FBI employees are facing unprecedented attacks from political leaders in the Bureau and the White House. Here’s how we’re helping.
The following is an article written by Mike Feinberg, who spent nearly 16 years as a special agent at the FBI focusing on counterintelligence and counterterrorism. He now leads the FBI Support Network at Justice Connection.
The J. Edgar Hoover Building, along with the FBI’s field offices across the country, spent the first month of the Trump administration witnessing a bloodletting without parallel in the organization’s history.
Within hours of the inauguration, the Bureau’s Deputy Director, who had taken the role of Acting Director only a few hours earlier, was forced into retirement. Less than two weeks later, the majority of executive assistant directors were also unceremoniously shown the exit. Storied special agents in charge and assistant directors in charge met a similar fate not long after.
As weeks and months passed, line level special agents, intelligence analysts, and members of the professional staff found themselves treated even more poorly: Years away from retirement eligibility, anyone who worked on an investigation disfavored by the current administration found themselves summarily dismissed without any meaningful due process.
All of these men and women were dedicated public servants and patriots who made untold sacrifices in the service of their country — forgoing lucrative salaries in the private sector, losing the right to choose where they raised their families, and risking their own lives on a daily basis — solely because of a desire to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution.
They deserved better.
Our nation, now bereft of their investigative acumen and operational experience, also deserved better.
The FBI’s ranks still swell with so, so many good people who endeavor to do the right thing by their country and oath of office. They chafe at the way their colleagues have been treated, and they’re revolted by the miasma of corruption now surrounding too many of their leaders. The politicization and weaponization of the FBI are anathema to them; they love the Bureau, they love their country, and they want to fight for the integrity of both. Every single day of the week they are on the frontlines protecting the liberties and freedoms of all citizens. When they get an order to go against what they know is just, they have a choice — and that choice can carry significant consequences for their career and their families, and Americans’ liberties.
It’s time for those of us who also once carried credentials, badges, and sidearms alongside them to offer tangible assistance when they face those choices, and to help them when they have to weather the consequences of upholding their oaths. With the establishment of Justice Connection’s FBI Support Network, that is exactly what the extended FBI family is doing.
Over the past few months, Justice Connection has been putting together an impressive roster of former FBI personnel to help with this effort, and many have become official advisory members of the group. We have alumni from the agent, analyst, and professional staff communities. All levels of the workforce are represented, from the line level in the field up through the highest levels of senior executives. Our experiences span from the Mueller era — in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks — through this administration’s attacks on the Bureau’s integrity. If you are currently in the FBI, we promise there is someone here you recognize and trust.
Fidelity, bravery, and integrity — in other words, character — can take many forms. Sometimes it’s the courage to go through a door not knowing what’s on the other side. But sometimes it’s lending a strong shoulder on which an unsteady friend can lean, and mustering all the available resources to help a family member. As members and friends of the FBI family, we’re ready to do both.
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A foundational principle of our democracy is that even the most wretchedly accused criminal defendants receive due process. But today, the FBI’s dedicated public servants are being attacked and undermined without even that basic dignity.
Justice Connection’s Pro Bono Legal Network, made up of former DOJ prosecutors and civil attorneys, now has a cohort of members who are trained in navigating the Bureau’s unique disciplinary system. They’re standing by to represent any and all FBI personnel subject to partisan attacks or given unethical orders. We can provide specialists in employment law, criminal defense, the whistleblowing process, or government ethics.
Our press surrogates, all FBI veterans, are ready to push back against the attacks on the FBI’s workforce by this administration — including those perpetrated by the FBI’s current leadership. They are ready to publicly advocate for enhancing civil service safeguards that the FBI’s workforce currently lacks, such as the guarantees of the Merit Services Protection Board, or limitations on the director’s supposed authority to summarily dismiss employees. Already, our network has been featured in The New York Times.
We have a long list of mental health providers willing to counsel FBI personnel struggling with the sustained assault on their independence, their livelihoods, and their well-being.
For those who find themselves unfairly fired or pushed out of the Bureau, FBI alumni offer help in transitioning to new jobs.
And if someone has a problem that we have yet to encounter, we’ll find a way to solve it.
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Over the past 117 years, a surfeit of patriots and public servants made sacrifices — including that of their own lives — to protect America, stop criminals, and build the FBI into an institution that was trusted and respected worldwide. Those of you who still walk its hallways are not alone in safeguarding their legacy. We will support you in whatever you need. Don’t give up, don’t despair, and don’t let the bastards grind you down.
Mike Feinberg is currently a Justice Connection advisory committee member, Director of Justice Connection’s FBI Support Network, and Lawfare and MSNBC contributor. Throughout his career at the FBI, Mike focused on counterintelligence and counterterrorism, leading some of the greatest successes of the first Trump Administration’s efforts against the People’s Republic of China’s intelligence services and their proxies. Before his resignation, he was the Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Norfolk Field Office’s national security and intelligence programs.
