What 9/11 wrought.
FBI Director Christopher Wray testifies before a House Committee on the Judiciary oversight hearing, Wednesday, July 12, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
Prior to the terrorist attacks of 9/11, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was a traditional law enforcement agency. FBI agents investigated federal crimes and tracked down criminals. The bureau also assisted state and local law enforcement agencies via its training facility in Quantico, Virginia and through its famous crime laboratory.
At the top of the FBI’s list of priorities was organized crime – a reflection of its coming of age concurrent with the emergence of the mafia during prohibition.
Notably not on the FBI’s list of priorities was counter terrorism. That changed on 9/11. Robert Mueller (yes, the Robert Mueller whose name appears on the bogus Russian collusion investigation that dogged the presidency of Donald Trump for nearly three years) had been on the job as FBI Director for only a week when 9/11 happened.
The recriminations following that dark day led President George W. Bush to ask Mueller what the FBI was going to do to prevent the next 9/11-scale attack.
That question, together with the hurried passage of the Patriot Act just six weeks after 9/11, set in motion a chain of events that transformed the FBI from a federal law enforcement agency into a national security agency – accompanied by sweeping new powers.
Those who were of age on 9/11 and were shocked by its viciousness (including present company), went along with the Patriot Act and all it entailed without protest. Americans wanted a guarantee that such a horror wouldn’t happen again
But what has happened since exposes that acquiescence as a grievous error, while revalidating the maxim that power corrupts while absolute power corrupts absolutely.
The FBI – with the aid of its equally corrupt parent, the Department of Justice – has become a government unto itself, unaccountable to the Executive Branch under which it falls and utterly beyond any citizen sanction via the ballot box.
The FBI, once arguably the most admired federal agency, now reeks of partisan malfeasance. Armed with the fearsome powers of surveillance that the bureau acquired following 9/11, the FBI has nearly unlimited power to protect those whom it favors while destroying those that it does not.
Among the powers the FBI has arrogated to itself is the discretion to determine on its own who should be president. Thus the 2016 persecution of Donald Trump for made-up crimes, concurrent with the blind eye turned toward the actual crimes of Hillary Clinton.
The irredeemable state of the FBI was evident Wednesday as director Christopher Wray bobbed, weaved, dissembled and smirked before a congressional committee asking him direct questions about the Trump-Russia hoax, the de facto censoring of protected free speech via social media, the pass given Hillary Clinton on clear criminal misconduct and the calculated dithering on investigation of Biden family bribery and tax evasion.
Two conclusions emerge.
The first is that government with the power to guarantee safety has the power to enslave.
The second is that profound reform of the FBI – up to and including dismantling it and starting over – should be very much on the table.
I 100% concur with your column!!! Every American Citizen of good will should contact their Congressional Representatives and Senators in DC and demand action! Never has the FBI been so corrupted as now, as it has been PROVEN, it attacked a sitting PRESIDENT of THE UNITED STATES.. Donald J. Trump, without any cause or legal merit whatsoever! Biden is the guilty one, NOT Trump!
Your words Mr. Gleiser, are spot on. Anyone who watched Mr. Wray, on Capitol Hill as he stonewalled, dodged, obfuscated, and LIED, to the very honest, civil, straightforward questions put to him –his responses thoroughly sickened me and was difficult to view.
https://rumble.com/v2zma2u-matt-gaetz-reads-christopher-wray-bidens-shakedown-message-wrays-answer-is-.html
Anyone such as this LIAR, at a minimum, must be fired and/or impeached from his office as he has violated his OATH to The Constitution.. ultimately “We The People.” We the AMERICAN People are Wray’s boss and Congress has a Constitutional charge to oversee ALL bureaucratic agencies, and as such, CONGRESS as our representatives are ABOVE the authority of the FBI, and all other “created” agencies.
I implore all Citizens to make the phone lines, fax lines, and email inboxes, figuratively “melt down” voicing your demand for ACTION to correct this “off the rails” agency, which if The Founders were alive today, would have “already been demolished” for its VERY DESTRUCTIVE behavior toward the very Citizens it is sworn to protect. That said, I do not condemn the “lowest level Line Agents,” BUT THE UPPER ECHELON MUST BE JETTISONED as it is UTTERLY OUT OF CONTROL! And EVERY AMERICAN Citizen who cherishes our CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC knows it
Save The United States of America — TRUMP 2024.
The Democrats have followed the plan to take control of the country perfectly so far. If we expect to stop them then we had better get started! I hate hearing how Soros-funded blah blah blah is not doing right. Corporations, unions, and lobbies don’t have a vote they shouldn’t be able to buy a politician. They REALLY shouldn’t be able to buy someone we don’t elect, like DA’s! Politicians shouldn’t be able to profit from their vote like they do now. History shows that once the corruption and greed passes a certain point the empire is doomed. We better hurry!
Paul, your two conclusions are on target. Most of the rank-and-file FBI personnel are almost certainly good people, but those at the top are driven by totalitarian instincts. So long as such people remain in power, we run the risk of their brown shirt and jackboot mentality progressively seeping down into the lower ranks until the FBI becomes the KGB. Richard and Darrell are correct as are you. If we fail to act and fail to do so swiftly, we will lose this nation’s hard bought freedom, and if we lose it, we will likely lose it forever, given the power of technology in the hands of evil people.
Mr. Gleiser, your last two posts, 1) The Train of Abuses, 2) A Win for the First Amendment, and now, 3) What 9/11 Wrought, are some of most eloquent, brilliant, educational, and intellectually correct opinion articles you have ever posted on “You Tell Me Texas”. Furthermore, the comments from the contributors are right on target.
It is difficult for me to wake up every morning and realize that our Nation has been under covert siege by an anti-American sect of Sociopathic Overlords that are determined to overturn the fundamental foundations of Liberty and Justice that are enshrined in our Constitution that we have enjoyed for over 200 years. The thought that we may be witnessing the demise of our Republic within a few years is frightening, as the Globalist/Marxist forces expand their reign of terror to this country from around the dictatorial world. It is now plainly obvious that when the First Amendment is openly decimated by these Overlords, that their claim for “truth” (on any subject or policy) to counter Conservative opposition based on well established fact, becomes the Prime Evidence that we need that their “truth” is a blatant LIE designed to promote their EVIL deception and goal for enslavement of the American population.
The following is a list of 11 common traits of these Sociopathic Overlords that you might recognize from the following link:
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/sociopath-personality-disorder/
1) Not understanding the difference between right and wrong.
2) Not respecting the feelings and emotions of others.
3) Constant lying or deception.
4) Being callous.
5) Difficulty recognizing emotion.
6) Manipulation.
7) Arrogance.
8) Violating the rights of others through dishonest actions.
9) Impulsiveness.
10) Risk-taking.
11) Difficulty appreciating the negative aspects of their behavior.
The clue that this is happening is when they speak with a global voice of the same FAKE science to inflict suffering on their victims in order to create panicky dependency on their FAKE offer of salvation and relief by exchanging God with the overwhelming presence of the dictatorial regime at hand.