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A former senior FBI official implicated in surveillance abuses is poised to become a federal judge in one of the US's most important courts for terrorism cases.

Valerie Caproni, the FBI's top lawyer from 2003 to 2011, is scheduled to receive a vote on Monday in the Senate for a seat on the southern district court of New York.

Caproni has come under bipartisan criticism over the years for enabling widespread surveillance later found to be inappropriate or illegal. During her tenure as the FBI's general counsel, she clashed with Congress and even the Fisa surveillance court over the proper scope of the FBI's surveillance powers.

“If you think this is about, quote/unquote, ‘the terrorists,’ think again. It’s about you.”

My neighbor turned himself in a day or two later. The trial was big news and received a lot of local publicity. The sheriff (who the FDLE suspected was involved in my neighbors’ business) declared a “War on Meth,” and subscribers to the local weekly newspaper were bombarded with reports of every subsequent drug arrest, the overwhelming majority of which were thrown out of court. This so-called “War on Meth” only produced a lot of very expensive statistics. Suddenly, Holmes County supposedly became the reported center of all meth production and distribution, which would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic. Sometime before here criminal trial, my neighbor’s wife told me that the entire area was “bugged.” She then apologized for the FDLE late night helicopter incident. She also told me that the FDLE offered her a “deal” if she’d implicate the sheriff in her operations. She told me that she declined the offer and would rather do the time. Just as quickly as my neighbors’ arrest was big news and received a lot publicity, the story died. The judge dismissed the case when both the State Attorney and FDLE refused to turn over requested documents. The requested evidence would prove my charges. The state didn’t attempt to retry them. Incidentally, the DEA didn’t get involved in this case, because they said that the “FDLE mishandled it.” Within two weeks following his election, the new sheriff busted the biggest pot grower/distributor in the region. The new sheriff remarked that the drug dealer went “under the radar” for a number of years. Perhaps if the “radar” was pointed at the largest drug dealer in the region rather than me, his operation might have been “busted” sooner?