The FBI’s ‘Ordinary Men’

by David J. Baldovin

“Ordinary Men, the Forgotten Holocaust,” is the title of a documentary movie on Netflix which highlights German police battalion 101, which was one among more than 130 such battalions created in the 1930’s and early 1940’s. Otherwise “ordinary men” were recruited from a variety of professions and backgrounds out of middle class and educated German society to man these battalions to assist in occupying the territories that were being conquered by the German Wehrmacht. The movie delves into how otherwise every day ordinary folks can be turned into genocidal killers. Many of the mass killings of civilians, according to the documentary, were done by these ordinary German police recruits and not necessarily by Nazi soldiers. They were mobile killing units known as Einsatzgruppen.

What one may not know is that one could opt out of participating in these mass executions. They were given a choice. Some in fact did opt out. They did not have to obey the orders they were given. It also highlights the social pressure exerted on those who opted out, and the resulting mental prices they paid by doing so. In Germany the Nazi government passed approximately 2000 anti-Jewish laws, which gave legitimacy to and set the stage for what was to happen next. Our government, in my view, has done likewise.

Today I believe we are confronted with a similar situation: members of FBI SWAT teams willingly obey questionably immoral and unconstitutional orders. Blind obedience to orders threatens American citizens to the suppression of their civil liberties. The FBI has had an ongoing relationship for years with an organization that has its roots in Nazism and which calls for the genocidal killing of Jews and the obliteration of the Jewish State. That entity is Hamas, doing business in this country as the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). On October 7, 2023, Hamas waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Read about the Nazi roots of Hamas here.

On September 9, 2016, I attended a presentation at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, hosted by the Muslim Student Association (MSA) Chapter. Both CAIR and the MSA are unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation case that involved the funneling of money to Hamas by the Holy Land Foundation charity. One of the two speakers at this event was retired FBI Agent Patricia Villafranca, whom one might argue was an otherwise “ordinary” individual. She had been assigned to the Houston, Texas FBI office. One can read about this event and Villafranca’s interaction with this author here.

It might be noted that Villafranca, by taking part in the event, was doing nothing more than her FBI leadership was doing, as Robert Mueller, James Comey, and other FBI executives had on several occasions compromised their respective oaths by meeting with, breaking bread with, and giving awards to Muslims whose Muslim Brotherhood affiliations made them self-described enemies of Western civilization. This relationship is documented here, here, and here. Villafranca, then, was only following orders, wasn’t she? One can read further about the connections between CAIR, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood, which are documented here, here and here. We therefore have ample evidence of “ordinary men and women” in the FBI willingly aiding, abetting, and giving comfort to an Islamo-Nazi enemy that calls for the obliteration of Jews and Israel. Further, the Bureau has today and for a considerable period has had a working relationship with the arguably Marxist front known as the Southern Poverty Law Center, as is discussed by FBI whistleblower Steve Friend at the 39:20 marker here.

In Germany in the 1930’s, the population was subjected to constant propaganda about their Aryan status and the demonization of Jews. One might question, therefore, if members of the Einsatzgruppen thought that the propaganda was not propaganda, but the truth. Likewise, here today, we are subjected to the constant government media complex of propaganda that right wing “white supremacist” domestic “terrorists,” Christian Nationalists, and MAGA supporters are the most serious threats that we face. The people they are demonizing, of course, are also known as American patriots. I include my prior employer in this propaganda complex, which might have an effect on individual FBI agents in their willingness to blindly follow orders. With that as a segue, and having demonstrating an FBI apparently adverse to Jews, here is an excerpt from a letter to then-incoming FBI Director James Comey, dated July 16, 2013, authored by patriotic FBI employees:

The free exercise of religion is specifically protected in the Constitution and identified in the Civil Rights Act of 1964, yet the entire protected Class of Religion is ignored or marginalized within the Bureau; whereas sexual orientation, which does not command the same legal protection as Religion, is celebrated with great fanfare. Those who adhere to Christianity are systematically offended, mistreated, and discriminated against, often by the very people who took an oath to uphold the Constitution. One employee was instructed by a supervisor to remove Bible quotes placed on the employee’s own office wall because they had ‘offended’ a supporter of the LGBT agenda. Another employee was told she could not post her prayer meeting notice on the electronic billboard, although other groups were free to list their meetings and events. And every June, thousands of Christian FBI employees are forced to endure the FBI’s active promotion of homosexuality, bisexuality and transsexuality in the workplace, despite the fact that these lifestyles are contrary to their protected religious beliefs.

Now that we have evidence of the FBI’s discrimination against Christians within the Bureau, let us turn to what I believe is evidence of its overt persecution of Christians in general. As in Germany, where the Nazi government passed anti-Jewish laws, our government  has created a law, the Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances Act (the FACE Act), that in my view, is meant to target, persecute, and discriminate against a particular religious segment of society, ie. Christians.  The passage of this law then sets up the same legal legitimacy as in Nazi Germany, and the use of the tactic known as lawfare against the ruling group’s political enemies. It also then sets the stage for the improper usage of FBI SWAT teams to intimidate and humiliate these supposed enemies of the state. One can read about the respective FBI cases of pro-life Christian activist Mark Houck here, and that of Paul Vaughn here, and here. These are but two examples of lawfare being used in the U.S. as it was used both in Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.

FBI SWAT teams are made up of otherwise ordinary men and women who volunteer for this duty. It is a separate hat one wears in addition to one’s everyday investigative duties. One can therefore choose not to join or can opt out for whatever reason one may deem necessary. With the passage of the FACE Act, a corrupted and politicized United States Department of Justice (USDOJ) has dug the metaphorical   trench, and FBI Agent SWAT team members have a choice to make. They can choose to become the political executioners of those in the metaphorical trench, or they can opt out. They can un-volunteer their SWAT team services. Many have chosen, as in the Houck and Vaughn cases above, as well as many others in separate instances. For examples, see here, and here.

Those who have chosen to be a cog in the corrupt machinery that cannot function without their participation have allowed themselves to be used as an enforcement arm of an anti-American political party that has been taken over by Communism to harass, intimidate, and humiliate patriotic American citizens. Do members of these FBI SWAT teams consider themselves to be morally righteous, and somehow justify what they are doing, as did members of the Einsatzgruppen? If they choose to opt out of the corruption, which a few have, they will be subjected to the same type of peer and social pressures and persecution, as in the case of a whistleblower who said he was “willing to be homeless at the hands of the FBI,” in their sacrifice “to do the right thing for this nation.” Am I suggesting that there is a moral equivalence between the Einsatzgruppen and FBI SWAT team members? No. What I am suggesting is that, as in Germany, this road could lead to the worst-case scenario end result that we have seen before. There are common threads that run though these situations. Those are the willingness to follow and obey orders, aided and abetted by the constant propaganda I have mentioned.

The truly extraordinary men and women are those with inner strength, strong self-assurance, and of course the courage to take a stand. This was true in Germany, as it is today with those FBI agents who have chosen to opt out.

First published in FrontPage.

David J. Baldovin is a retired FBI agent who served from 1969 to 2000, including 25 years in SWAT.