Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

The Last Diplomat

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 59 posts

Re: The Last Diplomat

#31

Post by smcl »

ubernostrum wrote: post #17
wolf550e wrote: post #14

I have a little off topic question. The article says that after months of investigating a career diplomat with 40 years of service under suspicion that she turned and now works as a Pakistani spy in the US... >> Two FBI agents approached her, their faces stony. “Do you know any foreigners?” they asked Why do cops ask such questions? What is this investigative technique supposed to achieve? Make the suspect angry so t…

If they ask "do you know any foreigners" and you say no, and then they can prove you know a foreigner, that's it: they've got you guilty of a federal felony (lying to an FBI agent about materially relevant matters in the investigation), and since there were two FBI agents one will act as the witness for the other. Then they don't need to investigate anything else; your career is over and you're going to prison.

That's weird, it sounds like this technique is designed to just find someone guilty of something - not the perpetrator of a specific crime, just sweep up a guilty person. Like is the goal of an FBI agent or Policeman simply to be tricksy enough to make someone slip up, so they can sling them in jail?

Re: The Last Diplomat

#32

Post by tomhoward »

tscs37 wrote: post #30
tomhoward wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Run the web search in an incognito window.

And still paywalled.

Obviously I can't directly see exactly what you're doing, but there's always a way to get to these articles by using the right combination of techniques to appear as a new visitor arriving via a Google search.

Web link from incognito usually seems to do it for most people (it does for me on this occasion, as it always does for me on WSJ), but if that fails perhaps you need to try it from a clean browser instance.

Update: I'm in Australia. It may be different for you depending on what country you're in. Some people get around geographic restrictions by using a VPN or Tor Browser.

Re: The Last Diplomat

#34

Post by IBM »

This story is obviously sourced mainly from Raphel and her friends/allies. Personally I view the FBI investigation as them just doing their jobs. In the end this wasn't really a failure on their part, assuming the innocent reason for all the suspicion was true, they investigated her as they were tasked and the DoJ ended the investigation when they realized there was no case.

I think the interesting story is the change in culture at the State Department which has the effect of getting less human intelligence. I'm not sure if that's because they want to be cooped up in their embassies because they feel less safe meeting with people in certain host countries, or if security requirements are being imposed on them. Clearly in this case Raphel felt restricted and she had no problem, but I'm not sure other State Deparment employees feel the same.

Benghazi and the Camp Chapman attack [1] are pretty good reasons why they should be concerned about security.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camp_Chapman_attack

Re: The Last Diplomat

#36

Post by nradov »

wolf550e wrote: post #14

I have a little off topic question. The article says that after months of investigating a career diplomat with 40 years of service under suspicion that she turned and now works as a Pakistani spy in the US... >> Two FBI agents approached her, their faces stony. “Do you know any foreigners?” they asked Why do cops ask such questions? What is this investigative technique supposed to achieve? Make the suspect angry so t…

There is a common sales technique to ask customers questions where the only possible answer is yes. The point isn't to gain information, but rather to build rapport with the customer and get them into a positive frame of mind. Presumably the same approach is helpful in criminal interrogations.

Re: The Last Diplomat

#37

Post by Diederich »

tjic wrote: post #26

I've got multiple thoughts about this story, but the biggest one is that Robin Raphel answered FBI questions for quite a while BEFORE thinking that she should get a lawyer. For anyone who's not as politically connected as she is (say, if you're Martha Stewart, or - God help you - a mere mortal like any of us), this is a sure fire way to end up locked in a cage. ...and make no mistake: if you read the article carefull…

I knew what this youtube link was before I clicked it.

This is so important, my family and I watch it several times a year.

As far as I'm concerned, it should be taught in school, though that's so politically incorrect as to be unthinkable.

As are most of us, law enforcement are professionals who are rated on various metrics. The main metric is getting convictions. Guilt or innocence is not even a secondary concern.

Re: The Last Diplomat

#38

Post by lefler »

IBM wrote: post #34

This story is obviously sourced mainly from Raphel and her friends/allies. Personally I view the FBI investigation as them just doing their jobs. In the end this wasn't really a failure on their part, assuming the innocent reason for all the suspicion was true, they investigated her as they were tasked and the DoJ ended the investigation when they realized there was no case. I think the interesting story is the chang…

"Doing their jobs" misses a huge part of the story. Someone illegally leaked the details of the ongoing investigation to the New York Times, changing what could have been a temporary unpaid leave for Raphel into a front page story with damaging after effects.

Had this been investigated and resolved secretly, as per the rules, Raphel could have reapplied for her job after the FBI concluded there was no espionage case.

Re: The Last Diplomat

#39

Post by tbrownaw »

tjic wrote: post #26

I've got multiple thoughts about this story, but the biggest one is that Robin Raphel answered FBI questions for quite a while BEFORE thinking that she should get a lawyer. For anyone who's not as politically connected as she is (say, if you're Martha Stewart, or - God help you - a mere mortal like any of us), this is a sure fire way to end up locked in a cage. ...and make no mistake: if you read the article carefull…

Are there any studies that quantify the effect this has on the distribution of outcomes? Or how / whether the results vary by economic or social class (or race, since it can be a proxy for those)?

Re: The Last Diplomat

#40

Post by TheGirondin »

leereeves wrote: post #33

> “Do you know any foreigners?”, the FBI asked. As if that would be suspicious.

It's a starting point in an investigation.

"Only my great uncle from Mexico." Not much further inquiry required.

"3 people from Tehran" Get their names and do a little investigation.

"No" Caught them in a lie, when you know they know 3 people from Tehran.

Post reply on HN