RealClearPolitics Washington bureau chief Carl Cannon proposed an outline for reforming the FBI Tuesday on the RCP Podcast. “Narrow their scope, get real cops in there, and announce to the world and to each other that they’re not going to be political anymore-in a brand new building not named after J. Edgar Hoover,” he suggested.

CARL CANNON: This is not how you build trust in an organization. They’re going to say the view from the Trump side of things is that the FBI had been politicized, intensely politicized. Now there’s two things about that. First of all, it’s true. Secondly, it’s always been true. That’s a very political organization-has been since its outset. If you wanted to make it a more legitimate organization that had the trust of people across the spectrum, that’s a noble goal. But I don’t-they’re not going about it in a way that would do that. They’re sort of doing what was done to them. TOM BEVAN: How would you go about doing that, Carl? I’m interested. CARL CANNON: OK, this is the Carl Cannon plan for the FBI. Because there are a lot of great people who work there-I know some of their lawyers are terrific people, some of the agents too. I would take the FBI building, the J. Edgar Hoover Building, and raze it to the ground. I would build in that space-rebuild the Newseum. In some other place in Washington, I would build a new FBI headquarters and I would make everybody reapply for their job. And it would be explained to them we’re not going to do what we’ve done in the past-since the days when we attacked Martin Luther King and the days we tried to set up Trump. We’re not going to do any of that. We’re a law enforcement agency. I would have Congress narrow the scope of what they’re doing. They shouldn’t have to do background checks on federal employees. They shouldn’t have to still do bank robberies. They should do domestic terrorism and violent crime that crosses state borders. Narrow their scope, get real cops in there, and announce to the world and to each other that they’re not going to be political anymore-in a brand new building not named after J. Edgar Hoover. That’s my plan. TOM BEVAN: OK, so here’s one problem I see with your plan. Do you trust the Trump administration, or the Gavin Newsom administration, or the Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez administration, to do the hiring and to hire people based on that criteria? I mean, is that really possible to hire agents who are apolitical? CARL CANNON: You both know what’s coming, and I am expecting the derision. We need a blue ribbon panel. TOM BEVAN: Now I really know your plan is in trouble. ANDREW WALWORTH: Yeah, I was for your plan up until that moment. TOM BEVAN: I would relocate it outside of Washington, DC. I think that would be-I would put it in Kansas City, Missouri.

RealClearPolitics Videos