Officers who ‘took a knee’ rewarded by FBI Agents Association

Writing for the New York Post, retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent James A. Gagliano said, "Shocking and appalling on its face, looked at in a larger context, this disgusting decision proves the rot and decay at the FBI is not singularly the domain of some senior officials."

In a report originally published by the Washington Times, a "presence patrol" responsible for looking over the National Archives and the Supreme Court confronted an incensed group of BLM protestors and took a knee in response. The act was described as a de-escalation effort by FBI executive management. Not all the agents supplicated to the protestors, but at least seven were confirmed to have knelt. A high-ranking counterterrorism special agent also hugged every protestor.

The FBIAA gave the kneelers gift cards of "modest value."

"During my 25-year career, I was privileged and honored to work alongside FBI agents who killed or captured Top Ten fugitives and violent, dangerous, murderous felons. To my knowledge, not one of these actual heroes received an FBIAA gift card of 'modest value,'" wrote Special Agent Gagliano.

One Twitter user caught a picture of the FBI agents and posted it online.

A former FBI unit chief who was on the attorney general's protection detail from 2001 to 2007, John Wilson, said to Gagliano that the FBI "has not only circled the drain, it is already in the grease trap by the curb" and the kneelers "put themselves and those few agents who knew not to kneel at a severe tactical disadvantage and should have at least been suspended without pay."

FBIAA President Brian O’Hare has continually expressed support for the agents who knelt in difference to the BLM protestors. The BLM riots of 2020 caused upwards of 30 deaths, multiple injuries, and over 1 billion dollars in damage.

The FBI Agents Association was founded in 1981 and includes 90 percent or roughly 14,000 agents.

Gagliano said, "The symbolic genuflection in the face of protesters (and the movement’s rioters who destroyed businesses and government buildings and claimed lives) was either an expression of unity with BLM, or these armed agents were blatant cowards and spinelessly acquiesced to the demands of a threatening mob."

"I have come to grips with the fact that my beloved FBI has been irreparably broken by woke activists serving amongst its senior ranks. And with the Justice Department appearing to do this president’s bidding by targeting his political adversaries, it will take a monumental house-cleaning and seismic shift in culture at both DOJ and the FBI to begin to restore America’s trust and confidence," Gagliano added.