Luke William Hunt

I’m a former FBI agent who studies policing, and here’s how federal agents in Minneapolis are undermining basic law enforcement principles A policing scholar and former FBI special agent lays out the established principles of policing and constitutional law that govern how federal immigration enforcement efforts should be carried out.

Short piece in The Conversation on legal, policy, and tactical issues relating to the surge of federal law enforcement in Minneapolis.

theconversation.com/im-a-former-...

I was interviewed on the Australian Broadcasting Company’s (ABC) “Afternoon Briefing” television show regarding legal and philosophical questions involving the use of national guard troops for policing:

drive.google.com/file/d/1bE-0...

Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to fight crime blurs the legal distinction between the police and the military A former FBI agent-turned-scholar says using National Guard troops to reduce crime in cities such as Chicago and Baltimore would violate legal prohibitions against domestic military law enforcement.

I wrote this piece on the recent ruling that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to fight crime blurs the legal distinction between the police and the military theconversation.com/trumps-deplo...

10. Police Deception and Dishonesty: Luke Hunt Beyond Law: A Book Review Podcast · Episode

Fun conversation with Richard Haigh and Dan Priel (Osgoode Hall Law School) about police deception and dishonesty on their "Beyond Law" Spotify podcast:

open.spotify.com/episode/2cFe...

F.B.I. Leaders Push to Restore Trust in the Agency They Once Undermined (Gift Article) In recent days, Kash Patel, the F.B.I. director, and Dan Bongino, his deputy, have promised to bring change to what they have called a broken institution.

A few quotes related to my congressional testimony re: the FBI in this New York Times piece by Adam Goldman and Alan Feuer.

www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/u...

A new interesting article by @lukewilliamhunt.bsky.social is now available on our FirstView page. It is entitled "Police interrogation and fraudulent epistemic environments". Enjoy it here: tinyurl.com/5em3hvst

Inside the Biden FBI: Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and a Bureau Leadership in Decline

It was an honor to testify, and I very much appreciated the thoughtful questions.

judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...

Inside the Biden FBI: Waste, Fraud, Abuse, and a Bureau Leadership in Decline

This link includes the video of my oral testimony before Congress (House Judiciary Committee, Oversight Subcommittee, 4/2/2025) re: the FBI and the Rule of Law, as well as a copy of my written testimony. My opening statement begins at 1:11:55.

judiciary.house.gov/committee-ac...

Police Deception and Dishonesty | Luke Hunt | Ep. 50 YouTube video by Jason Chen

My interview with Luke Hunt about police deception and dishonesty. Hunt is a philosopher and former FBI agent. youtu.be/x8-sILlfp90

60% OFF Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying In Police Deception and Dishonesty, Luke William Hunt-a philosophy professor and former FBI special agent-argues that many of our assumptions about policing and security are unjustified. Through a ric...

You can purchase the audio version of my new book, Police Deception and Dishonesty - The Logic of Lying, for $8 (while supplies last).

Alternatively, I will read the book to you over the phone for $499.

www.audiobooks.com/promotions/p...

Police Can Lie to You: A Philosophy Prof & Former FBI Agent Discusses(Dr. Luke Hunt, Uni of Alabama) Zoom link: https://tinyurl.com/csusb-race-policing Join Luke William Hunt (link) -- a philosophy professor and former FBI Special Agent -- for a conversation about the ethics of police deception and dishonesty. In his new book, Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying, Hunt argues that many of our assumptions about policing and security are unjustified. Through a rich discussion of literature and case studies, he shows that there are compelling reasons to think that the police's widespread use of proactive deception and dishonesty is inconsistent with fundamental norms of political morality--especially norms regarding fraud and the rule of law. Although there are times and places for dishonesty and deception in policing, Hunt evocatively illustrates why those times and places should be much more limited than current practices suggest. Luke William Hunt is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Alabama, where he teaches in the department's Jurisprudence Track. After graduating from law school, he was a law clerk for a federal judge in Virginia. He then worked as an FBI Special Agent in Virginia and Washington, D.C., followed by his doctoral work in philosophy at the University of Virginia. He is the author of The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford, 2019), The Police Identity Crisis: Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm (Routledge, 2021), and Police Deception and Dishonesty: The Logic of Lying (Oxford, 2024). Thank you to the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee for sponsoring this event along with Pfau Library. Series organizers: Dr. Mary Texeira (CSUSB Sociology), Robie Madrigal (Pfau Library), Stan Futch (President, Westside Action Group), Dr. Jeremy Murray (CSUSB History), Matt Patino (Crafton Hills College Adjunct Faculty), Michael German (Brennan Center for Justice). Click here to view previous panels in the Conversations on Race and Policing series.

News flash: The police can lie to you.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt8C...

“Police and the Ethics of Lying” Host Jack Russell Weinstein visits with Luke William Hunt. Hunt is a former FBI agent, and currently an associate professor at University of Alabama, Department of Philosophy. His most recent book is ...

Fun chat with Jack Russell Weinstein on police deception and dishonesty for his public radio series, "Why?" Philosophical Discussions About Everyday Life."

news.prairiepublic.org/podcast/why-...

Ford Madox Ford wrote: "Open the book to page ninety-nine and read, and the quality of the whole will be revealed to you."

I was asked to apply the Page 99 Test to my book: page99test.blogspot.com/2024/01/luke...

This book dropped today. I’ve read it and can’t recommend it enough. Brilliant. Illuminating. Intoxicating. 4.95/5.0 stars. Basically reads like a John Grisham novel but more fast-paced. Sharing and reposting could change lives.

global.oup.com/academic/produ…

Give them the gift they really want:

global.oup.com/academic/pro...

Thank you, Lucy! It was so awesome but I think I may be retiring from 100-milers.

On Self-Deception and Self-Imposed Suffering I don’t know when they became so popular, but in recent years I’ve noticed the proliferation of rustically framed mantras serving as home décor. The possibilities are endless: “Wake up and be a...

I wrote an essay for the American Philosophical Association about self-deception and self-imposed suffering as it relates to running 100 miles through the woods of Alabama -- a topic that is surely of universal concern.

blog.apaonline.org/2023/12/04/o...

Non-Traditional Paths into Philosophy (Guest post by Luke William Hunt) This is the fifth entry in the Cocoon's series, Non-Traditional Paths into Philosophy, a series of guest posts by people who entered academic philosophy later in life or otherwise took a non-tradition...

Thanks to Marcus Arvan for all his work to help grad students and early-career philosophers. I'm glad to have the opportunity to make a small contribution to the Cocoon.

https://philosopherscocoon.typepad.com/blog/2023/11/non-traditional-paths-into-philosophy-guest-post-by-luke-william-hunt.html

Chap. 4 argues that the public cannot reasonably trust that rights will be honestly respected if the state’s pursuit of security is opaque. But it is implausible to think the state can provide security without opacity. Through cases studies, a pragmatic compromise is proposed.

Chap. 3 draws on case studies—from terrorism to perjury—to explore when bad faith and fraud are justified in policing. The case studies show the need for a revisionary theory given the police’s vast use of dishonest, deceptive, and fraudulent tactics in non-emergency situations.

The Interlude explores methodologies for moving from theoretical to practical concerns, proposing a framework for assessing the justification of the police’s deviation from rule of law principles to engage in deception, dishonesty, and bad faith that are on par with fraud.

Chapter 2 draws on the norms of contract law—including good faith, honesty, and transparency—to illustrate how policing reaches beyond the value of security. People entrust certain tasks (policing) to agents of the state, which is connected to a right to be secured in good faith.

Chapter 1 explores the universal role that force and fraud play in unjustified acts, raising questions about the justification of a police institution enmeshed in deception and dishonesty. It should give us pause when the police depart from universalistic norms against fraud.

Police Deception and Dishonesty Cooperative relations steeped in honesty and good faith are a necessity for any viable society. This is especially relevant to the police institution because the police are entrusted to promote justic...

Pre-order link for my new book "Police Deception and Dishonesty - The Logic of Lying" (Oxford University Press).

Hate to ask, but I'd very much appreciate y'all sharing this with everyone (literally!) you know (but only if you're so inclined).

Pitching Radiolab - The Marc Sanders Foundation with Latif Nasser, Becca Bressler, and Barry Lam July 27, 2023, 6:00 pm ET This workshop was a virtual event, […]

Really enjoyed being a part of this cool event.

https://marcsandersfoundation.org/pitching-radiolab/

I just watched "Bama Rush" on HBO, and, frankly, I was a bit dissappointed.

The Police Identity Crisis: Hero, Warrior, Guardian, Algorithm This book provides a comprehensive examination of the police role from within a broader philosophical context. Contending that the police are in the midst of an identity crisis that exacerbates unjust...

Unlike my first book, The Retrieval of Liberalism in Policing (Oxford, 2019), The Police Identity Crisis examines the police role and identity from within a broader, multidisciplinary context, arguing that prominent conceptions of the police are inconsistent with a collective conception of justice.

A very thoughtful review of my second book by Ben Jones in the journal, Ethics.

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/724541

Difficult on a number of levels but ultimately very rewarding. One of the best novels about life on the fringes.

Now more than ever, Americans should defend liberalism Liberalism, the most successful political and economic system in history, is under sustained assault on all sides. As historically understood, liberalism is a political philosophy based on a commit…

Here I was defending liberalism and it turns out liberalism is pretty much just a (libertarian) "economic system" to make people richer. I've been had.