FBI
FBI Says Violent Threats Against Lawmakers Set Record in 2010
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Politics can be a dirty game. It can also be a dangerous one. The FBI reports that lawmakers were the target of more threats of violence in 2010 than in any other year on record, according to The Hill, a Capitol Hill newspaper. Some threats involved health care legislation,…
Time Magazine: How The G-Man Got His Groove Back
“They haven’t done everything perfectly. They’ve made mistakes. By and large, he has moved the FBI in the right direction.” — Glenn A. Fine, former Justice Dept. Inspector General in Time article on Robert Mueller By Barton Gellman Time FBI Director Bob Mueller glanced at the black chronograph he wears Marine-style, the face inside his…
Editorial Urges Portland Police to Rejoin FBI’s JTTF Squad
By The Portland Tribune Editorial PORTLAND, Ore. — In 2005 the Portland City Council voted to pull out of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force – leaving not only Portland, but also the region, with a void of local engagement in investigating and preventing acts of terrorism. That absence should end this week as the…
Judge Rules Against Muslim Groups But Blasts Government
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com There was good news and bad news for Muslim activists who sued to get FBI files on their activities. The bad news was that a federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif., ruled Wednesday that the groups cannot have access to most of the files because of national security issues, the Associated…
Suspected Terrorists Can Still Legally Buy Guns
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — Apparently suspected terrorist have the right to buy guns too. The Associated Press reported that 247 people with suspected terrorism ties bought guns last year in the U.S. after going through the mandatory background check, according to FBI stats. AP reported that it is not illegal to buy guns…
FBI Wash. Field Office Gets Piece of Pentagon Wall From 9/11 Attack
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — FBI agents at the Washington Field Office hardly needed anything to remind them of the devastating aftermath of 9/11, and the plane crash at the Pentagon that killed 184 folks. Nonetheless, it was nice gesture Wednesday when the office was presented with an 800-pound limestone block recovered from the…
FBI Agent Commits Suicide in Maine
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The FBI wasn’t saying much last week about the suicide of an FBI agent, who shot himself in the Portland, Maine area over the weekend of April 24, according to sources. The agent was in his early 50s, one source said. FBI agent Greg Comcowich, a spokesman for the Boston FBI…
IG Report Says Some FBI Agents Lack Skills to Probe Computer Intrusions
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com WASHINGTON — A Justice Department Inspector General report issued Wednesday says a third of the agents it interviewed, who probe national security-related computer intrusions, lacked certain skills to competently do their jobs. Specifically, the report said of the of 36 agents interviewed at 10 field offices, 13 “lacked the networking and…