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by David Parmer / Tokyo
For the last year and a half the world has seen America at its worst in the person of Donald Trump and his administration of “B-Team” yes-men and yes-women. It is important for the world to understand that the United States has men and women of intelligence, sophistication, wit, competence and integrity who are again ready to step forward once Donald Trump is soundly defeated in an election, or is impeached. Former FBI Director James Comey is such a man.
In his recently published memoir, A Higher Loyalty–Truth Lies and Leadership, Director Comey lays out a timeline of the events that made him the man his is. Starting at a childhood incident where he and his brother were held at gunpoint by an intruder, he takes us through his early life of being bullied and bullying. He outlines his career working for the US government at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York where he prosecuted Mafia bosses.
From 1996-2001 he worked as Managing Assistant US Attorney at the US Attorney’s office for the Eastern District of Virginia. He then went on to be involved in investigationg the Whitewater scandal involving then President Bill Clinton. Comey rose steadily in the US government, and moved up to be United States Attorney for The Southern District of New York where he prosecuted TV personality Martha Stewart for securities fraud and lying to the FBI. During the second Bush administration, Comey became active in opposing domestic surveillance by the National Security Agency, and was also opposed to “enhanced interrogation” which is basically torture by another name. Comey left government service from 2005 to 2013 and worked in the private sector.
In 2013 James Comey was appointed as the 7th Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by President Barack Obama and continued to serve in that job until he was fired without warning or ceremony by Donald Trump on May 9, 2017 on manufactured and baseless allegations of poor performance.
During the 4 years that he was FBI director, Comey not only handled high-profile cases such as the Hillary Clinton e-mail debacle, and the probe in Russia’s meddling in the 2016 US election.
Shortly after Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2017, Trump tried to court Comey and, in private meetings, tried to intimidate him and force him to get on the same page with the Trump administration’s policies. Comey refused to pledge loyalty to Trump. Once he told Trump that he was wrong about his saying that America was as murderous as Russia, Comey ceased to exist as a possible ally for Trump.
Throughout his career, James Comey chose to support the law and speak the truth as he saw it. When he was made FBI director, Comey decided that the thing he wanted was ethical leaders in the Bureau. Specifically:
“I told the organization that I had an ambitious goal: the FBI would one day be the government’s premier leadership factory…”The FBI would supply America’s corporate leaders in the future, and
“We would teach that great leaders are
(1) people of integrity and decency;
(2) confident enough to be humble;
(3) both kind and tough;
(4) transparent; and
(5) aware that we all seek meaning in work.
We would also teach them (6) that what they say is important, but what they do is far more important, because their people are always watching them. In short, we would demand and develop ethical leaders.” (Pg. 130, A Higher Loyalty, Kindle edition) [Emphasis added].
Finally, the Epilogue to his book, Director Comey makes the following damming indictment of Donald Trump:
“Donald’ Trump’s presidency threatens much of what is good in this nation. We all bear responsibility for the deeply flawed choices put before voters during the 2016 election, and our country is paying a high price: this president is unethical and untethered to truth and institutional values.His leadership is transactional, ego driven and about personal loyalty...” (Pg. 275, A Higher Loyalty, Kindle edition) [Emphasis added].
To get a real insight into the policy and the tone of the Trump administration, and to get a sense of what integrity and ethical leadership is, James Comey’s book is a “must read.”