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The Problem Isn’t the Appearance of Bias; It’s the Reality of Bias
FBI Director Wray’s attempt at assuring the public that he will respond effectively to the IG report had the opposite effect on me.
He pledges to train employees to avoid even the appearance of bias. Who thinks this is a solution, given that the reality of bias that’s been exposed? Would the problem have been avoided if employees like Strzok and Page had been better trained to avoid the appearance of bias? Suppose they had—thanks to good training—refrained from sharing their views in texts and emails? No doubt that would have saved the FBI public embarrassment, but would it have prevented the wrongs the report uncovered from happening? Would the actual effects of their favoritism toward Hilary and animus toward Trump have been averted? (I like Andy McCarthy’s characterization: Kid gloves in the one case and scorched earth in the other.) No.
I’d rather he’d pledge to purge the FBI of employees who exhibit bias. I rather he say the kind of political motivation on display in IG report will no longer be tolerated in its employees. I rather he pledged to institute policies that would make it practically impossible for his agency to become so dominated by employees of one political stripe that bias is inevitable. For instance, how about trying to make sure than any team investigating a politician is duly balanced in terms of political affiliation?
I get that there are good reasons for not considering political affiliation in hiring. But when it becomes apparent that the not-considering has led to a grotesque one-sidedness, some kind of remedial measures are surely in order.
I’m open to suggestions.
Published in General
That’s right. It’s Jerry Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy* in action. Worse, there was affirmative action for “Progressives” under the Clintons. W was more irenically bipartisan, which slowed the rot but didn’t stop it, and then… Obama. So deliberately hired Leftists are probably the biggest single bloc on the federal payroll. Then there is the payroll in rent seeking companies, plus the recipients of federal entitlements. Some of these people are ideologically “progressive;” others will favor big government out of economic self interest.
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* Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy states that “in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people”:
First, there will be those who are devoted to the goals of the organization. Examples are dedicated classroom teachers in an educational bureaucracy, many of the engineers and launch technicians and scientists at NASA, even some agricultural scientists and advisors in the former Soviet Union collective farming administration.
Secondly, there will be those dedicated to the organization itself. Examples are many of the administrators in the education system, many professors of education, many teachers union officials, much of the NASA headquarters staff, etc.
The Iron Law states that in every case the second group will gain and keep control of the organization. It will write the rules, and control promotions within the organization.
The FBI is *supposed* to report to a bi-partisan group of Congress regularly to prevent partisan investigations. That Comey forgot/neglected to do so is more evidence of the rot that needs to be purged. The FBI needs more than Wray’s memo to staff. It needs people who acted with less than ideal effort to be re-assigned to Nome or given career ending reviews. The staff will respond appropriately.
That part is the nature of political and bureaucratic institutions; the problem is a.) they have an overwhelming partisan bias, b.) they identify with each other as comrades rather than competitors (so no checks and balances), and c.) there is no transparency or accountability to the voters.
I’ve read somewhere recently about a recent (last 10-15 years…sorry I can’t remember the name) director of the FBI whose policy was that you either made it to the top office in DC within a rather short period of your career (five years??) or you were out-a-there. That seems like a way to lose most of your experienced people in the field. It also seems like a way to develop a whole agency of sycophants who do what the boss says–Yes Sir! When you keep just hiring the new young guys, won’t that lead to group think? Doesn’t that mean that you get people at the top who only know how it is “today” and have no experience and understanding that comes from doing a job for a long time?
It’s a budget problem, people. When a government is as big as ours, it’s also powerful and it’s sooner or later going to be abusive. That’s not going to change as long as Congress keeps spending like it has been.
You shouldn’t have had high expectations for this one. The IG is the government equivalent to a Human Resources department. Nobody was ever going to go to jail based on this report. This has been the problem with Trump boosters throughout this whole process – They work themselves into a frenzy expecting that this time we’ll find the smoking gun that’ll bring the whole “soft coup” crashing down, and then when something more realistic comes out they’re convinced that it’s just the “Deep State” protecting its own. They’re no different from the anti-Trumpers in this sense.
Russia didn’t steal the election, and the FBI isn’t trying to undo it. Both sides have lost their minds here.
Pretty sure that when it comes to this, the cynicism is widespread. The swamp creatures will never be punished. Retirements with awesome benefits for everyone.
Your comment sounds focused on the government bureaucracy and those holding elected office as the ‘Deep State’. Don’t forget all the lobbying and other legal-based work windfalls that are also a big part of the ‘Deep State’ apparatus. The money is even bigger there. And many of the former elected and politically appointed bureaucrats join that part.
Yes, the nomenklatura. Its members are beholden to the Central Committee of the UniParty. And vice versa.
Your telephone carrier has a record of every text you send. They can be subpoenaed .