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: , ABSCAM and Temptation if As one whe served for over 35 years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, | am shockedat thé February editorial, “Do we.want a Federal Bureau of instigation?” . You allege entrapment by F8I agents but do not mention that the entire activity in ABSCAM was approved and constantly monitored by high officials of the Department of Justice and by FBI Director William H. Webster, himself o former federal judge. You cite one instance where U.S. District Judge John P. Fullam overturned two convictions for alleged entrapment of ABSCAM victims, but you do not list the other ABSCAM cases. I fee! the FBI should pursue vigorously white-collar crime in order to prosecute corruption by public officials wherever it rears its ugly head. Experience has shown how difficult it has been legally to root out and prosecute successfully such corruption and, therefore, new approaches such as “sting programs” by law enforcement are necessary. They have been very successful and in most instances have withstood court challenges Your editorial touches on the legal ' definition of entrapment and notes that where a person is predisposed to ‘ commit an offense, the fact that government agents merely afford him " @n opportunity to do so does not constitute entropment. Common sense says that a public official imbued with honesty and integrity has but to say “No” when offered a bribe. Your editorial alleges that while the FBI was focusing its energies on ABSCAM, the country experienced its sharpest rise in crime in four years. You do not tell readers that the FBI does not have jurisdiction over local crimes such as rape, robbery, assault, murder, etc., unless the crime occurs on @ government reservation. Your censure in this connection should be directed to appropriate local authorities, not the Kenneth J. Haver Bethesda, Md, I just have finished your February Comment and found it most interesting. But I still don’t have an answer to something you brought up. A jury of 12 good men and women listened to the evidence in a case, lasting some weeks. With all 12 in agreement, a verdict wos presented to the judge, whe overtumed the findings and reversed the verdict. Why should so many people tose their valuable tinte on jury duty, when a judge has the final say? William €. Roche Jova Center, N.Y, As a former special agent of the FBI I disassociate myself from the views expressed in the February issue with regard to the FBI. The article is an insult and affront to the FBI ond all of its employees, both past and present. The record of the FBI in its service in the law-enforcement field and in its contributions to the internal security of our country speaks for itself. Joseph M. Wysolmerski Melean, Ve. * Asan FBI agent | disagree with the February Comment. In ABSCAM, every precaution was taken to ensure that “entrapment” did not occur. You speak of temptation and its evils. Yes, the FBI offered temptation. It is the proper role of the FBI to offer “temptation” in an investigation such as this. There was probable cause to offer that temptation. However none of the congressmen has established sufficient probable cause for accepting it. Possibly the proper role of the FBI would be to prosecute burglars and * robbers and ignore the “fences” who encourage thefts by buying stolen property. | disagree with that hypothesis, just as | disagree that the FBI should act as an ostrich and ignore allegations of congressional misconduct, which have a greater impact on our moral fabric. Witliom P. Lawler Jr. Sevannah, Ga. No member of Congress or the president of the United States should ute the defense of “entrapment.” Any member ef the Senote, House of Representatives or the White House accepts an illegal bribe regardless of the circumstances. ce One representative arrested in the - « ABSCAM operation was Richard Kelly from Florida. ! voted for him. | hope he goes to jail, To think that a man who . + represents me would take an illegal bribe for any amount of money or for any gain causes me to believe that 4 there is no hope for our form of _- government, I say more power to the “FBI. | hope that it weeds out every = rotten apple in the entire government operation. ~ : Wilton C. Stober . Dunedin Beach, Fia, The president of United Cement, lime and Gypsum Workers a International Union and editor of our © monthly union magazine, the Veice, has asked me to write for permission to use in our magazine your February 1981 editorial, “Do we want o Federal Bureau of Instigation?’” It is a fine editorial and we would be very pleased if you would let us reprint it, for Patricia H. Strandt i 89 ' Managing Editor, the Voice tk 16> Norridge, lil, ; After learning some members of > Congress were accepting bribes for E political favors, lam happy the FBI had the courage to root them out and cause them to be brought to trial before a EF jury of their peers, which convicted * “ € every one of them. ‘ Attempting to smear the FBI for the crime wave in America is a distortion of the purpose of the FBI, which is charged with investigation of selected federal laws and cannet go charging off investigating what it desires. 3.1. Murphy +. % Savannah, Ga, Peer Time and money were well spent on the ABSCAM case, because the people caught had reputations for accepting bribes. The morality exhibited by our elected officials influences the morality of the general public and young people in particular. We safely can assume an officeholder is elected for his promises “ and integrity, not for his dishonesty . and greed. By accepting a bribe an elected official is betraying the trust of the people who elected him and hurts a all, inducing honest politicians, by destroying faith jr =) | should be ones she gute if ‘b 3- / ye hiet pina nt inn; en EL CLR RA