Louis J. Freeh

On a different front, Freeh quarrelled with the Clinton White House over whether agents investigating possible Chinese influence on elected U.S. officials told National Security Council aides receiving information from the investigation that they could pass it on to their superiors. Clinton maintained the agents told the security council aides they could not pass the information, and Freeh contradicted the president. An associate of Freeh's leaked an advance copy of an unflattering book about the White House written by a former FBI agent. The same associate also provided "hundreds of personal files" to White House security aides. In response to the charges, Freeh made it harder for the White House to obtain sensitive material from the FBI. The director recruited a scientist to run the FBI lab and made numerous procedural changes as well.

Freeh also was criticized for showing favoritism to his friends, micromanaging bureau operations, and being aloof from the news media. Freeh's defenders lauded the director for cutting "chair-warmers" from bureau staff, streamlining the organization, getting in closer contact with agents working in the field, and fostering cooperation with the rival Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). It also was noted that Freeh abandoned the personal excesses of his predecessor, opting to ride in a minivan instead of a limousine and fly on commercial jets instead of a private plane.

Despite the controversies, Freeh had the support of agents in the field. "In spite of well-publicized difficulties, the director's support within the bureau is largely intact," John J. Sennett, president of the FBI Agents Association told The New York Times in 1997. "Yet agents are very disturbed by recent negative press. Freeh's most significant shortcoming in the minds of agents has been his apparent unwillingness to get the bureau's story out."

Despite the FBI's image problems, Freeh said he intended remain director until the end of his term or for as long has he can be effective running the large bureaucracy with an annual budget of about $3 billion and about 25,000 agents.