AMERICA MUST RESTORE CHECKS, BALANCES & ACCOUNTABILITY IN OUR DOJ-FBI & GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS
The DOJ is the top of America's prosecutorial pyramid with near absolute power. There is no counter balancing institution or agency capable of prosecuting upper echelon DOJ personnel.
A federal or national domestic law enforcement agency is essential for any nation to maintain an orderly society. For any free nation to exist, it is essential that their federal domestic law enforcement agencies & officials strictly and without wavering adhere to the rule of law. That is no longer happening in America.
Over 20 FBI agents have come to congressional senators & representatives as whistleblowers about the political weaponization/corruption of the FBI & other federal agencies. In spite of the DOJ-FBI & other agencies committing multiple felonies, creating and submitting fraudulent FISA warrants, Brady violations, altering/destroying documents and evidence in addition to ignoring the crimes of others via their custom and practice of selective enforcement, so far there are have been no meaningful consequences or regulatory actions!
The axiom that “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” applies to the current status of our DOJ-FBI specifically and to many of our federal government agencies generally. It’s also true that the amount of corruption that exists, and the abuse of power that occurs, is directly proportional to the amount of unchecked and unanswerable power possessed.
The DOJ is the top of America's prosecutorial pyramid. There is no counter balancing institution or agency capable of prosecuting upper echelon DOJ personnel. In terms of criminal prosecutorial authority, upper echelon DOJ-FBI officials answer to no one. Unless the DOJ appoints a special counsel to investigate itself, with the authority to indict and prosecute, no one can arrest or prosecute upper echelon DOJ-FBI officials! The Inspector General has limitted investigative authority and has no grand jury power, no subpoena power and no prosecutorial power. The IG can recommend prosecution but if the DOJ officials decide NOT to prosecute themselves or whoever was referred, as is the norm, nothing can be done! The IG can report that "Yes, we found criminal violations" and the DOJ can say to the nation, “we disagree” and there's nothing anyone can do about it!" Congress can hold hearings under the guise of "oversight" but that's about it. No one has the power to prosecute and impose meaningful prosecutorial criminal penalties or consequences. THE DOJ IS THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID with near unfettered and almost absolute power.
The House Judicial Committee or some other appropriate committee or entity should form a task force or an independent panel comprised of law enforcement professionals, prosecutors, & govt. watchdog professionals who are 100% free of any & all political conflicts of interest with their focus on restoring checks, balances & accountability by restructuring the federal criminal justice organizational chart & restoring America as a “Rule of Law” nation.
This task force, panel or committee should consider a number of actions including but by no means limitted to:
SOLUTIONS TO RESTORE HONOR, INTEGRITY, TRUST & ACCOUNTABILITY AT THE DOJ-FBI & OUR FEDERAL INSTITUTIONS!
1. Establish an Office of Federal Oversight Investigative Services to replace the Inspector General’s office. This office must be separate from the DOJ, possess equal power to our existing DOJ, & possess the power to empanel a grand jury, issue subpoenas & to investigate & prosecute govt. officials, govt. employees & civilians conspiring with or enabling govt. officials, agents or employees to violate the constitution or federal laws.
2. Do NOT renew Section 702 of the FISA Act as it is currently written. While the ability to conduct warrantless foreign surveillance is essential, Section 702 must be amended to criminalize abuse and to create solid protections for American citizens to ensure their constitutional rights are protected. The continued abuses that have occurred must be stopped.
3. Restructuring the criminal justice organizational chart of the federal govt. to establish systematic checks & balances within America’s criminal justice & intelligence agencies.
4. Enact mandatory criminal penalties for executive branch employees, inclusive of all agencies within the executive branch, operatives, contractors, sub-contractors or anyone acting on their behalf for violations of any federal law, rule, or regulation. This will require some thought and consideration because we don’t want to criminalize an honest mistake but we do want to criminalize intentional breaches resulting in an abuse of discretionary authority or violations of constitutionally protected civil rights.
5. Return to the de-centralized Office of Origin system where in one or several field offices controlled an investigation, liaising & delegating as necessary based on applicable leads, evidence & circumstances with Auxiliary Offices without interference from the administrative office in D.C.
6. Politicians running for or occupying elected offices should be neither protected, targeted nor receive special treatment of any type at any time. Politicians are citizens – no more nor any less. An essential element included in this policy change is that all investigative & prosecutorial decisions must be made by Special Agents in Charge (SACs) in the Office of Origin & the U.S. Attorney with appropriate district jurisdiction UNLESS any of those personnel have a conflict of interest. When a conflict of interest exists, the case must be transferred to another district where no conflicts of interest exist. DOJ-FBI headquarters personnel should NOT be involved in this decision process. This conflict-of-interest policy should apply to all federal govt. investigative & prosecutorial decisions for all purposes.
7. The immunities provided to federal agents as individuals & to the federal govt. as a whole need to be limitted. All federal agents must have qualified immunity, as do almost all municipal law enforcement officers; however, the broadened federal immunities must be reduced or eliminated.
8. Legislation mandating arrests & prosecutions for certain offenses when probable cause has been established that any person or persons violated the elements of those offenses needs to be enacted much in the same way that many states have passed legislation mandating arrests in domestic violence cases & eliminating the discretionary powers of the investigating & arresting officers.
9. Enact legislation prohibiting the DOJ, DOJ agencies & all federal agencies & employees from contacting, directly or indirectly pressuring or influencing social media venues or any other venue except for criminal investigative purposes directly related to criminal offenses. Each violation of this legislation should be considered a class E felony for each count or offense at a minimum.
10. Enact legislation prohibiting any & all efforts to control, influence, enhance or suppress news or public information, either directly or indirectly, or via any private sector person, corporation or venue. All violations of this legislation should be considered a class E felony for each count or offense at a minimum.
11. Amend 18 U.S. Code § 1001 to require that making a false statement must be made with the intent to deceive for the purpose of committing a crime or aiding & abetting others as part of a criminal conspiracy. As the law stands, the FBI has abused the intent of the law & prosecuted people based on subjective judgements in addition to obviously applying double standards.
12. The 1993 Hatch Act amendments allowing federal employees to participate in political campaigns must be rescinded. The conflicts of interest created by these amendments constitutes one of the primary reasons many of America’s citizens have lost all trust & confidence in many of our federal institutions.
13. Enact administrative rules & regulations mirroring all of the aforementioned legislative recommendations creating administrative punishments allowing for offending personnel to be fired, demoted, stripped of benefits, suspended, lose security clearances & permanently forbidden federal employment.
We commonly think of an organized criminal enterprise, such as the mafia or a criminal cartel, as being comprised by people who employ violence against those failing to comply with or opposing their agenda. Unlike those criminal enterprises, our DOJ, the IRS, the intelligence agencies & other govt. organizations utilize near unfettered power to bankrupt & destroy the quality of life of those who fail to comply with or oppose their agenda through stress inducing audits, investigations, & prosecutions often based on pretextual or manufactured information. On January 4, 2017, even leftist democrat NY Senator Chuck Schumer said as much when he stated to Rachel Maddow as a warning to then President-elect Trump, “Let me tell you, you take on the intelligence community, they have six ways from Sunday to get back at you. So, even for a practical, supposedly hard-nosed businessman, he is being really dumb to do this.” In other words, Schumer was saying, “Don’t piss off the govt. or the govt. will bring you down!”
America was the first nation on earth formed with the concept of being ruled by its people, its free people, rather than by its govt. or elite establishment rulers! If the original concept of our founding fathers is going to continue, we must re-establish an effective & meaningful system of checks, balances & accountability.