“Federal investigators had ‘looked at’ Sikh temple gunman Wade Michael Page more than once because of his associations with right-wing extremists and the possibility that he was providing funding to a domestic terrorist group,” latimes.com reports, “but law enforcement officials at the time determined there was not enough evidence of a crime to open an investigation, a senior U.S. law enforcement official said.” Oh dear. On one hand we have the obvious danger of a neo-Nazi. Period. On the other hand we have laws protecting us from over-zealous law enforcement . . .
The FBI is prohibited under federal law from collecting information on U.S. citizens not suspected of committing a crime. In order to open a domestic terrorism investigation, FBI agents must believe a suspect has threatened violence, has broken federal law and is trying to advance a political or social agenda.
Huh? If it’s OK for the Fibbies to look at any group advancing a political or social agenda then everyone from The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence to the Second Amendment Foundation is fair game. Or the [Jewish] Anti-Defamation League to the Southern Poverty Law Center. Speaking of which . . .
Both the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center had tracked Page for several years. The nonprofit organizations collect publicly available information on hate groups from Web forums, pamphlets and other sources . . .
“Some private groups collect a lot of information, but they can,” [retired FBI agent Bob] Blitzer said. “Law enforcement can’t.”
Riiiight. Is it me or does this sound like a CYA disinformation campaign? I wonder id we’ll ever get a look at Uncle Sam’s notes about the pre-spree killing activities of Mr. Page?