David Corn

Some political endorsements are not that impressive. In fact, they can be frightening.

On Tuesday, John McCain's campaign announced that former FBI chief Louis Freeh was backing McCain. In a statement, McCain said,

Louis Freeh's service stands as a testament to his belief that as Americans we are called to serve a cause greater than ourselves. For more than thirty years, Louie has served the people of this great country admirably, and I am grateful to count him as a supporter.

Does McCain want to go back to the Freeh days at the FBI? During Freeh's tenure at the FBI (1993 to 2001), the bureau was a basket case when it came to doing anything about terrorism. As the 9/11 Commission report noted,

Those working counter-terrorism matters [at the FBI] did so despite limited intelligence collection and strategic analysis capabilities, a limited capacity to share information both internally and externally, insufficient training, an overly complex legal regime and inadequate resources

Freeh did little to improve the situation. After the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993, Freeh's FBI did not step up to the challenge and significantly improve its capabilities to counter jihadist terrorism. During his tenure, two-thirds of the FBI intelligence analysts were not qualified to perform their duties. And, of course, the FBI computer system in the Freeh years was a legendary mess. Set up in 1995, it was based on 1990s technology. At one point, the system was essentially scrapped. Hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted. Worse, FBI agents were not able to share information with other agents or even retrieve public information off the Internet. Freeh himself was famous--or infamous--for shunning email and computers, sending a message throughout the bureau: modern-day communications technology is not for us G-men. (Yet Republicans on the Hill fancied Freeh because he was willing to investigate the Clinton White House during the 1990s.)

So McCain can have him. But American citizens should hope that McCain did not promise Freeh any jobs in a McCain administration--unless, of course, Freeh has finally learned how to use email.