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Louis Freeh

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   Louis Freeh was the fifteenth director of the FBI. He oversaw the
   agency for nearly 10 years during one of the most difficult periods of
   its history.
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   Louis Freeh was the fifteenth director of the FBI. He oversaw the
   agency for nearly 10 years during one of the most difficult periods of
   its history.

   Louis Joseph Freeh (born January 6, 1950) was the 15th Director of the
   Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). He began his career as an agent
   of the FBI, and was later an assistant United States Attorney and a
   United States District Court judge. He is now a lawyer in the private
   sector.

Early life and career

   Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was educated by the Christian
   Brothers and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers College in 1971. He
   received a J.D. degree from Rutgers Law School in 1974 and an LL.M.
   degree in criminal law from New York University Law School in 1984.
   Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in the New York City
   field office and at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he
   joined the United States 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 United States
   Attorney, and Associate United States Attorney. He was also a first
   lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve.

   In 1991, former President George H. W. Bush appointed Freeh as United
   States District Court Judge for the Southern District of New York, a
   position he held until he was appointed FBI director 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.) 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.

"Pizza Connection" case

   A notable case Freeh was associated with was the " Pizza Connection"
   investigation, in which he was lead prosecutor. The case involved a
   drug trafficking operation in the U.S. 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.

Major events during Freeh's tenure as FBI 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.

   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 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.

Ruby Ridge

   An investigation of the August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho,
   which took place under the administration of George H. W. Bush, 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 (HRT), 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 censured due 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 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 United States Marshals to FBI headquarters to seize Waco-related
   evidence.

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.

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.

Unabomber

   The "Unabomber" Theodore Kaczynski 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 27-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 CIA head William Webster, to review the
   damage done by Hanssen's espionage.

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 United States 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 FBI 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 China'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. election campaigns for
   president and Congress was not focusing on individual criminal acts,
   but on a possible conspiracy involving China. 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." 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.

Criticism

   Among others, Business Week in 2000 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.

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."

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 favour of Golan Cipel, who
   had no relevant experience. It was later revealed 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.

   In September 2001, Freeh was appointed to the board of directors of
   credit card issuer MBNA; he is also 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.

Book and editorials

   An editorial by Louis Freeh, which was critical of the 9/11 Commission,
   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 letdown, a breezy, middlebrow
   memoir that appears aimed at Oprah watchers rather than Foreign Affairs
   readers."
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