MISSOURI COMMENTARY: DIRECTOR FREEH OF THE FBI IS CAUGHT IN THE CROSSFIRE

The FBI has come a long way from the days of J. Edgar Hoover. Some of this evolution has been for good, some for ill.

Hoover was an autocrat and the FBI was his sacrosanct domain. No one dared to question him about his agency's policy or conduct. During his 48 years as Director, differences that Hoover might have with the presidents he served were settled ever so quietly.

After Hoover's death, and the agency's checkered role in Watergate, the aura disappeared from the FBI. The FBI entered the real Washington world of politics, bickering and backbiting. A succession of FBI Directors were nudged, pushed, or shoved out.

The present director, Louis Freeh, was appointed by President Clinton. He was a former FBI agency, prosecutor and federal judge and he took office in an atmosphere of great expectation. All believed that Freeh was a sure bet to shake the FBI out of its doldrums.

Freeh's honeymoon was short-lived. Things began to blow up in his face early in his tenure. There was Ruby Ridge in Idaho. There was the Olympic Park bombing case, in which he hamhandedly inserted himself personally. The highly respected FBI crime laboratory turned out to be a mess. Freeh also got into the crossfire of Washington politics. He angered the president with some indiscreet remarks about the handling of the White House personnel files.

White House Counsel Charles Ruff asked for an FBI briefing on the question of the Chinese government's possible involvement in the 1996 election. Freeh brusquely turned him down. Ruff thought the information was needed to update the president on foreign policy implications. Freeh thought the request was inappropriate. This internal dispute was leaked to the press. Even Republican senators like Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) chastised Freeh.

Finally, word got out that Freeh has strongly urged Attorney General Janet Reno to request the appointment of a special prosecutor in the campaign fund-raising matter. Reno made it clear that she didn't need Freeh's advice. Freeh testified before the Senate and nervously admitted that he differed with Reno. He sheepishly said, "I don't know who leaked all of this. I hope it didn't come from the FBI."

Freeh has been criticized for his naivete. One old timer said, "He's trying to prove that he's independent and nonpartisan and nonpolitical. But he doesn't know how to play the game ... He's an enormously competent law enforcement official, but politically he's got a tin ear."

It's not just the Democrats who quarreled with Freeh. The Republicans groused as well. Speaker Newt Gingrich claimed that the FBI was being overzealous in investigating potential Republican campaign offenders. The FBI had been looking into the 1996 re-election of Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), the chairman of the House Committee looking into the 1996 Democratic fund-raising practices.

Gingrich suggested that Bob Livingston (R-La.), the Appropriations Committee Chairman, cut some money out of the FBI budget so as to get Freeh's "attention." Livingston himself was already on the anti-Freeh bandwagon. He had earlier accused Freeh of bungling the White House travel office and personnel file cases.

Freeh has six years to go on his 10 year term. Theoretically, he could be dismissed by Clinton. Indeed, Clinton did fire Freeh's predecessor, another former federal judge. However, firing Freeh while his agents are looking into various Clinton-related matters is not a realistic option. Likewise, the possibility of the Republicans punishing the FBI by cutting the agency's budget is not political viable in this law-and-order age.

Freeh will be around for a long time. He will never enjoy the status of Hoover. He should be troubled by that. Mother Teresa, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods and David McCullough are just about the only unblemished types in our skeptical world.

~Tom Eagleton of St. Louis is a former U.S. senator from Missouri.