Book summary

In his memoir, MY FBI, Louis Freeh chronicles his long career, from FBI agent fighting organized crime in New York's famed Southern District, to a federal judgeship, to director of the FBI. Freeh took over the bureau at a time when it was under increasing Congressional scrutiny and amid growing public discontent. He immediately "cleaned house," engendering a great deal of negative reaction from career professionals. Yet in his book he remains one of the bureau's great boosters. He tells what it was like to work with Attorney General Janet Reno, and how his relationship with his boss, Bill Clinton, was soured by scandal. Among the newsworthy revelations in MY FBI are that, following the 1996 Khobar Towers terrorist attacks in Saudi Arabia, Clinton met with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Instead of pressing him to facilitate the FBI investigation by allowing the agency to interview suspects in Saudi custody, Clinton told the Prince he "understood" why he did not accede to the requests. Then, charges Freeh, Clinton hit the prince up for a donation to his presidential library. Freeh also tells how, during the tawdry Lewinsky affair, he set up a clandestine meeting at which a technician took a Clinton blood sample so that the FBI could compare it to the DNA extracted from a semen-stained dress worn by Lewinsky. Needless to say, the two were barely on speaking terms when Clinton left office. Finally, Freeh provides his account of the ways that the FBI fought cyber-crime, international organized crime, and terrorism on his watch.