The best explanation of the firing of FBI director James Comey and of the subsequent investigation by special counsel and former FBI director Robert Mueller may just come from a social scientist who died years before President Trump took office.
It turns out that Wilson-whose colleagues in the government department at Harvard included Henry Kissinger and Daniel Patrick Moynihan-also wrote a whole book about the FBI. That book, The Investigators: Managing FBI And Narcotics Agents, was published in 1978 by Basic Books and funded in part by a grant from Irving Kristol's company, National Affairs, Inc. It is based on in part on Professor Wilson's personal experience as an adviser to FBI director Clarence Kelley, who served from 1973 to 1978.
Its insights relevant to Comey and Mueller come in a chapter considering the motivation of FBI executives, and of government officials in general.
For much of its history, Wilson writes, the FBI "Enjoyed an almost unparalleled degree of autonomy." Wilson describes it as "Extraordinary autonomy."
Remember, notwithstanding all the talk of anti-Trump texts by FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Hillary Clinton has blamed Comey for her loss in the 2016 election.
"Autonomy" of the FBI may have certain advantages.
A fully autonomous FBI is inconsistent with Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which states, "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Even if FBI directors such as Comey or Mueller might prefer to operate without guidance from presidents or without guidance from attorneys general appointed by presidents, such a set-up would render the FBI unaccountable.
http://reason.com/archives/2018/08/20/why-fbi-directors-want-to-be-autonomous
It turns out that Wilson-whose colleagues in the government department at Harvard included Henry Kissinger and Daniel Patrick Moynihan-also wrote a whole book about the FBI. That book, The Investigators: Managing FBI And Narcotics Agents, was published in 1978 by Basic Books and funded in part by a grant from Irving Kristol's company, National Affairs, Inc. It is based on in part on Professor Wilson's personal experience as an adviser to FBI director Clarence Kelley, who served from 1973 to 1978.
Its insights relevant to Comey and Mueller come in a chapter considering the motivation of FBI executives, and of government officials in general.
For much of its history, Wilson writes, the FBI "Enjoyed an almost unparalleled degree of autonomy." Wilson describes it as "Extraordinary autonomy."
Remember, notwithstanding all the talk of anti-Trump texts by FBI agent Peter Strzok and FBI lawyer Lisa Page, Hillary Clinton has blamed Comey for her loss in the 2016 election.
"Autonomy" of the FBI may have certain advantages.
A fully autonomous FBI is inconsistent with Article II of the U.S. Constitution, which states, "The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America." Even if FBI directors such as Comey or Mueller might prefer to operate without guidance from presidents or without guidance from attorneys general appointed by presidents, such a set-up would render the FBI unaccountable.
http://reason.com/archives/2018/08/20/why-fbi-directors-want-to-be-autonomous
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