![]() intrusive investigations targeted at persons without any suspicion of illegal activity or threats to national security. Modifications to guidelines governing the FBI’s domestic operations in 2008 gave it the leeway to perform “assessment,” i.e. In addition to the questionable profiling performed under its “Domain Management” programs, there’s plenty of waste to be found in other intelligence gathering/investigative programs. ![]() Why not eliminate some programs that rank high on the busywork scale but low on actual results? Bonus: fewer civil liberties violations and their attendant lawsuits. Shouldn’t studios be paying the FBI for its expertise and facilities, rather than allowing taxpayers to pick up the tab? Just something to consider, Comey.Īfter Comey’s first statements on the agency’s budget woes, the ACLU made some suggestions of its own. This $1.5 million expenditure isn’t much more than a couple of atoms of the drop in the bucket, considering the agency’s $8 billion budget, but it seems to be set up in the most ingratiatingly backwards way. For no apparent reason other than the possibility of rubbing elbows with stars, the FBI funds a “Hollywood division” that provides consultation and free use of FBI facilities to TV and movie producers. The FBI, like millions of people around the world, is easily flattered. As the FBI is a department of the DOJ, it would probably benefit from some belt-tightening further up the ladder. The DOJ has plenty of questionable expenditures, including the overuse of private jets and a love for expensive conferences, both of which resulted in $61 million of arguably wasted funds. Before he gets to the point of handing out pink slips, he may want to take a look at some areas where money’s being wasted. Comey claims a loss of projected cut of $800 million (from a budget of $8.1 billion) will result in the slashing of 3,600 jobs. But this lack of headline-grabbing waste scandals does not mean the FBI is necessarily running a tight ship. ![]() The FBI, unlike many, many other government agencies (including the DOJ, which oversees it), has had very few budget fiascoes. “I’m happy to have a discussion with anyone who thinks I have too many people or too many resources,” Comey said. New agent classes at a bureau compound in Quantico, Virginia, stopped within the past few months, he said. With a new government fiscal year set to begin October 1 and Congress not close to passing a budget, “the couch has been turned upside-down,” he said…Ĭomey said he was considering a furlough of 10 days or more for each of the FBI’s 36,000 employees. The FBI during Mueller’s final year made its budget by “looking through the couch cushions,” Comey said. This CBS report claims this is the “first time” Comey’s spoken publicly about the FBI’s money problem, but Reuters quotes him as speaking to “major news outlets” about the same issue back in September, shortly after he took office. “I’m required to cut 3,500 positions, to cut my operations to the bone, to do things like ration gas money and to stare at the prospect of sending my folks home for an extended period,” FBI Director James Comey said. The generally accepted practice has been to roll out surveillance programs quickly, with little in the way of oversight or privacy protections, and deal with the fallout later.Īs I expressed in the previous post, I was concerned if this would change following appearances by James Comey, the new director of the FBI, and Attorney General Eric Holder, neither of which have a history of prioritizing Americans’ civil liberties.Ĭomey has made his appearance, but rather than attempt to “calm” the suddenly rational voices of law enforcement, he took this opportunity to complain about the FBI’s budget woes, something he’s done pretty much nonstop since he took the position.Īt a time when FBI agents play a larger role than ever fighting violent crime and terrorism, they are facing potentially devastating cuts because of congressional budget slashing. This sort of caution and concern has sadly been missing up until now. The currently ongoing International Association of Chiefs of Police has, so far, seen law enforcement officials exhibit a new found wariness of rolling out invasive surveillance technology in the wake of the NSA leaks.
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