According to a job posting, which was sent to all 56 FBI field offices by FBI Director Robert Mueller, the new eight-member team will target “manufacturers and purveyors” of pornography in the hopes of bolstering federal obscenity prosecutions throughout the country.
The posting was very explicit: “The best odds of conviction come with pornography that includes bestiality, urination, defecation, as well as sadistic and masochistic behavior.”
The creation of the new squad has many in the FBI quietly grumbling over the diversion of resources, though no one in the bureau has spoken publicly against the issue. Nonetheless, federal obscenity prosecutions have been a rarity since the Reagan era, and issues of terrorism in recent years have prompted more than a few anonymous memos to circulate FBI offices decrying what some see as mismanaged priorities.
“The war on terror must be over then?” asked one memo, obtained by the Washington Post.
Not according to the FBI’s public priority list, which still lists anti-terrorism as the most important issue for the bureau. Foreign espionage runs a close second, followed by cyber-based attacks, public corruption, civil rights, organized crime, white-collar crime and violent crime.
The Family Research Council, a self-described nonpartisan educational organization that describes homosexuality as a disease, applauded the new squad’s creation, avowing a strong sense of “confidence in our new attorney general,” according to the organization’s website. Representatives at the Council refused to speak with XBiz directly.
The squad, which has already received funding from Congress, will be headquartered in Washington D.C.
How the new squad will affect the increasingly mainstreamed adult-entertainment industry is anyone’s guess, left open to the political discretion of Gonzales and other key conservative players, according to Mitchell Wilson, a Washington attorney who specializes in First Amendment issues.
“This is complicated to speak on right now because we don’t know where they are going with this,” Wilson told XBiz. “If it’s a purely political ploy then its effects won’t be that widespread, but if this gets the kind of support the Bush administration is implying it will…we may be in for quite a battle.”
News of the squad sparked a slew of messaging within the adult entertainment industry, saturating message boards with a range of fearful-to-angry postings. Some even attempted to downplay the situation with humor.
“Look, we know what to avoid now,” wrote G.G. on the adult community site GFY.com. “Just don’t film anything with pee, pooh, or puppy dogs and you’ll be fine.”
