What the FBI needs

What the FBI needs

San Antonio Express-News: Politicians can talk all they want about national security, but what the FBI really needs is a good office manager.

If that sounds facetious, consider a recent development that is as disturbing as it is embarrassing: A telephone company recently cut off an international wiretap after the agency failed to pay its bill on time, according to a government audit released this month.

The audit, conducted by the Justice Department, criticized the FBI for the poor handling of funds used for undercover investigations, Reuters reported.

And while the incompetence led to the disruption of a wiretap case, it has repercussions beyond a single incident, making the agency vulnerable to theft and mishandled invoices, according to the audit.

Politicians engage in lofty debates about whether the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which governs electronic spying in intelligence cases, makes it too cumbersome for agents pursuing leads on terrorism.

That debate, however crucial to the war on terrorism, is reduced to absurd irrelevance when the FBI cannot do what hard-working Americans are expected to do every month pay their bills on time.