Louis Freeh
Encyclopedia
Louis Joseph Freeh was the 5th 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. He acquired Italian citizenship on October 23, 2009.
, 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
. 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. As a youth, Freeh became an Eagle Scout
in 1963 and in 1995 was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
by the Boy Scouts of America
.
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). 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". Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy
, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware
. One of his sons currently attends Georgetown University
in Washington, DC.
" 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.
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 Year's Eve, 1999.
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.
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". He considered the loss of wiretap
ping 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.
, 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.
Freeh was not censure
d for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation.
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.
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. This was just before some of the counts would have expired due to a five-year statute of limitations. In the book Freeh maintains that he was obstructed by the Clinton Administration for political reasons in investigating the bombing and bringing the terrorist to justice.
'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.
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.
, 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.
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.
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.
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.
's alleged plot to influence U.S. elections with the White House
. 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. 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". Reno rejected his request.
(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
.
communications monitoring system, the Waco cover-up, and insubordination
to Attorney General Reno as reasons.
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.
. Upon his resignation, he was praised by Attorney General John Ashcroft
, who called him "a model law enforcement officer".
He was replaced by Thomas J. Pickard
who served for 71 days, who was in turn replaced by Robert Mueller
.
, 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 been involved in a sexual relationship. McGreevey was heavily criticized for giving the post to Cipel rather than Freeh or another experienced individual.
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.
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.
Beginning in 2004 Freeh began moonlighting as an adjunct law professor for Widener University School of Law
. Drawing on his years of experience, he has taught White Collar Crime.
In 2007, Freeh formed Freeh Group International Solutions, a consulting and investigative firm headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with regional offices in Washington DC and New York.
In 2009, Louis Freeh was hired by Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan as his legal representative on issues surrounding the Al-Yamamah arms deal, appearing April 7, 2009 on the PBS series Frontline: Black Money.
In late May 2011, Freeh was retained as an independent investigator by the Ethics Committee of FIFA
in the bribery scandal centering around Mohammed bin Hammam
and Jack Warner.
In November 2011, Pennsylvania State University
announced that Freeh would lead an internal investigation into the Penn State sex abuse scandal
involving Jerry Sandusky
and several high-ranking university officials. He annouced that the team assisting him in his investigation would include former FBI agents and federal prosecutors.
Also in November, 2011, Freeh was named trustee for the MF Global bankruptcy case, the largest Wall Street bankruptcy since Lehman Brothers
' in September 2008. He was appointed by U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis working under the authority of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn.
appeared in the November 17, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
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. A New York Times review called it "A strangely shallow offering by a man who is anything but...".
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
, 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
United States Attorney
United States Attorneys represent the United States federal government in United States district court and United States court of appeals. There are 93 U.S. Attorneys stationed throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, and the Northern Mariana Islands...
and a United States district court
United States district court
The United States district courts are the general trial courts of the United States federal court system. Both civil and criminal cases are filed in the district court, which is a court of law, equity, and admiralty. There is a United States bankruptcy court associated with each United States...
judge, the position he held when appointed FBI director. He is now a lawyer and consultant in the private sector. He acquired Italian citizenship on October 23, 2009.
Early life and career
Born January 6, 1950 in Jersey City, New JerseyJersey City, New Jersey
Jersey City is the seat of Hudson County, New Jersey, United States.Part of the New York metropolitan area, Jersey City lies between the Hudson River and Upper New York Bay across from Lower Manhattan and the Hackensack River and Newark Bay...
, Louis Freeh was educated by the Christian Brothers
Congregation of Christian Brothers
The Congregation of Christian Brothers is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. The Christian Brothers, as they are commonly known, chiefly work for the evangelisation and education of youth, but are involved in many ministries, especially with...
and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
in 1971. He received a J.D.
Juris Doctor
Juris Doctor is a professional doctorate and first professional graduate degree in law.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century and was created as a modern version of the old European doctor of law degree Juris Doctor (see etymology and...
degree from Rutgers School of Law-Newark in 1974 and an LL.M. degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law
New York University School of Law
The New York University School of Law is the law school of New York University. Established in 1835, the school offers the J.D., LL.M., and J.S.D. degrees in law, and is located in Greenwich Village, in the New York City borough of Manhattan....
in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent
Special agent
Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government. An agent is a worker for any federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence agency....
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
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
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
United States Army Reserve
The United States Army Reserve is the federal reserve force of the United States Army. Together, the Army Reserve and the Army National Guard constitute the reserve components of the United States Army....
. In 1991, President George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
appointed Freeh a judge for the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
United States District Court for the Southern District of New York
The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York is a federal district court. Appeals from the Southern District of New York are taken to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (in case...
, a position he held until he was appointed FBI director by President Bill Clinton
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton is an American politician who served as the 42nd President of the United States from 1993 to 2001. Inaugurated at age 46, he was the third-youngest president. He took office at the end of the Cold War, and was the first president of the baby boomer generation...
in 1993. As a youth, Freeh became an Eagle Scout
Eagle Scout (Boy Scouts of America)
Eagle Scout is the highest rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America . A Scout who attains this rank is called an Eagle Scout or Eagle. Since its introduction in 1911, the Eagle Scout rank has been earned by more than 2 million young men...
in 1963 and in 1995 was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
Distinguished Eagle Scout Award
The Distinguished Eagle Scout Award is a distinguished service award of the Boy Scouts of America . It is awarded to an Eagle Scout for distinguished service in his profession and to his community for a period of at least 25 years after attaining the level of Eagle Scout...
by the Boy Scouts of America
Boy Scouts of America
The Boy Scouts of America is one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with over 4.5 million youth members in its age-related divisions...
.
Freeh and his wife, Marilyn, have 6 sons. He is a devout Roman Catholic, although is not a member of the Opus Dei
Opus Dei
Opus Dei, formally known as The Prelature of the Holy Cross and Opus Dei , is an organization of the Catholic Church that teaches that everyone is called to holiness and that ordinary life is a path to sanctity. The majority of its membership are lay people, with secular priests under the...
prelature (as rumors have stated). According to The Bureau and the Mole, a book by David A. Vise
David A. Vise
David A. Vise, a journalist and author for over 20 years, is now a Senior Advisor to New Mountain Capital, a New York-based investment firm, and New Mountain Vantage, its public equity fund. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1990 while working as a business reporter for the Washington Post...
, Freeh's son was enrolled at the private The Heights School in Potomac, Maryland
Potomac, Maryland
Potomac is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, named for the nearby Potomac River. The population was 44,822 at the 2000 census. The Potomac area is known for its very affluent and highly-educated residents. In 2009 CNNMoney.com listed Potomac as the fourth...
, which Vise describes as "an Opus Dei academy". Several of his sons are now enrolled in Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy
Archmere Academy is a Roman Catholic college preparatory school of 474 students in Claymont, Delaware. It is run independently within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Wilmington.-History:...
, a Catholic school in Claymont, Delaware
Claymont, Delaware
Claymont is a census-designated place in New Castle County, Delaware, United States. The population was 9,220 at the 2000 census.-History:...
. One of his sons currently attends Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
in Washington, DC.
"Pizza Connection" case
A notable case Freeh was associated with was the "Pizza ConnectionPizza Connection Trial
The Pizza Connection Trial was one of the longest criminal jury trials on record in the district of Manhattan. It took place between October 24, 1985 and March 2, 1987-Scope of the trial:...
" 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
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
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.
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 DepartmentUnited States Department of Justice
The United States Department of Justice , is the United States federal executive department responsible for the enforcement of the law and administration of justice, equivalent to the justice or interior ministries of other countries.The Department is led by the Attorney General, who is nominated...
officials (including Attorney General Reno), Freeh was named a co-defendant in Zieper v. Metzinger
Zieper v. Metzinger
Zieper v. Metzinger was a case brought before the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey in which filmmaker Michael Zieper sued several officials of the Department of Justice. It was found that the actions of several Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and a United States...
, a 1999 federal court case. The American Civil Liberties Union
American Civil Liberties Union
The American Civil Liberties Union is a U.S. non-profit organization whose stated mission is "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States." It works through litigation, legislation, and...
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
Times Square
Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...
on New Year's Eve, 1999.
In May 2000, he reached an agreement with Rep. José Serrano, then Puerto Rican Independence Party
Puerto Rican Independence Party
The Puerto Rican Independence Party is a Puerto Rican political party that campaigns for the independence of Puerto Rico from United States suzerainty....
senator Manuel Rodríguez Orellana
Manuel Rodríguez Orellana
Manuel Rodríguez Orellana is a legal scholar, lawyer, lecturer, columnist, published poet and political leader of the Puerto Rican Independence Movement...
and then Puerto Rico Senate Committee on Federal Affairs chairman Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth McClintock
Kenneth D. McClintock-Hernández is the current Secretary of State of Puerto Rico. Mr. McClintock served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton presidential campaign's National Hispanic Leadership Council in 2008, co-chaired Clinton's successful Puerto Rico primary campaign that year and served as the...
, 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.
In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, Freeh said that the widespread use of effective encryption
Encryption
In cryptography, encryption is the process of transforming information using an algorithm to make it unreadable to anyone except those possessing special knowledge, usually referred to as a key. The result of the process is encrypted information...
"is one of the most difficult problems for law enforcement as the next century approaches". He considered the loss of wiretap
Telephone tapping
Telephone tapping is the monitoring of telephone and Internet conversations by a third party, often by covert means. The wire tap received its name because, historically, the monitoring connection was an actual electrical tap on the telephone line...
ping 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.
Ruby Ridge
An investigation of the August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in which an FBI sharpshooter killed the wife of a wanted suspectRandy Weaver
Randall Claude "Randy" Weaver is a former Green Beret who was at the center of a deadly confrontation with U.S. federal agents at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992.-Early life:...
, was ongoing when Freeh became Director. A paramilitary
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is a force whose function and organization are similar to those of a professional military, but which is not considered part of a state's formal armed forces....
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
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi is a U.S. FBI HRT sniper who was involved in controversial deployments during the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco Siege. In 1997, Horiuchi was charged with manslaughter for the death of Vicki Weaver at Ruby Ridge; the case was dismissed.-Early life:Horiuchi, the son of...
was later charged with manslaughter
Manslaughter
Manslaughter is a legal term for the killing of a human being, in a manner considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is said to have first been made by the Ancient Athenian lawmaker Dracon in the 7th century BC.The law generally differentiates...
; Freeh said that he was "deeply disappointed" at the charges, filed by a county
Boundary County, Idaho
Boundary County is a county located in the U.S. state of Idaho. As of the 2010 Census the county had a population of 10,972. The county seat and largest city is Bonners Ferry....
prosecutor and later dropped.
Freeh was not censure
Censure
A censure is an expression of strong disapproval or harsh criticism. Among the forms that it can take are a stern rebuke by a legislature, a spiritual penalty imposed by a church, and a negative judgment pronounced on a theological proposition.-Politics:...
d for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation.
Waco
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 DavidianBranch Davidian
The Branch Davidians are a Protestant sect that originated in 1955 from a schism in the Davidian Seventh Day Adventists , a reform movement that began within the Seventh-day Adventist Church around 1930...
compound at Waco, Texas
Waco, Texas
Waco is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas. Situated along the Brazos River and on the I-35 corridor, halfway between Dallas and Austin, it is the economic, cultural, and academic center of the 'Heart of Texas' region....
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
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
, 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.
Khobar Towers bombing
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 zoneNo-fly zone
A no-fly zone is a territory or an area over which aircraft are not permitted to fly. Such zones are usually set up in a military context, somewhat like a demilitarized zone in the sky, and usually prohibit military aircraft of a belligerent nation from operating in the region.-Iraq,...
enacted after the Gulf War
Gulf War
The Persian Gulf War , commonly referred to as simply the Gulf War, was a war waged by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from 34 nations led by the United States, against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait.The war is also known under other names, such as the First Gulf...
. 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
1983 Beirut barracks bombing
The Beirut Barracks Bombing occurred during the Lebanese Civil War, when two truck bombs struck separate buildings housing United States and French military forces—members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon—killing 299 American and French servicemen...
. 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
Grand jury
A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...
in Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...
returned a 46-count indictment against 14 defendants charged with the Khobar Towers attack. This was just before some of the counts would have expired due to a five-year statute of limitations. In the book Freeh maintains that he was obstructed by the Clinton Administration for political reasons in investigating the bombing and bringing the terrorist to justice.
Centennial Olympic Park bombing
The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information heard testimony from Freeh regarding the leaking of Richard JewellRichard Jewell
Richard A. Jewell was an American security guard who became known in connection with the Centennial Olympic Park bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, United States...
'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.
Montana Freemen
Freeh and the FBI were praised for the handling of the 81-day standoffMexican standoff
A Mexican standoff is a slang term defined as a stalemate or impasse; a confrontation that neither side can foreseeably win. The term is most often used in lieu of "stalemate" when the confrontational situation is exceptionally dangerous for all parties involved.In popular culture, the Mexican...
between law enforcement agents and the Montana Freemen, a fringe political group. Director Abraham Foxman
Abraham Foxman
Abraham H. Foxman is the National Director of the Anti-Defamation League.-Early life:Foxman, an only son, was born in Baranovichi, just months after the USSR took the town from Poland in the Nazi-Soviet Pact and incorporated it into the BSSR. The town is now in Belarus...
of the Anti-Defamation League
Anti-Defamation League
The Anti-Defamation League is an international non-governmental organization based in the United States. Describing itself as "the nation's premier civil rights/human relations agency", the ADL states that it "fights anti-Semitism and all forms of bigotry, defends democratic ideals and protects...
, which had issued reports critical of the Freemen and encouraged their prosecution, commended the "peaceful conclusion" to the standoff.
Unabomber
Theodore KaczynskiTheodore Kaczynski
Theodore John "Ted" Kaczynski , also known as the "Unabomber" , is an American mathematician, social critic, anarcho-primitivist, and Neo-Luddite who engaged in a mail bombing campaign that spanned nearly 20 years, killing three people and injuring 23 others.Kaczynski was born in Chicago, Illinois,...
, 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.
Robert Hanssen
Robert Hanssen, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, was arrested in 2001 and charged with spying for the Soviet UnionSoviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
and Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, beginning in 1985. Freeh called the security breach "exceptionally grave" and appointed a panel, led by former FBI and Central Intelligence Agency
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency is a civilian intelligence agency of the United States government. It is an executive agency and reports directly to the Director of National Intelligence, responsible for providing national security intelligence assessment to senior United States policymakers...
head William Webster, to review the damage done by Hanssen's espionage.
Wen Ho Lee
In 1999, Los Alamos National LaboratoryLos Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory, managed and operated by Los Alamos National Security , located in Los Alamos, New Mexico...
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.
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.
Chinese political and campaign fundraising controversies
In February 1997, the media announced that Freeh personally blocked the sharing of intelligence information regarding ChinaPeople's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
's alleged plot to influence U.S. elections with the White House
White House
The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...
. The following month, Freeh testified before Congress that his investigation into campaign finance irregularities of the 1996 U.S. presidential
United States presidential election, 1996
The United States presidential election of 1996 was a contest between the Democratic national ticket of President Bill Clinton of Arkansas and Vice President Al Gore of Tennessee and the Republican national ticket of former Senator Bob Dole of Kansas for President and former Housing Secretary Jack...
and Congressional campaigns was not focusing on individual criminal acts, but on a possible conspiracy involving China. Later that year, Freeh wrote a memorandum to Attorney General Janet Reno
Janet Reno
Janet Wood Reno is a former Attorney General of the United States . She was nominated by President Bill Clinton on February 11, 1993, and confirmed on March 11...
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". Reno rejected his request.
Other cases
Other cases handled by the FBI during Freeh's tenure included the death of White House counsel Vince FosterVince Foster
Vincent Walker Foster, Jr. was a Deputy White House Counsel during the first few months of President Bill Clinton's administration, and also a law partner and friend of Hillary Rodham Clinton...
(in 1993), allegations of incompetence at the FBI crime laboratory, investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. It was the most destructive act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Oklahoma blast claimed 168 lives, including 19...
(1995) and the capture and prosecution of Timothy McVeigh
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995...
, and investigation of the crash of TWA Flight 800
TWA Flight 800
Trans World Airlines Flight 800 , a Boeing 747-131, exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean near East Moriches, New York, on July 17, 1996, at about 20:31 EDT, 12 minutes after takeoff, killing all 230 persons on board. At the time, it was the second-deadliest U.S...
.
Criticism
In 2000, the editorial staff of Business Week called for the resignation of Director Freeh, citing the CarnivoreCarnivore (FBI)
Carnivore was a system implemented by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that was designed to monitor email and electronic communications. It used a customizable packet sniffer that can monitor all of a target user's Internet traffic...
communications monitoring system, the Waco cover-up, and insubordination
Insubordination
Insubordination is the act of willfully disobeying an authority. Refusing to perform an action that is unethical or illegal is not insubordination; neither is refusing to perform an action that is not within the scope of authority of the person issuing the order.Insubordination is typically a...
to Attorney General Reno as reasons.
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.
Resignation
In June 2001, he resigned amid criticism that the FBI needed stronger leadership, particularly after allegations of spying by Robert HanssenRobert Hanssen
Robert Philip Hanssen is a former American FBI agent who spied for Soviet and Russian intelligence services against the United States for 22 years from 1979 to 2001...
. Upon his resignation, he was praised by Attorney General John Ashcroft
John Ashcroft
John David Ashcroft is a United States politician who served as the 79th United States Attorney General, from 2001 until 2005, appointed by President George W. Bush. Ashcroft previously served as the 50th Governor of Missouri and a U.S...
, who called him "a model law enforcement officer".
He was replaced by Thomas J. Pickard
Thomas J. Pickard
Thomas J. Pickard was an acting Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation for 71 days in the summer of 2001 following the tenure of Director Louis Freeh. He was replaced just one week before the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers and The Pentagon. Born in Woodside, Queens,...
who served for 71 days, who was in turn replaced by Robert Mueller
Robert Mueller
Robert Swan Mueller III is the 6th and current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life:...
.
Post-FBI
Freeh approached acting New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancescoDonald DiFrancesco
Donald Thomas DiFrancesco was the 51st Governor of New Jersey from 2001 to 2002 by virtue of his status as President of the New Jersey Senate, the upper house of the New Jersey Legislature....
, 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
Bret Schundler
Bret D. Schundler is an American politician from New Jersey. He served in the Cabinet of Governor Chris Christie as New Jersey Commissioner of Education until he was dismissed on August 27, 2010....
, the Republican candidate, agreed "in principle". However, Democrat Jim McGreevey
Jim McGreevey
James Edward "Jim" McGreevey is an American Democratic politician. He served as the 52nd Governor of New Jersey from January 15, 2002, until he resigned from office at 11:59 pm on November 15, 2004. His term was set to expire on January 17, 2006...
, who won the gubernatorial election, turned down Freeh in favor of Golan Cipel
Golan Cipel
Golan Cipel was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, in 1968, and grew up in the city of Rishon LeZion.Cipel served in the Israel Defense Forces for five years as a naval officer, eventually rising to the rank of lieutenant. Following his service in the Israeli Navy, Cipel held several positions in government...
. It was later discovered that McGreevey and Cipel had been involved in a sexual relationship. McGreevey was heavily criticized for giving the post to Cipel rather than Freeh or another experienced individual.
In September 2001, Freeh was appointed to the board of directors
Board of directors
A board of directors is a body of elected or appointed members who jointly oversee the activities of a company or organization. Other names include board of governors, board of managers, board of regents, board of trustees, and board of visitors...
of credit card issuer MBNA
MBNA
MBNA Corporation was a bank holding company and parent company of wholly owned subsidiary MBNA America Bank, N.A., headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, prior to being acquired by Bank of America in 2006...
; he also served as the bank's general counsel
General Counsel
A general counsel is the chief lawyer of a legal department, usually in a corporation or government department. The term is most used in the United States...
, as well as corporate secretary and ethics officer. Likewise, Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Bristol-Myers Squibb , often referred to as BMS, is a pharmaceutical company, headquartered in New York City. The company was formed in 1989, following the merger of its predecessors Bristol-Myers and the Squibb Corporation...
elected him to its board of directors.
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.
Beginning in 2004 Freeh began moonlighting as an adjunct law professor for Widener University School of Law
Widener University School of Law
Widener University School of Law is the ABA accredited law school of Widener University. The school, founded in 1971 as the Delaware Law School, operates on two of Widener's campuses, one in Wilmington, Delaware, and the other in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania....
. Drawing on his years of experience, he has taught White Collar Crime.
In 2007, Freeh formed Freeh Group International Solutions, a consulting and investigative firm headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with regional offices in Washington DC and New York.
In 2009, Louis Freeh was hired by Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan as his legal representative on issues surrounding the Al-Yamamah arms deal, appearing April 7, 2009 on the PBS series Frontline: Black Money.
In late May 2011, Freeh was retained as an independent investigator by the Ethics Committee of FIFA
FIFA
The Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
in the bribery scandal centering around Mohammed bin Hammam
Mohammed Bin Hammam
Mohamed bin Hammam is a Qatari who was formerly a football administrator and president of the Asian Football Confederation from 1 August 2002 to 14 June 2011, and a member of FIFA's 24-man executive committee from 1996 to 2011 for more than 15 years...
and Jack Warner.
In November 2011, Pennsylvania State University
Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University, commonly referred to as Penn State or PSU, is a public research university with campuses and facilities throughout the state of Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1855, the university has a threefold mission of teaching, research, and public service...
announced that Freeh would lead an internal investigation into the Penn State sex abuse scandal
Penn State sex abuse scandal
The Penn State sex abuse scandal refers to allegations that former Pennsylvania State University football assistant coach Jerry Sandusky sexually assaulted or had inappropriate contact with at least eight underage boys on or near university property...
involving Jerry Sandusky
Jerry Sandusky
Gerald Arthur "Jerry" Sandusky is a retired American football coach. Sandusky served as an assistant coach for his entire career, mostly at Pennsylvania State University under Joe Paterno, and was one of the most notable major college football coaches never to have held a head coaching position. ...
and several high-ranking university officials. He annouced that the team assisting him in his investigation would include former FBI agents and federal prosecutors.
Also in November, 2011, Freeh was named trustee for the MF Global bankruptcy case, the largest Wall Street bankruptcy since Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers
Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...
' in September 2008. He was appointed by U.S. Trustee Tracy Hope Davis working under the authority of U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Martin Glenn.
Book and editorials
An editorial by Louis Freeh critical of the 9/11 Commission9/11 Commission
The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
appeared in the November 17, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
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
Richard A. Clarke
Richard Alan Clarke was a U.S. government employee for 30 years, 1973–2003. He worked for the State Department during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. In 1992, President George H.W. Bush appointed him to chair the Counter-terrorism Security Group and to a seat on the United States National...
. Freeh made an appearance on The Daily Show
The Daily Show
The Daily Show , is an American late night satirical television program airing each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. The half-hour long show premiered on July 21, 1996, and was hosted by Craig Kilborn until December 1998...
to promote the book. A New York Times review called it "A strangely shallow offering by a man who is anything but...".