“. . . evidence that federal agencies are understaffed and out of position in confronting the threat of white supremacist terrorism”
Those are the generous explanations. It is just as possible that the threat is being neglected because of certain sympathies and tendencies among certain DOJ/FBI leadership with certain political leanings.
Not (necessarily just) the leadership. You can have obstruction at all ranks. (See, for example, the russian capture of the new york fbi office)
Former military members also often end up in civilian law enforcement. It certainly looks as though the police and FBI agents (if any) involved here were either incredibly uniformed or completely clueless, white nationalist sympathizers, lazy, or corrupt. None of those options is appealing.
I just wanted to say that I appreciate this type of content @ TPM.
This was the first instance we had where the Obama administration demonstrated its tendencies to bend over backwards appeasing rightwing nut jobs rather than stand strong in the face of withering (but easily disproven bullshit) criticism.
Law enforcement and the military are widely known to harbor racists and “OathKeeper”-style terrorists. Occam’s Razor suggests sympathetic leanings are more likely than understaffing issues. The FBI is quite capable of turning out the troops when it wants to do so… it’s just as clear that neither the will nor the direction has been placed on dealing with the growing numbers of our white, man, fascist population.
Or municipal detectives …