The FBI Way: Inside the Bureau's Code of
Excellence
Author(s):
Frank
Figliuzzi
https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/fbi-way-inside
Reviewed by:
Michael J. McCann
“The FBI Way is an important read for every American
who values the rule of law and the role of the FBI in its maintenance.”
Frank
Figliuzzi is a familiar face to millions of television viewers who tune into
MSNBC and NBC for their news and for expert analysis of ongoing current events.
A former senior FBI official, Figliuzzi serves as NBC’s national security
analyst, and he’s their go-to guy for insight into issues involving the FBI and
law enforcement in general.
In addition
to his other accomplishments, Figliuzzi is now the author of The FBI Way, an
in-depth look into the Bureau’s internal code of conduct and how they work
tirelessly to maintain rigorous standards of behavior within one of the most
influential and important law enforcement agencies in the world.
There’s no
doubt whatsoever that Figliuzzi is qualified to write this book. After joining
the Bureau in 1987, he served in the field as an agent and supervisor in
Atlanta, San Francisco, Miami, and Cleveland. He was also the assistant
director for counterintelligence at headquarters in Washington, D.C.
He
eventually gravitated toward what lay persons would think of as internal
affairs within the FBI. He scrutinized agent behavior while working in the
Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), and he served as the head of OPR’s
adjudication unit covering the eastern portion of the United States. Later, he
was the FBI’s chief inspector, responsible for program and performance reviews
throughout the Bureau.
While he
draws heavily on his work experience to dramatize and illustrate his points,
The FBI Way doesn’t follow his career in a chronological fashion. Like any
other law enforcement professional, he clearly enjoys telling war stories, but
the book tends to jump back and forth along his personal timeline. As we move
from field work to OPR investigations and back again, we tend to lose track of
where we are in his career.
However,
it’s important to understand that Frank Figliuzzi has not written a book about
himself. He’s written a book about the FBI.
The FBI Way
is structured around the Bureau’s core values, condensed into what he calls
“the Seven C’s: Code, Conservancy, Clarity, Consequences, Compassion,
Credibility, and Consistency.” A chapter is devoted to each value in which he
explains what it is, how it’s applied, and what happens when someone’s conduct
within the Bureau fails to measure up.
Some
chapters are better than others. His discussion of “Clarity,” for example, is
ironically stilted. His constant use of the word in almost every paragraph
numbs the brain at some points to its actual significance as a core value.
Other
chapters, however, are quite excellent. “Credibility” is perhaps the
best-written and arguably the most important. Asserting that “credibility is
the cornerstone of any values-based endeavor,” he explains that public trust in
the FBI’s role in defending and preserving the rule of law in the United States
depends on its ability to maintain a high level of credibility in the eyes of
the public.
His
examples in this chapter are high-profile and controversial. He begins outside
the FBI with Stephen Miller, senior advisor to President Trump. Describing
Miller’s role in the administration’s immigration strategy, he writes that
because of the man’s personal allegiance to Trump ahead of his country, “the
heartbreaking result was a policy that was morally reprehensible, incompetently
implemented, and illegal.” Lacking solid core values, the administration’s
“credibility [was] shot.”
Moving
internally, former FBI Deputy Assistant Director Peter Strzok is next in line.
As many will recall, a Justice Department investigation found that Strzok sent
anti-Trump texts to his lover while serving in Robert Mueller’s investigation
of Trump and the 2016 campaign. Repeating statements he made on MSNBC at the
time, Figliuzzi declares that Strzok’s eventual firing was a clear assertion of
“the FBI way.”
In other
chapters the author refers to high-profile cases that are not quite as
clear-cut. His assessment of James Comey’s actions as director during the 2016
campaign, for example, reveals something of a personal conflict of emotions.
While he points out that “Comey’s damage to the public perception of the Bureau
could have been avoided,” he describes Comey’s “well-intentioned missteps” as a
“good-faith effort to do what he deemed was right.”
As for
Donald Trump, he notes that many people have asked him if the FBI conducts
background checks on presidential candidates. Interestingly, his answer is
consistently “No.” His reasoning? No one wants “a bunch of bureaucrats, not the
American voters, [to] decide who could or could not be president.”
Despite
hitting on most of the hot-button topics, The FBI Way is a somewhat dry read.
Figliuzzi is not a particularly good storyteller, and he tends to step on his
own punch lines while relating examples of specific cases in which he was
involved.
As well,
his attempts to graft onto the main thesis of the book generalized corporate
lessons in best practices based on the FBI’s core values are rather forced,
sprinkled in as obvious attempts to widen his readership. Inspired by his
five-year stint at General Electric after leaving the Bureau, no doubt.
Nonetheless,
The FBI Way is an important read for every American who values the rule of law
and the role of the FBI in its maintenance. Figliuzzi’s message is clear: “We
perform at our best when we’re accountable for something beyond ourselves.”
For the
FBI, that accountability starts within.
During his
15 years with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA), Michael J. McCann spent
significant time as a project officer and national project manager working on
new initiatives for border protection that involved technological tools such as
computer data analysis, facial recognition, iris scanning, and more.
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