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Inpsector General: FBI Ignores Informant Rules

by Last Night in Little Rock

The Department of Justice's Inspector General has issued a report, just posted on NY Times.com, that FBI agents "frequently violate" informant handling rules designed in the 1990s to curb abuses by informants.

FBI agents frequently violate the bureau's rules for handling confidential informants, instructions that were rewritten following FBI abuses in the 1990s, the Justice Department's internal watchdog said Monday.

A review of 120 confidential informant files from FBI offices around the nation found violations in 104 cases, or 87 percent, Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said in a 301-page, partially blacked-out report that examined the FBI's compliance with rules that govern most investigations.

Agents failed to assess informants' suitability, get authorization for informants to engage in activity that otherwise would be illegal, convey proper instructions or tell prosecutors when informants had committed serious crimes, Fine said.

Update: The link to the OIG report is here. Last Night in Little Rock quoted on this in Boston.com (Boston Globe)

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    Re: Inpsector General: FBI Ignores Informant Rule (none / 0) (#1)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:03:43 PM EST
    Having witnessed FBI agents trying to intimidate a neutral party into giving them access to a mail box they had no warrant to search -- they were chesting up to this girl, making sure she saw the guns they had under their suit jackets, saying they could get her fired -- I have no doubt they do much worse with informants, whom they control to some degree.