A message to the bureau about constitutional rights
In a packed federal courtroom in Washington last week, the many retired FBI agents on hand chorused an audible sigh of relief. That was when Judge William Bryant announced the sentences for two former top agents convicted on Nov. 6 for their roles in approving illegal break-ins during the Nixon Administration in the early 1970s. Found by a jury to have conspired to violate citizens' Fourth Amendment rights to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, W. Mark Felt, 67, who had been the FBI's deputy director, and Edward S. Miller, 52, once its...