The FBI... What in the World is Going On? (Part 3 / Conclusion)

 

                                                                                                            

The current dubious status of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is without question due to… leadership.  Most of you have figured this out already.  The Director is Christopher Wray.  Is he qualified to be the Director?  Well, let’s see:  The FBI has approximately 25,000 employees.  About 11 or 12 thousand are Agents.  The remainder being support personnel.

So, is Wray qualified and experienced enough to lead such a mammoth organization?  To evaluate that, we need to know something about his background.  Wray comes from a wealthy family and his father is an attorney in a prestigious law firm.  Wray was sent to a private school, the Phillips Academy in Massachusetts.  I understand this is a tony school for kids from prominent (aka wealthy) families.  He went from said preparatory school to Yale where he got a degree... in philosophy.  I went to a public college.  I wasn’t even aware that they had a degree in philosophy.  At least it never crossed my mind.  I had to look this up.  It turns out that a degree in Philosophy is not that useful in most areas of occupational endeavor; but you do become an interesting conversationalist with the ability to understand and consider both sides of a discussion.  From there he went to Yale’s Law School and yada, yada, yada.

Being a connected young man, he found ready employment as an attorney and then as an Assistant United States Attorney.  Doors opened… well you know how it goes.  OK, what’s my point?  The point is that prior to becoming Director of the FBI, he had supervised (and I’m giving him the benefit of the doubt on this) no more than 25 or 30 employees.  Suddenly, he was put in charge of 25,000.  Can you see why there might be a problem here?

Chris Wray may be a nice man, but he is way over his head; and, as a result, easily manipulated by others around him.  I’m sure he was never particularly interested in being FBI Director and probably still isn’t; but he is interested in an illustrious, lucrative, subsequent career in the federal government or with a pricey law firm.  For his ambition, the men and women of the FBI suffer the inescapable indignities and perception of being politically biased… which unfortunately, under current management, they are.

So, where do you find a good, qualified FBI Director.  My suggestion is that they look for him or her, in a highly considered law enforcement agency, or perhaps the military.  After all, aren’t they looking for a leader rather than a politician with no background in leadership.  Do you think Wray got his job due to his resume?  I don’t think so.

Well, you might say… Trump picked him.  That’s true.  But maybe Wray’s most prominent qualification for selection was that he was perceived to be easily manipulated – which has proven also to be true… in spades.

True Nelson

The FBI…What in the World is Going On? (Part 2)

  

I only served under Hoover for a short period of time.  He died about five or six months after I entered the Bureau.  It could be correctly stated that he ruled the Bureau and his Agents with an iron hand.  The rules for conduct were extensive, extreme and some bordered on the eccentric.  For example:  Agents were not allowed coffee breaks while on duty - that was in or out of the office.  I soon learned that said rule was often, almost universally, ignored by the Agents.  Nonetheless, if caught by a supervisor, you could be officially censured; and if on probation status at the time, it could mean 'adios.'

Another requirement, more difficult to circumvent, was that New Agents were limited to how long they could be in the Office.  Reason given:  FBI Agents do not solve cases in the office.  I recall the Time in Office (TIO) allowed was about 10% of the workday.  That was approximately an hour because ten-hour days were expected.  For new Agents with no assigned car, this was a problem; and often meant standing at the front door in the morning waiting for a more senior Agent to arrive and ask (beg) to use their car for part of the day to cover leads.  If that failed the public library was a place to work on reports.  And yes, you had to walk.  This was the typical 'First Office' which lasted about nine to ten months.  Finishing that, you were assigned a 'Second Office.'  In my case, it was San Francisco.  I felt that I had hit the jackpot.  That's when, finally, they treated you like a regular Agent... and cars were available.

I had been a deputy sheriff, prior to the military, and before I entered the Bureau.  It was the Bureau’s custom or policy to send five or six Agents to make an arrest – arrests that a deputy sheriff often made on his own.  It seemed kind of demeaning.  In my 'first office,' I remember arresting a selective service violator, a Jehovah’s Witness.  I had previously talked to him and his mother on the telephone.  They were both cooperative.  I said I would come by the house and get him, take him for processing.  The supervisor made me take two other Agents for ‘back up’ and to insure he was properly handcuffed.  It was embarrassing.  The kid was upset.  The mother was upset.  Both seemed like very nice people.  I did apologize to the mother and made some lame excuse for why this was necessary.

Now, it would seem that the Bureau has carried on that same tradition or mind set on steroids… with SWAT teams sent to almost all arrests.  Why?  The Agents' pool, in large part, has morphed into something like ‘girly men.’  I know that term might get me in trouble.  However, they seemed to get away with it on Saturday Night Live.  So, I will give it a try.  But, to clarify, I worked with women Agents, and for the most part, they did not fit in that category.  It generally fits the type of men (and some women) presently recruited.  Which explains why they send a SWAT Team to make the most mundane arrests.  And, it explains why the shooting requirements for Agents have sunk to comical lows.

 

To be continued…

 

True Nelson