Homeland Insecurity

Many of the same people who inhabited the political jungles of Washington, D.C. during Watergate are still in power today. In their constant jockeying for political power and influence on public opinion, they foster the same ill will and distrust of the FBI they have for 30 years. Their political persecution has not improved the FBI's performance or insured that Americans are safer today within our borders than we were before the attacks of 9/11. In fact, current partisan political control of the FBI, as well as the public hammering of the Bureau by politicians using the media to broadcast their agendas, has resulted in a disheartening and dangerous paralysis of operations in the Field. In an effort to gratify the White House and Congress, the Bureau has rushed to implement ill-advised and hasty changes in its own structure and the way it does its work. Authors Terry D. Turchie and Kathleen M. Puckett name politicians from both parties who are responsible for undermining the ability of the FBI to protect Americans from both domestic and international terrorism. They warn readers that purely partisan assaults on the FBI, if unchecked, will destroy the last impartial defender of United States law and the rights of individual citizens in the current terror war.