A Threat to the Justice Dept. and the F.B.I.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/11/opinion/justice-department-fbi.html

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To the Editor:

Undercutting the credibility of the Justice Department, and the work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, has grave consequences, not least the harm it does to the administration of the federal criminal justice system.

Accordingly, “Sessions Silent as Trump Attacks His Department, Risking Its Autonomy” (news article, Feb. 5) prompts me to share my experiences working in the department and with many F.B.I. field agents.

Every day, throughout the United States, there are probably 100 or more F.B.I. agents testifying in court or before federal grand juries on crimes ranging from fraud and bank robbery to kidnapping and espionage. Essential to the government’s case is the credibility of those agents as they testify to material facts in the government’s case. The standing of the department, moreover, is critical to the independence and effective functioning of its lawyers.

In trying cases for the government, I developed great respect for the competence, integrity and dedication of the agents with whom I worked as well as my colleagues. Degradation of the agents, the lawyers or indeed of the bureau or the Justice Department ill serves the public.

SANFORD M. JAFFE, LIVINGSTON, N.J.

The writer was chief of the Criminal Division, United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, 1961-65.