Retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agents do not like to see the actions of special agents become political fodder, but that’s just what happened with the politicization of the handling of alleged Christmas day bomber Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab.

A comment last week from Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, who said that “Larry King would have a more thorough interrogation of one of his [guests] than the Christmas bomber had by the Justice Department,” seems to have upset former FBI officials, according to Politico.

“It’s not just Mr. McConnell — these things go on on both sides, and it has for some time, and agents find this kind of behavior to be detestable, really,” Craig Dotlo, a retired FBI agent and the spokesman for the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI, told Politico ^[1]. “When these things are said or happen, agents just roll their eyes.”

“The members of Congress, on both sides of the aisle, like to pretend they do everything right and they’re trying to protect the American people from these bumbling idiots” who work for the FBI, he told Politico.

But, said Dotlo, McConnell may have raised some good questions about the FBI’s handling of the suspect that should be answered. He questioned whether the best agents available conducted the interview and whether 50 minutes was a long enough period of time to get all the necessary information.

Dotlo believes that the FBI is capable of conducting interviews with terror suspects, though he told Politico he would rather the FBI conduct interviews in the context of military tribunals.