By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
FBI Director James Comey defended the bureau’s handling of Omar Mateen before the Orlando nightclub massacre, but warned of a “fair amount of second-guessing about our work.”
“We have taken a pretty close look at our prior contact with the Orlando killer,” Comey said in the message, which was relayed to ABC News. “At this time, it sure looks to me like our folks did what they are supposed to do. But, as we always do, we will take a deep look back to see what we can learn.”
Comey also noted “the irony” of recent reports, with some suggesting the FBI is too aggressive on terrorism and others suggesting the bureau isn’t aggressive enough.
“How did this terrible thing happen? That’s part of who we are as a people, and it can be a good thing if focused on continually finding ways to improve processes, tools, or authorities,” Comey wrote in his message on Wednesday. “Of course, the desire to fix sometimes morphs into an unproductive search for people or institutions to blame, and can reflect a certain national naivete about whether bad things can really be avoided in all situations. And the risk of it becoming unproductive is particularly high in polarized political environments. But I choose to see our second-guessing culture as a healthy part of our remarkable national identity. So please, don’t let second-guessing throw you.”
