I think the important distinction to make is that the statement from TOS was not referring to FLAG or Knight Industries when it referred to the "helpless". It was referring to the people Michael would meet weekly and help save, so clearly the FBI isn't helpless, but neither was FLAG.Mblackphoenix wrote: But Wilton Knight wanted someone who helped the innocent, the helpless, the powerless, in a world of criminals who operate above the law.
The FBI isn`t helpless.
Let's break the other statement down a bit:
"help the innocent, the helpless, the powerless..."
In the current series, the way I see it, that is exactly what they are doing. Let's take the story in "Knight of the Iguana". These guys are going to destroy a nuclear power plant. That had potential to kill thousands if not millions of people who were not even aware of the threat. I'm sure in that nearby city (not to mention all the people who would be affected by radiation fallout) that there were plenty of those who were innocent and they weren't aware of the threat, so they were absolutely helpless and powerless at that time.
If we were to take a KRTOS example here, if Michael say, helped one town with a corrupt sheriff, what good is it if a nuclear blast is going to wipe the town off the face of the map?
"...in a world of criminals who operate above the law..."
Every criminal we have seen so far in KR does just that. They create their own rules and live by them, not caring about the law. Local law enforcement doesn't seem to be aware or able to stop them, and thus the SCC is brought in.
IMO KR 2008 is still sticking to that creed from the original series, it's just doing it on a much larger scale now.