A former FBI undercover agent and whistleblower gives us a
riveting and troubling account of the contemporary FBI—essential
reading for our times
“Mike German
served as an FBI agent who carried out . . . dangerous assignments
infiltrating violent white nationalist organizations. Now, having
resigned, he tells how the bureau has downgraded such efforts. . . .
An absorbing and interesting read and a useful warning.” —Frederick
A.O. Schwarz Jr., author of Democracy in the Dark and chief counsel
for the Church Committee
Impressively researched and eloquently argued, former special agent
Mike German’s Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide tells the story
of the transformation of the FBI after the 9/11 attacks from a law
enforcement agency, made famous by prosecuting organized crime and
corruption in business and government, into arguably the most
secretive domestic intelligence agency America has ever seen.
German shows how FBI
leaders exploited the fear of terrorism in the aftermath of 9/11 to
shed the legal constraints imposed on them in the 1970s in the wake
of Hoover-era civil rights abuses. Empowered by the Patriot Act and
new investigative guidelines, the bureau resurrected a discredited
theory of terrorist “radicalization” and adopted a “disruption
strategy” that targeted Muslims, foreigners, and communities of
color, and tarred dissidents inside and outside the bureau as
security threats, dividing American communities against one another.
By prioritizing its national security missions over its law
enforcement mission, the FBI undermined public confidence in justice
and the rule of law. Its failure to include racist, anti-Semitic,
Islamophobic, and xenophobic violence committed by white nationalists
within its counterterrorism mandate only increased the perception
that the FBI was protecting the powerful at the expense of the
powerless.
Disrupt,
Discredit, and Divide is an engaging and unsettling contemporary
history of the FBI and a bold call for reform, told by a longtime
counterterrorism undercover agent who has become a widely admired
whistleblower and a critic for civil liberties and accountable
government.
