How red states can stop the FBI’s political persecution in its tracks

“So what is to stop the FBI from arresting you just like they did Steve Baker?” my wife asked with a pensive expression on her face. She has a point. I advocate many more “incendiary” ideas from the FBI’s perspective than my colleague Baker does. Sure, he was at the Capitol on January 6.But let’s be honest: We all know the Justice Department is prosecuting him for what he is reporting, not for what he did or didn’t do that afternoon three years ago.

This is dead serious. Now that Republicans have fully funded the Justice Department for the remainder of the year, what is our backstop to protect against political persecutions — the hallmark of an autocratic government we never thought we’d live to see?

Do you think illegal immigration is a problem and that the government’s response to COVID was tyrannical? You might be have an FBI file.

Steve Friend, an FBI whistleblower who warned the House Judiciary Committee in 2022 about the dangerous agenda of his former employer, has an answer. It starts with red states. Friend helped draft Tennessee’s SB2804/HB2912, which offered a cunning and constitutional solution to slow the spread of federal tyranny.

In its original form, the bill barred any Tennessee state-certified law enforcement officer from participating in a FBI joint terrorism task force. A revised version allowed an appointment to the JTTF but only with the permission of the chief law enforcement officer of the agency from which the deputy or police officer is being tapped.

The FBI lacks enough agents to operate throughout the country without the full cooperation of local law enforcement. The true aim of the Tennessee legislation was to prevent the FBI from wrongly pursuing residents over politics by allowing local sheriffs to control when their deputies work with federal agencies. More states should exploit this weakness to shift the FBI’s focus from politically charged national security probes of free speech to tackling serious crimes.

Sadly, the bill was defeated on Tuesday in the state senate judiciary committee, which is 7-1 Republican. The vote was unanimous. Republicans hid behind the cloak of “back the blue” to oppose the bill while warning that it would impede investigations against legitimate terrorist threats.

The reality is that the bill was pro-law enforcement. It would not have prevented local law enforcement from working with federal authorities on cases involving gangs, violent crime, or drugs, nor would it have prevented police from sharing information on bona fide terrorism cases, domestic or foreign.

But what it would have done is prevent the FBI from dragooning local officers into task forces behind the backs of elected sheriffs. Those task forces have been used to target political opponents who are unjustly labeled as “domestic terrorists.”

The problem with the JTTFs is that any local officer deputized to cooperate with FBI counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations requires a top-secret security clearance. This means that local law enforcement might be working on an effort to target conservative organizers without the knowledge of their respective sheriffs, commissioners, or police chiefs. Obviously, that undermines the principle that police powers should be transparent and accountable to the local electorate.

Fact is, the FBI has designated “anti-government anti-authority violent extremism” its top crime-fighting priority. The FBI describes the profile of an AGAAVE as anyone with a perception of government overreach or negligence. Such a sweeping definition lets the FBI investigate churchgoers, for example, by associating Christian beliefs with white supremacy or other ideas the FBI thinks will lead to “anti-government radicalization.” Do you think illegal immigration is a problem and that the government’s response to COVID was tyrannical? You might have an FBI file.

It’s all nonsense, of course. “Multiple, credible studies across the political spectrum have revealed that most FBI counterterrorism investigations involve subjects who are not predisposed to commit an act of terrorism,” Friend explained in defending the rationale for the bill.

It’s time conservatives ditch the reflexive, mindless trope of “back the blue” in defense of every law enforcement operation. During this era of anarcho-tyranny, the goal should be to maintain order while eschewing the tyrannical use of law enforcement for political persecutions.

Local law enforcement needs to be accountable to the people. The most pro-law enforcement thing we can do is empower local sheriffs over unaccountable FBI bureaucrats who continue to abuse their power in the most dangerous way imaginable.

The Tennessee bill may be dead for now, but issue is not going away. If anything, it’s going to get worse. Red states must act to safeguard our liberties. Using the Tennessee bill as a model would be a good place to start. Don’t wait until it’s too late.