The FBI sometimes allows its employees and informants to break the law to catch criminals, but an internal 2018 FBI audit obtained by The Washington Times showed government employees and confidential sources broke rules along the way.
FBI employees and informants authorized to break the law in hundreds of cases violated the agency’s rules dozens of times over nearly two years, according to the 2018 audit.
The FBI and attorney general’s rules allow FBI officials and informants to disregard the law in undercover work but prevent certain conduct such as violence and illegal wiretaps and searches. The movement of drugs, payment of bribes, and selling of stolen goods all involve illegality that the government may approve.
The internal review showed 82 “compliance errors” in 466 open cases involving “otherwise illegal activity” for confidential human sources between Sept. 28, 2016, and July 22, 2018. “Otherwise illegal activity” refers to government-approved law-breaking that would be a crime if the federal government did not authorize it.
Cato Institute senior fellow Patrick Eddington said such authorized law-breaking is among the “most radical slippery slopes” facing law enforcement. He uncovered the 2018 audit in litigation against the FBI for access to government records.
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