"Mandatory Holocaust™ Training for the FBI and Local Police"
"Jonathan Solomon
Special Agent in Charge, Miami Division Federal Bureau of Investigation
Anti-Defamation League
Boca West Lecture Series
Boca Raton, Florida February 6, 2008
Six and half years later, that remains our highest priority. Now, as you’ve probably guessed, I’m one of the few Jewish Special Agents in Charge in the FBI. Actually, maybe the only one. People sometimes ask me, in the context of counterterrorism, if my life has ever been threatened because of it.
Ours is a relationship that goes back years. Your support of hate crime and terrorist investigations, which are front and center in our day-to-day work, has been essential to us. Your research has helped our agents and analysts as they conduct threat assessments and prepare intelligence reports. And the training you voluntarily provide—from local conferences to classes at the FBI’s National Academy—is always sharp and relevant.
And back in the mid-90s, Abe Foxman and Jess Hordes helped us augment the training we give our New Agents by setting up a specialized tour of the Holocaust Museum in Washington D.C. Every single new agent class now attends the presentation, which is a powerful lesson in why our first priority must always be protecting civil rights and upholding the rule of law, no matter what challenges we face.
The presentation has a stunning and lasting impact on our New Agents. It’s been so important that we’ve expanded it to include our top executives and major city chiefs-of-police who train in our National Executive Institute. In the end, no amount of classroom instruction can drive home the horror of what happens when law enforcement abandons its commitment to protect its citizens and becomes instead a tool for oppression.
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