Author Ronald Kessler on the future of the FBI

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(CNN) – President-elect George W. Bush continued to nominate and appoint members of his new administration December 20. However, Bush cannot replace current FBI Director Louis Freeh unless he resigns from the position, which has a 10-year term. Ronald Kessler joined the Burden of Proof Chat to discuss the future of the FBI under Bush.

Ronald Kessler is the author of "The FBI: Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency." He has worked as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal, the Boston Herald and The Washington Post.

CNN Moderator: Thank you for joining us today, Ronald Kessler, and welcome.

Ronald Kessler: Hello. I'm glad to be with you.

CNN Moderator: How significant is it that there is a new president and a new FBI head on the way? How will this affect the FBI?

Ronald Kessler: It depends, of course, on the person appointed to be the new FBI director. I believe Jack Lawn will be Bush's choice as FBI director, assuming Louis Freeh resigns, as I expect he will.

Jack Lawn has a very impressive track record. He was head of the FBI's San Antonio office and supervised one of the FBI's most successful investigations involving the assassination of United States District Court Judge Wood. He later headed the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). I think he would be a superb improvement over Louis Freeh.

Question from Jhylk: Ron, who else do you think is on the short list?

Ronald Kessler: I'm fairly convinced that Jack Lawn is it.

CNN Moderator: What kind of relationship will Bush have with the FBI?

Ronald Kessler: I think he doesn't seem to really get involved in many details of the government so I suspect he'll simply put the right people in place and let them do their thing.

Question from Nebulous: Was Lawn working in Texas at the same time that Bush was governor?

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Ronald Kessler: No. Lawn was in Texas in the late 80s. However, he was appointed by President Reagan to head the DEA and obviously has had a lot of interaction with the Bush people since then. After he headed the DEA, Lawn was in charge of operations and vice president of the New York Yankees, so he gets around.

Question from Beryl: What were some of the shortcomings of Freeh's tenure?

Ronald Kessler: Freeh has been very self-protective and very conscious of his own image. He is not open to disagreement and the result has been that he has caused or contributed to many of the bureau's debacles.

For example, in connection with the Wen Ho Lee case, he got rid of all the experienced supervisors in the Chinese section. The result was that the agents assigned to look into the Lee case had no experience in counterintelligence. After the FBI botched the investigation, Freeh recommended the indictment of Lee even though it was clear that the evidence did not even begin to support the allegations.

Question from LMH: What can Bush do if Freeh won't resign?

Ronald Kessler: Good Question. Ultimately, Bush cannot do anything because unless Freeh abused his position, which he has not done, Bush would be in a very untenable position politically if he did fire Louis Freeh. But Freeh has indicated his desire to return to private life soon and I'm quite sure he will resign of his own accord.

CNN Moderator: Due to problems during Freeh's term, what will the new FBI head have to do to help gain more trust in the FBI and smooth over processes?

Ronald Kessler: First, the new director will have to make it clear that he wants candor from agents. He'll also have to make it clear that he wants to hear different opinions. I think that alone will go a long way towards rectifying the problems that we have seen in the FBI under Louis Freeh.

This is not to say that Freeh has not made any improvements. For example, he did aggressively expand the FBI's presence in new offices throughout the world. This global approach was farsighted and has helped to impede crime that is increasingly global in nature.

Question from Nebulous: What effect, if any, do you think the change of the guard will have upon the "Carnivore" system and the current congressional discussion thereof?

Ronald Kessler: I don't think that that will be affected. It's important for the FBI to have the technological means to counteract criminal activity, which is often very sophisticated. In a new sense, the important thing is that the FBI obeys the law when it does conduct these investigations.

Question from JB: Will the FBI pursue its current directive of intercepting private electronic correspondence upon the detection of special "keywords"? How far will the FBI be going to inhibit the conduct of illegal activities on the Internet? Will there be any new organizations within the Department of Justice to handle this?

Ronald Kessler: Clearly, as electronic investigation and the Internet become more and more important, the FBI will be placing even more emphasis on detecting crime through the Internet and, also, combating crime committed on the Internet.

Question from CharliGirl-CNN: If the FBI puts too much emphasis on detecting crime, don't they then risk invading someone's right to privacy? How would they handle such a thing?

Ronald Kessler: The two concepts of privacy and combating crime are not necessarily in conflict. The FBI can investigate crime and, as long as it obeys the law, it will not intrude on the privacy of innocent people.

You can have good investigations that apprehend child molesters, white-collar criminals, organized crime figures and kidnappers that we all want off the streets and, at the same time, protect the privacy of the rest of the population.

Question from Nebulous: What watchdog organizations exist to make certain that the FBI does obey the law?

Ronald Kessler: First, you have the committees on the hill that conduct oversight of the FBI. You have the General Accounting Office of Congress and you have the Office of the Inspector General in the Justice Department, not to mention the press, all scrutinizing the FBI.

CNN Moderator: How will the FBI and the staff of the Department of Justice interact?

Ronald Kessler: I suspect that the new attorney general may be Frank Keating, a former FBI agent and federal prosecutor who is now Governor of Oklahoma. In that case, I suspect that he would become very involved in the FBI's operations and investigations.

CNN Moderator: How will the FBI handle any ongoing cases with a new administration?

Ronald Kessler: The FBI goes on pretty much as always, regardless of who is director. However, the director can provide more resources in certain areas and can either focus more attention on an investigation or, in the case of Louis Freeh, create problems in investigations.

If you look at when Judge William Webster was director of the FBI, you had hardly any problems. Today, under Freeh, the FBI is involved in some kind of screw-up of an investigation almost every six months.

CNN Moderator: Do you have any final thoughts to share with us?

Ronald Kessler: An important issue for the FBI right now is whether President Clinton will pardon Leonard Peltier, who was convicted of murdering two FBI agents in 1975. About 500 present and former FBI agents participated in a march last week to demonstrate their objection to a pardon. Some in the FBI thought it was not appropriate to march since it seems to convey that the FBI is a partisan agency.

What is clear is that Peltier, despite support for his plea for clemency from movie stars and others, is guilty of the crime. Ballistics evidence linked his weapon to the bullets used in the assassinations. The service revolver of one of the dead agents was found in his car with his fingerprints on it. An eyewitness said he was at the scene, holding the weapon. And Peltier admitted on "60 Minutes" that he committed the crime.

CNN Moderator: Thank you for joining us today.

Ronald Kessler: Goodbye and thank you for your good questions.

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