Ulrich Boser

By Ulrich Boser
The Open Case
WASHINGTON — I received an email earlier today from the FBI press office hailing their computer forensics labs.

“A domestic terrorist. A kidnapper. A corrupt politician. An identity thief. These are just of a few of those brought to justice with the help of our Regional Computer Forensics Laboratories,” reads the breathless prose. But if you read the text closely, you wonder what sort of technology the FBI is actually using to catch criminals.

First, there’s the lead picture. Take a close look. While it’s hard to tell for sure, it looks like the FBI agent is examining a computer from the early 1990s. Is that really the type of machine that they analyze on a regular basis?

More importantly, there’s the data on their forensics work over the past year, and according to the FBI, their team examined more than 10,000 floppy disks. That’s remarkable. I mean I haven’t even seen a floppy in five years.

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Ulrich Boser is founder of the website The Open Case

And author of the Book The Gardner Heist

If true, this could prove to be a little embarrassing for the FBI. One question would be: How would a jury view these allegations?

Hal Turner/msnbc photo

By KATIE NELSON
Associated Press Writer
HARTFORD, Conn. – A New Jersey blogger facing charges in two states for allegedly making threats against lawmakers and judges had training from the FBI on how to be deliberately provocative, his attorney said Tuesday.
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Hal Turner worked for the FBI from 2002 to 2007 as an “agent provocateur” and was taught by the agency “what he could say that wouldn’t be crossing the line,” defense attorney Michael Orozco said.

“His job was basically to publish information which would cause other parties to act in a manner which would lead to their arrest,” Orozco said.

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John Miller/fbi photo

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — John Miller, the chief FBI spokesman who enjoyed the confidence of FBI Director Robert Mueller III, announced Tuesday that he is stepping down to join the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, according to people familiar with his situation.

Miller, a former anchor and reporter for ABC News, announced that he was stepping down at a meeting at headquarters Tuesday morning. He is expected to leave the bureau at the end of September to become assistant deputy director of intelligence analysis for the Office of Director of National Intelligence.

In 2003, after leaving ABC, Miller became chief of the Los Angeles Police Department Counter-Terrorism and Criminal Intelligence Bureau. In August 2005, he became the FBI’s first non agent to head up the public affairs office.

In 1994, he served as New York Police Department deputy commissioner and was the chief spokesman. He did not immediately return a phone call for comment

Miller was known as a colorful and powerful personality, who had plenty friends, but also some critics. On the upside, he had the confidence of the director, his opinion was valued at headquarters and according to one person, he contributed far beyond the media job, helping the FBI evolve as a counter-intelligence and counter-terrorism agency.

But there were critics within the FBI, some who thought he was too much of a “wannabe” who tried too hard to act like an agent.

It’s not everyday a ranking FBI agent’s mother is involved in a major crime. Fortunately for FBI agent Vadim Thomas, he did not follow in his mother’s footsteps. She pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in White Plains, N.Y.  on Aug. 7.

By Jerry Capeci
Gang Land News
In a case tinged with irony, intrigue and tragedy, the mother of a top FBI organized crime supervisor pleaded guilty last week to swindling investors out of $4.5 million through several bogus global recycling companies she ran with her late husband, Gang Land has learned.

Milana Murcia – who allegedly funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars in stolen funds to her daughter, but gave none to her FBI agent son – agreed to a plea deal that calls for a maximum of five years instead of the 20 years she would have faced if convicted at trial. No other Murcia relatives have been charged, and sources say the investigation is over.

Last year, when agents moved quickly to arrest Murcia and her husband Phillippe (above, right) to shut down their schemes even before the investigation was concluded, FBI honchos in Washington called the arrests one of the “FBI’s Top Ten News Stories” of the week.

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Read U.S. Atty. Press Release

The FBI is investigating the Minneapolis police beating of a 42-year-old motorist Derryl Jenkins in February, according to media reports on Monday. The incident was captured on video.

Quotas open the door for people to question motives of law enforcement. Are agents just making arrests to fill quotas?

John Morton/ice photo

John Morton, who took over as head of the federal agency in May, said during a meeting with reporters in Los Angeles that the program needs to do what it was created to do — target absconders who have already had their day in court.

“The fugitive operations program needs to focus first and foremost on people who have knowingly flouted an immigration removal order and within that category obviously we will focus first on criminals,” he said.

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By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com
WASHINGTON — You have to wonder what part of “no guns at airports” do people not understand?

The Transportation Security Administration continues to seize guns at our nation’s airports every week.

The latest: From Aug. 10 to Aug. 16, TSA reported that 34 firearms were found at airport checkpoints.

On top of that, seven passengers were arrested for suspicious behavior or fraudulent travel documents and there were 18 incidents involving a check point closure, terminal evacuation or sterile area breach, the TSA said.

When you run as a law and order guy, when the issues are public corruption in New Jersey, every little bit of news like this hurts.

Christopher Christie

By DAVID M. HALBFINGER
New York Times

In 2007, while he was New Jersey’s ranking federal prosecutor, Christopher J. Christie – now the Republican candidate for governor – lent one of his top aides $46,000. But he failed to report the loan as required under federal and state ethics rules.

The aide, Michele A. Brown, borrowed the money from Mr. Christie while he was United States attorney for New Jersey and she was his executive assistant and counsel, according to mortgage records in Morris County, N.J.

Ms. Brown was promoted to first assistant United States attorney after Mr. Christie resigned last December to begin his campaign for governor.

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