A Serious and Growing Threat To The Safety And Security of America

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was established and implemented by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908. In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover became the Director of the Justice Department Bureau of Investigation. At its inception, it was created to investigate federal crimes, and was called the Bureau of Investigation until 1935 when it became the FBI we know today. 

The FBI’s mission is to maintain and defend national security, both domestically and internationally. Its priorities can be assigned as follows: Protect the United States from terrorist attacks, foreign intelligence operations, cybercriminal activity, public corruption, transnational criminal activity, to protect the civil rights of the American people, and to pursue white-collar and violent crime. 

In past writings, I have discussed a major problem the military has encountered over the last several years in achieving its recruitment goal. It has been discovered that this situation is not only challenging the military, but appears to be endemic in other government agencies. This begs the question, of just how far this dire situation has spread. We now know it has infected another government agency, the FBI. 

An alliance of former veteran and still active FBI agents, who prefer to remain anonymous, has recently issued a report to the House Judiciary Committee. The document paints a dismal picture of the agency's practices and recruitment requirements. Standards have been lowered, and requisite abilities and skills required to qualify for acceptance into the FBI are sacrificed for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI). 

The FBI’s guiding principles of protecting the American people and upholding the Constitution are threatened. According to the report, Director of the FBI Christopher Wray introduced the DEI agenda into the bureau’s hiring practices. This has created a lower-quality hiring program that has revealed new recruits, in areas such as physical fitness, illicit drug use, financial irregularities, mental health issues, and work experience prior to the FBI, fall short of what once were established standards.

Incidents are reflected in the report that reveal there are now FBI personnel who are unqualified and could present a danger due to their questionable life choices and substandard talents. Following are several incidents documented by agents in supervisory positions.

* Supervisor agent disqualified a black female applicant who could not pass the physical fitness test. She was more than 50 lbs. over the weight limit according to the FBI’s body-fat index. Headquarters ordered she be pushed through regardless of her failed test results, due to relaxed standards. The agent also stated that a high percentage of candidates fail the mandatory physical fitness test.

* Supervisor agent reported the drug policy for new agents has been liberalized to include agents who have had a lifestyle of drug use.

* Supervisor agent reports a candidate was arrested and fought with a police officer, but was accepted. The agent also stated that candidates with offenses including driving under the influence, lying during the entry process, and having documented mental illness are accepted.

* Supervisor Agent disqualified a special agent candidate because the individual's only past work experience was working two years as a barrister, and having a bachelor’s degree in history. Headquarters ordered the candidate be pushed through.

These are but a select few of the numerous inadequacies of recruits that appear on the report. It also mentions: 

* New agents disappear during the day, go home early, and never want to work late for after-hour operations.

* Some veteran agents have stated that they do not trust most new agents with their lives, due to their incompetence, tactical inabilities, and work ethic.

* Some recruits require remedial English classes; they are incapable of writing a basic cogent report and fail at proper punctuation, capitalization, and sentence structure.

Usually, I will conclude an article with what will hopefully add to its impact, and perhaps drive home the message of the issue discussed. But this time and because of the seriousness and dangers posed by this dilemma, in both the military and now the FBI, I’ll end with three words - GOD HELP US!