HAHAHA! Federally-connected legal wonkblog!

Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly recently told an audience that terrorism is “as threatening today” as it was on 9/11. As evidence, he used the oft-repeated statistic that the FBI has active terrorism investigations in all 50 states. This claim has fueled public fear of terrorism because, by and large, the public believes that the FBI must have a reasonable factual basis to open an investigation. It does not. Instead, the standards for opening FBI inquiries are so unreasonably low that directors of the FBI have been reluctant to clearly articulate them in public.

FBI Director James Comey testified on March 20 before the House Intelligence Committee about his agency’s investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government to influence the 2016 presidential election. Lawmakers asked Comey seven separate times about the FBI’s standard for opening an investigation. One such question came from Rep. Mike Turner, a Republican from Ohio, who asked whether the FBI needed “some action or information”—besides a record that an individual attended a meeting, was paid to appear at a conference, or traveled abroad—before opening an FBI counterintelligence investigation.

Comey responded, saying that there are a “couple different [standards] at play.” Elaborating, he said...

More. With links: https://www.justsecurity.org/40451/standards-opening-fbi-investigation-stati...