Actually they're good at financial crimes and breaking the mob. As you say, not so good at civil rights.When you look close the FBI doesn't exactly have a sterling reputation outside of Hollywood fiction that passes for history in the minds of today's pop culture educated generation.The G-Men got pretty good publicity back in the 30's chasing colorful gangsters but they also were pretty much the private intelligence network for Hoover's blackmail and political extortion ring for decades. The FBI's crime lab scandal should have been cause to re-examine the operation but even the high profile arrest of FBI traitor Robert Hanssen wasn't cause for alarm . FBI agents led the (illegal) assault on Ruby Ridge and then they went on to bigger things by driving military tanks in an assault on a quirky religious cult in Waco Texas. No big deal when 80 men women and children are killed by poison gas and tanks during a democrat administration. What do you do when the FBI leadership breaks the law and violates the Constitution like a freaking 3rd world gestapo agency? Mostly you rely on the media to uncover the illegal activity in the federal government and demand justice but what happens when the media is part of the conspiracy? In that case you can pretty much kiss the Constitution goodbye.