re: #180 Targetpractice

And it will be up to the defense team to show that these guys were duped into going for the big target - blowing stuff up, and not merely engaging in vandalism or knocking down signs. They’ll definitely go after the informant who was passing along the information to the FBI.

But the fact that they were already looking to go and commit crimes as a group makes them face an uphill battle.

If the FBI doesn’t bust these plots, and one of them succeeds, then everyone complains that they aren’t doing nearly enough. If they do, the complaint is that they’re going overboard and producing security theater by manufacturing these plots (that would not have occurred had the FBI and its informants not provided the motivation, equipment, etc. to push and prod the plot forward).

The truth is, like most things, somewhere in between.

The FBI (and other law enforcement like the NYPD) has to produce results. It also has to comply with the law and go and catch the bad guys - often with other bad guys playing informants to interface with the suspected bad guys.

Go overboard and the case falls apart. Don’t do enough to infiltrate plots (or catch wind of lone wolfs or small cell independent terror groups), and one of them succeeds, and the FBI doesn’t hear the end of it.

It’s a balancing act. And the FBI (and other law enforcement) is in a no-win situation.

Yet, there are things that take things overboard.