The dominant purpose of the First Amendment was to prohibit the widespread practice of government suppression of embarrassing information. (Justice William O. Douglas)Within the law enforcement and intelligence community, the FBI has a pervasively unprofessional and amateurish reputation. It isn’t any wonder, then, that this whole thing is fast becoming an embarrassment for them. The very institution that is tasked with protecting this country from enemies foreign and domestic is turning out to be a second rate organization driven by self-interest, consumed by moral decay and ill-equipped for today’s challenges.
My mind is still reeling in disbelief from what the FBI’s Chief of Counter-Intelligence William Sullivan said about to their investigation of Martin Luther King Jr. He said that “No holds were barred” and that they used the same techniques against Soviet spies and intelligence operatives. In his own defense, MLK was a Baptist Minister and didn’t know the first thing about intelligence work or tradecraft, much less be able to protect against it. That’s comparable to the "Army Green Berets" squaring off against the "Boy Scouts". Unfortunately, that really isn't an isolated incident. It was just that there were enough unanswered questions that required a Senate investigation in the ‘70s. My own modest research and discovery efforts have, thus far, uncovered instances where the FBI used intelligence techniques meant for spies on regular Americans - lawyers, accountants, celebrities, musicians, entrepreneurs and in the case of MLK, religious leaders. Many of whom have no knowledge that they were subjects of an FBI investigation. And most are still asking why they have suffered such horrendous setbacks in their lives not knowing they were victims of the FBI’s disruptive technologies.
Something deep inside me wants to believe there are many more professionals working at the FBI than there are “morons”. There really isn’t any other way to describe them. So, the task of making this information available came with great apprehension which led me to a path of responsible disclosure. Statutes that prohibit exposing information about the FBI follow a common theme - to protect FBI agents and their families from harm; to keep secure sensitive national security information; to ensure other individuals are not deprived their rights; to prevent from making public law enforcement and counter-intelligence techniques etc. The challenge is in retelling the FBI’s misadventures as I experienced it without compromising their safety or giving away their law enforcement techniques. Considering they are supposed to be protecting the public, you can see why I find that laughable.
So, I have taken incredible lengths to protect the identities of the agents that I have encountered. Many of whom are decent individuals who are clearly being led very poorly. However, as a citizen I had to balance it with my responsibility of keeping my government accountable - to me and to the public at large. As you read my stories, it will prompt you to ask a number of questions:
Are we really that safe from enemies foreign and domestic?
Considering the incredible capacity for injury, are we safe from the FBI?
So, here’s fair warning: In the continuing "MLK Series" and the other disclosures which I will call "The FBI Misadventures", names and certain facts have been slightly altered to protect the perpetrators (not the innocent). As much as I wanted to name names, I am still a Patriot and will let the legal system sort this out at the upcoming trial - Lacambra v. FBI et al.
