And what I'm saying is they don't need greater power. They need to stop having hate groups from both ends of the spectrum dictate how they do their jobs. If they had stopped the hijacking, would you have said, "Good job. You averted a tragedy." No. You would have said, "The evil FBI spooks are picking on an Arab man and violating his rights." Each move every FBI agent makes every day has the potential to be scrutinized by people who are predisposed to examine their work in the worst possible light. For that reason, the standard for action is always substantially more than probable cause. It's that attitude from a part of the public that slows down the investigations. It's that attitude that makes the bureaucracy a necessary defense against the inevitable accusations of bad faith.

The job of a defense attroney is to twist the evidence into plausible lies to help his client get away with a crime. Before the FBI agent makes a move, most of the potential lies have to be countered. I'm not an FBI agent, but I work with some. By the time I arrest somebody, I have a mountain of evidence against them. I don't make my move until I know he can't escape. But I knew he was guilty months or even years before. I know who, where, how, what, and sometimes why. The hard part is knowing when.