Louis Freeh

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name =Louis Joseph Freeh


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caption =Official portrait
order =10th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation
term_start =September 1, 1993
term_end =June 25, 2001
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predecessor =Floyd I. Clarke
successor =Thomas J. Pickard
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birth_date =Birth date and age|1950|1|6|mf=y
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Louis Joseph Freeh (b. January 6, 1950) was the 10th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, serving from September 1993 to June 2001.

Freeh began his career as an agent of the FBI, and was later an assistant United States Attorney and a United States district court judge, the position he held when appointed FBI director. He is now a lawyer and consultant in the private sector.

Early life and career

Born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Louis Freeh was educated by the Christian Brothers and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University in 1971. He received a J.D. degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1974 and an LL.M. degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City field office and at F.B.I. Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an assistant U.S. attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy U.S. Attorney, and Associate U.S. Attorney. He was also a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. [ cite website | url=http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/freeh.htm | title=Federal Bureau of Investigation-Directors, Then and Now | date = | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher = Federal Bureau of Investigation ] In 1991, President George H. W. Bush appointed Freeh a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, a position he held until he was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton in 1993.

Freeh and his wife, Marilyn, have 6 sons. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although is not a member of the Opus Dei prelature (as rumors have stated). [ cite website | url=http://www.catholicleague.org/research/opusdei_factandfiction.htm | title=Opus Dei: Fact and Fiction | date=June 11, 2006 | publisher=Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights] [ cite website | url=http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2005/0510.baumann.html | title=Let There Be Light: A look inside the hidden world of Opus Dei | author=Paul Baumann | date=October/November 2005 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=Washington Monthly ] According to "The Bureau and the Mole", a book by David A. Vise, Freeh's son was enrolled at the private The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland, which Vise describes as "an Opus Dei academy". [ cite website | url=http://www.bureauandthemole.com/from_book.php | title=Excerpt frcom The Bureau and the Mole | publisher=The Bureau and the Mole | accessdate=2006-09-19] Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware.

"Pizza Connection" case

A notable case Freeh was associated with was the "Pizza Connection" investigation, in which he was lead prosecutor. The case, prosecuted in the mid-1980s, involved a drug trafficking operation in the United States by Sicilian organized crime members who used pizza parlors as fronts. After a 14-month trial, 16 of 17 co-defendants were convicted. The "Pizza Connection" case was, at the time, the most complex criminal investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. government. [ cite website | url=http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/freeh.htm | title=Federal Bureau of Investigation-Directors, Then and Now | author = FBI | date = | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher = FBI ]

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.

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. The American Civil Liberties Union assisted the plaintiffs who sued due to the FBI's conduct in investigating "Military Takeover of New York City", a short (fictional) film made in October 1999 that discussed riots and a military takeover of Times Square on New Years' Eve, 1999. [ cite website | url=http://www.aclu.org/privacy/speech/15610lgl19991222.html | title=ACLU's Complaint in Zieper v. Metzinger | date=December 22, 1999 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=American Civil Liberties Union ]

In May 2000, he reached an agreement with Rep. José Serrano, then Puerto Rican Independence Party senator Manuel Rodríguez Orellana and then Puerto Rico Senate Committee on Federal Affairs chairman Kenneth McClintock, the islands' current Senate President, to release FBI files on Puerto Rican political activists. Nearly 100,000 pages have been released and are being catalogued by the Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico. [ cite website | url=http://www.oslpr.org/english/master.asp?NAV=FBI | title=FBI Puerto Rico Political Persecution Files center at PR Office of Legislative Services ]

In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Freeh said that the widespread use of effective encryption "is one of the most difficult problems for law enforcement as the next century approaches". [ cite website | url=http://www.cpi.seas.gwu.edu/library/current_news/crypwar.html | title=What is Really at Stake? | date=February 8, 2000 | author=Chris Hekimian | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=Cyberspace Policy Institute ] He considered the loss of wiretapping to law enforcement as a result of encryption to be dangerous and said that the "country [would] be unable to protect itself" against terrorism and serious crimes. [ cite website | url=http://osaka.law.miami.edu/~froomkin/articles/clipper.htm | title= The Metaphor is the Key: Cryptography, The Clipper Chip, and the Constitution | year=1995 | author=A. Michael Froomkin | publisher=University of Miami School of Law | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

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 [ cite website | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9708/21/ruby.ridge.late/ | title=Both sides decry new Ruby Ridge charges | date=August 21, 1997 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=CNN ] . [cite website | url=http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/special/0211/chapter5.htm | title=A Review of Allegations of a Double Standard of Discipline at the FBI (Chapter 5) | date=November 15, 2002 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=CNN ] [ cite website | url=http://www-tech.mit.edu/V115/N50/freeh.50w.html | title=Freeh Says FBI Actions at Ruby Ridge Were 'Flawed' | date=October 20, 1995 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=The Washington Post and "The Tech" ]

Freeh was not censured due for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation. [ cite website | url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00A1EFC3A580C758CDDA10894D9404482&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFreeh%2c%20Louis%20J%2e | title=Freeh Was Spared Censure For Handling of Ruby Ridge | date=August 6, 2001 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=The New York Times ]

Waco

An investigation of the events of April 19, 1993 when FBI agents opened fire 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. [ cite website | url=http://partners.nytimes.com/library/national/090399waco-fbi.html | title=Tension Between Reno and Freeh Reaches Breaking Point on Waco | date=September 3, 1999 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=The New York Times ]

Khobar Towers bombing

Shortly before 10 a.m. on June 25, 1996, members of Hezbollah 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 inacted 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. [ cite book |last=Freeh |first=Louis |title=My FBI|origyear=2005 |publisher=St. Martin's Press |isbn=0-312-32189-9 |chapter=1 ] This was just before some of the counts would have expired due to a 5-year statute of limitations.

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. [ cite website | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9612/19/fbi.media.leaks/ | title=FBI chief can't explain media leaks in Olympic bombing | date=December 19, 1996 | publisher=CNN | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

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. [cite website | url=http://www.adl.org/presrele/Militi_71/2760_71.asp | title=ADL APPLAUDS FBI FOR PEACEFUL END TO FREEMEN STANDOFF | date=June 14, 1996 | publisher=Anti-Defamation League | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

Unabomber

Theodore Kaczynski, the "Unabomber," was apprehended in 1996 after his [http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Industrial_Society_and_Its_Future 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. [cite website | url=http://www.cnn.com/US/9509/unabomber/09-19/am/ | title=Post, Times publish Unabomber's manifesto | date=September 19, 1995 | publisher=CNN | accessdate=2006-06-11] [ cite website | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/national/longterm/unabomber/manifesto.decsn.htm | title=Unabomber Manuscript is Published | date=September 19, 1995 | publisher=The Washington Post | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

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. [ cite website | url=http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,99997,00.html | title=Their Man in Washington | author = Frank Pellegrini | publisher=Time Magazine | accessdate=2006-06-11]

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. [ cite website | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/09/26/national/main236342.shtml | title=Justice Dept. Says Lee's No Hero | date=September 26, 2000 | accessdate=2006-06-11 | publisher=CBS News]

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. [ cite website | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A623-2001Aug26&notFound=true | title=Report Details More FBI Blunders in Wen Ho Lee Probe | date=August 27, 2001 | publisher = The Washington Post | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

Chinese political and campaign fundraising controversies

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. [ cite website | url=http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50D17F93A5F0C768EDDAA0894DF494D81&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFreeh%2c%20Louis%20J%2e | title=F.B.I. Denied Data the White House Sought on China | author = David Johnston | publisher=New York Times | accessdate=2006-06-12 ] [ cite website | url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0CE2DA173AF934A15750C0A961958260&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fPeople%2fF%2fFreeh%2c%20Louis%20J%2e | title=Clinton Gives Freeh Measured Support | publisher=New York Times | accessdate=2006-06-12 ] 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. cite website | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/washingtonpost/access/11292524.html?dids=11292524:11292524&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&fmac=&date=Mar+21%2C+1997&author=Roberto+Suro&desc=FBI+Head+Confirms+China+Probe+Underway | title=FBI Head Confirms China Probe Underway | author = Roberto Suro | publisher=Washington Post | accessdate=2006-06-12 ] Later that year, Freeh wrote a memorandum to Attorney General 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". [ "Freeh Says Reno Clearly Misread Prosecutor Law", Neil A. Lewis, New York Times June 12, 2006 ] Reno rejected his request.

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 Fact|date=February 2007.

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. [ cite website | url=http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/sep2000/nf20000918_906.htm | title=The Case against Louis Freeh | date=September 18, 2000 | publisher=Business Week | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

Resignation

In June 2001, he resigned amid criticism that the FBI needed stronger leadership, particularly after allegations of spying by Robert Hanssen. Upon his resignation, he was praised by Attorney General John Ashcroft, who called him "a model law enforcement officer". [ cite website | url=http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/05/11/national/main290728.shtml | title=Another Blow To The Bureau | date=May 13, 2001 | publisher=CBS News | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

Post-FBI

Freeh approached acting New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancesco, and offered to serve, without salary, as the state's anti-terrorism "czar". Di Francesco approached both major-party candidates for governor to secure their approval; Bret Schundler, the Republican candidate, agreed "in principle". However, Democrat Jim McGreevey, who won the gubernatorial election, turned down Freeh in favor of Golan Cipel. It was later discovered that McGreevey and Cipel had carried on a homosexual relationship. McGreevey was heavily criticized for giving the post to Cipel rather than Freeh or another experienced individual. [ cite website | url=http://www.trentonian.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=12710180&BRD=1697&PAG=461&dept_id=44551&rfi=6 | title=Freeh snubbed in favor of Cipel | date=August 17, 2004 | publisher=The Trentonian | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

In September 2001, Freeh was appointed to the board of directors of credit card issuer MBNA; he also served as the bank's general counsel, as well as corporate secretary and ethics officer. Likewise, Bristol-Myers Squibb elected him to its board of directors. [cite website | url=http://sev.prnewswire.com/health-care-hospitals/20050913/NYTU18113092005-1.html | title=Bristol-Myers Squibb Names Louis J. Freeh to Board of Directors | date=September 13, 2003 | publisher=PR Newswire | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

Freeh is also a member of the board of consultants of the Gavel Consulting Group, formed by current and former federal judges and high-ranking government officials to provide advice and counseling to the private sector. [ cite website | url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A37880-2003Apr5?language=printer | title=A Case of Questionable Judgment | date=April 7, 2003 | publisher=The Washington Post | accessdate=2006-06-11 ] [ cite website | url=http://www.gavelconsultinggroup.com/Judge_Freeh.htm | title=Freeh | date= | publisher=Gavel Consulting Group | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

In May 2007, Freeh was named to the board of directors of Fannie Mae. [ cite website|url=http://www.fanniemae.com/newsreleases/2007/4018.jhtml| title = Fannie Mae Names Former FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to Board of Directors ] Later in 2007, Freeh formed Freeh Group International, [ cite website|url=http://www.freehgroup.com| title = Freeh Group International ] a consulting and investigative firm headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with regional offices in Washington DC, New York, London and Rome.

Book and editorials

An editorial by Louis Freeh critical of the 9/11 Commission appeared in the November 17, 2005 edition of the "Wall Street Journal". [ cite website | url=http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110007559 | title=An Incomplete Investigation | date=November 17, 2005 | publisher=OpinionJournal | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

In 2005, Freeh (with Howard Means) published a book about his career in the FBI entitled "My FBI: Bringing Down the Mafia, Investigating Bill Clinton, and Fighting the War on Terror". It is highly critical of both President Clinton and former counter-terrorism advisor Richard A. Clarke. Freeh made an appearance on "The Daily Show" to promote the book. [ cite website | url=http://www.newsaic.com/ftvdsarchindex.html | title=Footnote TV: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart | date= | publisher=Footnote TV | accessdate=2006-06-11]

A "New York Times" review called it "...a letdown, a breezy, middlebrow memoir that appears aimed at "Oprah" watchers rather than "Foreign Affairs" readers". [cite website | url=http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/06/books/review/06burrough.html?ex=1288933200&en=4ca3dd8254c92f06&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss | title='My FBI': Heroes and Villains | date=November 6, 2005 | publisher=The New York Times | author=Bryan Burrough | accessdate=2006-06-11 ]

ee also

*Project Megiddo

Notes

External links

* [http://www.freehgroup.com Freeh Group International]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/libref/directors/freeh.htm Official FBI bio.- Louis J. Freeh]
* [http://www.zpub.com/un/fbi-freeh.html Louis Freeh - FBI Director 1993-2001]
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/louis_j_freeh/ New York Times articles about Louis J. Freeh]
* [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/documents/Freeh_index.html Copy of official Louis Freeh memo to Janet Reno]
* [http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/10/06/60minutes/main923095.shtml Ex-FBI Chief on Clinton Scandals]