Saturday, June 01, 2002

Here is Peggy Noonan's take on the post 9/11 FBI scandal. After fifteen years as a prosecutor working in local law enforcement, I am not surprised by any of this. Colleen Rowley's statement that "Certain facts . . . have . . . been omitted, downplayed, glossed over and/or mis-characterized in an effort to avoid or minimize personal and/or institutional embarrassment on the part of the FBI and/or perhaps even for improper political reasons." unfortunately does not describe an isolated incident so much as an institutional culture. Despite the efforts of many fine individual agents, the Bureau is legendary in the law enforcement community for its arrogance, and all too often, its incompetence.