SEEMS LIKE HARDLY A DAY GOES BY that we don’t hear about an arrest of an American extremist planning a mass shooting, the assasination of a judge or election official, or foreign terrorists planning some mass casualty event. Then there’s the illegal border entry of foreign agents, the seeming tidal wave of Chinese espionage and hacking cases, and reports of Russian disinformation efforts to sow chaos in our elections.
All of which has put a heavy burden on the FBI, our primary domestic counterintelligence and counterrorism agency, to thwart such plots without infringing on the 1st Amendment rights of Americans to speak their minds, no matter how extreme their views. The FBI hardly has a spotless record in this regard.
To discuss this threat matrix, my guest on this week’s SpyTalk podcast is Frank Figliuzzi, who spent much of his three-plus decades in the FBI running major field offices before retiring in 2012 as assistant director of the FBI’s counterintelligence division. You’ve probably seen Frank on NBC or MSNBC, where he’s a regular contributor. He’s also been out and about this week talking about his new book, Long Haul: Hunting the Highway Serial Killers, for which he spent 2,000 miles riding the road investigating truckstop sex trafficking.
Do listen here, on Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. We also very much welcome your comments.