Written by: Steven Thompson
Freedom From The Press
Public Corruption, according to the FBI website, “It’s #4 in our top 10 list of investigative priorities—following counter terrorism, espionage, and cyber.†The report we’re quoting from was provided by Supervisory Special Agent Dan O’Brien and was published on 06/20/2005.
After reading the report, what really had me scratching my head was this question and Dan O’Brien’s answer.
Q: What are you doing to stop public corruption?
Dan: “Plenty. We’ve got a strong national program with agents in place around the nation dedicated to the issue. In our investigations, we use every tool we’ve got—our cyber capabilities, our surveillance skills, our ability to track financial dealings around the world. Last year, we opened over 900 cases, which led to over 650 convictions or guilty pleas. We’re also proactive. We’ve got analysts specifically trained to uncover corruption, and our agents always have an eye out for new and evolving angles. We’ve got a new initiative to identify DMV employees nationwide who issue fraudulent IDs for bribes and kickbacks. And we’re working with state governments to identify fraud and ways to prevent it.†To read the entire report, click here.
Here’s the rub. According to William K. Black, a former director for fraud prevention, federal bank board regulator and current professor of economics and law at University of Missouri, Kansas City and, U.S. Rep. Marci Kaptur of Ohio, the FBI transferred hundreds of agents to combat terrorism thus neglecting the balance of the FBI’s duties during this time frame. Read More→







