Eugene J. Keogh Award for Distinguished Public Service
EXCERPT:
1999
Louis J. Freeh '84 LAW

Whatever happened to FBI director Louis Freeh
EXCERPT:
Former FBI Chief Louis Freeh Sells his Services to Corporate Elite
By Laurie Bennett
May 26, 2008

What’s Louis Freeh been up to since leaving the FBI and writing about his already-public feud with Bill Clinton in a best-selling memoir? He’s been networking in corporate, government and political circles, making money all the while.

Freeh is a director of Fannie Mae and Bristol Myers, positions that pay a combined $335,000 annually. He’s also an adviser to duPont. Last year President Bush appointed him to the Homeland Security Advisory Council.

Until Rudy Giuliani dropped out of the presidential race, Freeh was his senior homeland security adviser and head of campaign operations in Delaware, his home state. More recently, he has contributed to the McCain campaign.

Freeh’s primary focus, though, is Freeh Group International, a consulting firm that keeps a low profile and doesn’t publicize its client list. The Freeh Group isn’t registered as a lobbyist or as a government contractor. Its services, such as homeland and global security and “strategic management of complex and sensitive queries,” are aimed at corporations operating in the global marketplace.

The management team also includes William Esposito, former deputy director of the FBI; Stanley Sporkin, former enforcement director of the Securities and Exchange commission and general counsel to the CIA; and former federal judge Eugene Sullivan.

The firm’s British operations are headed by former High Court Judge Stephen Mitchell. Liliana Ferraro, former Italian National Supreme Court justice, manages the business in Italy.

The company emphasizes its expertise in fighting organized crime. As noted on its web site, Ferraro presided over several high-profile Mafia trials. Esposito’s primary expertise is in white-collar and organized crime.

As an assistant U.S. attorney, Freeh headed the New York office’s organized-crime unit. Indeed, he gave top billing to the mob when he titled his 2005 memoir, My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror.

Readers who had expected new insights into the global battle against terrorism were disappointed. Bryan Burrough, reviewing the book for The New York Times, called it “My FBI for Dummies.”

Freeh was this year’s commencement speaker at Hillsdale College, where his brother John is an English professor.

“Your integrity and your honor are what’s most important at the end of the day,” he told the graduates. “… Don’t be afraid to take action and don’t be afraid to put yourself at risk.”

http://forum.signonsandiego.com/showthread.php?p=3161059

Louis Freeh
EXCERPTS:
Major events during Freeh's tenure as F.B.I. Director
Shortly before and during Freeh's tenure, the FBI was involved in a number of high-profile incidents and internal investigations.

[edit] Civil liberties
Among other Justice Department officials (including Attorney General Reno), Freeh was named a co-defendant in Zieper v. Metzinger, a 1999 federal court case.

[edit] Ruby Ridge
Main article: Ruby Ridge
An investigation of the August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which an FBI sharpshooter killed the wife of a wanted suspect, was ongoing when Freeh became Director. A paramilitary FBI unit, the Hostage Rescue Team, was present at the incident; Freeh later said that had he been director, he would not have involved the HRT. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was later charged with manslaughter; Freeh said that he was "deeply disappointed" at the charges, filed by a county prosecutor and later dropped[11].[12][13]

Freeh was not censured for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation.[14]

[edit] Waco
Main article: Waco Siege
An investigation of the events of April 19, 1993 when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) Special Agents served a warrant on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas was ongoing during Freeh's tenure. While the event had taken place before he became Director, a highly controversial investigation ensued, including allegations of a cover-up by the FBI, and tensions developed between Freeh and Janet Reno, then-Attorney General. Reno, who had herself been blamed for mishandling of the confrontation and investigation, sent U.S. Marshals to FBI headquarters to seize Waco-related evidence.[15]

[edit] Khobar Towers bombing
Main article: Khobar Towers
Shortly before 10 a.m. on June 25, 1996, members of a terorrist group detonated a truck bomb outside building 131 (also known as Khobar Towers) of the King Abdul Aziz Airbase. Inside the building were almost exclusively members of the U.S. Air Force who were there to patrol the southern Iraqi no-fly zone enacted after the Gulf War. In the attack, 19 U.S. military personnel were killed and 372 were wounded, making this the most deadly terrorist attack on Americans abroad since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Louis Freeh said in his book My FBI that he felt the deepest about the Khobar Towers investigation, and it was not until Louis Freeh's last day in office, June 21, 2001, a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia returned a 46-count indictment against 14 defendants charged with the Khobar Towers attack.[16] This was just before some of the counts would have expired due to a five-year statute of limitations.

[edit] Centennial Olympic Park bombing
Main article: Centennial Olympic Park bombing
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information heard testimony from Freeh regarding the leaking of Richard Jewell's name to the media in connection with the bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games. Freeh testified that he did not know how the name of Jewell, who had been falsely accused in the bombings, had been leaked to the media.[17]

[edit] Montana Freemen
Main article: Montana Freemen
Freeh and the FBI were praised for the handling of the 81-day standoff between law enforcement agents and the Montana Freemen, a fringe political group. Director Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League, which had issued reports critical of the Freemen and encouraged their prosecution, commended the "peaceful conclusion" to the standoff.[18]

[edit] Unabomber
Main article: Unabomber
Theodore Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," was apprehended in 1996 after his manifesto, Industrial Society and its Future, was published in the New York Times and Washington Post. Freeh and Attorney General Reno recommended publication, acceding to Kaczynski's offer to "renounce terrorism" if it were. A tip from the bomber's brother David, who recognized the writing style, assisted the FBI in his capture.[19][20]

[edit] Robert Hanssen
Main article: Robert Hanssen
Robert Hanssen, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, was arrested in 2001 and charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia, beginning in 1985. Freeh called the security breach "exceptionally grave" and appointed a panel, led by former FBI and Central Intelligence Agency head William Webster, to review the damage done by Hanssen's espionage.[21]

[edit] Wen Ho Lee
Main article: Wen Ho Lee
In 1999, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee was fired from his job; in 1999 he was arrested and held without trial for 278 days while his handling of sensitive nuclear information was investigated. Freeh accused him of downloading a "portable, personal trove" of U.S. nuclear secrets. Lee pled guilty to one of the fifty-nine counts brought against him, after which he was freed from jail.[22]

A Justice Department report of the investigation of Lee said that Director Freeh was not fully informed about the investigation until over a year after it began, and that the F.B.I. as a whole "bungled" the case.[23]

[edit] Chinese political and campaign fundraising controversies
Main articles: 1996 United States campaign finance controversy and Timeline of Cox Report controversy
In February 1997, the media announced that Freeh personally blocked the sharing of intelligence information regarding China's alleged plot to influence U.S. elections with the White House.[24][25] The following month, Freeh testified before Congress that his investigation into campaign finance irregularities of the 1996 U.S. presidential and Congressional campaigns was not focusing on individual criminal acts, but on a possible conspiracy involving China.[26] Later that year, Freeh wrote a memorandum to Attorney General Janet Reno calling for an Independent Counsel to investigate the fund-raising scandal. In his memo he wrote: "It is difficult to imagine a more compelling situation for appointing an Independent Counsel".[27] Reno rejected his request.

[edit] Other cases
Other cases handled by the FBI during Freeh's tenure included the death of White House counsel Vince Foster (in 1993), allegations of incompetence at the FBI crime laboratory, investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing (1995) and the capture and prosecution of Timothy McVeigh, and investigation of the crash of TWA Flight 800 [citation needed].

[edit] Criticism
In 2000, the editorial staff of Business Week called for the resignation of Director Freeh, citing the Carnivore communications monitoring system, the Waco cover-up, and insubordination to Attorney General Reno as reasons.[28]

A National Geographic television special titled "The FBI" stated that Mr. Freeh was averse to the usage of computers. He had his removed from his office, did not use E-mail, and more importantly, did nothing to update the old and poorly working FBI computer system.