By Steve Neavling
Thirty former FBI agents are publicly supporting suspended agent Stephen Friend, who claims to be a whistleblower.
The agents, including a retired deputy assistant director, head of counterterrorism and five SWAT team members, allege the FBI has been politicized, The New York Post reports.
“It’s time to stop the FBI from being the enforcer of a political party’s ideology,” Ernie Tibaldi, a retired agent from San Francisco, said. “We need to reestablish the FBI as the apolitical and independent law enforcement entity that it always was.”
He credited Friend “for having the courage to stand up to the corruption that has taken over the leadership of the FBI.”
Friend was suspended without pay earlier this month after he refused to participate in SWAT raids that he alleged violated FBI policy.
He claimed in a whistleblower complaint to the Justice Department’s inspector general that the bureau was manipulating case-filed management to exaggerate the threat of domestic terrorism.
He has gained the support of many Republicans.
The bureau has repeatedly countered that it did nothing wrong and denied politicizing the bureau.
