Many Americans are rightfully outraged at the firing of FBI Director James Comey, just as they were shocked at Comeys ability to influence political events. But what can we do about it?
A political movement should do more than just react to the days events with outrage, although thats important. It should also offer the vision of a better world.
Donald Trump will nominate the next FBI director. Barring something unexpected, his nominee will almost certainly be approved. But that doesnt mean the rest of us are powerless. We have the power to imagine a nation run on principles of economic and social justice. We can create a vision so compelling that it brings new people into politics, encourages more activism, and compels our political leaders to fight for it.
That vision can, and should, include the FBI.
Special Agents Force
The idea of a progressive FBI may seem strange, even preposterous, given that agencys real-world history. But, as explained inpart 1of this two-part series, the Bureau was created along progressive principles in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt and Attorney General Charles Bonaparte.
Its initial work was progressive, too. The original agency, which was then called the Special Agents Force, concentrated on investigating banking crimes, violations of antitrust law, peonage, which included debt servitude and misuse of prison labor, and land fraud. It also investigated people seeking citizenship.
That changed first, with the passage of the racist-inspired Mann Act, then with the political abuses and misdeeds of long-term director J. Edgar Hoover, and lastly with the political shifts of recent years.
Mission Creep
Today, the Bureau sees its mission in very different terms. The FBIswebsitelists its priorities in the following order: protect the United States from terrorist attack, stop foreign intelligence operations and espionage, end cyber-based attacks and high-technology crimes, fight public corruption at all levels, protect civil rights, combat transnational and other criminal organizations, fight white-collar crime, and combat major violent crime.
While all these objectives are worthwhile, its a telling list. Protecting civil rights is more than halfway down the list. Fighting organized crime the mission that made the FBI famous is near the bottom. White-collar crime, a category that includesthe massive bank fraud that cost the economy trillions of dollars and once put41 million American mortgages underwater, is second to last.
Fighting Discrimination
Imagine an FBI whose priorities more closely reflected its progressive roots. An FBI that cared more about civil rights would make it a priority to end discriminatory law enforcement practices. According to a study by the Department of Justice, black motorists were three times likelier than whites to be searched during a traffic stop. During encounters with police, African Americans were twice as likely to be arrested and almost four times as likely to experience the use of force. Once in the court system, black defendants were six times as likely to be imprisoned.
Hanging over all these encounters is the risk of violent death.
In 1892, even before the Special Agents Force was created, police chiefs around the country created the Criminal Investigation Bureau as a central repository for information on criminals. It, too, was eventually folded into the FBI. Why isnt the FBI using its data management function to track the fatal police shootings of black men, women, and children around the country?
White Collars, White Terror
If our law enforcement system made it a priority to fight organized crime, it would pay more attention to the Wall Street bankers at institutions who laundered money for the Mexican drug cartels. They went free, while kids on the corner went to jail.
And, speaking of white-collar crime: why isnt the FBI doing more to support the work of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which has uncovered many cases of banker fraud, referred cases for criminal investigation, and returned $12 billions to ripped-off bank customers?
With the FBIs emphasis on terrorism, why hasnt more been done to combat the white sovereign citizens groups, militia/patriot groups, racist skinheads and neo-Nazis law enforcement officersnamedas the greatest terror threats? Why hasnt it done more to protect the Muslims, Jews, Sikhs, and other minorities targeted by these terrorists?
Republicansapplied political pressureto protect these groups from investigation, to their great discredit, but the FBI needs a leader who will resist that kind of pressure.
Looking for Leadership
FBI agents have a tough job. They deserve respect and appreciation, as all hard-working people do. The problem isnt with the rank-and-file. Its a problem of leadership: political leadership the kind that is so conspicuously absent among the Republicans who protect violent white groups and leadership of the Bureau itself.
So, who should run the FBI? Few of us are likely to be happy with Trumps nominee. That would be ideal nominee look like? Given the number of violent crimes committed against women in this society, it would be especially helpful to have a woman lead the Bureau for the first time in history. And since people of color are disproportionately targeted by Wall Street criminals, violent criminals, and civil rights offenders, it would also be important to choose a person of color.
Many FBI agents are attorneys, as well as highly-trained law enforcement professionals. It would be helpful to have a leader who is familiar with bank fraud, discriminatory banking and real estate practices, and domestic violence.
Most of all, the ideal FBI director will understand that she serves all the people without fear or favor, unafraid of taking on special interests, and unwilling to repeat past abuses of power.
This is not a new vision for the FBI. It dates back to the goals laid out for it by Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, expanded to include society as we understand it today. This isnt utopian thinking. The institutions of government can help all of us pursuejustice. But first, we need to demand it.
Richard (RJ) Eskow is a blogger and writer, a former Wall Street executive, a consultant, and a former musician.
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What Progressives Should Demand from the FBI | Alternet - AlterNet