Secrets Of The FBI

Investigative reporter Ronald Kessler discussed his research into the FBI, and the Secret Service, and revealed behind-the-scenes stories, and secrets about how they operate. He portrayed the FBI’s long-running chief J. Edgar Hoover as both a patriot and a menace. “Near the end, he was getting more and more idiosyncratic,” and actually started a vendetta against FBI agents drinking coffee, he said. The FBI employed clever and complicated ways to break into suspects home. For instance, in the case of a Mafia family they were investigating, they introduced static on their phone line, and intercepted the call when the suspect dialed the phone company for repair. Then, FBI agents came to the home posing as telephone repairmen, and installed bugs in their phone while “fixing” the static, Kessler detailed.

One of the fascinating stories he learned about the Secret Service was that they were
tipped off about a psychic’s vision that Pres. George H.W. Bush could be assassinated
when he was giving a speech in Enid, OK. When the agents interviewed the psychic, she correctly led them to the airport hangar where the motorcade limos were hidden, and then predicted that Bush would be wearing a sports coat instead of a suit (which was very out-of-character for him) when he got off Air Force One. When that was confirmed, they decided to change the motorcade route, avoiding any overpasses where she said the shooting would happen.

Contrary to conspiracy theories, Clinton White House aide Vince Foster did commit suicide, Kessler announced. One-week before his death, during a disagreement with Hillary Clinton at a meeting with other top aides, he was humiliated when she called him a “small town hick lawyer.” After that, his behavior changed dramatically, and he became much more withdrawn, and tearful. The FBI concluded that it was the meeting with Hillary that triggered his suicide, he said.