Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again Mr. Hoover

By Roy D. Follendore III

May 30, 2002

Well here we go again Mr. Hoover. You can roll over in your grave now with the latest knee jerk reaction. As everyone should know, when J. Edgar Hoover ran the FBI he used his position to spy on everyone, including the Presidents of the United States. Hoover's administration went from 1924 until 1972 or 48 years. He and his sense of ethics was responsible for the McCarthy era, which was a blight on all Americans. It is amazing that few people remember the historical fact that Hoover came into such power during the days when gangsters like Al Capon were threatening to terrorize the streets of America. Bootleg alcohol during prohibition made the money for these gangsters but it was the newspapers and radio that made it seem that there was a gangster with a machine gun around every corner. Fear gave Hoover the power and fear to speak out kept Hoover in power. No one, not even the press crossed Hoover because he could drop a folder with your name on it on your bosses desk. Even if you didn't do anything wrong, that fact made little difference. Hoover could make it seem as though you did by the way that he slanted the investigations.

Now, thirty years after J. Egar's death, the "investigative rules" that my generation put into place to prevent another Hoover are being abandoned. Once again the FBI is being turned loose to investigate Americans, wherever and whenever without criminal justification. It seems that after all of these years America has not learned a thing. It is obvious that September 11th is being used as an excuse to undermine the liberties of the American people. Instead of simply getting their act together and eliminating the unprofessional dead head management and military methods of the FBI responsible for law enforcement and civil rights abuse at Waco and Ruby Ridge, they chose to cover up and completely ignore legitimate terrorist investigations. And it wasn't as though they didn't know something was coming. Instead of using the information that their own agents were franticly pushing forward, the same mob of big cheese FBI managers took what they thought was the political easy way out and allowed the most serious breach of national security to take place since Pearl Harbor. It does not take a genius to see that giving cowboy executives more power is crazy.

Giving the FBI the mandate to investigate every nook and corner like Hoover did will increase the number of reports that come into the analysis process, but it will not increase the effectiveness of the FBI to put 2 plus 2 together and act appropriately. It is more likely that this new investigative power will open up more "reds under beds" just as in the 1950's. Once again we can expect fresh schools of red herrings delivered directly to the American political table. What the FBI needs is not a "relaxation of the investigative rules" but better internal management and Congressional oversight!

Giving a group of people tremendously more power in response to royally screwing up simply does not make sense. Where are you Congress? We the American people are waiting on you to step up to the plate and make some sense out of this crap. Just remember, the Presidential election was about even. You guys in Capital Hill have the wrong impression if you think that the voters are not going to be affected.

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