Westboro Baptist Church Attended FBI Training Sessions, Is Now Disinvited

WASHINGTON -- The FBI said Wednesday that members of an anti-gay fundamentalist group participated in the bureau's training of police officers and FBI agents – a move the bureau says it will take steps to remedy in the future.

The bureau extended the invitations to Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., for training this spring at two bureau facilities in Virginia: Quantico and Manassas.

Westboro has stirred widespread outrage with raucous demonstrations at the funerals of U.S. military service members. The group contends God is punishing the military for the nation's tolerance of homosexuality.

National Public Radio first reported the FBI's involvement with Westboro.

At FBI headquarters in Washington, bureau spokesman Paul Bresson acknowledged that Westboro was invited to the training sessions.

An FBI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that in retrospect, the bureau underestimated how the involvement of the outside organization would be perceived.

As a result, said the official, there will be additional layers of review or approval on outside speakers.

The official added that bureau personnel organizing training courses were trying to bring in a variety of views they thought would be helpful to investigators.

Bresson, the bureau spokesman, said that the invitation to Westboro "was done in an effort to establish open dialogue in an academic setting to train law enforcement on how to more effectively engage with the activist community."

The training, Bresson said, was not only for FBI agents but for police executives from around the country – for whom an open line of communication becomes important at critical times during rallies or protests around the country where there might be a potential for violence and police officers might be called on to respond.

Comments

[alexunlv]

01:04 PM on 07/21/2011

"Attended?"

Are you kidding me? They lectured at these sessions. Lets be honest about it. The FBI hired these people to lecture them at these sessions. Yes, they actually lectured. They didn't just "attend." Come on!

[rimmerjax]

06:08 PM on 07/11/2011

I hope fred phelps dies!

[mddunnington]

06:02 PM on 07/11/2011

Good let the FBI train them. That way the FBI will know every move they make.

[alexunlv]

01:04 PM on 07/21/2011

Funny you say that - because it was they who were training the FBI.

[noot]

05:10 PM on 07/11/2011

WTF. Oh I feel so much safer now.

[dbrett480]

08:24 PM on 07/06/2011

I can somewhat understand what the FBI is trying to do. However the next logical step would be for FBI agents to meet with terrorists, drug cartels, street gang members, etc.

[StopMakingSense2]

02:00 PM on 07/01/2011

An open dialog with the closed minded? That's going nowhere.

[daveclementsusa]

01:52 PM on 07/01/2011

Missed opportunity over politics!

The FBI should carry on with training with the Westboro Church Members.
People talk of providing tools and resources to law enforcement and when the chance actually presents to train against the very people they may face, throw it away for public perception?

LAW ENFORCEMENT NEEDED THIS SPECIAL TRAINING!

Yes, the FBI, State and Local Police needed this training because Westboro demands a unique response and discipline post U.S. Supreme Courts Decision in there favor.

Staff and Command, Strategy and Tactics and Counter response lessons would have been mountainous, let alone enhancing the ability to protect the public as well as their rights to protest in acordance under rule of law.

Here is one to consider, Westboro may have learned something too.
Before the Federal High Court, they won.
All Americans won!
If Westboro lost, arbitrary “Disorderly Conduct Charges” would top the Arrest Reporting’s across America.

I LOVE THE UNITED STATES WOMEN AND MEN OF THE ARMED FORCES!!!!!

I do not support Westboro’s Ideology, Tactics, and especially their MESSAGE.
I defend their right to Assemble, Protest and Dissent as that right is a protected Natural, U.S. State and Federal Constitutional, and International Human Right not to be abridged and defended, by any means necessary.

Please Follow me, Friend or share this message. Pros and Cons welcomed.
As a Real Independent I have a lot to say, and not afraid to say it.

My name is Dave Clements and I approved this message.

[Kiffanik]

01:43 PM on 07/01/2011

The Bible says "God is love" and the only thing specifically listed as a thing God hates is lying. That being said, that the FBI would in effect condone this is inappropriate.

[nbb]

03:59 PM on 07/01/2011

Not sure I know the verse that says God is love. Which book, which chapter? I know well the grade school age song we sang, but I don't think there's such a Bible verse. Maybe you mean that the message of the Bible overall is God is love? Not sure how that squares with the OT passages about dashing the babies' heads on stones....

[eyepatch]

01:17 PM on 07/01/2011

what the FBI did was inappropriate!

[The Anti-Con]

12:51 PM on 07/01/2011

ill side effects of freedom of speech... so sad

[ItsGettingWeird]

12:32 PM on 07/01/2011

"God Hates Your Feeling" ???

I guess they're trying to offend anyone with feelings. Just plain weird.

[jedwightn]

10:44 AM on 07/01/2011

If Mary (i.e. Hoover) were alive he would have invited Westboro's pastor to try on a dress or two.

[eyepatch]

01:18 PM on 07/01/2011

noooo, he would have a full dosier on each and
every one of them...he would view them as subversives
and plant an undercover agent in there group....

[MrBwood]

10:04 AM on 07/01/2011

Maybe they just duped these do pes, maybe they just wanted to microchip them (like the dogs they are ) so that they can keep an eye on them.

[nbb]

08:40 AM on 07/01/2011

Day in, day out, I don't spend much time or energy on hating other people and their ideas. By and large I think it's a poor use of resources. But Westboro Baptist Church has distinguished itself in that regard. As much as anything I can think of, at least within the US, this radically misguided set of people is anathema to me. Their awfulness makes me hope that indeed there is a hell in the afterlife. I am aghast that any branch of the federal government gave them anything other than a hard time.

[JohnFromCensornati]

08:39 AM on 07/01/2011

"An FBI official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that in retrospect, the bureau underestimated how the involvement of the outside organization would be perceived."

WBC is not just any "outside organization". How could the FBI be this out of touch? Due to their anti-military protests, the only way this would be acceptable to the public is if WBC members were used for target practice.