The New York Times is taking a look at the FBI’s battle against terrorism (not the first time it’s done this) — namely, its near-total reliance on sting operations to round up would-be terrorists. As the Times’ Eric Lichtblau points out, stings used to be a last-resort tactic. Now, it’s standard operating procedure. Two out of every three terrorism prosecutions begin with undercover agents nudging citizens and immigrants toward acts of violence and “material support.” In some cases, the FBI agents are doing all the work themselves.
The FBI, of course, maintains that these terrorists would have acted on their own without the agency’s intercession — even though it seems to be placing a rather heavy finger on the scale.
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