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What does the FBI stand for? (Original Post) Jackpine Radical Dec 2014 OP
They're a case in point of the Institution Principle. True Blue Door Dec 2014 #1
Interesting. Jackpine Radical Dec 2014 #3
Ironically, the Peter Principle sometimes works to the advantage of morality. True Blue Door Dec 2014 #5
Laurence Peter, like Murphy, was an optimist. Jackpine Radical Dec 2014 #13
Federal Bureau of Investigation _Blue_ Dec 2014 #2
Here's a start. Jackpine Radical Dec 2014 #4
It was FBI agents who got the early intel on terror plots after 9/11, refusing to torture Bucky Dec 2014 #12
I have always heard them referred to as Downwinder Dec 2014 #6
Fucked up Beyond Imagining? NV Whino Dec 2014 #7
Fucking Bumbling Idiots...nt Jesus Malverde Dec 2014 #8
For Business Interests. nt daredtowork Dec 2014 #9
Flowers By Irene? Dr Hobbitstein Dec 2014 #10
Force Being Instigated? Kalidurga Dec 2014 #11

True Blue Door

(2,969 posts)
1. They're a case in point of the Institution Principle.
Fri Dec 26, 2014, 09:37 PM
Dec 2014

One third of any institution - usually the third in charge - is utterly nihilistic, and constantly disgraces and undermines the stated purpose of the institution.

Another third is cowardly and careerist, and while it might believe in the mission of the institution, always or almost always defers to the first third out of prudence.

The remaining third believes in the mission and pursues the mission, and as a result is further subdivided into three: Those who who flame out in disillusionment and leave, those who go too far and are forced out, and the rare breed who both shine and rise (representing about 10% of the institution). Only 10% of that 10% (or 1% of the total) will rise beyond the middle.

This is a handy and usually true rubric of any institution where real power is involved.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
3. Interesting.
Fri Dec 26, 2014, 09:43 PM
Dec 2014

Infect the whole thing with the Peter Principle and the Rise of the Narcissists, and you've got a fairly good description of any hierarchical organization that I've ever been a member of.

True Blue Door

(2,969 posts)
5. Ironically, the Peter Principle sometimes works to the advantage of morality.
Fri Dec 26, 2014, 10:00 PM
Dec 2014

Scumbags are not necessarily good at doing bad. And occasionally good people rise merely because their political ineptitude was mistaken by superiors for a willingness to play ball.

Nobody is in control. Nobody, ever.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
13. Laurence Peter, like Murphy, was an optimist.
Sat Dec 27, 2014, 11:49 AM
Dec 2014

In organizations I worked for, the climbers would typically overshoot their levels of competence by 3 or 4 promotions, and the ones who made it to the top got there by means of sheer narcissism and psychopathy.

Jackpine Radical

(45,274 posts)
4. Here's a start.
Fri Dec 26, 2014, 09:53 PM
Dec 2014

The FBI maintains the world's premier crime lab with over 500 technicians in its rural Virginia location alone. But, as noted, even the bureau is not immune to lab scandals. In 2012, it was revealed that the FBI had known for years that its analysts had mishandled hair samples and used that evidence to convict people. As a result, the bureau announced it that was reviewing more than 21,000 cases, including 27 death-penalty convictions.

One Mississippi man was granted a stay of execution five hours before he was due to be killed by lethal injection, after the Justice Department admitted that an FBI expert gave invalid scientific testimony at his trial.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/forensic-csi-crime-labs-disaster-2014-4#ixzz3N3hW0XRP


And check out this book: Surveillance in America: Critical Analysis of the FBI, 1920 to the Present
By Ivan Greenberg

I could go on at some length, but will spare both of us the bother.

Bucky

(53,795 posts)
12. It was FBI agents who got the early intel on terror plots after 9/11, refusing to torture
Fri Dec 26, 2014, 10:44 PM
Dec 2014

The CIA took over many of the detained suspects a year or two down the road and started the routine torture practices that, among other harms to US reputation and moral standing, also slowed down the flow of usable intelligence and increased the amount of bum leads American agents out in the field had to run down.

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