Sad to report, this is not a comedy.
WASHINGTON -- The Justice Department is investigating whether FBI agents involved in espionage and terrorism cases may have moonlighted by forming private companies and using informants and subjects of inquiries to benefit their personal business.
The allegations, according to court documents, include charges that the private companies of agents and intelligence figures were involved in business deals in China and the Middle East about the same time the FBI was investigating Chinese efforts to acquire sensitive technology.
...FBI agents generally are prohibited from moonlighting in second jobs without special permission, and they are subjected to regular background checks for irregularities. One question the inspector general is examining is whether private companies originally were fronts used by the FBI in undercover investigations and then were taken over by agents as they neared retirement, officials said.
Via the blogfather.
And nobody at the bureau saw that this was a gaping counterintelligence vulnerability? That these "front" companies might be doing business with Chinese and Saudi "front" businesses? That information may be exchanged which should be secret? That personal relationships may form which create blind spots to potential threats?
I can see the value of having FBI agents "moonlighting" for private businesses while they can really be doing highly secret work. But this strategy is so risky that the Bureau would have to be very brave or downright stupid to try it. Given that this is the same agency that refused to believe it could have a mole in its ranks for 10 years, I'm prepared to chalk this up to stupidity.
Meanwhile, the people who are supposed to be providing adult supervision here are throwing tantrums about the "disclosure" of the name of a secret agent who was, in fact, neither secret nor an agent. Between ignoring real scandals and whining about made-up ones, I frankly do not know how we manage to keep terrorists at bay.
Posted by Thief at October 3, 2003 01:20 PM