David McCloskey

And as part of their job,

they had to commit violent crime against other American citizens.

And in this case, the direct parallel would be if the FBI

had forewarning of this in some cases where you have an American citizen who is going to kill other American citizens and the security service law enforcement actually knows in advance that this is going to happen and decides in some cases not to intervene because of the value that the source is providing or may provide in the future.

You could make the case that it kind of happened like in the Whitey Bulger case at the FBI where his handlers did know in some cases it seems that he was committing murder.

And allowed it to happen.

I think the difference is that in that case, those handlers were effectively corrupted by Whitey Bulger.

And eventually the end, spoiler alert, there won't be a lot of accountability happening.

on the part of the British state for what happens with steak knife.

Whereas in the Whitey Bulger case, he goes to prison and his handlers do as well.

So there are some key differences.

But it was interesting because I put the question to a couple –

FBI special agents of, you know, would there be an incident where... Because you can get waivers for your confidential informants committing crimes.

Like, that's a thing you can get.

You can get that at the CIA if you're running an asset inside a terrorist organization and they're providing material support to that organization.

Like, there are ways to get things wavered in extenuating circumstances.

But it was interesting, like, you know, this direct question of would the FBI allow a confidential informant to commit murder?

I couldn't, I honestly couldn't get a clear answer.

Now, small sample size, I think it'd be an absolutely extreme case.

And there is a process, which is different from the snake knife one, but that's kind of the, that'd be the American frame for this today.