Criminal checks

The FBI stirred up a firestorm this month by issuing a bulletin to police warning that suspected members of extremist groups had signed up as school bus drivers.

Naturally, this got immediate media attention. The FBI then held a press conference during which they appeared to be playing down the risk. A spokesman said, “Parents and children have nothing to fear” and “There are no threats, no plots and no history leading us to believe there is any reason for concern.” They added that most drivers were seeking jobs for legitimate reasons. However, the complete text of the bulletin was apparently not released. As others have noted, it seems to be impossible to find it on the FBI website, the Department of Homeland Security, or anywhere else. So there really is no information as to which extremist groups are involved, what characteristics the police should be looking for, or how school districts should protect themselves. Although I am not one for conspiracy theories, it seems likely that someone belatedly realized the political sensitivity of this issue and attempted to reduce its profile.

The scary thing is that as a means of spreading […]