“The FBI unveiled a task force yesterday to investigate public corruption and government fraud in Northern Virginia, saying the poor economy and an influx of federal dollars into the region *could* tempt officials and business owners to take bribes or divert contracting dollars for their own use.”

They’re portraying this as a preventative measure, implicitly declaring that there’s nothing bad *currently* going on.

“Federal officials said they have seen no evidence that public corruption is increasing in Northern Virginia…”

Other than your ‘cover story’ idea, maybe they just picked an area that is unusually corrupt and decided to start there? Maybe someone looking at the Manassas Park fiasco discovered there was lots more going on than that what is in that one town? Maybe this, maybe that… I guess it’s wait and see, now.

“Federal officials said they have seen no evidence that public corruption is increasing in Northern Virginia, and federal prosecutors have brought only a handful of such cases in recent years. But the FBI said putting more agents in the field and educating the public will probably result in more prosecutions.”

And, what? they just happened to have a bunch of guys sitting around with nothing to do? I think it’s interesting and I’m all for investigating corruption, but it almost seems like they’ve run out of areas where corruption isn’t just a speculative possibility.

Unless, of course, it’s a cover story for an investigation of something else…