SBM
Sadly, on occasion, the FBI does act like bumbling idiots. Steven Hatfill, Richard Jewell, Wen Ho Lee, Paul Bernardo and Karla Homolka, are all examples of the FBI getting things so wrong that they won multi-million dollar settlements in compensation or further innocent lives were lost (the FBI's assistance to Canada in the Bernardo/Homolka case is downright embarrassing to read) due to FBI incompetence.
Investigative tunnel vision is a very real danger and very difficult to spot when it is happening.
Let's not forget Brandon Mayfield.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/11/29/mayfield.suit/index.html
[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brandon_Mayfield[/ame]
On May 6, 2004, the FBI arrested Mayfield as a material witness in connection with the Madrid attacks, and held him for over two weeks. Mayfield was never charged, and an FBI internal review later acknowledged serious errors in their investigation. Ensuing lawsuits have resulted in a formal apology from the U.S. government and a $2 million settlement.
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A bag containing detonating devices, found by Spanish authorities following the Madrid commuter train bombings, had fingerprints that were initially identified by the FBI as belonging to Mayfield ("100% verified"). According to the court documents in judge Ann Aiken's decision, this information was largely "fabricated and concocted by the FBI and DOJ". When the FBI finally sent Mayfield's fingerprints to the Spanish authorities, they contested the matching of the fingerprints from Brandon Mayfield to the ones associated with the Madrid bombing. Further, the Spanish authorities informed the FBI they had other suspects who were Moroccan immigrants in the case who were not linked to anyone in the USA.
The FBI completely disregarded all of the information from the Spanish authorities, and proceeded to spy on Mayfield and his family further.
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The FBI arrested Mayfield at his offices in West Slope, an unincorporated suburb of Portland. The arrest was similar to the then-recent Mike Hawash case,
under a material witness warrant rather than under charge; he was held with no access to family and limited access, if any, to legal counsel.
The FBI initially refused to inform either Mayfield or his family why he was being arrested or where he was being held.
Later, the FBI leaked the nature of the charges to the local media and the family discovered what the charges were by watching the local news. He was at first held at a Multnomah County jail under a false name; he was later transferred to an unidentified location.
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On November 29, 2006, the U.S. government settled part of the lawsuit with Mayfield for a reported $2 million. The government issued a formal apology to Mayfield as part of the settlement. The settlement allowed Mayfield to pursue a legal challenge against the Patriot Act. The FBI was also cleared of wrongdoing in an earlier internal investigation.
On September 26, 2007, two provisions of the U.S. Patriot Act were declared unconstitutional. Finding in Mayfield's favor, Judge Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, "now permits the executive branch of government to conduct surveillance and searches of American citizens without satisfying the probable cause requirements of the Fourth Amendment," which violates the Constitution of the United States. The Federal government has appealed that ruling, and Mayfield's attorney, Elden Rosenthal, argued in front of the Ninth Circuit court on February 5, 2009.
The ruling was overturned.
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Yay PATRIOT act!
Scary, isn't it.