Beth’s Books - Enemies: A History of the FBI by Tim Weiner

I’ve made no bones about my fascination with former FBI Director James Comey, Special Counsel Robert Mueller III (also a former FBI Director) and his investigation into “Russiagate,” and the FBI in general. As I’ve said before, if I had my career to do over again, I’d definitely consider a lab job with the FBI. Wouldn’t that be fascinating and rewarding? I sure think so.

Anyway, I came across this book and thought it would be interesting to read up on the birth and history of the Bureau. I wasn’t disappointed! Here are a few of my takeaways.

1. I would be fascinated to pick an FBI agent’s brain (or a former Director’s...call me, Dir. Comey!) about their thoughts on J. Edgar Hoover. Good grief, what a conundrum! On one hand, he made the FBI into the powerhouse that it is, consolidating power and making it a force to be feared (and too often, hated). But wow, he did some really bad things. He circumvented the rule of law and sometimes just ignored the law entirely. I have read that Director Comey kept a copy of the letter signed by Hoover authorizing the illegal wiretap of Martin Luther King, Jr. on his desk to remind him of the abuses possible in the office, and it was practice to require new recruits to visit the Holocaust Museum in DC to remind them of the same thing. Comey added a requirement for recruits to visit the MLK Memorial as an added reminder.
2. The FBI wasn’t computerized at all until the 1990s and they didn’t have an extensive network until much later than that. Can you imagine doing the kind of work they do without computers?
3. There was some discussion of moles within the Bureau. There are many reasons that people “turn,” but I had to wonder, “How could anyone betray their country that way?” I cannot imagine that kind of treason, no matter how much money was thrown at me or what kind of blackmail or perks. Beyond the dishonesty and betrayal of it, you’d have to know that you’d eventually get found out, right? How stupid.
4. The saga of Director Mueller and then-Deputy AG Comey defending AG John Ashcroft while he was in the hospital, fending off the nefarious efforts of the Bush administration (in the form of Andrew Card and Alberto Gonzales) to continue the unconstitutional Stellar Wind program that collected personal information on pretty much everyone, read like a spy thriller!
5. I was surprised to read how close the FBI came to being dismantled entirely in the mid-aughts, due to the practices and directives of the Bush administration.
6. That was staved off partly due to the efforts of Robert Mueller who is obviously an impressive person. He reshaped the Bureau into something that was more honorable and above-board than it had been for many years, and I believe that James Comey continued that culture of accountability until you-know-who fired him and I will never like you-know-who because he did that, so there.

I’ll include a couple of passages that I found particularly interesting.

“Nixon believed that if a president did it, it was not illegal.”

Remind you of anyone?

“The Watergate hearings convened by the Senate wrung damning testimony out of Nixon’s foot soldiers. Pivotal stories in the press laid out the facts. But the information, almost all of it, had its source in the work of the FBI. And the information had a gathering strength, each rivulet flowing together into a mighty river, the force that lets water cut through solid rock. Backed by federal grand juries and the prosecutors who led them, the FBI’s investigators preserved the rule of law against the obstruction of justice. And under law, the agents were accomplishing an act of creative destruction that the radicals of the Left could only dream of achieving. They were bringing down the president of the United States.”

Again...remind you of anything? Robert Mueller, save us! More on Mueller.

“Mueller had a sharp mind, a first-rate temperament, and a high regard for well-crafted cases. The future director of the FBI was a born leader. And he was a marine.”

I especially like that “well-crafted case” part. If I were you-know-who, I would be very worried.

And finally, because Comey is still my homey, this on his efforts to protest the unconstitutionality of the Stellar Wind program.

“Comey was a persuasive advocate. One of the FBI’s favorite prosecutors, the grandson of an Irish police commissioner, he had worked with skill and intensity on terrorism cases as the United States attorney in Manhattan for two years after the al-Qaeda attacks. The trust vested in him that day showed that the awe-inspiring force of American national security rested on personal relationships as well as statutory powers.”

I just bet he’s persuasive! [grin]

This took me a while to read, partly because it was a little dry in spots, but mostly because I eased up on my book-reading while I enjoyed the summer. I still read plenty on my news feed, because there was plenty to read, wasn’t there? Great googly-moogly. This book really started to buzz for me when I got into the more recent history because this is stuff that I remember, and I enjoyed reading about the background of those things. I was still kind of young when Watergate happened, so I probably need to read a book about that, too.

In the meantime, I’ll just keep living and experiencing the Russiagate investigation in real-time, and know that Mueller’s efforts will be thorough and meticulous AND that Comey will be vindicated.