Flutterby™! : FBI goes fishing

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FBI goes fishing

2008-06-03 14:21:27.283807+00 by Dan Lyke 1 comments

Medley takes apart an announcement that the FBI is looking for something to do:

The FBI unveiled a task force yesterday to investigate public corruption and government fraud in Northern Virginia, saying the poor economy and an influx of federal dollars into the region could tempt officials and business owners to take bribes or divert contracting dollars for their own use.

Now I'm the first person to suspect wrongdoing, but the article continues:

"We're not standing here saying that the environment is systemic of corruption," Joseph Persichini Jr., head of the FBI's Washington field office, said at a news conference announcing the initiative. "It's reasonable to believe that if a high amount of dollars are coming into a region, that's opportunity. . . . We believe that every citizen is entitled to ethical public service."

I guess the "war on terror" thing has played out in the list of "things we can scare people with to continue to keep our budgets up"?

[ related topics: Ethics Current Events Law Enforcement ]

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#Comment Re: made: 2008-06-03 17:42:21.27931+00 by: dexev

Radley Balko at http://theagitator.com has this story -- and a possible (hopeful?) explanation for it.