Michael German is a retired American FBI agent, scholar, and writer. He is a fellow in the Brennan Center for Justice's Liberty and National Security program.

Michael German
German in 2022
Occupation(s)FBI agent
Security consultant
Writer

Life

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During his 16-year career as a Special Agent in the FBI, German spent many months undercover, first among white supremacists and then among right-wing militants. German left the FBI in 2004 as a whistleblower, alleging misconduct and mismanagement in counterterrorism cases. German reported this mismanagement to Congress.[1]

His 2008 book, Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, was about his experiences as a special agent. He spent seven years as a Senior Policy Counsel at the ACLU’s Washington Legislative Office, working on issues relating to national security policies and civil rights. German joined writer and director Daniel Ragussis in creating the screenplay for Imperium, starring Daniel Radcliffe as an undercover FBI Special Agent under an FBI case agent played by Toni Collette.[2]

His work has appeared in the Guardian,[3] Time,[4] The Cipher Brief,[5] and Defence One.[6]

Works

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  • Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent, University of Nebraska Press, 2008. ISBN 9781597970266
  • Disrupt, Discredit, and Divide: How the New FBI Damages Democracy, The New Press, 2019. ISBN 9781620973790[7]

References

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  1. ^ "Michael German". Brennan Center for Justice. 27 January 2015. Archived from the original on 2017-07-15. Retrieved 2017-07-12.
  2. ^ Wolfe, April (August 15, 2016). "FBI Agent Michael German Taught Hollywood How to Get Counterterrorism Right". LAweekly.com. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016. Retrieved August 19, 2016.
  3. ^ "Mike German | The Guardian". the Guardian. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  4. ^ "Michael German". Time. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  5. ^ "Michael German". The Cipher Brief. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  6. ^ "Michael German". Defense One. 26 March 2015. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
  7. ^ Devereaux, Ryan (2019-09-14). "How the FBI Increased Its Power After 9/11 and Helped Put Trump in Office". The Intercept. Archived from the original on 2019-10-22. Retrieved 2019-10-22.
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