Opinion

How To Reform Federal Intelligence And Law Enforcement Agencies

Political partisanship offends the fundamental norms that should control the unelected—and often unremovable—officials who wield daunting powers in criminal investigation, prosecution, and counter-intelligence. IC officials are entrusted with their powers precisely because they are expected to be nonpartisan in administering them. Personal political biases must never sway their investigative and prosecutorial choices, even if they convince themselves that the success of particular political candidates would harm the country. That decision is for voters to make, not unelected bureaucrats.

Partisanship not only mars public confidence, it also impairs the IC’s ability to serve its core function of protecting the nation. Partisanship hamstrings the intelligence bureaucracy’s ability to weigh the credibility of raw intelligence. In but one example, it is highly likely that the “dossier” the Clinton campaign and the DNC sponsored and used to spy on the Trump campaign used unknown individuals connected to the Kremlin as sources.