Missteps Boost Distrust Between FBI, Justice

The renewed controversy over the Branch Davidian disaster has rekindled long-standing tensions between the FBI and the Justice Department.

On Wednesday, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno sent U.S. marshals across Pennsylvania Avenue to seize evidence that the FBI had failed to disclose for six years. The episode has left officials on both sides eager to blame others for what some see as a campaign of disinformation over the tragedy.

Even some of Reno’s harshest Republican critics on Capitol Hill claim to be concerned about what effect the controversy will have on relations in the law enforcement community.

“It’s not every day that the U.S. marshals walk into the FBI and demand evidence. This apparent animosity between Janet Reno and [FBI Director] Louis Freeh is very, very concerning to us,” said John Williams, a spokesman for Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.).

Burton and other Republicans have attacked Reno repeatedly in recent years over her refusal to seek the appointment of an independent counsel to investigate alleged campaign finance abuses in the 1996 Clinton-Gore campaign. And that dispute, more than any other, may explain why Reno has borne the brunt of criticism from Congress in recent days--with some Republicans even pushing for her resignation--while Freeh has escaped most criticism for a series of missteps by his agents.

Freeh won significant support among Republican lawmakers for recommending that an outside prosecutor look at the campaign finance issue. Analysts said that the support he won on that issue will help him in coming months as Republican lawmakers step up pressure over the Branch Davidian controversy.

“He’s one of their guys--a cop from way back, a former judge. He’s in a strong position, and the FBI over the years has cultivated a cadre of congressional supporters,” said Herman Schwartz, a professor of constitutional law at American University who has followed the FBI closely. “Reno, on the other hand, is vulnerable.”

That realization infuriates many Reno aides, past and present.

“I’m very confused about Freeh, the way he operates. It’s his FBI. The people he trusted apparently screwed up. But Reno catches all the flak,” said one former Justice Department official.

The relationship between Freeh and Reno follows a long history of distrust between their two agencies, especially during the reign of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, said Schwartz. “In general, cops and lawyers don’t get along. And unfortunately, the notion of the FBI keeping things from the Justice Department is nothing new.”

The tensions that have flared up between the Justice Department and the FBI have never become personal to Reno or Freeh, insists one law enforcement official.

“It’s not them; it’s the institutions that clash,” the official said. “They really have a good relationship and a great deal of trust in one another. The people under them are another story.”