Globalization of the FBI
Why Louis Freeh Must Go
How could a top FBI agent spy for Russia for 15 years and not get caught? The answer may lie in FBI Director Louis Freeh's policy of working with the Russians for the last several years, and turning the bureau's attention to global and U.N. issues that have spread its resources thin.
In a 1997 speech to his "comrades" in Moscow, Freeh even urged a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty between the U.S. and Russia so that cooperation with Russia could increase.
Under Freeh, the FBI has opened numerous offices abroad, including a Legal Attache office in Moscow, and has supplied dozens of FBI agents to assist the United Nations in dubious "war crimes" investigations. As of 1997, the FBI had 82 agents and 61 support employees in 30 nations around the world. "This is a massive waste of scarce resources that should have gone into looking for Russian spies on the FBI payroll," declared Cliff Kincaid, president of the public policy group America's Survival.
Amazingly, at the very end of the news conference where he patted himself on the back for catching alleged traitor and senior FBI agent Robert Hannsen, Freeh reiterated that the FBI would continue to "work very closely with the [Russian] ministry of interior" on criminal matters and the Russian internal security agency on counterterrorism. Those relationships "are extremely important to both countries" and "will not be affected by this case," he said.
In a 1998 FBI report on the bureau's "leadership in national security," Freeh said that the FBI and CIA were working together on the Aldrich Ames case and others and that "credit for the close new ties between the two agencies goes to John M. Deutch..." This is the former CIA director who was about to plead guilty to mishandling highly classified information before Clinton pardoned him.
In a 1997 Moscow speech to Russian police officials, Freeh declared that "We are truly comrades" and that U.S. and Russian law enforcement agencies would work together to "help us protect our nations and our peoples..." The cooperation began in 1994, in response to a directive from President Clinton ordering U.S. government agencies to "join together to build the world's capabilities in fighting international crime." The FBI started hosting seminars in Russia for Russian police officers and by 1995, Freeh said Russian police were in the U.S. working "side by side with FBI agents. " Some Russians even graduated from the FBI's National Academy.
"This is absurd," added Cliff Kincaid of America's Survival. "We teach the Russians our law enforcement techniques so they can catch our spies and fool us with their own spies. Louis Freeh has made the FBI into a laughing stock. But we should quit laughing long enough to understand the danger we face."
| America's Survival, Inc. Cliff Kincaid, President, 301-855-2679 FAX 301-855-3732 |
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