By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The FBI is not using planes for mass spying, Director James Comey said at a congressional hearing, the Detroit Free Press reports. 

Comey was addressing concerns of residents, especially in Dearborn, Mich., where a small FBI plane has been spotted flying over the heavily Muslim community.

“We do not use planes for mass surveillance,” Comey said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing.

Rep. John Conyers, D-Detroit, said Dearborn residents are suspicious.

“Many citizens feel reason to distrust the FBI because of their religious or ethnic background,” Conyers said when asking about the planes.

J. Edgar Hoover

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

Saying J. Edgar Hoover stomped on the civil rights of Americans, a congressman has introduced a bill to remove the former FBI director’s name from the bureau’s headquarters building, WREG Memphis reports. 

Congressman Steve Cohen said Hoover’s poor treatment of African Americans, gay people and others is reason enough to remove the name.

“The civil rights we enjoy today are in spite of J. Edgar Hoover, not because of him. Yet, his name adorns one of the most prominent buildings in our nation’s capital and one that houses one of the agencies of government responsible for justice,” Cohen said. “Given his well-documented abuses and prejudices towards African Americans, gays, and lesbians, I believe it is past time to remove his name from this place of honor.”

He added: “His efforts to silence Dr. King and out homosexuals working for the government were deplorable and a stain on our nation’s history and on the FBI,” he added.

Eight other members of Congress are sponsoring the bill.

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

While DEA agents were under investigation for allegedly attending prostitute sex parties funded by Columbian drug cartels, they received thousands of dollars in bonuses, The Daily Mail reports. 

Half of the agents under investigation received up to $32,000 in bonuses.

Even worse, the regional director who failed to report the parties received a $68,000 bonus in May 2013.

The Justice Department made the discoveries.

The bonuses appear to violate a DEA policy that bars bonuses to employees in the three years following disciplinary actions for “significant misconduct.”

“Today’s Inspector General report raises serious concerns about the disciplinary process at the Drug Enforcement Administration,” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said. “Not only did the agents involved in sexual misconduct outlined in a previous report escape appropriate punishment, the majority of them received bonuses or other work perks.”

By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com

The Laredo Section of the Border Patrol officially has a new leader.

The Laredo Morning News reports that Chief Patrol Agent Mario Martinez was sworn in during a special ceremony.

Martinez, a 26-year veteran of the agency, will oversee a 171-mile stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border and 1,800 agents and support staff.

“I am honored to lead the men and women of the Laredo Sector Border Patrol. I look forward to working with our law enforcement partners to integrate operations that are beneficial to the community in which we serve,” Martinez said.

Martinez most recently worked at the Detroit Sector, where he was the chief patrol agent.

Other Stories of Interest

• FBI Launches Hate Crime Investigation After Man Attacks Muslim Woman
• FBI File Full of Concerns about How Hitchcock Portrayed Bureau
• Two Secret Service Agents Criticized for Sleeping at Their Posts
• Ex-FBI Agent Criticizes Fairbanks Police Interrogation Tactics
• ATF Continues to Investigate Fire That Killed Two Kansas City Firefighters