My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror Paperback – Import, 3 October 2006

My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror A thread runs through all memoirs. In Louis Freeh's memoir, My FBI, the thread is an avowedly devout Catholicism, a faith in which Freeh was raised a "straight laced Catholic", a faith that "moved me toward the FBI", that "taught him to respect authority", that made the FBI "like a calling". His book's language is unadorned and is honest as a handshake, high spirited, decent, compassionate, and handsomely generous. If your name is in this book and Freeh has not called you "a great guy", "remarkable", "an inspiration", you are probably wanted in Nebraska for an axe slaying. Early on in My FBI, Freeh tells of a winter night in 1968, when he, an 18 year old Rutgers sophomore bound for his rented room above a store after having worked that night on a beer truck, finds an old vagrant, reeking of "booze", lying in the hallway. Rather than prudently calling the police to have the man taken to a shelter, Freeh carries the stranger to his room, puts him on a sofa, and covers him. After morning coffee, the man states that he is "Flaherty", one of three brothers who had joined the Abraham Lincoln Brigade and went to Spain in 1937 to fight Franco. Upon returning home, he was persecutued by the FBI as a Communist. He could not find a job, and so, thirty-one years later, he was on skid row. Freeh gave him "a few bucks". Flaherty left, never to be seen by Freeh again. Admitting that he did not know how true Flaherty's story was, Freeh calls their conversation "one of my richest undergraduate experiences" for he saw how the FBI had set out to ruin Flaherty "without lifting an official finger against him". The story is a movingly genuine one of Freeh's compassion. On the other hand, by startling coincidences I know that the man in the hallway was Frank Flaherty who in October, 1969, was buried in an unmarked grave in Olean, New York. I knew the political commissar of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, Steve Nelson, and I knew that the three young Flaherty brothers from south Boston were famed for heroism in battle. I read Flaherty's 260 page FBI file provided upon his relative's FOIA request. It discloses, among other things, Flaherty's primary work as a seaman on coast line ships. The FBI's checking of him, such as it was, ended in 1953. The thread in Flaherty's ruin lay curled with him at the bottom of whatever bottle he was holding. He had sunk so low - his nickname was "Sunky" - that the FBI's last interest in him arose out of complaints that in at least three states and the District of Columbia he scammed parents of servicemen by calling them, posing as their son's college friend in sore need of money to reach his ship, and conning the parents to wire him money. Ironically, Freeh might have been scammed by Flaherty who might have known that the other tenants in Freeh's building were college students. With a Phi Beta Kappa degree from Rutgers college in 1971, and a law degree from its law school in 1975, Freeh went to work at 25 as an FBI agent. He begins work in the small crimes world of "the street". There he doesn't "rat out" anyone, collars "nobodies", and works "to get enough goods" to put the deserving into the "slammer". In 1981, he is appointed an Assistant U. S. Attorney in the Southern District where he attracts national attention during 1985 as the fighting prosecutor in the 17 month Pizza Connection case involving 300 witnesses, 15,000 exhibits, a 41,000 page transcript, a defendant shot during his attorney's summation, while another, unhappy with his attorney's summation, "put out a hit contract on him". In 1989, Freeh tediously tracks and brings to conviction the bomber Walter Moody who killed U.S. District Judge Robert Vance and NAACP leader Robert Robinson. At 43, Freeh is appointed a U.S. District Judge. His two years as a district judge are quickly glossed over in My FBI, though he does stop to refer to Learned Hand as a "Supreme Court justice". In 1993, President Clinton appoints Freeh Director of the FBI. Freeh confesses in retrospect that he "wasn't ready" for the political pressure that position would attract. He describes the constant FBI budget problems, the failure to keep abreast of communication technologies, and the daunting great need for additional agents. Notable convictions are recalled - the Birmingham church bombing, the conviction of the former governor of Louisiana, and the usual suspects, corrupt police officers. He points to China and the foreign intelligence services of our closest allies engaged in intellectual property thefts. Health care fraud, anti-trust, bank fraud, and theft by computers, are but a handful of the many matters that made him work "like a dog". In 1995 he dealt with the apprehension of the Unabomber, Kaczynski, and in 1996 he oversaw the Murrah Federal Building bombing investigation in Oklahoma. And then there was the mindboggling nightmare of the Russian mole, FBI agent Robert Hanssen, caught in 2001 having compromised intelligence operations since the 1970's. Hanssen lived in Scarsdale close to my home and prayed in our parish Catholic church. As yet undiscovered, he was then transferred to Washington where he lived near Freeh and prayed in Freeh's church. Freeh's book was published more than four years after he resigned in 2001 and entered corporate life. He so despised Clinton, and so loved the FBI, that he delayed his resignation until Clinton had resigned, thus allowing President Bush to appoint his successor. Freeh had spent most of his time as director "investigating the man who had appointed me". Clinton's moral compass, said Freeh, pointed in the wrong direction. The closets "were full of skeletons just waiting to burst out." In eight years, "Clinton ran through six White House counsels, a telling index of just how troubled his tenure was." Freeh points to FBI evidence of illicit fund-raising during the 1996 presidential campaign, particularly Republic of China soft money in Clinton-Gore coffers. With a fine touch of solemn comedy, Freeh describes the FBI's overseeing in the White House of the procurement from Clinton himself of his DNA for comparative use with the historic semen stains found on Monica Lewinsky's dress. The odor of decay is recalled by Freeh in Clinton's end term rain of controversial pardons, especially that of Marc Rich. For "the most devastating moment of my entire tenure as director", Freeh points to Clinton's 1999 citation by U.S. District Judge Wright for contempt for the giving of intentionally false information in Paula Jones v. Clinton. In January, 2001, the Arkansas Supreme Court suspended Clinton for five years for having knowingly given evasive and misleading discovery responses in that matter. For the public however, Freeh's claim that Clinton attempted to obtain money from the Saudis in connection with the Khobar Towers bombing is by far the gravest charge made by Freeh against Clinton. In June, 1996, Iran's exclusive terrorist agent, Hezbollah, bombed the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, killing 19 Americans and wounding 372. The FBI could not question suspects in Saudi Arabia unless Clinton obtained King Fahd's consent. Freeh determinedly pressed Clinton to persuade the Saudis to allow FBI agents to enter Saudi Arabia for hard evidence of Iran's complicity. In 1998, when Crown Prince Abdullah met with Clinton in Washington, Freeh expected Clinton to persuade the Saudis to cooperate. Instead, Clinton, wrote Freeh, "raised the subject only to tell the crown prince that he certainly understood the Saudi's reluctance to cooperate [because of Iran]. Then...he hit Abdullah up for a contribution to the still-to-be-built Clinton library". For his accusation against Clinton, one that directly challenges Clinton's integrity in a grave matter, Freeh offers "usually reliable sources". Freeh, an attorney, must know that his accusation of Clinton, still an attorney though suspended, made without stating its grounds, denies Clinton the means of challenging the truth of the accusation. On the other hand, Freeh's claim of misconduct by Clinton is relevant to whether the Committee on Professional Conduct of the Arkansas Supreme Court should recommend his reinstatement in January, 2006. Freeh would then have an opportunity to identify his "usually reliable sources".

I suppose different people will take away different impressions from this book, but what struck me most is the hard-nosed persona that comes through in this work. A product of the Midwest, I have scant aquaintance with the culture of our nation's eastern seaboard, but in this book Freeh talks about having been raised in proximity to organized crime toughs. It seems a lot of that macho rubbed off. The good part is that it is comforting to a certain extent to know that men like Freeh populate our law enforment legions. On the other hand, I don't think I would have wanted to be a defendent in a trial before Freeh, when he was on the federal bench. Is there wiggle room with a man like Freeh? Are there ever shades of grey in his black and white view of the world?Another negative of this title is the introduction, read by Freeh, in which he spends a great deal of time testifying to his own qualities and characteristics. I sense he was pushed into this by his publisher, much as Bob Dole was pushed by his campaign staff into discussing the wounds he received in WWII while campaiging for President. Nevertheless, not only do I believe, but I have learned that what Jesus said about self-testimony is always true - the testimony of a man who testifies about himself is not valid.Beyond the above expressed reservations, I rated it with four stars because Freeh really does delivery the goods in this book. It is substantive - one learns a great deal about the position of Director of the FBI, one learns a great deal about the important cases Freeh worked on, including Khobar Towers and Oklahoma City. And one gains important insights into the personality of Bill Clinton.Perhaps I shouldn't express this last opinion (it borders on cruel), I nevertheless can't close without writing it. I think the thing that troubles me most about Freeh is what seems to be his self-absorbtion. Sure he was a public servant. But he never really tells us why he got into public service. My sense is that he was drawn to law enforcement for personal reasons, a sort of calling - a destiny. I'm not sure that "serving others" really had much to do with it. My reading of Freeh is that, outside of his family, there isn't a whole lot Freeh truly cares about - a "me first" man. For this reason the book left me unsettled. It troubles me a little that men like Freeh can reach such heights of power in our society.

Média and text..

Louis Freeh provides an interesting look into the world of the FBI. The book takes an overview approach with specific vignettes of his time at the organization and how it evolved (or lack thereof) over the years. Freeh was director during a turbulent time when trust in the FBI was at a low and worked one of the toughest cases in its history with the Kohbar towers investigation. This investigation is the focal point of the book and done very well. He also covers a lot with the Bob Hansen treason as well as other stories. The main problem with the book is that it is light on details and the chapters often ramble on without focus. The book would have been better off from an organizational standpoint with shorter chapters more pointed towards the topics. I would like to have seen lesser stories but the ones told in greater detail. Overall it is a useful primary source but not the definitive history of his role in the FBI during those years.

My FBI is one of the best books I’ve ever read. It gives great insight to the major events in law enforcement though the Clinton administration through 9-11.Before reading it just know that it has a conservative bias to it but I don’t think that gets in the way of most of the facts discussed. Louis Freeh is very hard on presidents Clintons stance on law enforcement and he does not sugar coat his feelings towards him. However he does speak highly of Hilary Clinton and Al Gore that’s why I don’t feel that book is written in a bias way just a one very experience mans opinion.