Call a Cop Series
150 FBI Agents Investigating Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton
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Ron Martinelli, Ph.D.
Forensic Criminologist/Police Expert
Copyright © 01-28-16
In the wake of FBI Director James Comey’s recent disclosure that the Federal Bureau of Investigations has agents assigned to the investigation of approximately 1,000 suspected ISIS terrorists within the United States, we now learn that the U.S. Department of Justice has just assigned an additional 150 FBI agents to two separate criminal investigations involving Presidential candidate and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
One of the FBI investigations relates to Clinton’s alleged unlawful use of her personal email server and possible breaches of national security that may have compromised the safety of our country and active covert field agents. The second investigation involves alleged criminal conflicts of interest and wrongdoing while Mrs. Clinton was Secretary of State; large monetary donations given to the former President and Secretary’s “Clinton Foundation;” and significant multi-million dollar government contracts allegedly awarded to some of the Clinton Foundation donors.
As a former law enforcement officer who has occasionally worked with the FBI on at least one covert investigation, let me assure you that the assignment of 150 FBI special agents to any investigation is not only a very serious matter, but a significant allocation of skilled manpower at a time when the Bureau’s director James Comey has already acknowledged that the Bureau is already critically low on field agents needed to investigate approximately 1,000 open cases of suspected ISIS terrorists in the U.S. alone.
It is important to note that 150 FBI agents have been assigned to investigate the actions of one central figure, Mrs. Clinton, who coincidentally happens to be running for the Presidency. So let me try to put this significant allotment of FBI agents and their investigations into perspective and context by discussing what the Bureau itself has admitted they know and don’t know about the pressing threat posed by ISIS terrorists.
On February 11, 2015, FBI Director Comey held a press conference where he warned that the Bureau’s caseload of suspected ISIS terrorists already in the U. S. had exploded to more than 900 investigations being conducted in all 50 states. Comey’s statements were made before the Paris, France and San Bernardino, CA ISIS mass murder incidents. The FBI Director has since admitted that his agency is now involved in at least 1,000 active ISIS investigations throughout the nation. The FBI has identified national “hotspots” as the New York-New Jersey, Chicago, Detroit, Cleveland and Minneapolis areas.
FBI Director Comey has stated that the Bureau’s current U.S. born ISIS terrorist investigations caseload, “is overwhelming the FBI’s capacity to conduct surveillance and disrupt terrorist plots.”
It is important to note that the 1,000 open investigations do not include the 66 Muslim men and women suspects around the country who have already been arrested and charged with alleged ISIS terrorist activities since 2014. In fact, Director Comey acknowledges that the paradigm has changed with respect to how ISIS terrorists now operate with their asymmetrical terrorist warfare against us. He states, “One part of the change is ISIL now urging (Their) people not to travel, but to stay and kill (Americans) where you are.” To this new threat, Comey admits, “We (the FBI) are not exactly sure what’s going on.” Now that’s a scary truth to hear.
Earlier in 2015, the FBI shifted hundreds of its agents from their criminal division to address the new ISIS threat due to their concerns that the terrorist organization had significantly enhanced their Internet recruiting efforts in America. After a short period, the Bureau returned some of its agents back to the Criminal Division. However, following the Paris and San Bernardino attacks, the FBI once again began formulating manpower allocation plans to add more agents to its 1,000 open and active U.S. ISIS terrorist investigations.
Operationally, the FBI relies heavily on sting operations to identify and trap potential and active terrorists; and to identify potential terrorist targets. The Bureau also networks with other Federal and local law enforcement agencies using the “task force” concept of intelligence gathering and manpower allocation. FBI squads referred to as Mobile Surveillance Teams or MSTs follow suspected terrorists and radicalized followers 24/7 in hopes of thwarting a terrorist plot. As anyone can imagine, this preemptive enforcement strategy is time, labor and manpower intensive.
Republican Sen. Dan Coats, who sits on the Select Committee on Intelligence, states that “around the clock tracking of suspected terrorists is a major component of the FBI’s (enforcement strategy).” Sen. Coats states, “The FBI together with law enforcement agencies across the country are engaged in this. It takes enormous amounts of manpower to do this on a 24-7 basis. It takes enormous amounts of money to do this.” According to Senator Coats, at least a dozen FBI agents are assigned to every suspected terrorist investigation. He describes the FBI’s efforts to investigate and surveil suspected terrorists and radicalized followers as an overwhelming drain on resources. Are you doing the agent manpower math yet?
When one considers how many FBI agents are necessary to conduct and monitor even one pair of active or suspected terrorists like the San Bernardino ISIS couple; or the small terrorist cell that attacked Paris; it is not difficult to extrapolate that literally thousands of FBI special agents would be required to actively investigate 1,000 suspected terrorist cases across the country.
When one considers that currently there are approximately 15,000 Special Agents employed by the FBI, and thousands of those are assigned internationally; it isn’t difficult to figure out that thousands more agents would have to be assigned domestically to investigate 1,000 open cases involving thousands of suspected ISIS terrorists and radicalized followers and supporters. So do you think the Bureau is severely understaffed already to properly address the domestic ISIS threat? You bet they are!
Now my point – So at this critical time where our nation and its people are exposed to the very real and pressing threat of an already demonstrated ISIS threat from within; the FBI now has to reassign 150 special agents to investigate Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for alleged serious and possible criminal misdeeds while she was Secretary of State? And this fact is getting very little traction during this election cycle? Say what?!
All partisan politics aside; Americans should be asking themselves what type of person or Presidential candidate acts in such a way as to cause our Justice Department to have to pull 150 FBI agents from their assignments of protecting us from a growing domestic terrorism threat; not to mention other common hard core criminals – and then reassign them to investigate anyone running for this nation’s highest office?
Next, Americans should ask themselves what type of candidate acts like nothing is wrong, and then selfishly continues to run for that office while Americans are exposed to a growing terrorist and criminal threat.
If I can’t explain those facts of life to you; you shouldn’t even be allowed to vote.
About the Author
Ron Martinelli, Ph.D., CMI-V, is a nationally renowned forensic criminologist and law enforcement expert who directs the nation’s only Forensic Death Investigations & Independent Review Team. He is a retired detective with the San Jose (CA) Police Department and has been involved in law enforcement training and consulting for 36 years. His site is found at: http://www.DrRonMartinelli.com
References
http://nypost.com/2015/11/22/obamas-isis-strategy-only-increases-risk-of-a-us-attack/
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/nov/27/elite-fbi-surveillance-teams-tracking-48-isis-susp/
https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/faqs
Dr. Ron Martinelli 
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