In 2002, the FBI lost the mystique it had gleaned from The Silence of the Lambs and The X-Files when the bureau suffered a number of embarrassing management bungles and the exposure of a high-profile official who spent years spying for the KGB. Thousands of pistols and other weapons went missing and agents lost laptop computers that contained sensitive information. Now, a Congressional investigation has found even more evidence that the FBI is out of control, charging top officials with tolerating all sorts of criminal conduct, from rape to embezzlement to extortion. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who has been a strict law-and-order man for his entire public career, should not abide these abuses by his subordinates.
As part of his inquiry, Sen. Charles Grassely, R-Iowa, released an internal FBI report last week that found 107 instances of what The New York Times called serious and sometimes criminal misconduct
by agents over the course of 16 years. Grassely said the agents had committed rape sexual crimes against children other sexual deviance and misconduct
attempted murder of a spouse and narcotics violations
among others. This will not do. FBI officials say many of the agents in question have been prosecuted, which is an excellent step forward. But the bureau must make sure in future to quickly and thoroughly investigate suspicious employees, and not tolerate such outrageous crimes.
It's encouraging that senior FBI directors know just how far the bureau has fallen in the public's estimation. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III has spoken of an erosion of trust between Congressional overseers and the disciplinary system within the bureau, and has appointed an outside commission to study the problem. A few bad eggs are inevitable in any organization, especially one as large and powerful as the FBI, so House and Senate watchdogs must be vigorous in keeping watch over how the bureau handles employees that misbehave.
Ohio Senate right in keeping Guard scholarships
The Ohio Senate struck an uncharacteristic but welcome blow for higher education last week when it approved $3 million in funding for the Ohio National Guard college scholarship program. If the House passes the bill - and it should - it would save this year's summer scholarships for Guardsmen and women, a very worthy cause.
The Guard pays tuition for soldiers to attend public, in-state colleges like Ohio University, as part of members' compensation for having served. But officials had planned to cut the summer scholarships this year to help offset a budget shortfall made worse by endemic rising tuition. With tuition rising around 10 percent a year, the Dayton Daily News reported, the scholarship fund would have been caught with a two-year shortfall of about $3.5 million. If the Guard had cut the summer scholarships, it would have saved about $1.2 million, but some 700 soldiers would have been unable to attend classes. Thanks to this positive first step by the state senate, that won't happen.
Politicians get a lot of rhetorical mileage out paying homage to the armed forces, but fiscal close calls like the Ohio National Guard's belie the amount of support troops really receive, away from the campaign stump and in the legislative chamber. Ohio Senators put their money where their mouths were, and rescued an important bonus for troops that risk everything in defending the United States.
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