We all know that over the last five and a half years, our current federal administration has devoted a tremendous amount of resources to the “War on Terror”. Intelligence agencies have been realigned. Wars are being fought. Torture is tolerated in secret prisons worldwide. Legal protections fundamental to American society have been trampled. All in the name of making everyday life safer for the average middle class, SUV-driving American suburbite.
But are we treating a cold by letting cancer run amok?
Five-and-a-half years later, the White House and the Justice Department have failed to replace at least 2,400 agents transferred to counterterrorism squads, leaving far fewer agents on the trail of identity thieves, con artists, hatemongers and other criminals.
Two successive attorneys general have rejected the FBI’s pleas for reinforcements behind closed doors.
While there hasn’t been a terrorism strike on American soil since the realignment, few are aware of the hidden cost: a dramatic plunge in FBI investigations and case referrals in many of the crimes that the bureau has traditionally fought, including sophisticated fraud, embezzlement schemes and civil rights violations.
“Politically, this trade-off has been accepted,” said Charles Mandigo, a former FBI congressional liaison who retired four years ago as special agent in charge in Seattle. “But do the American people know this trade-off has been made?”
Long and short: by transforming the FBI into a counterterrorism bureau, the Bush administration has dramatically - shockingly, outrageously - reduced its ability to fulfill its primary job, combating domestic crime.
Just read this serious bit of reporting from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer - the somber, true story of how federal law enforcement has been utterly gutted by the War on Terror, leaving the doors wide open to risk-free white collar and organized crime in America.
