards to get all of the few that do apply hired does not help the qualified female and minority applicants. In fact, you hurt them, because other employees view them with suspicion.

The FBI not only lowered physical fitness and shooting requirements, it reduced background requirements to allow, among other things, amazing amounts of past drug use.

African Americans make up 13 percent of the population.  How many have college degrees in law or accounting? How many are interested in law enforcement? Then of those, how many can pass the physical fitness and background test? Enforcing an arbitrary number for hiring goals is a recipe for destroying the meritocracy of any organization.

The Swamp. Although the FBI is better than most agencies at rotating its management back to the field, there are quite a few agents that go to D.C. and stay there the rest of their career.  Without beating a dead horse, they become more and more liberal, trying to fit in with their surroundings both at work and in their neighborhoods filled with other government workers.

Just like in our universities, people who toe the party line seem to get promoted until there are no other points of view allowed. Also, the support personnel working at HQ represent the local population which is almost all Democrats. I strongly support the idea of moving the headquarters of the different government agencies to different parts of the country. I see no other way to break up the ruling class unibrow mindset.

Otherwise, the swamp dwellers will hunker down and wait until MAGA blows over.