Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: **He Spent Years Infiltrating White Supremacist Groups. Here's What He Has to Say About What's Going [View all]CottonBear
(21,596 posts)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 Justices 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 didnt 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 doesnt 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 doesnt 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...
Edit history
Please sign in to view edit histories.
39 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
RecommendedHighlight replies with 5 or more recommendations
**He Spent Years Infiltrating White Supremacist Groups. Here's What He Has to Say About What's Going [View all]
SummerSnow
Sep 2019
OP
White supremacist won't prosecute white supremacist, or make polies to stop their crimes
SummerSnow
Sep 2019
#5
Who is that woman in your sig line? She keeps charming the pants off of me!
Lucky Luciano
Sep 2019
#28
I agree with him on much, but would love to see Frank Figliuzzi debate him on need for
hlthe2b
Sep 2019
#4
I would love to see them debate that too. Hopefully he'll get inited to Rachel Maddow
SummerSnow
Sep 2019
#7
you can type in 'Michael German fbi' then go to news there are several articles about this from
SummerSnow
Sep 2019
#12
I am used to DU posts providing information in regards to the point of their post.
mysteryowl
Sep 2019
#15
Well look who is running the Justice Department and the former both are racist.
SummerSnow
Sep 2019
#13
I didn't read the article but I know that domestic anti terror programs have been defanged
UniteFightBack
Sep 2019
#17
one major problem is we've got 1500 radio stations making excuses for racism and racists and
certainot
Sep 2019
#20