The Use of Celebrities and Significant Others in the Legal and Political Systems by the FBI

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has a long history of using informants in their efforts to learn about criminal activity (Berman, 2014; Joh, 2009; The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations; The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines Special Report, 2005).  There is also a long history of blackmail by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Berman, 2014; Joh, 2009; The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations; The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines Special Report, 2005).  Recently, the Democrats have produced propaganda about how important the law enforcement organization is because of the investigations related to the current administration in the White House, however, the depictions by the political party are biased and, again, do not present the full breadth of practices by the Federal Bureau of Investigation – especially when it comes to the facts about how many politicians and their associates are investigated or forced to cooperate with special agents because of political and legal desires by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Berman, 2014; Joh, 2009; The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations, The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines Special Report, 2005).  Because of this, this piece will present the use of celebrities and significant others by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and its infiltration into the political and legal systems in the United States.

Use of Celebrities       

            

             The Federal Bureau of Investigation realizes that politicians need the media to be successful in their political campaigns and stances on social issues.  Political commentators – especially in the United States – routinely participate in remote and in-person interviews with public servants and other persons who are associated with the political arena.  Throughout the course of the interviewing processes, there is a rapport generated between the political commentators, other media staff members, and interviewees.  The rapport typically leads to a professional bond, friendship, or trust between the parties because of the ambitions of both parties (media entities and politicians).  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been exploiting this relationship for many years for their benefit.  That is, the agency has turned political commentators and their organization’s other staff members into unregistered informants through direct and indirect processes. 

Direct in the sense that the Federal Bureau of Investigation has, at times, asked political commentators and the other staff members at the media organization to report any illegal or suspicious activities that they learned through their bonds with the interviewees.  Basically, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is using the power of media to their advantage in some instances throughout their history.  Turning to the indirect processes, when members of the media entity are uncooperative or not being productive in the eyes of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they (Federal Bureau of Investigation) will use their (Federal Bureau of Investigation's) clandestine operations to bypass the hardships.  Planting recording devices, tapping into electronic devices, paying individuals to perform secretive spying methods for the Bureau, and using subpoenas and other intelligence agencies to acquire information to hopefully start or fulfill the investigations that are produced by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, that is. 

            Similar procedures are used for celebrities who are not political commentators or associated with news networks.  Explaining more, political leaders routinely associate themselves with actors, actresses, musicians, professional athletes, and the alike because of the support that can be generated because of the associations.  Some of these celebrities are asked to do the same thing that the news media specialists are asked to do.  Again, if there is a lack of cooperation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, they (Federal Bureau of Investigation) will perform the same clandestine operations toward these parties (planting surveillance equipment, tapping into electronic devices, and using subpoena powers and undercover informants to acquire information on politicians and their associates).  

           These undercover operations are done in the personal and professional environments of the above-mentioned celebrities without many people knowing.  

Use of Significant Others     

            

          The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been known to use spouses, girlfriends/boyfriends, mistresses/lovers, family members, and other significant others to acquire information about political goals and illegal activity by politicians and their associates.  Typically, people share information more openly with individuals who they are closely associated when compared to others because of the trust that has been established in the relationship.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation has approached the wives/husbands, boyfriends/girlfriends, mistresses/lovers, and other significant others of politicians to get information and even provided incentives to these unregistered informants to routinely produce intelligence about the targeted individuals.  The same processes as mentioned above are used when individuals are not cooperative with the law enforcement agency.  In other words, if the individuals who are approached and asked to be informants do not comply with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s requests, the special agents will perform the secretive operations without the assistance of the significant others and, again, in environments without the parties knowing. 

What Are They Looking For?         

            

         The answer is anything that can lead to the discovery of illegal activities.  The problem that usually comes up when this topic is discussed is that there is some massive conspiracy being undergone by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.  This is the imagination of weird people coming to light.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Public Corruption Unit – as well as other units in the Bureau – use undercover operations and informants because if targeted suspects knew they were being investigated or came into direct contact with special agents then the illegal activities could be covered up in a better fashion and the casework toward these processes would deteriorate. 

So, all the jackasses who read this and make claims about the existence of a shadow government can go to hell.  The Federal Bureau of Investigation does these things, but it is not as vast as many citizens think or outside of their realm when it comes to investigations.  Simply put, this is what the Federal Bureau of Investigation does, and since we live in a society that has an abundance of technology the law enforcement organization (Federal Bureau of Investigation) use it to their advantage.

With this being stated, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has used the clandestine operations to blackmail suspects and others involved in their investigations, but not in methods that cater to the imaginations of conspiracy theorists.  The following topic will discuss these practices.

Blackmail by the Federal Bureau of Investigation           

            

          The threat of prosecution or letting targeted suspects know about their investigation processes is a maneuver that the Federal Bureau of Investigation uses to retain information from sources who they believe have the ability to supply the organization with credible information
(Hager, 2017).  That is, special agents have threatened the approached informants, or desired informants, and stated that if they do not cooperate, they (informants/desired informants) will be prosecuted for something or publicly embarrassed in a way that ruins any relationships or professional affiliations that they have (Hager, 2017).  This is illegal and a form of duress that would never hold up in a court of law if the intimidation was presented to a judge.  However, many individuals are not aware of their constitutional rights or other rights they have when involved in legal processes and simply believe that the intimidation by the law enforcers is allowed or something that could never be turned against the law enforcers.  In other words, many of the approached informants or desired informants will play along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and believe the threats by the agency because of the fear they have about being exposed, prosecuted, or embarrassed (Hager, 2017). 

These practices are an idle threat by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the methods are actually taught in the agency’s training academy (Hager, 2017).  Once more, it is unlawful to intimidate informants and witnesses, but many individuals are not aware of the laws that make this illegal, or they think that the processes are lawful and standard procedures, or they, again, engage with the Federal Bureau of Investigation because of the fear of humiliation and losing professional affiliations.  In contrast, and as previously mentioned, incentives are provided to individuals who cooperate with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (Berman, 2014; Joh, 2009; The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations; The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines Special Report, 2005).  Some of the incentives include giving these unregistered informants money, short-term or long-term fame, assistance with housing, loans, employment, and many other services that are wanted by the unregistered informants (Berman, 2014; Joh, 2009; The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations; The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Compliance with the Attorney General's Investigative Guidelines Special Report, 2005). 

Conclusion        

            

          The Federal Bureau of Investigation and other law enforcement agencies have been doing this for years and it is considered to be standard protocol in many of the special agents’ efforts toward detecting criminal activity.  However, the use of many unregistered informants in the public corruption field tends to have gray areas that are not discussed in public because of the rogue and unlawful tactics that are sometimes used by the law enforcement entity (Federal Bureau of Investigation). The debate hardly makes it to courts or congressional committees, that is.  Due to the lack of transparency, and the necessary secrecy of intelligence gathering in many situations, these practices will most likely never being discussed in an open forum.  Nonetheless, the existence of them is undoubted and the regulation on these procedures appears to occur in an internal format that has no oversight.  Which, in turn, is a conundrum that poses serious risks to society and constitutional adherence if the practices are not being adequately checked by the proper authorities. 

References

----.  The Attorney General’s Guidelines for Domestic FBI Operations.  Retrieved from

            https://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/docs/guidelines.pdf. 

----.  (2005).  The Federal Bureau of Investigation's compliance with the Attorney General's

investigative guidelines, special report.  Office of the Inspector General.  Retrieved from

https://oig.justice.gov/special/0509/chapter3.htm.    

Berman, E.  (2014).  Regulating domestic intelligence collection.  Washington and Lee Law

            Review, 71(1), 3-91. 

Hager, E.  (2017, March 3).  The seismic change in police interrogations.  A major player in

law enforcement says it will no longer use a method linked to false confessions.  The

Marshall Project.  Retrieved from https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/03/07/the-

seismic-change-in-police-interrogations. 

Joh, E. E.  (2009).  Breaking the law to enforce it:  Undercover police participation in crime. 

            Stanford Law Review, 62(1), 155-198. 

Photo Credit:  Benjamin J. Bolton