My FBI

The former FBI director under Bill Clinton and George W. Bush recounts his tenure in this "scorching" bestselling Washington memoir ( The Washington Post ). "[Freeh] comes off as the real deal, an honorable, hard-working man, a devoted public servant and father, a gifted lawyer and onetime federal prosecutor." — The New York Times A spectacular New York Times and Washington Post bestseller, My FBI is the definitive account of American law enforcement during the Clinton years and in the run-up to September 11. Louis Freeh is clear eyed, frank, the ultimate realist, and he offers resolute vision for the struggles ahead. The FBI that Freeh took over in the summer of 1993 was still reeling from the bloody standoff at Ruby Ridge and the conflagration at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas. Unpopular, underfunded, and understaffed, the Bureau was also creeping along in the technological Dark Ages. For eight years—the second longest tenure of any director since J. Edgar Hoover—Freeh would fight tooth and nail to turn the FBI around. In My FBI, we follow Freeh through his five-year battle against Clinton, National Security Adviser Sandy Berger, and others to win indictments for the Khobar bombings in 2001, which stated that Iranian government officials played a role in the attack. No wonder Bill Clinton called Freeh a "law enforcement legend" when he nominated him to be FBI director. No wonder, either, that when Clinton subsequently called that appointment the worst one he made as president, Freeh considered it "a badge of honor." "Freeh did his country a great service by staying on as FBI director to be a witness—a truth teller, if you will—to all the nefarious goings-on at the Clinton White House. As with most debates surrounding the Clinton presidency, it comes down to this: Do you believe Louis Freeh, or do you believe Bill Clinton? If there remains any doubt, this book forever answers the question." — The Philadelphia Inquirer