Why bad guys don't get caught

Agent assails FBI bureaucracy

The FBI agent who criticized agency leaders for their intelligence efforts before Sept. 11 told senators Thursday that the bureau was afflicted by careerism, timidity and bureaucratic bloat. Minneapolis agent Coleen Rowley also told the Senate Judiciary Committee that to prevent future terrorist attacks, agents needed to overcome "roadblocks" imposed by a stringent reading of a 1978 law that makes it difficult to get search warrants to investigate suspects.

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The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 imposes restrictions on the FBI when it investigates foreign operatives in the United States, requiring agents to apply to a special court for search warrants.

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Convincing a judge that there is "probable cause" to justify a search warrant has become "unduly difficult" under the law, [Coleen] Rowley told the senators.

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Questioned by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. on whether fear of being accused of racial profiling was inhibiting agents from investigating suspects, Rowley said race, ethnicity and religion should not be used as the sole reason for investigating a person.

But, she said, "logic and common sense" required that a suspect’s nationality or ethnicity be considered as one factor that might connect the person to a crime.

What I find so dismaying is that clearly the bureaucracy failed, utterly, totally, and completely. Yet the proposed "solution" is, argh, more bureaucracy!