117-529: Louis Joseph Freeh (born January 6, 1950) is an American attorney and former judge who served as the fifth Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation from September 1993 to June 2001. Graduated from Rutgers University and New York University School of Law , Freeh began his career as a special agent in the FBI, and was later an Assistant United States Attorney and United States district judge for
234-577: A 16-month trial, 17 of 19 defendants were convicted, of which 16 were sentenced. The "Pizza Connection" case was, at the time, the most complex criminal investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. government. Another notable case Freeh was associated with was the murder trial of Walter Moody , accused of the pipe bomb assassination of federal judge Robert Smith Vance in Birmingham, Alabama and attorney Robert E. Robinson in Savannah, Georgia . Freeh
351-707: A 1999 federal court case. The American Civil Liberties Union assisted the plaintiffs who sued due to the FBI's conduct in investigating "Military Takeover of New York City", a short (fictional) film made in October 1999 that discussed riots and a military takeover of Times Square on New Year's Eve, 1999. In May 2000, he reached an agreement with Rep. José Serrano , then Puerto Rican Independence Party Senator Manuel Rodríguez Orellana , and then Puerto Rico Senate Committee on Federal Affairs chairman Kenneth McClintock to release FBI files on Puerto Rican political activists. More than 185,000 pages were released and catalogued by
468-724: A chairperson. The board elects one person as the president and one as the chief executive officer for the organization. Julian Bond , civil rights movement activist and former Georgia State Senator, was chairman until replaced in February 2010 by healthcare administrator Roslyn Brock . For decades in the first half of the 20th century, the organization was effectively led by its executive secretary, who acted as chief operating officer. James Weldon Johnson and Walter F. White , who served in that role successively from 1920 to 1958, were much more widely known as NAACP leaders than were presidents during those years. The organization has never had
585-534: A consulting and investigative firm headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware with regional offices in Washington, D.C., and New York. Affiliated firms include Freeh Group Europe and the law firm Freeh, Sporkin & Sullivan, LLP . The latter firm includes Eugene R. Sullivan , a retired federal judge in Washington, D.C., and Eugene R. Sullivan II amongst partners, and Stanley Sporkin as senior counsel. Sporkin
702-405: A coup to force his removal, served as acting director until September 1, 1993, when Freeh was sworn in. On May 9, 2017, President Trump dismissed Comey after the recommendation of United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein . Rosenstein's memorandum to Sessions objected to Comey's conduct in the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails . This
819-540: A directive to explain in writing a case against Comey. That directive was forwarded to Trump as a recommendation to dismiss Comey the following day, which Trump did. Comey first learned of his termination from television news reports that flashed on screen while he was delivering a speech to agents at the Los Angeles Field Office. Sources said he was surprised and caught off guard by the termination. Comey immediately departed for Washington, D.C., and
936-686: A forerunner to the NAACP. On May 30, 1909, the Niagara Movement conference took place at New York City's Henry Street Settlement House; they created an organization of more than 40, identifying as the National Negro Committee . Among other founding members were Lillian Wald , a nurse who had founded the Henry Street Settlement where the conference took place. Du Bois played a key role in organizing
1053-455: A lawyer and clergyman, was elected his successor. In the 1990s, the NAACP ran into debt. The dismissal of two leading officials further added to the picture of an organization in deep crisis. After such, Rupert Richardson began her term as president of the NAACP in 1992. In 1993, the NAACP's Board of Directors narrowly selected Reverend Benjamin Chavis over Reverend Jesse Jackson to fill
1170-466: A major get-out-the-vote offensive in the 2000 U.S. presidential elections . 10.5 million African Americans cast their ballots in the election; this was one million more than four years before. The NAACP's effort was credited by observers as playing a significant role in Democrat Al Gore 's winning several states where the election was close, such as Pennsylvania and Michigan. During
1287-483: A new constitution in 1890. Through 1908, Southern legislatures, dominated by white Southern Democrats , ratified new constitutions and laws creating barriers to voter registration and more complex election rules. In practice, this and the Lily-white movement caused the exclusion of most blacks and many poor whites from the political system in southern states. Black voter registration and turnout dropped markedly in
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#17327727409791404-629: A one half ownership stake from Kazeminy in a Palm Beach property valued at $ 3 million. In 2009, Louis Freeh was hired by Saudi Arabian Prince Bandar bin Sultan as his legal representative on issues surrounding the Al-Yamamah arms deal , appearing April 7, 2009, on the PBS series Frontline ' s episode "Black Money". Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation The director of
1521-487: A recommendation. Freeh admitted that his testimony was incomplete, but denied he deliberately misled congress. Whitehurst would later accuse Freeh of covering up mistakes made by forensic analysts. Attorney general Janet Reno testified that information that could have prevented the September 11 attacks was mishandled by the FBI at the time Freeh was the director of the FBI. In June 2001, he resigned amid criticism that
1638-444: A result, several cities refused to allow the film to open. The NAACP began to lead lawsuits targeting disfranchisement and racial segregation early in its history. It played a significant part in the challenge of Guinn v. United States (1915) to Oklahoma 's discriminatory grandfather clause , which effectively disenfranchised most black citizens while exempting many whites from certain voter registration requirements. It persuaded
1755-586: A security system installed in his home at government expense. Janet Reno , the 78th Attorney General of the United States , announced that Sessions had exhibited "serious deficiencies in judgment." Although Sessions denied that he had acted improperly, he was pressured to resign in early July, with some suggesting that President Clinton was giving Sessions the chance to step down in a dignified manner. Sessions refused, saying that he had done nothing wrong, and insisted on staying in office until his successor
1872-469: A time with limited resources and internal conflict and disbanded in 1910. Seven of the members of the Niagara Movement joined the Board of Directors of the NAACP, founded in 1909. Although both organizations shared membership and overlapped for a time, the Niagara Movement was a separate organization. Historically, it is considered to have had a more radical platform than the NAACP. The Niagara Movement
1989-475: A woman president, except on a temporary basis, and there have been calls to name one. Lorraine C. Miller served as interim president after Benjamin Jealous stepped down. Maya Wiley was rumored to be in line for the position in 2013, but Cornell William Brooks was selected. Departments within the NAACP govern areas of action. Local chapters are supported by the "Branch and Field Services" department and
2106-584: A youth, Freeh became an Eagle Scout in 1963 and in 1995 was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award by the Boy Scouts of America . A notable case Freeh was associated with was the " Pizza Connection " investigation, in which he was lead prosecutor. The case, prosecuted in the mid-1980s, involved a drug trafficking operation in the United States by Sicilian organized crime members who used pizza parlors as fronts. After
2223-608: Is Christopher A. Wray , who assumed the role on August 2, 2017, after being confirmed by the United States Senate , taking over from Acting Director Andrew McCabe after the dismissal of former Director James Comey by President Donald Trump . The FBI director is appointed by the president and, since 1972, subject to confirmation by the Senate . J. Edgar Hoover , appointed by President Calvin Coolidge to
2340-550: Is a retired federal judge who earlier served as head of the Securities and Exchange Commission 's Division of Enforcement and as general counsel to the Central Intelligence Agency . Freeh was hired by Nasser Kazeminy to conduct an independent investigation into alleged financial improprieties in the relationship between Kazeminy and former Senator Norm Coleman that surfaced during the final week of
2457-514: Is headquartered in Baltimore , with additional regional offices in New York , Michigan , Georgia , Maryland, Texas , Colorado , and California . Each regional office is responsible for coordinating the efforts of state conferences in that region. Local, youth, and college chapters organize activities for individual members. In the U.S., the NAACP is administered by a 64-member board led by
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#17327727409792574-472: Is to advance health care for minorities through public policy initiatives and education. As of 2007 , the NAACP had approximately 425,000 paying and non-paying members. The NAACP's non-current records are housed at the Library of Congress , which has served as the organization's official repository since 1964. The records held there comprise approximately five million items spanning the NAACP's history from
2691-472: The 1996 U.S. presidential and Congressional campaigns was not focusing on individual criminal acts, but on a possible conspiracy involving China. Later that year, Freeh wrote a memorandum to Attorney General Janet Reno calling for an Independent Counsel to investigate the fundraising scandal. In his memo he wrote: "It is difficult to imagine a more compelling situation for appointing an Independent Counsel". Reno rejected his request. Other cases handled by
2808-572: The 2008 Minnesota Senate race . At the time, Freeh was serving on the board of the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations (NECO), whose chairman was Kazeminy. Although Coleman had received roughly $ 100,000 in gifts from Kazeminy over the years, Freeh's investigation cleared both Coleman and Kazeminy of any wrongdoing in 2011. The Intercept , questioning Freeh's impartiality, reported that nine days after Freeh's investigation cleared Kazeminy of wrongdoing, Freeh's wife received
2925-777: The Dyer Anti-Lynching Bill . In alliance with the American Federation of Labor , the NAACP led the successful fight to prevent the nomination of John Johnston Parker to the Supreme Court, based on his support for denying the vote to blacks and his anti-labor rulings. It organized legal support for the Scottsboro Boys . The NAACP lost most of the internecine battles with the Communist Party and International Labor Defense over
3042-605: The Supreme Court of the United States to rule in Buchanan v. Warley in 1917 that state and local governments cannot officially segregate African Americans into separate residential districts. The Court's opinion reflected the jurisprudence of property rights and freedom of contract as embodied in the earlier precedent it established in Lochner v. New York . It also played a role in desegregating recreational activities via
3159-667: The United States District Court for the Southern District of New York . A Republican , he was appointed as FBI director by President Bill Clinton . He is now a lawyer and consultant in the private sector. Freeh was born January 6, 1950, in Jersey City, New Jersey , the son of Italian-American parents Bernice née Chinchiolo, a bookkeeper, and William Freeh Sr., a real estate broker. Freeh, a native of North Bergen , graduated from Saint Joseph of
3276-745: The Voting Rights Act of 1965 , which provided for protection of the franchise, with a role for federal oversight and administrators in places where voter turnout was historically low. Under its anti-desegregation director J. Edgar Hoover , the FBI 's COINTELPRO program targeted civil rights groups, including the NAACP, for infiltration, disruption and discreditation. Kivie Kaplan became NAACP President in 1966. After his death in 1975, scientist W. Montague Cobb took over until 1982. Roy Wilkins retired as executive director in 1977, and Benjamin Hooks ,
3393-606: The attorney general of the United States . The director briefed the president on any issues that arose from within the FBI until the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 was enacted following the September 11 attacks . Since then, the director reports in an additional capacity to the director of national intelligence , as the FBI is also part of the United States Intelligence Community . The current director
3510-418: The gold standard , and anti-imperialism . Storey consistently and aggressively championed civil rights , not only for blacks but also for Native Americans and immigrants (he opposed immigration restrictions). Du Bois continued to play a pivotal leadership role in the organization, serving as editor of the association's magazine, The Crisis , which had a circulation of more than 30,000. The Crisis
3627-568: The " separate but equal " doctrine announced by the Supreme Court's decision in Plessy v. Ferguson . The NAACP's Baltimore chapter, under president Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson , challenged segregation in Maryland state professional schools by supporting the 1935 Murray v. Pearson case argued by Marshall. Houston's victory in Missouri ex rel. Gaines v. Canada (1938) led to the formation of
Louis Freeh - Misplaced Pages Continue
3744-553: The "Youth and College" department. The "Legal" department focuses on court cases of broad application to minorities, such as systematic discrimination in employment, government, or education. The Washington, D.C. , bureau is responsible for lobbying the U.S. government, and the Education Department works to improve public education at the local, state, and federal levels. The goal of the Health Division
3861-462: The 2000 presidential election, Lee Alcorn , president of the Dallas NAACP branch, criticized Al Gore's selection of Senator Joe Lieberman for his vice-presidential candidate because Lieberman was Jewish. On a gospel talk radio show on station KHVN , Alcorn stated, "If we get a Jew person, then what I'm wondering is, I mean, what is this movement for, you know? Does it have anything to do with
3978-517: The 21st century is "to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate race-based discrimination". NAACP initiatives include political lobbying, publicity efforts, and litigation strategies developed by its legal team. The group enlarged its mission in the late 20th century by considering issues such as police misconduct , the status of black foreign refugees and questions of economic development. Its name, retained in accordance with tradition, uses
4095-504: The Advancement of Colored People ( NAACP ) is an American civil rights organization formed in 1909 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for African Americans by a group including W. E. B. Du Bois , Mary White Ovington , Moorfield Storey , Ida B. Wells , Lillian Wald , and Henry Moskowitz . Over the years, leaders of the organization have included Thurgood Marshall and Roy Wilkins . Its mission in
4212-572: The August 1992 incident at Ruby Ridge, Idaho , in which an FBI sharpshooter killed the wife of Randy Weaver , was ongoing when Freeh joined the FBI as its director. An FBI unit, the Hostage Rescue Team , was present at the incident; Freeh later said that had he been director, he would not have involved the HRT. FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi was later charged with manslaughter ; Freeh said that he
4329-639: The Civil Rights Movement by pressing for civil rights legislation. The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom took place on August 28, 1963. That fall, President John F. Kennedy sent a civil rights bill to Congress before he was assassinated. President Lyndon B. Johnson worked hard to persuade Congress to pass a civil rights bill aimed at ending racial discrimination in employment, education and public accommodations, and succeeded in gaining passage in July 1964. He followed that with passage of
4446-865: The Civil Rights Movement while it was barred from Alabama. New organizations such as the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC, in 1957) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, in 1960) rose up with different approaches to activism. Rather than relying on litigation and legislation, these newer groups employed direct action and mass mobilization to advance the rights of African Americans. Roy Wilkins , NAACP's executive director, clashed repeatedly with Martin Luther King ;Jr. and other civil rights leaders over questions of strategy and leadership within
4563-673: The Clinton Administration for political reasons in investigating the bombing and bringing the terrorists to justice. On July 17, 1996, TWA Flight 800 exploded and crashed into the Atlantic Ocean, killing all 230 persons on board. The following day, the FBI commenced a parallel investigation in spite of the National Transportation Safety Board having "priority over any investigation by another department, agency, or instrumentality of
4680-499: The FBI closed its investigation by announcing that "no evidence has been found which would indicate that a criminal act was the cause of the tragedy of TWA flight 800." Almost three years later, in August 2000, the NTSB published its final report which stated that "the probable cause of the TWA flight 800 accident was an explosion of the center wing fuel tank (CWT), resulting from ignition of
4797-540: The FBI during Freeh's tenure included the death of White House counsel Vince Foster (in 1993), in Freeh's book, "MY FBI" he mentions that Vince Foster was with him and wife Marilyn shortly before the suicide. They were at a photo-op together, but the photos have always remained secret and were not part of the FBI investigation. The Oklahoma City bombing (1995) investigation and capture and prosecution of Timothy McVeigh also occurred during Freeh's time as Director. In 2000,
Louis Freeh - Misplaced Pages Continue
4914-462: The FBI in his capture. Robert Hanssen, a 25-year veteran of the FBI, was arrested in 2001 and charged with spying for the Soviet Union and Russia , beginning in 1985. Hanssen had attended Catholic Mass at the same church as Freeh. Freeh called the security breach "exceptionally grave" and appointed a panel, led by former FBI and Central Intelligence Agency head William Webster , to review
5031-460: The FBI needed stronger leadership, particularly after allegations of spying by Robert Hanssen . Upon his resignation, he was praised by Attorney General John Ashcroft , who called him "a model law enforcement officer". He was replaced by Thomas J. Pickard , who served as acting FBI Director for 71 days until being replaced by Robert Mueller . Freeh approached acting New Jersey Governor Donald DiFrancesco , and offered to serve, without salary, as
5148-473: The FBI, despite being warned by senior investigator Thomas Kimmel. It would later come out 2 years later in 2001 that Robert Hanssen had been recruited by the Russians to be a spy for them. In 1994 after it was discovered that Aldrich Ames was a spy for the Russians, Freeh was advised to require routine polygraph tests for FBI agents; no action was taken by him. In 1997 FBI agent Frederic Whitehurst
5265-466: The FBI. Shortly before and during Freeh's tenure, the FBI was involved in a number of high-profile incidents and internal investigations. In 2011, Reuters wrote that Freeh "faced widespread criticism for a series of high-profile blunders" during his tenure as FBI Director. Among other Justice Department officials (including Attorney General Reno), Freeh was named a co-defendant in Zieper v. Metzinger ,
5382-474: The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the head of the Federal Bureau of Investigation , a United States federal law enforcement agency , and is responsible for its day-to-day operations. The FBI director is appointed for a single 10-year term by the president of the United States and confirmed by the Senate . The FBI is an agency within the Department of Justice (DOJ), and thus the director reports to
5499-524: The Khobar Towers investigation. It was not until his last day in office, June 21, 2001, that a federal grand jury in Alexandria, Virginia returned a 46-count indictment against 14 defendants charged with the Khobar Towers attack. The indictments came just before some of the counts would have expired due to a five-year statute of limitations. In his book, Freeh maintains that he was obstructed by
5616-692: The Legal Defense Fund in 1939. The campaign for desegregation culminated in a unanimous 1954 Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education that held state-sponsored segregation of public elementary schools was unconstitutional . Bolstered by that victory, the NAACP pushed for full desegregation throughout the South. NAACP activists were excited about the judicial strategy. Starting on December 5, 1955, NAACP activists, including Edgar Nixon , its local president, and Rosa Parks , who had served as
5733-566: The NAACP and recruited for its board such Jewish leaders as Jacob Schiff , Jacob Billikopf , and Rabbi Stephen Wise ." In its early years, the NAACP was based in New York City . It concentrated on litigation in efforts to overturn disenfranchisement of blacks, which had been established in every southern state by 1908, excluding most from the political system, and the Jim Crow statutes that legalized racial segregation . In 1913,
5850-540: The NAACP had been infiltrated by Communists. To distance themselves from these accusations, the NAACP purged suspected Communists from its membership, according to the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 's website. The board of directors of the NAACP created the Legal Defense Fund in 1939 specifically for tax purposes. It functioned as the NAACP legal department. Intimidated by the Department of
5967-533: The NAACP organized opposition to President Woodrow Wilson 's introduction of racial segregation into federal government policy, workplaces, and hiring. African-American women's clubs were among the organizations that protested Wilson's changes, but the administration did not alter its assuagement of Southern cabinet members and the Southern bloc in Congress. By 1914, the group had 6,000 members and 50 branches. It
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#17327727409796084-412: The NAACP's membership from 9,000 to almost 90,000. In 1920, Johnson was elected head of the organization. Over the next ten years, the NAACP escalated its lobbying and litigation efforts, becoming internationally known for its advocacy of equal rights and equal protection for the "American Negro". The NAACP devoted much of its energy during the interwar years to fight the lynching of blacks throughout
6201-692: The New York City field office and at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C. In 1981, he joined the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York as an Assistant United States Attorney. Subsequently, he held positions there as Chief of the Organized Crime Unit, Deputy United States Attorney, and Associate United States Attorney. He was also a first lieutenant in the United States Army Reserve . As
6318-614: The Office of Legislative Services of Puerto Rico. In testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee , Freeh said that the widespread use of effective encryption "is one of the most difficult problems for law enforcement as the next century approaches". He considered the loss of wiretapping to law enforcement (as a result of encryption) to be dangerous and said that the "country [would] be unable to protect itself" against terrorism and serious crimes. An investigation of
6435-552: The Palisades High School in West New York, New Jersey in 1967. He then graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Rutgers University–New Brunswick with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1971, and received a Juris Doctor degree from Rutgers School of Law–Newark in 1974 and a Master of Laws degree in criminal law from New York University School of Law in 1984. Freeh was an FBI Special Agent from 1975 to 1981 in
6552-742: The South as a result of such legislation. Men who had been voting for thirty years in the South were told they did not "qualify" to register. White-dominated legislatures also passed segregation and Jim Crow laws. Because hotels in the US were segregated, the men convened in Canada at the Erie Beach Hotel on the Canadian side of the Niagara River in Fort Erie, Ontario . As a result,
6669-464: The South were unable to elect representatives of their choice to office. The NAACP regularly displayed a black flag stating "A Man Was Lynched Yesterday" from the window of its offices in New York to mark each lynching. It organized the first of the two 1935 New York anti-lynching exhibitions in support of the Costigan-Wagner Bill , having previously widely published an account of the Lynching of Henry Lowry , as An American Lynching , in support of
6786-464: The Supreme Court ruled against the white primary. Although states had to retract legislation related to the white primaries, the legislatures soon came up with new methods to severely limit the franchise for blacks. During the Second Red Scare the NAACP was often linked to Communism by right-wing politicians. The House Un-American Activities Committee , the United States Senate Subcommittee on Internal Security , and security agencies sought to prove to
6903-476: The Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service, the Legal and Educational Defense Fund, Inc., became a separate legal entity in 1957, although it was clear that it was to operate in accordance with NAACP policy. After 1961 serious disputes emerged between the two organizations, creating considerable confusion in the eyes and minds of the public. By the 1940s, the federal courts were amenable to lawsuits regarding constitutional rights, against which Congressional action
7020-429: The U.S. In the decades around the turn of the century, the rate of lynchings of blacks, particularly men, was at an all-time high. Mary White Ovington , journalist William English Walling and Henry Moskowitz met in New York City in January 1909 to work on organizing for black civil rights. They sent out solicitations for support to more than 60 prominent Americans, and set a meeting date for February 12, 1909. This
7137-462: The United States Government", as stated in 49 U.S.C. § 1131 . Subsequently, FBI agents blocked attempts by the NTSB to interview witnesses, according to a copy of a safety board report obtained by Aviation Week & Space Technology . One month after the explosion, chemists at the FBI crime laboratory in Washington found traces of PETN , an explosive component of bombs and surface-to-air missiles. Nevertheless, on November 18, 1997,
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#17327727409797254-463: The United States Senate has had to confirm the nomination of a permanent officeholder. Frank Johnson had been nominated by Jimmy Carter in 1977, but withdrew for health reasons. The line of succession for the director of the FBI is as follows: Since the office's inception, only two directors have been dismissed: William S. Sessions by President Bill Clinton in 1993, and James Comey by President Donald Trump in 2017. Just before Bill Clinton
7371-439: The United States by working for legislation, lobbying, and educating the public. The organization sent its field secretary Walter F. White to Phillips County , Arkansas, in October 1919, to investigate the Elaine Race Riot . Roving white vigilantes killed more than 200 black tenant farmers and federal troops after a deputy sheriff's attack on a union meeting of sharecroppers left one white man dead. White published his report on
7488-438: The board of consultants of the Gavel Consulting Group , formed by current and former federal judges and high-ranking government officials to provide advice and counseling to the private sector. Beginning in 2004 Freeh began teaching as an adjunct law professor for Widener University School of Law . Drawing on his years of experience, he has taught White Collar Crime. In 2007, Freeh formed Freeh Group International Solutions ,
7605-571: The chapter's Secretary, helped organize a bus boycott in Montgomery , Alabama. This was designed to protest segregation on the city's buses, two-thirds of whose riders were black. The boycott lasted 381 days. In 1956 the South Carolina legislature created an anti-NAACP oath, and teachers who refused to take the oath lost their positions. After twenty-one Black teachers at the Elloree Training School refused to comply, White school officials dismissed them. Their dismissal led to Bryan v. Austin in 1957, which became an important civil rights case. In Alabama,
7722-442: The confrontation and investigation at Waco, sent United States Marshals to FBI headquarters to seize Waco-related evidence. Freeh took a neutral position during the investigations to distance himself from the tide of criticism. Shortly before 10 a.m. on June 25, 1996, members of a terrorist group detonated a truck bomb outside building 131 (also known as Khobar Towers) of the King Abdul Aziz Air Base in Saudi Arabia . The building
7839-436: The control of those cases and the legal strategy to be pursued in that case. The organization also brought litigation to challenge the " white primary " system in the South. Southern state Democratic parties had created white-only primaries as another way of barring blacks from the political process. Since the Democrats dominated southern states, the primaries were the only competitive contests. In 1944 in Smith v. Allwright ,
7956-415: The damage done by Hanssen's espionage. In 1999, Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Wen Ho Lee was fired from his job, arrested, and held in solitary confinement without trial for 278 days while his handling of sensitive nuclear information was investigated. Freeh accused him of downloading a "portable, personal trove" of US nuclear secrets. According to Lee's book, the FBI quickly figured out that
8073-399: The deputy director, the director ensures that cases and operations are handled correctly. The director also is in charge of staffing the leadership in any one of the FBI field offices with qualified agents. When the Bureau of Investigation (BOI) was established in 1908, its head was called Chief of the Bureau of Investigation. It was changed to the Director of the Bureau of Investigation in
8190-435: The director from political pressure." This rule was waived by the Senate for Robert Mueller on July 27, 2011, due to serious security concerns at that time. Since 1976, directors serve a ten-year term unless they resign, die, or are removed, but in practice, since Hoover, none have served a full ten years, except Mueller who served twelve years with the leave of Congress. The director of the FBI can be removed from office by
8307-474: The dismissal letter Trump stated that Comey had asserted "on three separate occasions that I am not under investigation" which was later confirmed by Comey to the Senate while under oath. This is disputed by reporting from multiple news agencies with multiple sources. According to the reporting, Trump had been openly talking about firing Comey for at least a week before his dismissal. Trump and Democratic leaders had long questioned Comey's judgment. Moreover, Trump
8424-635: The editorial staff of Business Week called for the resignation of Freeh, citing the Carnivore communications-monitoring system, the alleged Waco cover-up, and insubordination to Attorney General Reno as reasons. Freeh was accused of malpractice several times during his time at the FBI . In the case of the Oklahoma City bombing , Freeh failed to hand over 3,000 pages of evidence to Timothy McVeigh 's lawyers. Freeh also received backlash for not looking into whether Moscow had recruited someone in
8541-536: The event and presided over the proceedings. Also in attendance was Ida B. Wells-Barnett , an African-American journalist and anti- lynching crusader. Wells-Barnett addressed the conference on the history of lynching in the United States and called for action to publicize and prosecute such crimes. The members chose the new organization's name to be the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and elected its first officers: The NAACP
8658-590: The fifty-nine counts brought against him, after which he was freed from prison. At Lee's sentencing hearing, District Judge James A. Parker scolded the US government for its treatment of Lee, saying that the top decision makers in the case "have embarrassed this entire nation and each of us who is a citizen of it" and that they had been "led astray" by US government officials. Parker apologized to Lee, saying, "Dr. Lee, you were terribly wronged by being held in pretrial custody in demeaning and unnecessarily punitive conditions. I am truly sorry." A Justice Department report of
8775-404: The flammable fuel/air mixture in the tank." The U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information heard testimony from Freeh regarding the leaking of Richard Jewell 's name to the media in connection with the bombing at the 1996 Olympic Games . Freeh testified that he did not know how the name of Jewell, who had been falsely accused in the bombings, had been leaked to
8892-609: The group came to be known as the Niagara Movement . A year later, three non-African-Americans joined the group: journalist William English Walling , a wealthy socialist; and social workers Mary White Ovington and Henry Moskowitz . Moskowitz, who was Jewish, was then also Associate Leader of the New York Society for Ethical Culture . They met in 1906 at Storer College , Harpers Ferry, West Virginia , and in 1907 in Boston, Massachusetts . The fledgling group struggled for
9009-408: The historic Bob-Lo Excursion Co. v. Michigan after plaintiff Sarah Elizabeth Ray was wrongfully discriminated against when attempting to board a ferry. In 1916, chairman Joel Spingarn invited James Weldon Johnson to serve as field secretary. Johnson was a former U.S. consul to Venezuela and a noted African-American scholar and columnist. Within four years, Johnson was instrumental in increasing
9126-596: The information which had improperly been passed on had not been available to Lee, as the design data the PRC had obtained could not have come from the Los Alamos Lab, since it related to information that would only have been available to a "downstream" contractor, i.e. someone involved in the final warhead production process, and this information was only created after the weapon design left the Los Alamos Lab where Lee had been employed. Ultimately, Lee pled guilty to one of
9243-631: The investigation into jeopardy. Comey's termination was immediately controversial, even being characterized as corrupt by news commentators. It was compared, by the aforementioned news outlets, to the Saturday Night Massacre , President Richard Nixon 's termination of special prosecutor Archibald Cox , who had been investigating the Watergate scandal , and to the firing of Acting Attorney General Sally Yates in January 2017. In
9360-548: The investigation of Lee said that Director Freeh was not fully informed about the investigation until over a year after it began, and that the FBI as a whole "bungled" the case. In February 1997, the media announced that Freeh personally blocked the sharing of intelligence information regarding China 's alleged plot to influence US elections with the White House . The following month, Freeh testified before Congress that his investigation into campaign finance irregularities of
9477-466: The law. The larger conference resulted in a more diverse organization, where the leadership was predominantly white. Moorfield Storey , a white attorney from a Boston abolitionist family, served as the president of the NAACP from its founding to 1915. At its founding, the NAACP had one African American on its executive board, Du Bois. Storey was a long-time classical liberal and Grover Cleveland Democrat who advocated laissez-faire free markets,
9594-600: The media; CNN reported that Freeh had lied under oath. In March 1996, Freeh and the FBI were praised for the handling of the 81-day standoff between law enforcement agents and the Montana Freemen, a fringe political group. Director Abraham Foxman of the Anti-Defamation League , which had issued reports critical of the Freemen and encouraged their prosecution, commended the "peaceful conclusion" to
9711-521: The military, the criminal justice system, employment, housing). The Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo, New York , featured many American innovations and achievements, but also included a disparaging caricature of slave life in the South as well as a depiction of life in Africa, called "Old Plantation" and "Darkest Africa", respectively. A local African-American woman, Mary Talbert of Ohio ,
9828-581: The movement. The NAACP continued to use the Supreme Court's decision in Brown to press for desegregation of schools and public facilities throughout the country. Daisy Bates , president of its Arkansas state chapter, spearheaded the campaign by the Little Rock Nine to integrate the public schools in Little Rock , Arkansas. By the mid-1960s, the NAACP had regained some of its prominence in
9945-618: The murders of Judge Vance and of Robinson, a black civil-rights attorney who had been killed in a separate explosion at his office. "Roy" Moody was also charged with mailing bombs that were defused at the Eleventh Circuit's headquarters in Atlanta and at the Jacksonville office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). In 1991, Moody was sentenced to seven federal life terms, plus 400 years. He
10062-413: The once common term colored people , referring to those with some African ancestry. The NAACP bestows annual awards on African Americans in three categories: Image Awards are for achievements in the arts and media, Theatre Awards are for achievements in theatre and stage, and Spingarn Medals are for outstanding achievements of any kind. Its headquarters are in Baltimore , Maryland . The NAACP
10179-596: The organization's funds. In 1996, Congressman Kweisi Mfume , a Democratic Congressman from Maryland and former head of the Congressional Black Caucus , was named the organization's president. Three years later strained finances forced the organization to drastically cut its staff, from 250 in 1992 to 50. In the second half of the 1990s, the organization restored its finances, permitting the NAACP National Voter Fund to launch
10296-417: The position of executive director. A controversial figure, Chavis was ousted eighteen months later by the same board. They accused him of using NAACP funds for an out-of-court settlement in a sexual harassment lawsuit. Following the dismissal of Chavis, Myrlie Evers-Williams narrowly defeated NAACP chairperson William Gibson for president in 1995, after Gibson was accused of overspending and mismanagement of
10413-542: The predecessor office of Director of the Bureau of Investigation in 1924, was by far the longest-serving director, holding the position from its establishment under the current title in 1935 until his death in 1972. In 1976, in response to Hoover's lengthy tenure and during the Watergate era , by an amendment to the 1968 Omnibus Crime Control Act , Congress limited the term of future FBI directors to ten years, "an unusually long tenure that Congress established to insulate
10530-399: The president of the United States. After removal and until a replacement is confirmed by the U.S. Senate, the deputy director automatically acts in the role. The appointment of the deputy director is not a presidential appointment and does not require Senate confirmation. The president can appoint an interim director pending Senate confirmation or nominate a permanent director. Along with
10647-435: The previously named whites Henry Moskowitz , Mary White Ovington , William English Walling (the wealthy Socialist son of a former slave-holding family), Florence Kelley , a social reformer and friend of Du Bois; Oswald Garrison Villard , and Charles Edward Russell , a renowned muckraker and close friend of Walling. Russell helped plan the NAACP and had served as acting chairman of the National Negro Committee (1909),
10764-610: The riot in the Chicago Daily News . The NAACP organized the appeals for twelve black men sentenced to death a month later based on the fact that testimony used in their convictions was obtained by beatings and electric shocks. It gained a groundbreaking Supreme Court decision in Moore v. Dempsey 261 U.S. 86 (1923) that significantly expanded the Federal courts' oversight of the states' criminal justice systems in
10881-479: The standoff. Theodore Kaczynski , the "Unabomber," was apprehended in 1996 after his manifesto , Industrial Society and its Future , was published in the New York Times and Washington Post . Freeh and Attorney General Reno recommended publication, acceding to Kaczynski's offer to "renounce terrorism" if it was published. A tip from the bomber's brother David, who recognized the writing style, assisted
10998-449: The state responded by effectively barring the NAACP from operating within its borders because of its refusal to divulge a list of its members. The NAACP feared members could be fired or face violent retaliation for their activities. Although the Supreme Court eventually overturned the state's action in NAACP v. Alabama , 357 U.S. 449 (1958), the NAACP lost its leadership role in
11115-470: The state's anti-terrorism "czar". Di Francesco approached both major-party candidates for governor to secure their approval; Bret Schundler , the Republican candidate, agreed "in principle". However, Democrat Jim McGreevey , who won the gubernatorial election, turned down Freeh in favor of Golan Cipel . It was later discovered that McGreevey and Cipel had been involved in a sexual relationship. McGreevey
11232-457: The term of William J. Flynn (1919–1921) and to its current name when the BOI was renamed FBI in 1935. The FBI became an independent service within the Department of Justice in 1935. In the same year, its name was officially changed to the present-day Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), with J. Edgar Hoover receiving the current title of Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Since 1972,
11349-463: The time of its founding until 2003. In 2011, the NAACP teamed with the digital repository ProQuest to digitize and host online the earlier portion of its archives, through 1972 – nearly two million pages of documents, from the national, legal, and branch offices throughout the country, which offer first-hand insight into the organization's work related to such crucial issues as lynching, school desegregation, and discrimination in all its aspects (in
11466-535: The years to come. White investigated eight race riots and 41 lynchings for the NAACP and directed its study Thirty Years of Lynching in the United States . The NAACP also worked for more than a decade seeking federal anti-lynching legislation, but the Solid South of white Democrats voted as a bloc against it or used the filibuster in the Senate to block passage. Because of disenfranchisement, African Americans in
11583-508: Was "deeply disappointed" at the charges, filed by a county prosecutor and later dropped. Freeh was not censured for alleged managerial failures in the investigation of the incident, although a Justice Department inquiry had made such a recommendation. An investigation of the events of April 19, 1993, when Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) special agents served a warrant on the Branch Davidian compound at Waco, Texas ,
11700-539: Was almost exclusively occupied by members of the US Air Force , who were there to patrol the southern Iraqi no-fly zone enacted after the Gulf War . In the attack, 19 US military personnel and a Saudi local were killed and 372 wounded, making it the deadliest terrorist attack on Americans abroad since the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing . Louis Freeh said in his book My FBI that he felt the deepest sadness about
11817-549: Was angry that Comey would not support his claim that President Barack Obama had his campaign offices wiretapped, was frustrated when Comey revealed in Senate testimony the breadth of the counterintelligence investigation into Russia's effort to sway the 2016 U.S. presidential election and that Comey was giving too much attention to the Russia probe and not to internal leaks within the government. On May 8, 2017, he gave Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein
11934-587: Was appalled by the exhibit, as a similar one in Paris highlighted black achievements. She informed W. E. B. Du Bois of the situation, and a coalition began to form. In 1905, a group of thirty-two prominent African-American leaders met to discuss the challenges facing African Americans and possible strategies and solutions. They were particularly concerned by the Southern states ' disenfranchisement of blacks starting with Mississippi 's passage of
12051-501: Was appointed Special Prosecutor in the case alongside Howard Shapiro. Vance was assassinated on December 16, 1989, at his home in Mountain Brook , Alabama, when he opened a package containing a mail bomb sent by serial bomber Walter Moody . Vance was killed instantly; his wife Helen was seriously injured. Moody had mistakenly thought Judge Vance had denied his appeal of another case. The Department of Justice charged Moody with
12168-480: Was confirmed. As a result, President Clinton dismissed Sessions on July 19, 1993, five and a half years into a ten-year term. Clinton's public explanation was that there had been a loss of confidence in Sessions' leadership, and then-Attorney General Reno recommended the dismissal. Clinton nominated Louis Freeh to be FBI Director on July 20. Then-FBI deputy director Floyd I. Clarke , who Sessions suggested had led
12285-407: Was contradicted by multiple unnamed sources to news outlets, who said that Trump and high-level officials personally asked for Comey to be fired. Comey was fired after he asked for more money for the investigations into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections . Many members of Congress, mostly Democrats, expressed concern over the firing and argued that it would put the integrity of
12402-534: Was forced to cancel his scheduled speech that night at an FBI recruitment event at the Directors Guild of America in Hollywood. In the absence of a Senate-confirmed FBI director, Deputy Director Andrew McCabe automatically became the acting director, serving until the confirmation of Christopher Wray . National Association for the Advancement of Colored People The National Association for
12519-471: Was formed exclusively by African Americans. Four European Americans were among the founders of the NAACP, they included Mary White Ovington , Henry Moskowitz , William English Walling and Oswald Garrison Villard . The Race Riot of 1908 in Springfield, Illinois , the state capital and Abraham Lincoln 's hometown, was a catalyst showing the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in
12636-402: Was heavily criticized for giving the post to Cipel rather than Freeh or another experienced individual. In September 2001, Freeh was appointed to the board of directors of credit card issuer MBNA ; he also served as the bank's general counsel , as well as corporate secretary and ethics officer. Likewise, Bristol-Myers Squibb elected him to its board of directors. Freeh is also a member of
12753-530: Was inaugurated as the 42nd president of the United States on January 20, 1993, allegations of ethical improprieties were made against Sessions. A report by outgoing Attorney General William P. Barr presented to the Justice Department that month by the Office of Professional Responsibility included criticisms that he had used an FBI plane to travel to visit his daughter on several occasions, and had
12870-448: Was incorporated a year later in 1911. The association's charter expressed its mission: To promote equality of rights and eradicate caste or race prejudice among citizens of the United States; to advance the interest of colored citizens; to secure for them impartial suffrage; and to increase their opportunities for securing justice in the courts, education for their children, employment according to their ability, and complete equality before
12987-544: Was influential in winning the right of African Americans to serve as military officers in World War ;I . Six hundred African-American officers were commissioned and 700,000 men registered for the draft. The following year, the NAACP organized a nationwide protest, with marches in numerous cities, against D. W. Griffith 's silent movie The Birth of a Nation , a film that glamorized the Ku Klux Klan . As
13104-470: Was intended to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln , who emancipated enslaved African Americans. While the first large meeting did not occur until three months later, the February date is often cited as the organization's founding date. The NAACP was founded on February 12, 1909, by a larger group including African Americans W. E. B. Du Bois , Ida B. Wells , Archibald Grimké , Mary Church Terrell , and
13221-574: Was ongoing during Freeh's tenure. While the event had taken place before he became Director, a highly controversial investigation ensued during Freeh's tenure, similar to the Ruby Ridge situation, which had also preceded Freeh's time at the FBI. There were allegations of a cover-up by the FBI in the Waco investigation, which led to tensions developing between Freeh and Janet Reno , then- Attorney General . Reno, who had herself been blamed for mishandling of
13338-511: Was subsequently tried by the state in 1996 for the murders and was executed by the state of Alabama in 2018 when he was 83 years old. Freeh was nominated by President George H. W. Bush on April 9, 1991, to a seat on the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York vacated by Judge Richard J. Daronco . He was confirmed by the United States Senate on May 24, 1991, and received his commission on May 30, 1991. His service terminated on August 31, 1993, when he resigned to direct
13455-484: Was suspended by Freeh not long after making allegations that FBI lab techniques resulted in contaminated evidence. Just days after Whitehurst was put on administrative leave, a report was delivered to the FBI that supported Whitehurst's claims that evidence in cases may have been contaminated. On March 5, Freeh was called before Congress , he said that he suspended Whitehurst on recommendations from Inspector general Michael Bromwich . But Bromwich said that he never made such
13572-571: Was used both for news reporting and for publishing African-American poetry and literature. During the organization's campaigns against lynching, Du Bois encouraged the writing and performance of plays and other expressive literature about this issue. The Jewish community contributed greatly to the NAACP's founding and continued financing. Jewish historian Howard Sachar 's book A History of Jews in America notes "In 1914, Professor Emeritus Joel Spingarn of Columbia University became chairman of
13689-472: Was virtually impossible. With the rise of private corporate litigators such as the NAACP to bear the expense, civil suits became the pattern in modern civil rights litigation, and the public face of the Civil Rights Movement . The NAACP's Legal department, headed by Charles Hamilton Houston and Thurgood Marshall , undertook a campaign spanning several decades to bring about the reversal of
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