[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 53 (Tuesday, April 29, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E770]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       LOUIS FREEH IS A GOOD MAN

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                        HON. GERALD B.H. SOLOMON

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 29, 1997

  Mr. SOLOMON. Mr. Speaker, FBI Director Louis Freeh is a good man in a 
thankless job.
  There is a tendency in this town, especially during the last 4 years, 
to go beyond answering one's opponent or critic to the point of 
destroying him utterly, his name, his reputation, and his livelihood. 
We can't let that happen to Director Freeh.
  Among the other disturbing trends is that of politicizing agencies of 
the Federal Government and then using them to reward friend and punish 
enemies. Director Freeh has done everything possible to spare his 
agency this fate, and this, in the opinion of many, has made his a 
marked man.
  This is unfortunate, because Director Freeh is, again in the opinion 
of many, one of the best directors in modern FBI history, and it would 
be a tragedy if his independence and integrity were to be his undoing.
  Mr. Speaker, we cannot let that happen. And I would call on Senators 
from the other body to recognize Director Freeh's merits and to protect 
him from attempts to undermine him.
  I submit, for the Record, a recent Wall Street Journal editorial 
which eloquently states the case for Director Freeh.

                             FBI Leadership

       With news swirling about the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation, it might be an apt time to review the last 
     change of leadership there. It took place, you probably do 
     not recall, on the most tempestuous weekend of the Clinton 
     Presidency.
       FBI Director William Sessions, under fire over expense 
     accounts and the deportment of his wife, had already tendered 
     his resignation, pending a replacement. But on Saturday, July 
     17, 1993, he was told to resign immediately or be fired. 
     Bearing the message was Attorney General Janet Reno, Deputy 
     Attorney General Philip Heymann, White House Counsel Bernard 
     Nussbaum and now notorious Associate Attorney General Webster 
     Hubbell. On the way out of the meeting, Mr. Sessions stumbled 
     on the curb and broke his elbow. His replacement, former FBI 
     agent and New York Judge Louis Freeh, was announced the 
     following Tuesday morning.
       ``It had taken strenuous argument from Nussbaum to persuade 
     Clinton not to name his old friend and fellow Rhodes Scholar 
     Richard Stearns to the post,'' James B. Stewart reports in 
     his book ``Blood Sport.'' Mr. Stearns is a judge on the 
     Massachusetts Superior Court, and that fateful Monday our own 
     columns had reviewed his resume: ``Judge Stearns and 
     President Clinton were war protesters together as Rhodes 
     Scholars at Oxford. Judge Stearns was also a deputy campaign 
     manager in George McGovern's 1972 presidential race, as well 
     as national director of delegates in Sen. Edward Kennedy's 
     1980 presidential nomination bid.''
       The same editorial said, ``Judge Freeh is fine with us,'' 
     but raised the question of why Mr. Sessions should be 
     summarily fired if a replacement was ready. It started, ``So 
     the gang that pulled the great travel office caper is now 
     hell-bent on firing the head of the FBI.'' In the event, the 
     Freeh appointment was well received, not least, Mr. Stewart 
     relates, because he was not a personal friend of Bill 
     Clinton.''
       The appointment was announced simultaneously with the 
     Supreme Court nomination of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. ``We've just 
     hit two home runs for the President,'' Mr. Nussbaum said to 
     his deputy Vincent Foster. Mr. Foster had declined a Monday 
     night Presidential invitation to a meeting to appoint an 
     independent counsel in the campaign contribution scandal; the 
     following day her Inspector General issued a scathing report 
     on the mess at the FBI laboratory. And Senator Charles 
     Grassley said the report shows the FBI ``needs better 
     leadership.''
       Senator, wake up. With the country in the middle of an 
     ongoing Presidential scandal, the top ranks of the Justice 
     Department are vacant--except for Ms. Reno herself, who 
     battles Parkinson's Disease. We have an acting CIA head, and 
     lame-duck Secret Service Director. Mr. Clinton is on his 
     fifth White House Counsel. The last law enforcement soldier 
     holding the line in Washington doesn't need carping from 
     Republican Senators; he needs air cover.
       The IG report on the lab, where problems clearly started 
     well before the current director, is only the latest incoming 
     fire. In the Washington Post's Sunday edition, for example, 
     Mr. Freeh is accused of losing the confidence of his agents. 
     An example: He told them they couldn't question Richard 
     Jewell under a ruse, but had to give him a Miranda warning; 
     therefore the Jewell imbroglio was the Director's fault, 
     agents say. A somewhat less unflattering Newsweek profile 
     repeats this complaint, while saying Mr. Freeh has thought of 
     resigning.
       Under Mr. Freeh the bureau has of course made mistakes, 
     most spectacularly in sharing with the White House drafts of 
     former agent Gary Aldrich's book when it was submitted for 
     clearance. But more recently Mr. Freeh stood up to White 
     House requests for intelligence on Chinese contributions. And 
     most importantly of all, he dispatched top agent I.C. Smith 
     to Little Rock, leading to a new vigor in probing corruption 
     there.
       It has to be understood, as well, that any FBI Director 
     needs a perimeter defense, and also a few colleagues with 
     personal loyalty. Veteran law enforcement officials elsewhere 
     relate tales of FBI officials denying help that had merely 
     been promised by ``the front office,'' or that talking to the 
     director ``is not talking to the FBI.'' The carping at Mr. 
     Freeh has to be understood in its full context. Not only that 
     the current White House is a corrosive force on all law 
     enforcement agencies; but also that do director since J. 
     Edgar Hoover has succeeded in establishing effective control 
     of the bureau.
       Yes, obviously the FBI has leadership problems. The 
     solution, in the hands of Senator Grassley and other members 
     of the Judiciary Committee, lies in making sure its leader 
     has authority commensurate with his responsibility.
     
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