A growing number of Americans are losing faith in the efficiency, honesty, and impartiality of the government at various levels, perhaps particularly the federal government. This applies with great force to the FBI, with 61% of independent voters saying they only trust the bureau “some of the time” or hardly ever.” The FBI has not helped itself in the 48 hours since an Islamist terrorist murdered 14 people and injured more than 30 people in New Orleans.

Just hours after Shamsud-Din Jabbar drove a rented Ford F-150 with an ISIS flag on the trailer hitch along a crowded Bourbon Street, evidently to kill as many people as he could, FBI special agent Alethea Duncan took to a podium in New Orleans and confidently said, “This is not a terrorist event.”