Kessler, Ronald. The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency. New York: Pocket Books, 1993.

Date: August 7, 1994.

This is an interesting book composed primarily of accounts of cases and events of the FBI from the past twenty years. The book in organized into chapters that alternate between focusing on a specific division of the the FBI and specific field offices in major cities. The chapters focusing on specific divisions, such as the Criminal or Intelligence Divisions, provide an overview of the type of cases handled by the division as well as detailed accounts of specific cases. These chapters also discuss changes in the policy or focus of each division under different directors.

Of particular interest was chapter six on the Inspection Division. This division has two primary functions: 1) it is used as a "training ground" in which those members seeking to move up in the bureau supervise an inspection team that inspects field offices and resident agencies, and 2) its Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) investigates employee misconduct, similar to the I.A. division of a police force. Some of the accounts regarding misconduct seem deserving of far greater punishment than is given. However, the discussion regarding this issue is extensive and makes a lot of sense.

In my own experience while teaching high school, I learned to be completely professional and respectful of all students and to document every conflict or one-on-one conversation. Such records were important for future dealings with individuals as well as for my own protection. Since public school teachers are held to a higher standard than most employees, one should not risk being less than responsible. This was particularly true since unsubstantiated accusations against teachers by students are so readily accepted by the public and so feared by administration.

Despite the specific cases of wrongdoing and negligence by agents discussed in the book, I imagine that the vast majority of agents carry out their duties with an extreme degree of professionalism and personal responsibility. Thus, with a pass rate of 95% for new recruits, I find it difficult to believe that a stress management instructor at Quantico is compelled to tell the class that they do not have the right to "abuse their authority by pulling out their weapons or showing their credentials" if someone cuts in or is obnoxious. I hope that far greater discretion is expected of agents.

I was surprised to here of the inadequacy of the computer capabilities of the bureau. Faced with sharing a computer with fourteen other agents, I'm sure I would buy my own computer. By my back-of-napkin calculation, the bureau could supply the 56 field offices with and average of twenty PCs and 400 resident agengies with an average of 6 PCs at regular prices for under $13 mill, installed. This would provide 1 computer per every 3 of the 10,300 agents in the bureau. Each 66 MgHz 486DX PC would include 8MB RAM, 340MB hard drive, 3.5" and 5.25" floppy drives, CD ROM, speakers, color monitor, 2MB laser printer and phone modem. By linking modems, printers and storage disks between terminals within an office, the expense could be lowered or the number of terminals per agent increased.

Further, since not all agents would use terminals simultaneously, some slower computers with less storage space could be used as back-ups. For example, each eight agents could be provided with 2 very fast PCs with lots of storage, 2 relatively fast PCs with still plenty of storage, two CD ROMs, 1 modem and 1 laser printer, installed, for $11 million for the entire bureau.

I am unaware of the security problems involved with sending files via phone lines; if this was acceptable then files could be sent to faxes for hard copies or directly to electronic storage in other offices or headquarters. Of course, central storage would require special setup.

Kessler makes Bayes sound incompetent, but I'm assume there's more to the story. I assume that greater efficiency at lower costs could be recieved through some system as mentioned by Kessler, but I don't understand why it takes so long to develop. Clearly, you cannot gather all the facts by reading a few paragraphs in a book.

J. Sprigg