Christopher Ruddy
Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2002

I didn't see him testifying before Congress Tuesday.

Instead, there was a man who pales in comparison to Hoover. His name is Louis Freeh.

Like Clinton, the man who appointed him to head the FBI in 1993, Freeh bears incredible responsibility for the worst catastrophe ever to strike the American homeland.

Now, you won't hear that from the major media.

But Freeh handled the FBI for eight years before 9/11, and it was his primary duty to protect America from such terrorists, especially ones who spent years within our borders preparing their dastardly deeds.

But Freeh boldly said he bore no responsibility, blaming everyone but himself. Freeh claimed he didn't have enough agents, Congress didn't give him enough money, no one listened to him, and so on.

Such lame excuses are meekly accepted by the liberal media. Freeh has gotten an even easier ride since 9/11 than Bill Clinton. It took more than a year for Congress to even summon Freeh for public testimony.

Freeh's excuses don't work, because we know that there was more than enough evidence provided to the FBI, with the manpower it had, that something was seriously amiss.

There were the Minnesota agents who were worried about Zacarias Moussaoui. There was the Phoenix memo about the flight schools. There was the New York agent sending e-mails warning that Americans would die. There was Agent Wright, who was told he couldn't investigate suspected Muslim terrorists.

This anecdotal evidence, I am told, is just the tip of the iceberg of evidence pointing to FBI negligence.

Freeh would have you believe that FBI negligence could be blamed simply on a manpower shortage.

Even if that was the case, Freeh still bears culpability. He could have easily redirected FBI agents to handle terrorism. It was he, not Congress, who decided that terrorism was not the highest priority.

In fact, Freeh, upon arriving at the FBI, transferred hundreds of senior and veteran FBI officials from headquarters and the bureau's training center at Quantico out to field offices.

Some agents believed this action by Freeh, more than anything else, caused the bureau irreparable harm.

Freeh, a former FBI agent, had disdain for the bureau's hierarchy, so he took his revenge when he became director.

In doing so, he took some of the bureau's most experienced and veteran investigators and sent them off to field offices in Paducah. The bureau's institutional ability to deal with criminals was crippled.

Freeh also sent agents on politically correct missions. For example, agents were assigned to places like Washington, D.C., to help the police solve local murder cases.

Others were assigned to help in carjackings or to locate missing kids in divorce cases. No doubt worthy causes, but completely outside the jurisdiction of the FBI.

Apparently, Freeh's FBI made assisting the Clintons a high priority. We know that nearly 1,000 confidential FBI files on Republicans were illegally turned over to the White House.

As I watched Freeh today I couldn't help but juxtapose Mr. Freeh with J. Edgar Hoover.

I know it is politically incorrect to defend Hoover or to talk of his accomplishments.

But the comparison was just too good to ignore after watching the Freeh hearing this week.

Hoover created and built the FBI. For more than half a century he directed the FBI until his death in 1972. During that time, he was able to keep America safe and secure.

Let's not forget that Hoover kept America free and secure during a global depression, a world war on two fronts against the fascist powers, a bitter Cold War with hot wars flaring in Korea and Vietnam – and constant turmoil throughout the world. At the same time, he drew to the FBI some of the nation's most talented, brightest and patriotic individuals.

Can you imagine any disaster like 9/11 happening under J. Edgar Hoover’s watch?

International terrorists, who have been legion for decades, knew that the FBI of J. Edgar Hoover was not to be tangled with.

Since Hoover's death there has been much revisionism about him and his record.

If we believe the media reports, Hoover was a cross-dressing homosexual who had been blackmailed by the mob, a man who had turned the FBI into his personal valet service.

Let me say that I have no doubt that Hoover had eccentricities (what great men do not?). But most of the charges against him were false or completely unsubstantiated.

There is not one shred of evidence that Hoover was gay. Rumor and innuendo, yes, but evidence, no.

Charges that Hoover was blackmailed by the mob are obviously not true. When the evidence showed that La Cosa Nostra was indeed a national organization, Hoover and his G-men went after them with abandon.

Hoover's senior FBI agent in Chicago, the late William Roemer, was my friend. You can read his books to find out that Hoover never handcuffed his agents as they nabbed mobster after mobster.

Hoover was not perfect.

He wouldn't have survived in Washington for so long had he been just a Boy Scout. He was tough. He had shortcomings. For example, he clearly had racist views about African-Americans. But we should remember that those views were not atypical for most of the establishment at the time, Democrats and Republicans.

The nitpicking about Hoover seems to ignore the fact that he created the best crime-fighting organization in the world. He was one of the key players who helped us win the Cold War. Since his death, the FBI has been living on his fumes. On 9/11 we discovered the tank was empty.

Today, there is a movement afoot to have Hoover’s name stripped from the FBI headquarters building.

What's the plan? Name it after Louis Freeh?

The major media have it all wrong. J. Edgar Hoover, warts and all, was a great American who served American people well.

It is people like Louis Freeh who have brought us great harm.

Editor's note:
"CATASTROPHE" Reveals Bill Clinton`s Role in 9/11 – Click Here to find out more.