Language Deemed Offensive Is Removed From F.B.I. Training Materials
Source: NY Times
Training material used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation said agents had the “ability to bend or suspend the law and impinge on freedoms of others,” but that language has now been removed, according to a briefing the bureau recently provided to Congress.
The language suggesting that agents could bend the law was contained in 876 pages of training materials about Muslims and Arab-Americans the F.B.I. deemed to be offensive and removed following a review of about 160,000 pages of such material over the past six months, according to aides present at the briefing.
Also removed was the admonition that agents should never stare at or shake hands with an Asian, and the assertion that Arabs had “Jekyll and Hyde” personalities making them more likely to have “outbursts and loss of control” than even-keeled Westerners.
A description of some of the material deemed inappropriate was contained in a letter sent on Tuesday by Senator Richard J. Durbin, Democrat of Illinois, to the F.B.I. director, Robert S. Mueller III. The letter was first reported by Wired Magazine, which last year also published other, similar leaked training materials that prompted the F.B.I.’s broader review.
Read more: www.nytimes.com/2012/03/29/us/politics/language-deemed-offensive-is-removed-from-fbi-training-materials.html