Disrupt, discredit, and divide : how the new FBI damages our democracy

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Title:

Disrupt, discredit, and divide : how the new FBI damages our democracy

Author:

German, Mike, 1963- author.

ISBN:

9781620973790

Physical Description:

339 pages ; 24 cm

Corporate Subject:

United States. Federal Bureau of Investigation -- History.

Subject Term:

Political culture -- United States -- History.

Democracy -- United States -- History.

Terrorism -- United States -- History.

Summary:

A former FBI undercover agent and whistleblower gives us a riveting and troubling account of the contemporary FBI-essential reading for our times Impressively researched and eloquently argued, former special agent Mike German's Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide tells the story of the transformation of the FBI after the 9/11 attacks from a law enforcement agency, made famous by prosecuting organized crime and corruption in business and government, into arguably the most secretive domestic intelligence agency America has ever seen. German shows how FBI leaders exploited the fear of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 to shed the legal constraints imposed on them in the 1970s in the wake of Hoover-era civil rights abuses. Empowered by the Patriot Act and new investigative guidelines, the bureau resurrected a discredited theory of terrorist "radicalization" and adopted a "disruption strategy" that targeted Muslims, foreigners, and communities of color, and tarred dissidents inside and outside the bureau as security threats, dividing American communities against one another. By prioritizing its national security missions over its law enforcement mission, the FBI undermined public confidence in justice and the rule of law. Its failure to include racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic violence committed by white nationalists within its counterterrorism mandate only increased the perception that the FBI was protecting the powerful at the expense of the powerless. Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide is an engaging and unsettling contemporary history of the FBI and a bold call for reform, told by a longtime counterterrorism undercover agent who has become a widely admired whistleblower and a critic for civil liberties and accountable government.

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... Stillwater Public Library	363.2509 GER	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

"A powerful argument against idealizing the F.B.I. and overlooking its troubling record for the sake of short-term political convenience."

--The New York Times Book Review

A former FBI undercover agent and whistleblower gives us a riveting and troubling account of the contemporary FBI--essential reading for our times

Impressively researched and eloquently argued, former special agent Mike German's Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide tells the story of the transformation of the FBI after the 9/11 attacks from a law enforcement agency, made famous by prosecuting organized crime and corruption in business and government, into arguably the most secretive domestic intelligence agency America has ever seen.

German shows how FBI leaders exploited the fear of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 to shed the legal constraints imposed on them in the 1970s in the wake of Hoover-era civil rights abuses. Empowered by the Patriot Act and new investigative guidelines, the bureau resurrected a discredited theory of terrorist "radicalization" and adopted a "disruption strategy" that targeted Muslims, foreigners, and communities of color, and tarred dissidents inside and outside the bureau as security threats, dividing American communities against one another. By prioritizing its national security missions over its law enforcement mission, the FBI undermined public confidence in justice and the rule of law. Its failure to include racist, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic, and xenophobic violence committed by white nationalists within its counterterrorism mandate only increased the perception that the FBI was protecting the powerful at the expense of the powerless.

Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide is an engaging and unsettling contemporary history of the FBI and a bold call for reform, told by a longtime counterterrorism undercover agent who has become a widely admired whistleblower and a critic for civil liberties and accountable government.

Author Notes

Mike German is a fellow with the Liberty and National Security program at the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU Law School. He has worked at the ACLU and served sixteen years as an FBI special agent. He is the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist as well as Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Our Democracy and Policing White Supremacy (The New Press).

Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Former FBI special agent German's impassioned polemic raises the alarm about the negative impact of the FBI's evolution from a crime fighting organization into a domestic intelligence agency. Relating tales of interdepartmental dysfunction and infighting, reprisals against whistle blowers, and investigative overreach, German collects a searing set of eye-opening case studies that point to a decreasingly effective organization: "actual crime, violence, and credible threats to national security go unaddressed while FBI agents chase phantoms of potential future terrorists." German's experiences as an undercover agent provide a unique insight into the inner workings of the FBI, from the way agents are posted to offices to the requirement that all undercover work is done voluntarily. The FBI's leadership is often a target of German's criticism, particularly Robert Mueller III and James Comey, but his view of the bureau is not entirely negative. German peppers the narrative with the stories of unsung rank-and-file agents, including those of Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, the FBI's first foreign-born Muslim agent, and Coleen Rowley, a Minneapolis field agent, who both questioned oversteps by their superiors. Bound to be divisive, German's account is unlikely to convince readers who don't agree with him that the FBI is on the wrong path, but it raises some valuable questions about the primary role of this key government agency. (Sept.)

Kirkus Review

A well-documented expos explaining how 9/11 transformed the FBI into an agency "using its enhanced national security powers to silence whistleblowers, suppress minority communities, intimidate dissidents, and undermine democratic controls over its operations."When he entered the agency in 1988, German (Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, 2007) found himself admiring many of his fellow agents. However, he gradually began to realize that the FBI top brassincluding Robert Mueller and James Comeypresided over an organization rife with sexism, racism, xenophobia, and resistance to honorable agents who pointed out problems through the chain of command. After 9/11which many believed could have been avoided if the FBI, CIA, and other entities had performed their jobs betterGerman watched as Islamophobia infected the FBI from the top down. He departed in 2004 but kept a close watch using his own knowledge and that of the whistleblowers still inside. In an unusual move for a former FBI agent, German joined the staff of the American Civil Liberties Union, where he gained a finely honed appreciation of how the FBI routinely violated the rights of Muslims, African Americans, Native Americans, and many other nonwhite citizens. The author developed an especially acute sense of how FBI leadership downplayed the widespread dangers of heavily armed white nationalists, many of whom took their cues from the domestic terrorists responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. In addition to developing his theme of misplaced priorities within federal and local law enforcement, German returns frequently to convincing evidence that foreign terrorists who orchestrated 9/11 would strike again inside the United States through a hidden network of sleeper cells. German bemoans the fact that by successfully spreading fear within a dysfunctional federal governmentand ineffective FBIterrorists ripped the fabric of American democracy, perhaps beyond repair. "The FBI," he writes, "cannot remain effective without public confidence in its work, and regaining this faith should be its top priority."Important reading for our current time, especially as the Mueller Report continues to circulate. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Introduction: A Lawless Law Enforcer	p. 1
Part 1 Disruption
1 A "Culture of Arrogance"	p. 23
2 A Lack of Internal Controls	p. 43
3 Fear of Foreignness	p. 65
4 Targeting Their Own	p. 89
Part 2 Disrupting Diversity and Dissent
5 The Radicalization Theory	p. 107
6 Disrupting Muslim Civil Society	p. 131
7 Scapegoating Muslim American Communities	p. 150
8 Criminalizing Black Identity	p. 169
9 Targeting Innocent "Others"	p. 190
Part 3 Disrupting Democratic Controls
10 The Watchdog That Didn't Bark-Ignoring Executive Abuse	p. 217
11 White Nationalists and White Collars	p. 235
Conclusion: What Then Must We Do?	p. 254
Acknowledgments	p. 271
Notes	p. 273
Index	p. 327

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Reviews (2)

Publisher's Weekly Review

Kirkus Review

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