Howie Carr Quotes
You know, back in the 1950s and '60s, when J. Edgar Hoover was making the FBI the respected organization it used to be, oftentimes they would find a fugitive and basically have his house surrounded, and then put out a press release saying he was on the top 10 most wanted list. And 10 minutes later, he'd be arrested.
Carr, Howie. Interview by Neal Conan. "Whitey Bulger's Capture: The End Of An Era." Talk of the Nation, NPR, 23 Jun. 2011.
The Senator was introducing a bill to remove Hoover's name from the FBI building that had been named after him.
In 2005 terrorists exploded bombs in the Spanish Railroad system. Fingerprints were found on bombs. The FBI found that the prints belonged to Brandon Mayfield, an Oregon attorney who married an Islamic Egyptian woman; he also had a Muslim client. He was arrested and held without bail based on the FBI testimony about the quality of the fingerprint match the quotes from which are above. The Spanish police did not think that there was a match and kept investigating and found the bomber whose fingerprints matched the samples perfectly. Based on this embarrassing fact, Mayfield was released. The quotation shows that there were no accepted forensic science standards. Each fingerprint examiner, sets his own standards for what he will describe as a “perfect match” of 100% reliability. The FBI sworn expert testimony was 100% wrong. Forensic testimony came under suspicion; public opinion changed when people realized that fingerprinting is not the objective reliable identifier that they thought. See linked quotes.
The FBI’s self promotion over the years is legend. However they have covered up some major shortcomings. One of the most serious was the famous FBI Technical Laboratory which states and cities often use for their case investigations. However, in 1997 some scientists claimed the FBI was not very scientific and its methods were shoddy. The agency denied the accusations but the Justice Department Inspector General conducted a major investigation and found even more major problems that the critics had charged. Later, the American Academy of Science conducted a study and found that the FBI had unscientific procedures and staff who were not scientifically competent. Progress in remedying the situation has been slow as can be seen from {584974}
Howard Louis Carr Jr. is an American conservative radio talk-show host, political author, news reporter and award-winning writer. He hosts The Howie Carr Show originating from his studios in Wellesley, MA and broadcast on weekdays on WRKO in Boston as well as to an audience based in New England, in addition to writing three columns a week for the Boston Herald.
