Hats off to the FBI

Free-speech advocates from around the world are assailing the FBI for its concerns that terrorist elements might be using nonviolent antiwar movements as a cover.

Thanks to an inaccurate and inflammatory New York Times article, people across the political spectrum and around the world are worked up about an out-of-control FBI that is allegedly spying on critics of the president and the war on terror.

The ACLU, jihadi support groups, even Pravda and the Pakistan News Service are pushing stories decrying a return to the days of J. Edgar Hoover.

The FBI dismantled the New York Times piece in a detailed, point-by-point response.

Counterterrorist leaders are correct to be wary of certain protest groups in the United States, since many of them are led or funded by individuals and entities loyal to state-sponsors of terrorism (North Korea, Cuba and Libya), and to designated terrorist organizations including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Islamic Jihad.

We have been critical of some FBI leaders’ kid-glove treatment of certain jihadist groups operating inside the US, but we applaud the FBI for its vigilance concerning how America’s terrorist enemies, as before, are exploiting the "anti-war" movement.