I had many roles in the Bureau, each one preparing me for the next. The people I worked with were amazing professionals, including our friends who worked as prosecutors on the cases we brought. We didn’t always get everything right, but we never used our authority in ways that were abusive or violative of our internal policies.
I don’t recognize today’s Justice Department, and it really saddens me to say that.
FBI agents are trying to adhere to the rules we swore to uphold, but the reality is there are now questions as to how and what cases agents are being directed to investigate.
For example, agents in Minneapolis were directed to investigate and try to find “dirt” on the wife of Renee Good, the woman who was fatally shot by an ICE agent on Jan. 7 in Minneapolis. It was a scapegoating exercise, contrary to what we ordinarily would have done—investigate the shooting jointly in conjunction with state or local officials.
It’s hard to believe how much has changed in such a short time.
One more thing: in all my years of law enforcement, I never wore a mask, obscured my face, or concealed my identity from citizens I was interacting with, even in an adversarial capacity.
Never.
