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On a scale of 1 out of 5, how corrupt are the FBI & CIA?

GoogleAI Mode: “The question of how corrupt the FBI and CIA are is a matter of public perception and highly subjective, making it impossible to assign a single, objective rating on a scale of 1 to 5. 

Key Points on Public Perception and Criticism:

Partisan Divide: Opinions on the FBI and CIA are heavily influenced by political affiliation. Recent polls indicate that trust in the FBI is much higher among Democrats than Republicans, largely due to ongoing political controversies and investigations involving high-profile figures.

Overall Trust Levels: Historically, Gallup polls show fluctuating but generally moderate levels of public trust. As of a 2022 poll, 50% of Americans rated the FBI’s job performance as “excellent” or “good,” and 52% gave the same rating to the CIA. These ratings have varied over the years, sometimes dropping significantly following major controversies.

General Corruption Concerns: More than 65% of Americans expressed being “afraid” or “very afraid” of general government corruption in a 2024 survey, a fear that has consistently topped the list for a decade. This general distrust in government institutions at all levels can influence perceptions of specific agencies.

Specific Controversies: Both agencies have faced significant criticism and formal investigations throughout their histories, which have eroded public trust at various times.

FBI: Has faced scrutiny over its use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) for domestic surveillance, with internal reviews finding thousands of instances of inappropriate queries. The agency also faces allegations of political “weaponization” from some political viewpoints.

CIA: Has been criticized for its historical role in domestic surveillance (e.g., during the Watergate scandal), lack of public accountability, and use of secrecy (such as the “neither confirm nor deny” response) to evade questions about controversial activities.

Official Corruption Metrics: Non-profit organizations like Transparency International rank the U.S. public sector as a whole, not individual agencies. The U.S. scored 65 out of 100 (where 0 is highly corrupt and 100 is very clean) on the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index, a decline from previous years, citing an “erosion of ethical norms”. 

Ultimately, an individual’s rating of perceived corruption would depend on their personal political perspective, trust in federal institutions, and knowledge of specific historical or current events and allegations.”

What FBI controversies eroded public trust?

GoogleAI Mode: “Several historical and recent controversies have significantly eroded public trust in the FBI, often involving accusations of political bias, civil liberties violations, and operational failures. 

Historical Controversies

COINTELPRO (Counterintelligence Program): Active from the 1950s to the 1970s, this secret program involved the FBI infiltrating, surveilling, and disrupting civil rights organizations, anti-war movements, and other political groups. The FBI hounded figures like Martin Luther King Jr., even sending him an anonymous letter encouraging him to commit suicide. These actions were later exposed by Senate investigations in the 1970s, revealing widespread abuses of power.

Ruby Ridge and Waco Sieges: The deadly standoffs at Ruby Ridge in 1992 and Waco in 1993, which resulted in significant loss of life, became “emblematic of FBI blunders” in the public eye. The government later paid large settlements to the families involved in the Ruby Ridge incident.

The Whitey Bulger Case: Revelations that the FBI allowed an informant, mob boss Whitey Bulger, to commit crimes, including murder, in exchange for information led to a major scandal and highlighted issues with the FBI’s use of informants.

Wrongful Accusations: The FBI faced criticism for prematurely and publicly identifying innocent individuals as suspects in high-profile cases, such as Richard Jewell in the 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing and Steven Hatfill in the 2001 anthrax attacks, which damaged the individuals’ reputations and the FBI’s image. 

Recent Controversies

Politicization Allegations: In recent years, the FBI has faced intense scrutiny and accusations of political bias, particularly surrounding investigations related to the 2016 and 2020 elections.

Hillary Clinton Email Investigation: Then-Director James Comey’s public handling of the investigation into Clinton’s private email server, including his press conference and subsequent letter to Congress shortly before the election, was criticized for potentially influencing the election outcome and violating Justice Department norms.

FISA Abuses: A Department of Justice Inspector General report found significant errors and omissions in the FBI’s applications for surveillance warrants under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) related to a former Trump campaign adviser, leading to concerns about potential political motivations behind the surveillance efforts.

Internal Bias and Whistleblowers: Text messages between high-level FBI employees Peter Strzok and Lisa Page, which expressed political bias against then-candidate Donald Trump, became public, leading to accusations of systemic bias within the bureau. Numerous whistleblowers have also alleged that the FBI has manipulated domestic extremism cases for political purposes and targeted dissenting employees.

Domestic Surveillance and Civil Liberties: The FBI has been repeatedly criticized by civil liberties groups like the ACLU for post-9/11 abuses, including racial and religious profiling, improper use of the No-Fly List, and broad, warrantless data collection. Controversies have also arisen from the FBI’s use of a “threat tag” to track parents protesting at school board meetings and its targeting of “radical traditionalist” Catholics in an internal memo.

Operational Failures: The FBI admitted it did not follow protocol when it received specific tip information in January 2018 about the eventual shooter in the Stoneman Douglas High School massacre, a failure that drew national condemnation.”

What are some CIA controversies that eroded public trust?

GoogleAI Mode: “Several historical and ongoing controversies have significantly eroded public trust in the CIA, primarily stemming from clandestine operations, human rights abuses, and a perceived lack of accountability and transparency.

Historical Controversies

Project MKUltra: From the 1950s to the 1970s, the CIA conducted a secret, extensive human experimentation program aimed at developing mind-control and interrogation techniques. The program involved administering high doses of LSD, using hypnosis, sensory deprivation, and other forms of abuse on unwitting subjects in the U.S. and Canada. When the program was exposed in the 1970s by the Church Committee and the Rockefeller Commission, it was widely condemned as a grave abuse of individual rights.

Covert Regime Changes and Assassination Plots: Throughout the Cold War, the CIA engaged in numerous covert operations to overthrow democratically elected or established foreign governments perceived as hostile to U.S. interests, including in Iran (1953), Guatemala (1954), and Chile (1973). The Church Committee also revealed multiple CIA plots to assassinate foreign leaders, including Cuba’s Fidel Castro and the Congo’s Patrice Lumumba, which led President Gerald Ford to sign an executive order banning political assassinations.

Bay of Pigs Invasion: The failed 1961 attempt by CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles to overthrow Fidel Castro’s government was a major public embarrassment and a significant operational failure, heavily damaging the agency’s image and public confidence in its competence.

Domestic Espionage (Operation CHAOS): Despite its charter prohibiting domestic spying, the CIA engaged in “Operation CHAOS” from the late 1960s to the mid-1970s to infiltrate and surveil anti-war activists and political dissenters within the United States. The exposure of these illegal activities raised major concerns about civil liberties and constitutional checks and balances.

Iran-Contra Affair: In the 1980s, senior administration officials secretly facilitated the sale of arms to Iran, and the proceeds were used to fund the Contras, a right-wing rebel group in Nicaragua. This was done in violation of U.S. law and generated widespread allegations of the CIA’s involvement in drug trafficking to finance the Contras, though official investigations concluded there was no conspiracy by CIA officials. 

Recent Controversies

Torture Program (Enhanced Interrogation Techniques): Following the 9/11 attacks, the CIA implemented a program of “enhanced interrogation techniques” (EITs) at secret detention facilities (“black sites”) around the world. These methods, which included waterboarding, sleep deprivation, and rectal feeding, were widely condemned as torture under international law. A 2014 Senate Intelligence Committee report concluded that the torture was brutal, that the CIA lied to Congress and the public about the program’s effectiveness, and that it damaged the United States’ standing in the world.

Lying to Congress: Multiple instances of the CIA providing inaccurate or misleading information to Congress have been alleged and, in some cases, confirmed. One notable instance involved former Director John Brennan apologizing to lawmakers after CIA employees improperly accessed computers used by Senate investigators during their investigation into the interrogation program.

Using a Vaccination Program for Intelligence: In the hunt for Osama bin Laden in 2011, the CIA used a local doctor in Pakistan to run a fake hepatitis B vaccination program to obtain DNA samples. This action drew international condemnation from humanitarian and medical aid groups for endangering the lives of aid workers and undermining trust in critical public health initiatives worldwide.

Bulk Data Collection and Lack of Transparency: In recent years, concerns have been raised about the CIA’s involvement in bulk data collection programs that sweep in data from Americans, operating under an executive order and without specific statutory safeguards or judicial oversight. The agency has been criticized for using secrecy to evade questions about its domestic surveillance activities.”