The new director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation said he will make all new agents visit the memorial to Martin Luther King Jr., in order to remind them “of the dangers in becoming untethered to oversight and accountability.’’ James Comey announced the new practice in a speech Monday at his formal installation as the seventh head of the FBI. The ceremony was held in the courtyard of FBI headquarters.
In the 1990s, then-FBI Director Louis Freeh ordered that all new agents would visit the Holocaust Memorial Museum, in order to see what can happen when government power is abused.
Mr. Comey is expanding that tradition and adding to it by ordering new agents to visit the King memorial. The directive comes at a time of heightened concern about government snooping on its citizens, after a series of disclosures from former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The FBI’s relationship with Rev. King is one of the ugliest blemishes on its record. According to the bureau’s own review, conducted in the 1970s, agents working at the behest of then-Director J. Edgar Hoover ran a wide-ranging effort not just to spy on the civil rights leader, but undermine him.
That review concluded in 1977 that Rev. King was “the target of an intensive campaign by the FBI to neutralize him as an effective civil rights leader.’’ One FBI official concluded the bureau had conducted a secret war against Rev. King, in which “no holds were barred.’’
The new edict from Mr. Comey, however, will have no practical effect for the near future because there has not been a class at the FBI Academy at Quantico this year, and there isn’t another one planned for the foreseeable future, due to budget constraints from sequestration, the across-the-board spending cuts that went into effect last year. In fact, Mr. Comey expects to have to furlough all of his employees for about 10 days this year if changes aren’t made to that law.
President Barack Obama used the ceremony for Mr. Comey to regale the crowd with a story from Mr. Comey’s days in New York as a young prosecutor.
While prosecuting an alleged mafia hit man named Lorenzo, Mr. Comey happened to win an award from the local bar association. The next day in court, he got a handwritten note that read: “Congratulations on your award. No one deserves it more than you. You’re a true professional. Sincerely, Lorenzo.’’
The president added, “Now, we don’t know how sincere he was. We don’t know whether this was a veiled threat, or a plea for leniency, or an honest compliment. But I think it is fair to say that Jim has won the respect of folks across the spectrum – including Lorenzo.’’
Poster Comment:
Today's FBI would never work to undermine activists for civil liberties, now would they?
