**He Spent Years Infiltrating White Supremacist Groups. Here's What He Has to Say About What's Going

[SummerSnow]

https://www.propublica.org/article/he-spent-years-infiltrating-white-supremacist-groups-heres-what-he-has-to-say-about-whats-going-on-now



We should discuss this.



Michael German- " Where's the FBI?"

[malaise]

1. MUST READ

Get thee to the greatest page


and this

The Justice Department and FBI de-prioritize the investigation and prosecution of far-right violence as a matter of policy, not a lack of authority. These recent cases are a result of increased public pressure to do something about these crimes. But the Justice Department and FBI have done nothing to amend their policies that de-prioritize the investigation of white supremacist crimes. Maintaining public pressure and focusing on changing the biases that drive these policies is essential to forcing a change in priorities at these agencies.

[pecosbob]

3. nice post

The fact that a few lonely voices from LE are calling for new domestic terrorism laws yet the response from Justice is crickets...

[malaise]

8. As we say

They want it so

[SummerSnow]

5. White supremacist won't prosecute white supremacist, or make polies to stop their crimes

[malaise]

6. That is the absolute truth

[Kind of Blue]

9. +1000!

[Lucky Luciano]

28. Who is that woman in your sig line? She keeps charming the pants off of me!

[CatWoman]

30. josephine baker

[Kind of Blue]

32. Yeah, Ms. Baker, so charming an Italian count and an Hungarian calvary

captain fought a duel over her with swords! until she stopped them from killing each other when the captain injured the count.

Anyway, she and Lucky Luciano may have known each other. Luciano once said, "When I was Charlie Lucky Luciano I dated some black celebrities and the mob called me a corleone." I don't know the meaning of corleone but the rumor is he dated Baker and Dorothy Dandridge.

Her life was amazing, besides being a celebrated singer/actress/dancer/French Resistance spy during WWII/Civil Rights activists making her the Colin Kaeparnickof her times, she was the only female speaker during the March on Washington, speaking just before Dr. King. After King's assassination, Coretta Scott King asked Baker to become the leader of the movement. She declined stating that she had too many young children (12 adopted) to care for.

She said in the speech, "I am not a young woman now, friends. My life is behind me. There is not too much fire burning inside me. And before it goes out, I want you to use what is left to light that fire in you. So that you can carry on, and so that you can do those things that I have done. Then, when my fires have burned out, and I go where we all go someday, I can be happy."

[Lucky Luciano]

36. She is amazing - thanks!

Funny that I chose the Lucky Luciano handle too (there is a story to that with me trolling the freepers and getting banned with various mafia names until I discovered DU and signed up with the last name used at that shithole).

[Kind of Blue]

39. Too Funny, I asked you about your handle once upon a time

I think it was in the AA group, and your shenanigans had me rolling. What a trooper!

[dalton99a]

2. Kick

[hlthe2b]

4. I agree with him on much, but would love to see Frank Figliuzzi debate him on need for

specific DOMESTIC TERRORISM laws. German states: "Congress shouldn’t pass broad new laws or stiffer penalties, as there are already dozens of federal statutes outlawing domestic terrorism, hate crimes and organized violent crime that carry significant sentences."

I KNOW Frank (and others) would disagree on this and I'd love to see it debated.

[SummerSnow]

7. I would love to see them debate that too. Hopefully he'll get inited to Rachel Maddow

[Hortensis]

19. Agree. Interestingly, he says there are fewer homicides and

that the internet while used by hate groups has benefited law enforcement more than violent groups.

They use the internet more to communicate today than 20 years ago, ... but that doesn’t mean there is more violence. In fact, as the recent cases suggest, internet communications make them far easier to track and infiltrate, so it is more a boost to law enforcement more than to violent militants.

But mass monitoring of social media for clues isn’t an effective strategy, as there are far more people expressing racist ideas online than committing violence. The FBI would be very busy chasing down false leads, which would only dull the response. Instead, the FBI and other law enforcement agencies should ... The number of homicides in the U.S. has fallen significantly since the 1980s and 1990s, but so has the clearance rate. Even though there are fewer homicides now, fewer are being solved. I think it is because we are spending so much time and resources on suspicion-less surveillance and intelligence gathering rather than traditional evidence-based law enforcement tactics.

I'm guessing there would be plenty of both overlap and disagreement. From what I've been reading, most of these groups intend revolutionary overthrow of the liberal democracy they hate because it creates and maintains equality. In that, they're pulling the same direction as our other big enemies foreign and domestic -- those in the Republican Party, the religious right, and the wealthy right who can't win in a democratic system; also Russia, China, Iran, and other hostile nations who want to destroy us. All with the goal of actively attacking and undermining our democracy until it falls.

If true, it's hard to imagine we should cut back on surveillance and intelligence gathering. And sure, put as much effort as needed into identifying and stopping those who reach the evidence-producing (active planning and execution) stages also.

[Amishman]

33. Yup, no need for new laws or huge intrusive data mining

When human intelligence and infiltration is far more effective and doesn't impact the larger public. The point made in the article that the online presence of these groups aiding law enforcement makes so much sense.

Prioritize infiltrating these groups and fund human intelligence.

[mysteryowl]

10. You only posted a link. Where is some information from the article?

[SummerSnow]

12. you can type in 'Michael German fbi' then go to news there are several articles about this from

various news sources

[mysteryowl]

15. I am used to DU posts providing information in regards to the point of their post.

I don't tend to research topics without knowing why.

[SummerSnow]

16. Whatever floats your boat

[ChubbyStar]

22. Oh well

[CottonBear]

23. Here's a 4 paragraph excerpt with a link to article:

https://www.propublica.org/article/he-spent-years-infiltrating-white-supremacist-groups-heres-what-he-has-to-say-about-whats-going-on-now

...snip...

We went back to German, a fellow with the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program and the author of the forthcoming book “Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy,” to inquire about the significance of the seeming burst of enforcement efforts.

...snip...

First, the arrests of several white nationalists allegedly planning acts of violence since the El Paso attack demonstrate beyond question that the FBI has all the authority it needs to act proactively against white supremacist violence. Claims from the FBI Agents Association and other current and former Justice Department officials that the government needs new laws to target this violence are false. I worked successful domestic terrorism undercover operations against white supremacists in the 1990s, and no one ever suggested we didn’t have all the authority we needed.

It is hard to know if these arrests mark a new increase in attention to far-right violence because the Justice Department doesn’t keep reliable data about how many investigations and prosecutions it conducts against white supremacists. It sometimes categorizes them as domestic terrorism, other times as hate crimes or even gang crimes, obscuring the true scope of the violence they inflict on our society. And since the Justice Department defers the investigation and prosecution of hate crimes to state and local law enforcement, the FBI doesn’t even know how many people white supremacists kill each year.

The Justice Department and FBI de-prioritize the investigation and prosecution of far-right violence as a matter of policy, not a lack of authority. These recent cases are a result of increased public pressure to do something about these crimes. But the Justice Department and FBI have done nothing to amend their policies that de-prioritize the investigation of white supremacist crimes. Maintaining public pressure and focusing on changing the biases that drive these policies is essential to forcing a change in priorities at these agencies.

...snip...

[mysteryowl]

26. This is kind of you.

[CottonBear]

27. You are welcome!

It’s good DU posting etiquette to post the allowed, maximum four paragraph article excerpt and link.

BTW, I really like your DU name! I like owls! 🦉

[FakeNoose]

11. I don't want to paint the FBI as the bad guys

I really don't! But it seems to me that they spend too much time investigating illegal activities and not enough time protecting the US citizens. The only purpose of an undercover operation should be to get enough on the criminals to obtain a warrant and arrest them. Stop to the crimes, that's the FBI's REAL job.

I plan to read Mike German's book "Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy"
https://thenewpress.com/books/disrupt-discredit-divide

[SummerSnow]

13. Well look who is running the Justice Department and the former both are racist.

Part of Trump's base is these white supremacists so he would never go after them. Some of them might get arrested but as long as the republicans have the senate majority no bill will be passed to disrupt their activities. I feel one of the reasons why gun laws won't change is that these white supremacists cannot undergo a background check. If they do the majority of them won't get guns legally since most of them especially the violent ones are felons. I also believe that the 'stand your ground ' law is very racially motivated as well. They are making it very easy for these white supremacists to carry out their violence.

[mountain grammy]

14. Public pressure eventually works..sometimes

keep it up. Important article. thanks for posting.

[UniteFightBack]

17. I didn't read the article but I know that domestic anti terror programs have been defanged

and under funded.

[pecosbob]

18. Does anyone actually believe that when the Patriot Act was passed

the FBI was looking for Islamic Terrorists when cataloguing borrowers' reading history at your local library? We obviously know they weren't looking for white domestic terrorists...who does that leave? Leftists...activists...malcontents.

I personally believe this has in fact been the FBI's primary task since it was formed...chasing reds...and they see red everywhere.

[certainot]

20. one major problem is we've got 1500 radio stations making excuses for racism and racists and

repeating there is no white privilege, muslims are terrorists, illegal immigrants are voting for dems so we need voter suppression, and why do we need affirmative action, etc., all day long.

liberals and anti-racists can complain all day and it will never be louder or more coordinated than a few hundred assholes on 1500 coordinated radio stations. that's the buzzz the white nationalists and their parents have been getting for 30 years.

if anti-racists want to protest white nationalism, racism, and trump they need to put the rw radio monopoly propaganda operation that putin has been feeding, out of business, with boycotts and protests at radio stations when they get racist - which is every day - and protests at the 88+ universities that support 260 limbaugh/putin/trump radio stations.

[BlueMTexpat]

21. Thanks for this post.

It is indeed a "must-read."

[calimary]

24. Bookmarked.

[Mc Mike]

25. I'm always asking where's Wray and the FBI?

I saw in the article that the Feds claimed 90 cases where they arrested radical right terrorists, but refused to document even one to pro publica. Rec, thanks.

[lambchopp59]

29. My 2 cents worth all along, My T shirts seen often on BART

[Alwaysna]

37. What is BART ?

[lambchopp59]

38. Bay Area Rapid Transit

[Heartstrings]

31. Bookmarked.....

[Nitram]

34. Excellent article.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

35. a lot of clean-out and disinfecting needed at all levels of govt