http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15493695

Gotta love those trustworthy, "able to keep secrets and be loyal" LDS FBI agents.

Is Shane Tiernan a mormon? This setup just reeks of mormons-trusting-mormons, and of people assuming that rules do not apply to them.

"When pressed for a specific example, all cite the credentials provided to Utah state fraud investigator Shane Tiernan, when he was appointed to an FBI-led task force on health care and, then the violent crimes task force."

"Sources say Tiernan was given an FBI Secure Access Control System key card, known as a SACS badge. Such badges are typically given to law enforcement agents engaged in investigations led by the FBI. But these sources tell KSL the type of badge given to Tiernan is considered a high-level credential, allowing him 24-hour access to the FBI field office."

More than a year ago my brother told me he thought that the FBI having a headquarters building in Salt Lake City was a bad idea. The local culture was influenced too heavily by the good old boy mormon network, and that network would create a situation that was not up to standards we expect when it comes to securing information.

Yeah, I also suspect so...



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/17/2011 01:40AM by Susan I/S.

The rules don't apply to us?

It's the Mormon way.

Perhaps the FBI could hire the people in charge of Mormon Church's historical vault to give them some security tips.

narf! :)

Though the FBI likes to hire Mormons, I wonder what their percentage is in the SLC office.

One of my high school buddies was the son of the regional director at the time. He wasn't a Mormon or even from Utah.

yeah, that's a good question...

I imagine it's not all that high. The feds like to transfer people all over the country. You might have a couple agents in the office from Utah, for the sake of having someone who knows the culture, but like any other place you wouldn't want to get too cozy with the locals since a large part of their job is investigating corruption.

you not to accept KSL's "investigative reporting" as the last word.

noted, thanks...

I have seen no real numbers that support a common held notion that the FBI hires LDS agents in more than normal rates for the population.

I think this is an urban legend. The myth makes the Mormon church look good by implying that the FBI, in need of trustworthy and honest agents, turns to Mormons.

If someone has information about the FBI's hiring rates of Mormons, I would like to see it.

I have heard that the DEA in Utah is pretty questionable too.
One doctor, known as an honest person, claimed they framed a colleague.

Just saying.

You have to take claims like that with a grain of salt. People have a hard time accepting that their friends, especially professional friends, are crooked. Especially if you know someone from someplace where you are conditioned to assume everyone is honest, like at church.

I personally know many of the top law enforcement officers across the state of Utah in the federal, state and local agencies. As part of my job duties I do plenty of tracking on what they all do. In my opinion the allegations made here about the DEA and FBI are generally bulls*** in my opinion. Sure there are some idiotic things that happen. But corruption is hardly likely.

In many ways the law enforcement community across the state of Utah in the federal, state, and local levels is at risk of negligence causing data breaches to occur. But this isn't because of corruption. It's because the security paranoia and the budget needed to ensure proper information assurance safeguards is generally pretty lax in Utah. When it comes to information security its as if the bad guys are armed with AK47s and the law enforcement are armed with water pistols.

But i am much more skeptical now.

You can tell Deb Brown what a good job law enforcement did in cache valley.

And don't forget this guy who made the mistake of stopping in a rest stop near Brigham City

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/6361/WRONGFUL-IMPRISONMENT-RUINED-LIFE-RELEASED-PRISONER-SAYS.html

just recently I watched a police chief of a Utah city tell bold face lies to a city council. Amazing.

I watched a highway patrolman pull a gun on a teenage kid on a motorbike in a busy Sam's Club parking lot. The kid had no idea what was going on. He apparently had not stopped at a stop sign. The cop threw him on the ground and stomped on him & hand cuffed him. Poor kid was in a daze. The gun was aimed toward the busy parking lot.

The swat teams are out of control in my opinion. They kill someone almost weekly it seems.

I was driving my kid's car one day and was being tailed by a cop. As soon as he could see I was a middle aged person, he took off. He was targeting me thinking I was a young driver.

I have told my kids to stay away from bad people but stay even further away from law enforcement.

There is a old saying, that I don't remember who originally said it, that goes like this, "never blame on malice, that which is better explained by incompetence." I find that to be as near universally true as the other rule about the simplest answer often being the most likely.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2012 11:55PM by forbiddencokedrinker.

How is it that fbi agents are allowed to intoxicate suspects in order to get them to incriminate themselves. How is this legal? And are they also allowed to drug suspects to get them to talk? This happened!!! It was an agent from Utah!

I would like to know since when did it become legal for a utah fbi agent to get a man drunk in order to get him to incriminate himself. If this is legal then is drugging in your sting operation next? This happened just recently!

Depends. It is not legal to give some one alcohol or drugs while they are under your control, in order to loosen them up. However, if you go and talk to them while they are at a bar, or after you arrest them after they have spent the night intoxicating themselves, then you can use their own statements against them, since they were that way under their own free will.

Not from Utah, don't know the case you are talking about.

My own opinion on the FBI, and most federal agencies in general, is that they are full of really great people on the field level, who are led by politicians who blow everything out of proportion, or try to take more credit then is deserved. Their is a joke in law enforcement that when a child goes missing, the cops go looking, while the FBI holds a press conference. Again though, a lot of FBI agents are among the best and brightest guys I know, and do really important stuff, but what you see on TV is not what is going on in real life.

This man was out on bail awaiting trial and the fbi agent was trying to get him to say something they could use. The agent had an undercover guy call him and invite him to a bar to get the money that was owed to him and then introduced him to the undercover fbi agent. The agent bought the drinks until the man was so drunk he said on tape, "I am so drunk i don't know what i am say........" Then they inticed him to talk until he incriminated himself and used the tapes for arrest. How is this legal? The man passed out that night from intoxication but this did not stop them.

No, it is worse than on TV!!!!!

Your cultural ignorance is showing. It is normal routine for undercover investigators to meet and talk with suspects in bars. Very few bad guys invite you over to FHE.

Soooo glad I don't live in Utah...

By the way: This fbi agent was from utah and the man was from utah but they had the informant lure him to vegas and set up the sting in vegas, yet the trial was in utah. Go figure!

I figured it out thirty years ago with those FPRs about all the Mormons employed by J. Edgar Hoover, and why (scrupulous honesty??? riiiiight). Plus that little God/Country conflict of interest is a bit problematic, isn't it?

I used to work in a SCIF for the department of energy (where there were alot of mormons) and the article described severe security issues. There is a mindset that some people get around security issues, they think they have the right to look at anything (it should be based on the need to know) and that the rules don't apply to them. Training and adequate supervision (and anonymous hotlines) are supposed to solve the problem but it sounds like something is very wrong in SLC. I got written up one day because my badge fell off and I was walking around without a badge, even though I didn’t know it (the badge was found less than an hour later).

The fbi agent I am referring to in my postings I am sure is not Mormon. In fact he even looks like the devil. My grand daughter had to have counseling after having that agent in their home questioning her. She was only 12 years old and he told her things that caused her to have night mares.

And this is surprising in what way?

Willieman - I know many a bishop who would do the same thing