Webster, Ex-CIA Head, Named to Teamsters Panel

William H. Webster, the former director of the FBI and the CIA, was appointed Tuesday as a member of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters independent review board.

The three-member board was established to investigate corruption and the influence of organized crime on the union and to require the Teamsters to eliminate illegal activities.

Creation of the board was part of the settlement of a racketeering lawsuit brought by the government three years ago against the Teamsters.

The review panel is made up of one government member, one union representative and a “neutral” party.

Webster’s appointment as a neutral person on the board was greeted with outrage by union leaders, who took issue with Webster’s status as a member of the board of Anheuser-Busch, an employer with which the Teamsters has collective bargaining agreements.

“This is part of a blatant attempt by the U.S. government to extend control over the affairs of a free labor union,” said Ron Carey, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The U.S. attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York said Webster would join Frederick Lacey, a former U.S. attorney and federal judge, and Harold Burke, special assistant to Carey.

Last week, Carey complained to U.S. District Judge David Edelstein that the federal government was trying to take too much control over the union and to expand its powers beyond what was agreed to in the settlement.

Edelstein, who approved Webster’s appointment, is reviewing the accusation and is expected to release rules for the review board to follow.

Webster, who is practicing law in Washington with the firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, was CIA director from 1987 to 1991.

A native of St. Louis, he has served as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, a federal district judge in Missouri and a judge on the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Webster resigned from the appeals court in 1978 to become director of the FBI.