Power and Authority

The FBI in The Doorbell Rang has almost unlimited power and authority. This gives the FBI the ability to control nearly anyone. When Mrs. Bruner performs an antagonistic action, sending out books critical of the FBI to important people, she finds herself under attack without recourse. The FBI has the power and authority to investigate her illegally without repercussions. Nothing controls or contains them. They have manpower, technology, funding, and immunity to prosecution. They have too much power. The excess of power leads to the abuse of power, since Mrs. Bruner is persecuted only for spreading her ideas and beliefs, not for any wrongdoing.

When Wolfe first takes the case, Archie is against it. He sees the power and the authority of the FBI as insurmountable, that it is impossible to fight against them. The authority of the New York Police Department, which should include the...