Bad (domestic) Intelligence

Let me begin by saying that from this article we just can't know the whole story, but it certainly sounds bad for the FBI. For those of you that haven't been around this blog before I've posted on both Eco-terrorism (here, here, and here) and Intelligence operations (here). I have also presented a background piece on Eco-terrorism in the U.S. that discusses the philosophy of the environmental and animal liberation movements and traces their development and tactics over the years. If you're more interested in Intelligence then I have a paper for you as well that discusses intelligence operations in the private sector.

Since these topics are near and dear to me let's discuss this a little. The FBI arrested the wrong person, released him, and will be paying for their mistake. There must be more to the argument, because it's generally rare that damages are paid when the wrong person is arrested. Why it sounds as though they may not have had probable cause. So how then did they decide that this was the right person to apprehend? I generally do not criticize law enforcement if I wasn't right there (I dislike those that tend to second-guess my efforts without realizing they weren't there); however this doesn't seem to be a decision that had to be made in the heat of the moment - so why the mistake?

It looks like the error was with bad intelligence or at least a poor interpretation of the available intelligence. Concerns from civil liberties groups over the Patriot Act and domestic intelligence gathering have been on-going for many years. These concerns predate the Patriot Act with the COINTEL (Counter-Intelligence) activities of the FBI from years past. We in the U.S. do not take too kindly to being spied on by our own government; however it is necessary whether we like it or not. Another recent episode in this matter deals with the Denver PD intelligence files which were found to have a couple of serious flaws. First they were never purged - that's right files were maintained for indefinite periods of time, and second they information on activities that are protected under the first amendment - things like legal protests.

One may have thought that an important lesson was learned from the COINTEL days... Maintaining extensive dossiers is inefficient and often counter-productive. I know from a very limited experiment. These files are cumbersome, time-consuming, and just don't provide much predictive information. Sure you feel like you 'know' your target, but you really don't know them. Anyway, it appears that a decision may have been made based on a similar "belief of knowledge."

So the FBI screwed up. Is there a threat posed by the Eco and animal liberators? Absolutely. Read my paper on the movement. The important thing to remember is that each new generation builds their beliefs where the last generation left off. What this means is that the Sierra Club wanted to preserve park land, but today's Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front want to restore the world to how it looked before the industrial revolution. While I find it intriguing to consider a time when we lived in greater harmony with the environment, I recognize that without excess agricultural capacity and the ability to store and preserve this excess we would be living one year to the next - just like the real old days. Regardless of my own beliefs on environmental impact, I find the use of violence, or the threat of violence, to reach one's goals to be reprehensible, and worthy of our efforts to defeat it. Will mistakes be made? No doubt. Should remuneration be made? When it is appropriate. Why?

To answer that we need to consider the writings of Carlos Marighella's Mini-Manual of the Urban Guerilla." While avoiding a discussion on why his techniques ultimately fail, it is important to understand one very important concept. The insurgents act against the government only. The government, being unable to discern between guerilla and general population, cracks down on the general population. This in turn drives support to the insurgent movement. Rinse and repeat! Eventually the government's oppressive actions destroy their legitimacy with the population. So will mistakes be made? Yes. Should the government try to make those wrongfully caught up in the process whole again? Yes. We as a population must not forget that the target is, and must always be, those that use violence or the threat of violence to attempt to achieve their goals.

Thanks for persevering to the end.