Judiciary Committee Hearing - FBI - May 2, 2006

"FBI Oversight - Senate Judiciary Committee

Some interesting testimony and confrontation between the Senate and the FBI, regarding the FBI's performance of its duties. As usual, the testimony of the hearings is not yet available, except for opening statements. The link above will take one to all of those resources.

This NYT Article, "Senators Question F.B.I. Director," opens with " The head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Robert S. Mueller III, came under sharp questioning from senators of both parties today on matters ranging from slow progress in intelligence sharing to an attempt to search the files of the late newspaper columnist Jack Anderson." I'd say that's a fair characterization.

Numerous subjects were covered in the hearing. Senator Grassley's opening statement is illustrative, covering the culture at the FBI, as well as it's organization (or disorganization). Senator Grassley's statement closed with ...

The FBI's culture limits its potential for success by putting too much emphasis on protecting its own jurisdictional turf, protecting management from allegations of misconduct, and protecting individual careers. Instead, the FBI should be focusing more on protecting the American people. We've been calling for changes in the FBI for long enough. I hope that we are going to start seeing some results.