Q&A with Tim

[Bryan]

Question:Do you think the evidence against Emad Salem as a double agent was slim?

[Mark]

Tim, I have a few questions that may not have been addressed yet.


1 Does the FBI generally put more effort into crime prevention rather than solving crimes?

2 Today street gangs are a concern. Do you believe this is a trend that will manifest into a major problem in the states?

3 The FBI Academy is located on the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. Other than the fact that many FBI employees have also actively served in the Marine Corps is there any major connection between the two organizations?

[Jason]

Tim, sir, if i wanted to read one of the FBI agents' oral histories that you quote here in this book; how would i go about doing that? And the one in question doesn't seem to be in their online "vault".

[Tim]

Bryan asked: Do you think the evidence against Emad Salem as a double agent was slim?

Salem was not a double agent.

[Tim]

Jason asked: If I wanted to read one of the FBI agents' oral histories that you quote here in this book, how would I go about doing that?

Jason, follow this link and search either "oral history" and the agent's name, or both:
http://research.nlem.org/vwebv/search...

[Tim]

Mark asked:
Q: Does the FBI generally put more effort into crime prevention rather than solving crimes?
A: Stopping terrorism before attacks is the FBI's biggest mission today.

Q: Today street gangs are a concern. Do you believe this is a trend that will manifest into a major problem in the states?
A: Gangs have been a concern since the 1970's. The FBI looks for violations of federal gun and drug laws, but gangs are generally a problem for state and local law enforcement.

Q: The FBI Academy is next to the Marine Corps base in Quantico, Va. Other than the fact that many FBI employees have also actively served in the Marine Corps is there any major connection between the two organizations?
A: If you look at the Marine Corps experience of FBI leaders like Robert Mueller, who will see an ethos that serves the Bureau well. If a Marine officer sends his troops up the hill, he goes up the hill with them.

[Jerome, Assisting Moderator - Upcoming Books and Releases]

Is it still common for FBI agents to go overseas in investigations? And doesn't only the Washington D.C. Field Office do that?

[Tim]

Jerome asked: Is it still common for FBI agents to go overseas in investigations? And doesn't only the Washington D.C. Field Office do that?

Jerome, FBI legal attaches work out of every major US embassy overseas, and FBI intelligence investigations overseas can deploy agents from any field office, not only Washington.

[Jerome, Assisting Moderator - Upcoming Books and Releases]

Oh, so all embassy legal attaches are FBI special agents?

[Tim]

Yes. You'll remember that the post of legal attache was created during World War Two to give the FBI some standing and some status for overseas operations.

[Bryan]

Tim wrote: "Yes. You'll remember that the post of legal attache was created during World War Two to give the FBI some standing and some status for overseas operations."

Tim, what does it take for the FBI to get involved in a overseas investigation? I think it has to involve an American.

[Bryan]

Tim wrote: "Mark asked:
Q: Does the FBI generally put more effort into crime prevention rather than solving crimes?
A: Stopping terrorism before attacks is the FBI's biggest mission today.

Q: Today street g..."

From the outside, this is a big paradigm shift. We grow up through Hollywood that the FBI solves crimes, this is its main function. Now we understand things a big better.

[Tim]

Bryan asked: What does it take for the FBI to get involved in a overseas investigation?

Generally, evidence or suspicion of a violation of federal law, including far-reaching conspiracy and terrorism statutes.

[Jason]

Awesome! Thanks Tim. This site is amazing. What a treasure trove of oral histories!

[Tim]

The oral histories are indeed a golden seam, and I was lucky to be the first to mine them.

[Tim]

Good readers, seek out Russell Baker's take on ENEMIES in the new issue of The New York Review of Books. To my eyes, it's the best and most thoughtful review to date. It is too long to post as text here; try the link below

www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/201...

[Bentley, Group Founder, Leader, Chief]

Love Russell Baker and love that photo - it should be titled birds of a feather.

Russell Baker

[Craig]

Congratulations on that fine review in the New York Review of Books. What an honor to be reviewed by the humorist and essayist Mr. Baker.

Q: Do you feel that since 9/11 and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security the FBI has as much clout and importance as it did pre-9/11?

[Tim]

The FBI has had the blessing of good leadership in the form of Robert S. Mueller. My take on Mueller should be evident in the last two chapters of the book. The FBI, if anything, has earned first rank among American intelligence services in the past few years. And DHS is still very much a work in progress, still too close to the chaos of its creation to emerge as a fully functioning organization. We'll know in 20 or 30 years.

[Bryan]

Interesting, the DHS certainly brought a lot of controversy, people worrying it adds another layer of bureaucracy. Time will tell how effective it will be in getting the intelligence community working together...although I'm not sure how cooperative the Pentagon is...

[Mark]

Just a comment in that current news releases mention a few congressmen may have taken a late-night swim in the Sea of Galilee, some being nude, prompting the FBI to investigate. I don’t believe the FBI was called years ago to investigate Sir Winston Churchill swimming in the nude off of Florida.

[Tim]

Hard to find a violation of the laws of God and man in the current case, unless they were walking on water.

[Natacha]

And here I thought the FBI handled cases of aliens visiting us from outer space (thank you X-Files!)...

I'm wondering, based on your extensive knowledge, what is your opinion of the way President Bush handled 9/11?

[Tim]

Natacha asked: "What is your opinion of the way President Bush handled 9/11?"

Fear, secrecy, and ignorance are toxic elements -- and combined they are potentially lethal in a democracy. Secrecy, while necessary for intelligence operations, is tragic when used to excess in the formation of foreign policy. Fear may be useful in domestic politics but it is poison in the formation of sound intelligence. And ignorance is tragic in major military operations.

Bush attacking Iraq after 9/11? Folly on a grand scale.

We are lucky, in my opinion, that Obama, Mueller, Hillary Clinton and Bob Gates took the terrible cards they were handed and reshuffled. They put the major military, intelligence and diplomatic programs on the United States on a more sound basis.

[Mark]

Reference is made to the movie 2016. The theoretical threat is not communism, but of another type. Without getting into a political debate, do you believe the FBI is fully investigating this scenario?

Are you currently working on a book about the DoD? If so do you have a projected timetable for the release?

[Tim]

Mark, haven't seen 2016 and I don't know the scenario.

I have started a history of the American military from Japan to Afghanistan, tentatively titled BLOOD AND TREASURE. It will be the third and last book in the American national-security trilogy of LEGACY OF ASHES and ENEMIES. After that I am contemplating a Nixon biography.

[Bryan]

Wow, Tim, a Nixon biography, very cool. Nixon is a fascinating person, a lot to mine there. I hope you keep us posted on developments. We can be your online support group, lol.

[Tim]

You Goodreaders have been my online support group for nearly three months! Please do spread the word if you liked the book.

Authors and publishers are facing hard facts: Borders is gone and the Internet is fueling a race to the bottom, driving down the marketplace value of the written word. But, as I wrote in another context, we survived Pearl Harbor, we survived 9/11, and we'll muddle through this!

[Mark]

I’ll definitely spread the word. True professional writers like yourself need to soar. :-)

[Bryan]

I have already told three people about your book at my house party this weekend :-)

E-publishing is a challenge, but I agree that we will survive in some form or another...

[Clayton]

Thanks for the heads up on future books. I will be giving this book on the FBI a five star rating. What saddens me about the reading public is the content of what they are reading. Look at the trash that are the number one books. I have always subscribed to the theory that facts or far more interesting than fiction. Your writing certainly has proven this to be correct. You insights into the secret world of intelligence gathering is far superior to any Harry Potter etc books than can be imagined. The consequences from a failure on this front is far scarier than any fiction. Keep up the good work. I look forward to reading your future writings.

[Tim]

Clayton, thanks for the encouraging words!