Abolish the FBI – WSJ

Ask yourself: In what way, in anyone s memory, has the FBI covered itself in glory? The Larry Nassar case, in which it failed to pursue a serial abuser of teenage gymnasts? The Noor Salman case, in which it trumped up a failed prosecution of the innocent and abused wife of the Orlando nightclub shooter? The Hatfill case, in which it attempted to railroad an innocent scientist over the 2001 anthrax attacks?

Ironically, Hollywood is now the FBI s biggest devotee because the agency s screw-ups are fodder for its best movies. The FBI s role in the assassination of Black Panther Fred Hampton was the subject of Judas and the Black Messiah. Its persecution of an innocent security guard in the Atlanta Olympics bombing was the theme of Richard Jewell. Its cosseting of the criminal psychopath Whitey Bulger was a central pillar of the Johnny Depp film Black Mass.

The FBI s last extended run of good publicity, aimed at helping live down the smell of J. Edgar Hoover, came more than 50 years ago thanks to Efrem Zimbalist Jr. and his weekly show on ABC, The F.B.I., which went off the air in 1974.

By now, after its performance in the 2016 election, the evidence might seem conclusive that the agency is a failed experiment, however able and dedicated many of its agents.

Its culture at the top seems incapable of using the powers entrusted to it with discretion and good judgment or at least without reliable expectation of embarrassment. The agency should be scrapped and something new built to replace it. One possibility is a national investigative corps that would be more directly answerable to the 93 U.S. attorneys who are charged with enforcing federal law in the 50 states.

via www.wsj.com

Holman Jenkins.