Will Filegate Bring Down the FBI?

by J. Orlin Grabbe

The White House "Big Brother" data base was downloaded from White House computers and turned over to the Special Prosecutor, Kenneth Starr. Contained within the data base is a record of all FBI files requested by the White House.

After the White House and FBI initially reported that 300+ files were requested (a "snafu", Clinton explained), I reported that the FBI couldn't count, since there were 900+ that I knew about. Now the New York Times and other media regularly refer to "900 FBI files" as having been requested by the White House for "background security checks".

As Gary Aldrich points out in his book Unlimited Access, the White House never cooperated with respect to security checks on its own chosen staff employees. But Filegate shows the White House regularly used FBI data to target political enemies, and the Billy Dale trial shows the FBI was itself used to harass long-standing employees not appointed by the Clintons.

Now, according to the Big Brother data base, the TOTAL NUMBER OF REQUESTED FBI FILES IS 2044 OR 2046. THIS IS ABOUT 1145 MORE FBI FILES THAN PREVIOUSLY REPORTED.

The FBI's own computer, meanwhile, contains a record of who delivered each requested file to the White House. These records show wide-spread complicity on the part of FBI agents eager to suck up to the White House in violation of laws regulating the use of FBI information.

"This could bring down the FBI," one FBI agent was heard to lament. If so, would anyone shed any tears?

At Waco the FBI used a tank, sharpshooters, and incendiary devices to kill and burn more than eighty law-abiding men, women and children. (By contrast, when the local sheriff wanted to talk to Koresh about a weapons violation, he simply called David on the phone and asked him to drive into town.) At Ruby Ridge, the brave FBI shot Vicki Weaver because she was carrying a loaded baby. The Weavers were also lawabiding American citizens. Currently, the FBI has known from day one that TWA Flight 800 was shot down by a ground to air missile, but have been lying through their teeth with respect to the evidence.

Finally, the FBI is not a chartered organization. What this means is that "FBI" agents are, at best, employees of the Justice Department. There is no law against lying to the Justice Department (after all, they do the prosecutions, so there cannot be). Many people are in jail for lying to the FBI, who shouldn't be there. (I know a lawyer who specializes in these cases.)

In addition, as agents working for a non-chartered organization that is bigger than its chartered parent, FBI agents are--under Federal law--not entitled to benefits or a pension.

Will hundred of FBI agents be transferring to other agencies? Will the FBI disappear as an organization? If so, good-bye and good riddance.

August 19, 1996
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