I recently finished the book by Ronald Kessler which is titled The Secrets of the FBI. On the former Agents’ online network, they were warning-off cooperating with Kessler – assuming, I suppose, that he planned a hatchet job on the Bureau. As it turned out, Kessler didn’t require rank and file cooperation in that he was getting cooperation from the very top including Robert Mueller, the FBI Director, and some of the Director’s immediate subordinates.
It was an interesting read, and gave me some insight as to how the FBI has evolved over the years. Kessler referred, in passing, to the FBI Agents of my era as “cowboys” – which I don’t necessarily take as a put-down. Maybe, we were. But man for man, I would put that group up against the current Agents – anytime. Many of my era were combat veterans and x-cops; and generally tough guys. Now, it seems the priority is more on computer expertise, classroom smarts and ethnic appreciation, with a sprinkling of tough guys – when it comes to the selection process. As I’ve noted before in my postings, it is not unusual for the present-day FBI to send some ‘shooters’ with other Agents who have been tasked to carry out rather routine projects like serving a search warrant. The ‘shooters’ are there for the protection of the other Agents, I guess. I imagine it won’t be long until the typical FBI Agent does not even carry a gun. And, so it goes.
Other aspects of the book that I found somewhat unsettling are the Bureau’s world-wide mission, and their vast, seemingly unlimited budget. Makes me wonder what the CIA is doing overseas and why they require the FBI to be mucking about in their business. The Bureau has always had what were called Legats – Agents who were assigned to certain countries to coordinate investigations with another nation’s law enforcement. But the current FBI has gone well beyond that concept with the literal assignment of hundreds of Agents overseas; apparently in addition to the CIA, the DEA, the NSA, ICE and all the military intelligence organizations. Moreover, the NYPD is now assigning some of their investigators overseas. Wow, we must either have all the bases covered, or we have an awful lot of unnecessary redundancy. I think it is probably the latter.
Anyway, I think Mr. Kessler has done some remarkable research, and I do recommend his book.
True Nelson
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