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oe e = i | - ooo November 6, 1980 ood ST Mr. William H. Webster K Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation Pennsylvania Ave ., 9th and 10th Sts., NW Washington, D.C. & fub)i Jj Rus patisee Re abecanww When the Abscam Operation was first reported by newspaper, radio and television I thought it was a very clever sting operation. "The F.B.1I. strikes again: The members of Congress who have taken bribes are properly humiliated. They deserve their punishment." Dear Mr. Webster: However, I have thought about it a great deal, and now I have many questions as to the legitimacy of such a project. What philosophy of government lay behind it? What was the Bureau attempting to accomplish? Did you thin! 4 that fear of being caught in similar circumstances would act as a deterrent for other members of Congress? Did you want to prove that these particular men could be bought? Why were they chosen? . It seems to me that the function of the F.B.I. is to investigate criminal activity, not to incite it. By what authority do you attempt to entrap a person? Are you not violating his civil rights? How can he be convicted of a crime when the whole thing is my PAY, ac, ite, 128 ok 3/78 C/— —_ Life, itself, provides enough opportunities for men tu and women to demonstrate their character ang tq, be upiised a by their peers. It is not necessary for the Foy . ‘ - to create situations. Men can prove themselyes-te=—= Tart be noble or ignoble without help from your Bureau. rf din ey If you thought that the normal tax-payer would be pleased at the disgrace that has been brought upon these individuals, upon the Congress, and indeed upon our nation, I, for one, am not. The Abscam Caper itself is so opposed to the American system of freedom and justice that it far ovtweighs the venality of the men it sought to entrap. \0 4 hee 1980 Sincerely yougs, ad 2