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For Gambaryan and Janczewski, the story was utterly typical. IRS-CI agents did shoe-leather detective work, carried guns, and made arrests, just like their FBI

For Gambaryan and Janczewski, the story was utterly typical. IRS-CI agents did shoe-leather detective work, carried guns, and made arrests, just like their FBI and DEA counterparts. But because of the IRS’s dowdy public image, they often found that fellow agents treated them like accountants. “Don’t audit me,” their peers from other law enforcement branches would joke when they were introduced in meetings. Most IRS-CI agents had heard the line enough times that it warranted an instant eye roll. Reminds me of the postal inspector who blew open the case of two foreign agents with sniper rifles and other weapons impersonating federal officers in Washington DC. The Secret Service believed their B.S. story about being DHS investigators working on J6 investigations. 4 SS agents apparently took bribes from them, including one who protects the president's wife. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-secret-service-places-agents-leave-over-gifts-phony-cops-2022-04-07/ https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-secret-service-places-ag...

jacquesm 5y ago
That sounds like something pretty bad was brewing there. That postal inspector did better than the Secret Service, which in a normal world shouldn't be remotely possible.
- numbsafari 5y ago
  The Secret Service has been a dumpster fire for decades.
  - ganzuul 5y ago
    By design or by incompetence?
  - jacquesm 5y ago
    Yes, but really: in a role like that accepting gifts without immediately reporting even the attempt of such gifts up the chain to ask for guidance on how to play it seems to be beyond stupid, that's not just your garden level variety of incompetence but something entirely different.
    - ilamont 5y ago
      They’ve gone through countless hours of ethics courses, including (at minimum) a yearly refresher that covers _exactly_ what to do if you feel like you’re being bribed, etc. They knew what they were doing. https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1512515586491879435 https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1512515586491879435
      - jacquesm 5y ago
        That would be my guess as well. There is no way this would happen if it didn't have an element of will behind it.
  - ceejayoz 5y ago
    For example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/31/joe-biden-secret-service-team-trump-loyalty https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/31/joe-biden-se... > Joe Biden is expected to receive Secret Service protection with a new team that is more familiar to him and replacing some agents amid concerns that they may be politically allied with Donald Trump.
- pvarangot 5y ago
  Two buddies from the office were former SS. Really nice guys, apparently not the service that hires the smartest people. Their boss was a Marine and the joke was that he could only be the boss of former secret service agents because all other federal agencies hired people smarter than him.
- Arrath 5y ago
  It should be noted that the Postal Inspectors are the real deal, tangling with them is not advised.
- _moof 5y ago
  USPIS is the oldest federal law enforcement agency and is extremely good at what they do. Do not mess with them.
mzs 5y ago
The indictment itself: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21580222/taherzadeh-and-ali-affidavit.pdf https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21580222/taherzadeh-a... Recent coverage makes it seem this started in Feb 2020 as Soleimani retaliation: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-arian-taherzadeh-haider-ali-iranian-intelligence/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-arian-taherzadeh... >Law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are looking into the possibility that the two suspects have ties to Iranian intelligence including to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite component of the Iranian military that conducts special operations, or the Quds force. … >The FBI also singled out a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) employee who interacted with Taherzadeh and is listed among DHS personnel who received gifts from suspects in the affidavit. According to a senior DHS official, the current employee, who does not serve in a law enforcement capacity, has not been put on administrative leave and is not the subject of any internal review.

jacquesm 5y ago

That sounds like something pretty bad was brewing there. That postal inspector did better than the Secret Service, which in a normal world shouldn't be remotely possible.

numbsafari 5y ago
The Secret Service has been a dumpster fire for decades.
- ganzuul 5y ago
  By design or by incompetence?
- jacquesm 5y ago
  Yes, but really: in a role like that accepting gifts without immediately reporting even the attempt of such gifts up the chain to ask for guidance on how to play it seems to be beyond stupid, that's not just your garden level variety of incompetence but something entirely different.
  - ilamont 5y ago
    They’ve gone through countless hours of ethics courses, including (at minimum) a yearly refresher that covers _exactly_ what to do if you feel like you’re being bribed, etc. They knew what they were doing. https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1512515586491879435 https://twitter.com/Angry_Staffer/status/1512515586491879435
    - jacquesm 5y ago
      That would be my guess as well. There is no way this would happen if it didn't have an element of will behind it.
- ceejayoz 5y ago
  For example: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/31/joe-biden-secret-service-team-trump-loyalty https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/dec/31/joe-biden-se... > Joe Biden is expected to receive Secret Service protection with a new team that is more familiar to him and replacing some agents amid concerns that they may be politically allied with Donald Trump.
pvarangot 5y ago
Two buddies from the office were former SS. Really nice guys, apparently not the service that hires the smartest people. Their boss was a Marine and the joke was that he could only be the boss of former secret service agents because all other federal agencies hired people smarter than him.
Arrath 5y ago
It should be noted that the Postal Inspectors are the real deal, tangling with them is not advised.
_moof 5y ago
USPIS is the oldest federal law enforcement agency and is extremely good at what they do. Do not mess with them.

mzs 5y ago

The indictment itself: https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21580222/taherzadeh-and-ali-affidavit.pdf https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/21580222/taherzadeh-a... Recent coverage makes it seem this started in Feb 2020 as Soleimani retaliation: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-arian-taherzadeh-haider-ali-iranian-intelligence/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/secret-service-arian-taherzadeh... >Law enforcement sources told CBS News that investigators are looking into the possibility that the two suspects have ties to Iranian intelligence including to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, an elite component of the Iranian military that conducts special operations, or the Quds force. … >The FBI also singled out a Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) employee who interacted with Taherzadeh and is listed among DHS personnel who received gifts from suspects in the affidavit. According to a senior DHS official, the current employee, who does not serve in a law enforcement capacity, has not been put on administrative leave and is not the subject of any internal review.