Politics and prose along with my wife in behalf of everybody here at gw, welcome. I thank you very much for coming. He does a number of events each year end jean w on the great auditorium integrate other revenue and we value our partnership with gw and the crew here is terrific and they make events like this possible, for us and i want to express our gratitude for effort that they put into tonight event. The featured author is Josh Campbell he spent more than a decade at the fbi in various roles and kidnapping investigation and multiple overseas assignments as well as a stint as a special assistant to fbi director james comey. Josh resigned from the bureau about a year end a half ago in february 2018 and walking out of the field office in los angeles for the last time and for the Law Enforcement that he had really enjoyed and he says played an Important Role in his own career development. He says he left because he could no longer stand silently by in the face of a Relentless Campaign by donald trump and his political allies to undermine and discredit the fbi, these days josh appears on cnn reporting on long for smart issues, he describes his own political leavings as a fiddle in the road knowing he supported republicans and democrats, his new book, crossfire hurricane actually is not out yet. You all are getting a jump on it the release is tomorrow. Its unusual to hold an event in this definitely the title of crossfire hurricane comes from the fbi codename for the initial investigation in the trunk campaign spice to russia. That codename intern was taken from the Rolling Stone song jumping jack flash. Josh retraces the early days of the russia investigation and both on his firsthand experience and also from sources some of whom are still the fbi. He provides an informative behind the scenes account and adds to the public understanding of the fbi into russias efforts to tilt the u. S. Political process. Josh is reluctant to be profiting from the store he tells and has announced that half of his earnings from the book will go to a fund established by the fbi agent association. That Fund Supports the agents killed in the line of duty. [applause] as an added attraction josh will be in conversation with his exboss james comey. He was just saying he really does event likes list in the first time you been in conversation with another author which gives you a sense of his guards of josh. He wrote his own book which was published nearly a year end half ago, not only recounting the highlights of his distinguished career but seeking for Ethical Leadership and our values. Ladies and gentlemen during the in welcoming Josh Campbell and james comey. [applause] a personal privilege. [laughter] that is huawei and geo, the names i still remember who are comfort dogs for the fbi who have done so much good for so many people who have suffered, mass shootings, terrible things and those dogs have brought peace to hundreds and hundreds of people. That is why i wanted to greet them first when we found out they were here. A was trashed and i also know you work closely with Robert Mueller who came close to getting fired but was definitely trashed. [laughter] so my question is are you the problem with x. [laughter] [applause] are they all going to be like this . I figured we would start to slow. At the beginning, tell the folks how you ended up in the fbi. Thanks everyone for being here. My first time doing this and im glad you were a part of it and its even more special that its happening before the actual release so thanks for coming out and for your support. To the question inside the fbi, my career started in earnest september 11, 2001 and i was a College Freshman at the university of texas at austin. I had been just over a week into my College Career when the attacks have been inducted that point, i thought i was going into the service. That was my goal at the point was to work in Foreign Policy to serve as a diplomat at the state department. But watching that incident occur ooccurred on that day like so many of us it can feel very diplomatic of that moment and i write about that in the book a little bit just kind of calculus but as i watched the event take place and the response, i was focused on the First Responders in the aftermath of the fbi agents that were trying to deal with what had just occurred and try to investigate what happen happened. They come here to the hoover building a. A. I was fortunate enough ut austin and i came and spent a summer with the fbi and immediately loved it and was fortunate enough to come back after graduating and that is how it all started. So he became a special agent in what year . In 2008 to the academy and graduated in august of 2008. That is a way that they come in and the non agent role. Where was your first assignment . First was almost up to los angeles. I write in the book at graduation youve done a couple of these graduations and the state will represent the class and so i was supposed to speak before Robert Mueller who was seated at an area just like this and i saw going in that if i wanted to describe the fbi mission since i had the opportunity to work in the Directors Office i heard him speak numerous times about the agency because he was someone i respected i decided to quote him in my speech but i did think through what i used some of his greatest hits as im giving the speech i turned to look at him and there is a glare and he is marking out a so when he got to the podium after the speech there was this kind of status that he embraced so they started off and said some of you may not know i told him if he screwed up the class of speech. Los angeles was the first office thankfully, that was a great experience. So, wha so, what was great about the bureau and what was less great, what were the expectations ask the great part is easy and its not just a throwaway line. At the bureau there was a law firm in college and at different places where you meet people that do good things and good work. But its the mission, people that dedicate their lives and there is someone in the audience today. That was special and i saw that from the beginning of the moment i began as an intern in the organization what is interesting is its like any company. There was always that one pers person. Scratch that. It really was a great place to work. Its protecting the American People and upholding the constitution of the United States and just not too fast forward to far i want to add one caveat to the intro talking about the fbi defending people, i do want to point out so all of us know what i do now is not in defense of the fbi that at times its defending our institutions of justice from unfair political attacks, which is a lot different than defending the agencies. The fbi can defend itself and screws stuff up just like any other agency and they are held to account. I think its important to point that out. But overall, if any of you have the opportunity to meet someone that is with the fbi, you will notice something to print it. He was a nut job ive heard. [laughter] sounds like a direct quote. Its hard, and its not a copout but there are did difficult things. I had the opportunity to spend time at the International Team that worked a lot of cases overseas. Just like anything else, you deal with bureaucracy. Theres a colleague of mine in the audience i wont name that has been with me overseas overt of these missions and he would be halfway around the globe and get a call from some number at the fbi headquarters at 3 00 in the morning and the first thing, are you awake and its like i am now, but can we buy you a globe said you can see how the sun orbits around and obviously theres still a Mission Driven to say there is a lead in a new investigation or something we have to do. Or your credit card bill is due. Sometimes it is very administrative. So you deal with that but that happens in any company or organization you find that that bureaucracy. But to circle back to the good part, the people made a great. How did you end up and i realized this could sound like a critical question how did you end up as my special assistant . [laughter] im glad you did that you did, l folks how you ended up. Out tcounted by end up as yor special assistant. Yes, what did you do. So, it all started with a tweak actually. [laughter] which is true. Correct me if im wrong. Before i went to work for the director, i was doing a headquarters tour, management assignment in the office of Public Affairs and one of the duties include managing the fbi twitter account, which was fun, but also nerveracking because before you would click send, youd have to see your career flash before your eyes. Did i misspell something or release something that was inappropriate. So, scenic [inaudible] [laughter] but back in the day. [laughter] back in time. Sorry, its been so long its actually funny. I sent one. Do you ever watche watch the shs and rec . Great show. So there is a guy named bert maclin whos the one of the fbi agent and it was chris pratt who played this kind of goofy character, am i right . He had his jacket and he was doing all this cool stuff. When data showed off the air i was devastated because they had a great power of having the fbi twitter account. I descended t to bush than defed a Farewell Speech when they went off the air and i said some thing along the lines of, you know, you were unconventional but we will miss you and then it just exploded. People were like the fbi has a sense of humor. [laughter] they watch television. They watch modern television. [laughter] but it was funny in the bureau. I thought screw it, so i just did it. But then the polls immediately started up the chain of command like what are you doing this is not what we do. And i wanted to tie this back like command wor come and work. [laughter] so it caused all this consternation at what was so funny is i come into work monday, i think it was on a monday, over the weekend, and i have a voicemail. I knit you a couple of times just in passing, you didnt know who i was but theres a voicemail that says this is jim comey and i just want to say thank you for that message. That was so great. Are kids that it was awesome or something so then that went up and thank you for doing something unconventional and pushing the envelope. I played that voicemail to all of the people that were criticizing me. [laughter] and asked him som as in some or, some leaders changed their view immediately upon hearing that the director had now endorsed this. So i guess that is how i got on the radar and then i had the opportunity to we were at an event with Chuck Rosenberg who was the acting head of the dea. You will see him on msnbc talking about legal issues, he issuescommittee was the chief of staff with director and went too the head of the bea. So they were at an even better i think that it was on opioid abuse. So he was running very late and we are there at the event, and i found myself in this room i was there for Public Affairs with the director, and he just i guess this was the norm he would interview peopl people and Start Talking to them, who are you and what do you do, that sort of thing. I knew he called me about the tweet but i didnt realize it was a bit of a job interview, said he asked msohe asked me hog in the fbi. Then he asked how am i doing. And i remember pausing and felt okay so the ceo is asking how i think that hes doing. The beauty there is i was a week and a half ending my headquarters assignment going back to the field, so i thought this happened in a split second but if youll click in eternity. Im leaving the headquarters going to the field and theres nothing they can do to me. [laughter] sent me to the field. What am i going to have in the audience to tell the head of the company. Any organization you love if you have the opportunity you want to say what is underlined, so i explained the things i had issues with and some challenges and he probed a little bit of said tommy moore. So i left the meeting and i felt confident like thats cool i get to talk to the director of the fbi and get off my chest things i want to change and about a week goes by and i learned ive now been hired on to his staff. [laughter] to be a special assistant, and i were member of the first time i saw you after that, the first thing you said is yeah you are here to fix all that stuff that you said was screwed up. [laughter] which is pretty amazing. And i think that, for folks who dont know, that set the stage for i think our relationship. I even got a cool nickname out of it, not to be contrary and that doctor no. [laughter] i would come off of an event and in any leadership role but especially the fbi directors fs roll a lot of sucking sucking up goes on. I would come out of an event and people would tell me that im off him and josh would whisper in my ear though. [laughter] good, but not your best. Not your best. So it became a running joke that i was eager to get to the car or plane, what, what. That is a true story about the tweet. Ive never watched parks and rec. I am home having dinner this weekend with the kids and one of my daughter says dad, someone sent a hilarious tweet from the fbi and she explained it to me and i said i dont know who he is. She said it doesnt matter. Find out who that person is. [laughter] so i tracked him down. So we traveled a lot together. Why were my hotel room is always so small and smaller than yours . [laughter] we are really digging in here. [laughter] i have the true story. He would call sometimes did you know how in the back of the room sometimes they get a fire map that shows the size of the hotel. He said im looking and you were in 208 and its like this big. My room is like a third of the size of yours. [laughter] im spending all my time in this room while you guys are out having fun. I dont have an answer for that. It was to keep me safe is what they told me. We need you in the interior tiny space so that we know you are safe. It worked beautifully. [laughter] so, i got fired. You were there that day. You read about it in the book. I guess we wont spend the time on that. But tell me what happened with your career at the bureau after i was fired. Welcome it was a very tumultuous time. A. So again, going back to make him a 2017, the fbi director was fired, and that essentially sets the stage at it for the buck because again, the theme of the book is that the campaign of attack that is transpired against the fbi, against the Justice Department for political reasons to undermine Robert Mueller, to undermine these investigations, they have real consequences on Public Safety. And what i point out, and this is why a lot of folks inside of the bureau believed then and still believe is if the public loses faith in Law Enforcement and the fbi in these agencies, then we are all less safe because of an fbi agent knocks on someones door and they need help solving a crime or they are trying to recruit a source to go where the fbi cant go in for a moment they hesitate and say wow, i dont think im going to be part of this, because ive heard, ive see seen on seen hir her right our elected leaders say these people are bad corrupt people, that has consequences to Public Safety. So, i mentioned that the practice because it was around that time after the firing and then we were in that time. Co. Where andrew mugabe is the acting director and the bureau is trying to grapple with what just happened. The public didnt get to know at that point about the loyalty dinner, about the president as you mentioned trying to get you to drop the flint investigation and the like. But once that came out, it was very chaotic and again, not only was it the bureau, but the country trying to figure out whats happening here and i will say its a partisan thing or political but these are the actions taking place at the agency is staring at trying to, you know, determine what happened. And Robert Mueller comes on the scene and then there was some sense of normalcy so to speak whenever that investigation vendors to him. I write a lot about that and about anin thebook and how the s dealing with this and then what was interesting, that leads to later that year where my colleagues and i would see this i call it the campaign of attacks, the political campaigns, the rhetoric heating up in escalating where do you know, you have a commanderinchief saying that i am being targeted by people who are breaking the law essentially to say ive been targeted politically. President obama sent a spy into my campaign, things that we know on their face is illegality being claimed wasnt true. And so that led to the meat and making that point in the book that the fbi isnt perfect, i cover the fbi now and other agencies and again all the time we unearth wrongdoing things that happen as we sit here right now, its easy to say whatever organization you are with whether it is a Large Organization or agency theres someone in the agency doing something right now that they shouldnt be doing so our job right now is to help them figure that out and so the public understands whats going on. But at that time when i was still in the fbi, my focus was on the public. There was a public that was being manipulated to believe something that he wasnt true. So, i made the decision that my ultimate focus i served over a decade as an fbi agent to protect the public so obviously i cared about the American People, and so in the face of no one in sight of leadership, the Justice Department speaking up to say this is wrong. As are good people. They make mistakes we are going to get to the bottom of what happened. We have congressional oversight committees when they are doing everythinthe right thing we holo account if we were an appearance of time no one was stepping up to say this is wrong so i just made that decision to step out if the fbi and help explain to folks like you, to the American People i get to do this every day now whats true, whats political noise to help people make sense, and again its not just to defend an agency commits to defend the truth isnt always the to ensure that the American People are told the truth about what these agencies were doing a good, bad code ugly. What reaction did you get to that decision in spite of the bureau . Overwhelmingly positive. Some folks were shocked like why would you leave a career thats very secure, that is a very safe career. So, there were those questions but again the thing i grapple with and i would tell people that would ask should i leave, no, stay we need people in the agencies i figured i could use my time and skills and what have you to help explain right and wrong and do so once people really thought about it, they understood what it was about, and i had one colleague in particular of my classmates actually do as i was leaving he sent me a note that i printed out and he said you know, dont just defend us when we are under attack. He said you have to hold us accountable when we stray. Hes an attorney and so i took that to heart and i get to do that every single day now. And its not just the fbi, theres other agencies and other institutions when they are unfairly targeted weevil pointed out and when they do things wrong we will point that out, too begindoublequote youre going to see is the dissection of that is right, whats wrong. Im critical of people, certain actions, certain decisions and to include you in certain aspects, so i hope that people will really come away with the understanding that that is the focus to help explain to you, to help to decipher the political noise which is just so you dont see inconsistencies between the pitch to students to join the fbi and you leaving . No, because again people decide for themselves how they are going to use their time and talent and skills. But it is a great agency. I still talk to people all the time, not just even about the fbi. We have a colleague here in the secresecret Service Today i talk abouthoughtabout that agency as. People ask what its like an federal Law Enforcement and i say you will not find anything like them and i would argue that its because i think these institutions i think so highly of them but i think good people should join them and go and be a part of that. And again, i personally get to see both sides of it. I get to cover the bloody and we get to point out that when it happens. Do you ever get the criticism i sometimes hear about me that you people believe government should not be talking about your prior work or be critical of people still in government . Do you get that and what is your reaction to that . There are a number of people that fall into that category. But i would say is if you look at people on the receiving end of that kind of criticism, whether its you or me or people like the director and others who were obviously in government trying to serve this purpose of helping to decipher the spin from reality, i dont i guess what i would ask is people who are critics of this group to ask the question what do you expect of people who spend so much time surfing in these institutions for years, sometimes over decades serving the greater good to uphold the constitution, to protecting a nation, what are they supposed to do when they see these same institutions under assault for political reasons . You can be quiet which that is what a lot of the critics would like because then the one narrative continues. They are corrupt and the like. But it requires good people whoo understand the agencies to step up and say you know, this is right, this is wrong and one thing i do as well, my goal today is to ensure the viewers, the public understand again what is the center of gravity, whats the truth and all caviar things. Im talking about you and youve are in the news, i will say for disclosure, i work for him so the viewer understands it okay if there are biases in place at least we know about that. And that is so important i dont think that you see that on everyday networks, but its certainly something that we try to ensure people understand what they are watching. How is cnn different from working at cnn different than working at the bureau . Let me say there are a lot of similarities which is interesting. Let me start with that if i can. That was the realization for me giving in to cnn and not realizing going into the media for the role of a journalist, the role of someone reporting a and there are some of my colleagues here today from cnn, it is to gather information to investigate things that happened, to ask the tough questions of people and hold people accountable that are in power. That is the job discussion of an fbi agent. The authorities are different. My colleagues wish that they have powerhadpower, and i do, t. Commanding the search warrants and the like, which we dont. But in the name is the same mission you try to gather the information. One interesting thing that is different comes to what you do with information once you push us out of this is fascinating to me. And thin the fbi and the post 9a when the fbi gets a piece of information from you immediately push it out. This is intelligence, this is something we collected within the government. To the other intelligence agencies so that they know what you know that we have something. We dont know if this is applicable to you. You may be able to connect the dots that we dont have. I think that the intelligence reports, the number of those i pushed out where we would get in trouble if we did an interview and something wasnt pushed out. Youve got to get that other agencies. So pushing out to other intelligence agencies. The fascinating part about working in the media for me, and coming into cnn come is realizing the process involved before something goes on the air is so much more rigorous than i thought. I thought the reporter did something, they go on tv and tell us what they know that there is a process following the lawyers and standards and practices and asking tough questions. Some of it never makes it through the process. That is the difference between the fbi and the media. It goes through the process which is surprising and enlightening and its reassuring. But you are not pushing things that you discovered out to msnbc or to the competitor networks. That isnt part of the gig. No, not at all. I work at cnn. You and i talked once about how you instructed people in the bureau so it must be cool to work at cnn. People thought it might be cool to work at the bureau. Which place is cool or . [laughter] cnn obviously. Its funny when i went to cnn, the Bureau People are like you are going to the dark side, what are you doing and then thats amazing. So people learn a little bit about each other. There are people that understand how the media works as a whole because the Media Outlets to cover these agencies they know we do these kind of sounding board calls about the story. Is this what the fbi or the cia would be doing in me learning new things i didnt even know we covered this so rigorously there was the governments suspicion there is no good if the cases coming to the media which is obviously not true because if everybody believed that, then no one would know about what the fbi does to include the public who pays their salary. So thats been fascinating. Youve been watching the bureau from the outside coming up on two years. Is there a sense of your assessment of the state of the bureau and tell us what the future looks like. Its tough to look into a crystal ball but it holds the prologue but it applies to what we see coming up and i try to write about it in public its really sensitizing people to the danger and the campaign attack but i suspect what we are going to see for the men and women of the fbi gets an escalation of what we have already seen. If they try to hold onto power and they robbed me of the first three years of my presidency so with this investigation that come over the administration obviously. I think what he will probably sewe will probablysee is that ce going into 2020 that looks at all these things i could have done that i was tied up with the investigation that didnt go anywhere so i think we are probably going to see more and are ta attacks along those lines which is why i hope people read it through that lens but this is more a call to action. Safety trumps any cycle and if you believe that committed people under the agencies and well all have to speak up and say this needs to stop. Isnt the bureau a corrupt enterprise . They got fired for lying to investigators and they were texting each other badmouthing everybody. The president isnt making stuff up. Doesnt all this showed that the enterprise is corrupt . I criticize a lot of the actions of people who made bad decisions because the judgment was suboptimal and poor and people made mistakes into some of them have been held to account in the way that the process works as it should but thats different than turning it into a larger broadbrush about an agency or the motives that because the people were texting each other making terrible decisions that had been led to using the power to go after a certain person whic but chicken people in spite of the fbi. You brought up the latter part t there and im interested in the cusp of this reporcost of this e origins of the investigation. Can you tell us about what your involvement has been in that investigation and what you see coming out of that . There could be things that i never imagined and didnt see any signs of. I dont think this could be a finding of significant misconduct lets just see the facts. Because my strong sense is with so many things that have happened over the last few years theres been a lot of blogging going on by the president and those around him including people in congress, so lets see the facts. Inspector general, i dont always agree with the analysis, and thats fine. I believe they are honorable honest people that are good at gathering the facts. Lets gather them and share as much as we can with the American People and the uk judgment. Did you expect any bombshells to come out of that . They keep saying im going to be indicted. Im highly confident that that is not true. [laughter] i want to keep an open mind. Show us the facts and then lets talk about it. I know we are getting the signal that time is running out. The case is in the news of the day and maybe the week i think were moswe are most familiar we latest development. But if it were you, what do you think the fbi should do as it relates to the constraints of. The bureau is the wrong focus. The bureau does in a Background Investigation like thats what its told to do and only what its told to do so if somebody wasnt interviewed it isnt because the view tier of decided not to but its because they didnt get permission to follow up on the lead. The reason i am hesitating this is the fbi director, you have to be thoughtful about the impact that might have on future senate relationships or white house relationships. Those are the places for people to go and ask questions what did you allow the bureau to do and what did you do not allow the bureau today because these are not normal fbi investigations where special agents will follow leads. They go to the white house or to the committee and say we see this thing and follow up on it. It comes from their. I would love to see maximum transparency, but i think the focus on the bureau is misplaced. If the white house doesnt announce what they told the bureau to do, then the only other logical outlets would be the fbi. Maybe a lot of us dont see the white house coming out to announce that. Any time the fbis credibility is at issue you want to be able to offer facts. I tried to do it throughout my time as director to foster their confidence in the institution. I would love to see that, but i dont want to be in armchair of saying to do that. Im going to ask you one more question. I dont know the answer to this one so it will be the last one between us. What do you want to be when you grow up . I dont know the answer for myself. I think im doing it. For all the reasons ive mentioned. [laughter] weve already put them to sleep. And you would be showing me to my broom closet. No, i think im already doing it. This is so rewarding for all the reasons ive mentioned. The. Does anyone on the fbi to third hazard pay for working under donald trump . [laughter] someone who received a lot of hazard pay thank you to the u. S. Government oversees the policy of the government hazard duty pay his end of the war zones in the austere environments and that is a good policy i will leave it at that. And they dont want it. They like to be lied about and criticized for not lied about, that is the big difference. Plus the you ask me a question, i answer, you chimanswered, you cy applaud you. Very good. After all the negative comments made by President Trump and the fallout of the report being pushed by many representatives and senators, how credible will be fbi be if another investigation regarding National Security comes about . I assume they mean another highprofile. The nuts and bolt bolts. Fullstop this debate could stay the same, the same people that get up everyday to do the e job and that wont change nor will the authorities or the techniques and tools. We will hear about the tools, surveillance, what theyve done appropriately, lawfully. These are processes that are overseen. And they will apply to the next investigation. The question is it comes to confidence and credibility. I talked about the Public Safety in the book, but the next question after you ask that one is will the people believe that affects the Political Party that the fbi was in the tank for a certain side or were they just doing it fairly and for their part, they will keep doing commission. I will say the one area where ive criticized the leadership of the Justice Department as far as how theyve handled things is if you are in a leadership position, the Deputy Attorney general, your job is to point out when your people are being misrepresented and their work is being misrepresented the. To say this is politics this is in no way as i think that will stop politicians from going that route. We will be right back where we are in this hypothetical investigation. Have you seen something other than silence . I write about this in the book when you look at the actions of the attorney general and Deputy Attorney general and by the vapor of the i interviewed dozens of people inside and outside of government because i wanted to make sure it wasnt just a representation but to get a view people would see whenever these leaders would stand up and point out the president was attacking them it was almost always when they were personally being attacked and i think that is obviously troubling because again it comes down to confidence the American People have been wit it with ths are actually like. Theres one thing ive heard throughout this current era that we need to focus on juries and judges and forget about the noise and all that other stuff. They come in with a preformed view. A judge thats sitting there staring down a prosecutor i would argue largely based on what theyve seen in the press and media are they operating correctly if you dont focus on communicating and you leave it to the investigation and let it speak for itself isnt going to speak at all because the only people hearing it are the people that have a view that may be in a different way. How did you believe we focus on the adversaries and what will it take to shift this . We cover a lot of these issues in the press when you look at the election specifically, cyber is a big topic but lets talk about Election Security for example obviously the u. S. Government is preparing for attacks on our foreign adversaries. They get folded a lot and sometimes rightly so for looking back on the last thread rather than being creative enough to see how they will step outside of the box and try to attack us in a different way. I think as we talked to people they are gearing up for that and what we havent seen is that real demand signal coming from the white house saying this is something thats important to us. We will not tolerate any effort to say its not meddling it seems like wha with the scooby o kids did. Its interference, its information warfare. I talk about that issue of what especially with our adversaries. But beyond that, the cyber domain which the government media does a better job at least now in preparing them for the same kind of attacks because they are stealing all the same kind of information just in these other ways they can use to get a collective picture on what it is people are doing or these influence operations that we saw in 2016. Somebody asked how does it end. Dont give that away. I took the question to mean how do we get back to a place of normalcy, stability, confidence in the institutions and their leadership. Maybe i am misreading the question. You have to have leadership that stand up for these institutions when they are unfairly attacked and a press holding into account the people in these agencies to ensure they are doing the right thing. And the fbi people will appreciate this and media will appreciate it more i remember going through quantico and they taught us everything you do, every piece of paper that you file on every National Security letter, every affidavit you look at it how is this going to look on the front page of the washington post. Everything you do you have to look at its hell is this going to look on the front page of a newspaper and that is such a good thing because i remember in the fbi there was the debacle where the government was shoddy demanding records from companies related to the National Security investigations. They were not trying to spy and collect information. There was work and they were slammed. Everyone after that it was as nerveracking because when it got sent you knew that they might be holding the document up. Thats a longwinded way of saying that has to be there. You need that process and that gets to the truth and what the book talks about to ensure the American People understand the truth and we build this confidence back up because we have been in a dark place as it relates to intelligence abuses under j. Edgar hoover with the fbi, close violations of human civil liberties. The Intelligence Community learned from that. You have fisa was passed, congressional committees set up to ensure that wouldn wouldnte been, a law was passed same fbi would have a ten year term mostly. [laughter] so you wouldnt have another j. Edgar hoover. These processes are in place so that you didnt regress back to that pure co where there was real corruption. It took decades for the American People to believe we will move past this and it may take another generation but that is how you get past it by doing the right thing, telling your story and having oversight. We are running out of time but i want to ask one more question. One person asked a good question about kavanagh but ive already asked. As an fbi employee ive always enjoyed your emails about your family traditions. How has your family handle both of you have been through the past few years. Thanks for allowing us to use your blog on our mother, to use your mug on our mugs, comeyshomies. I was the special assistant and i continued after he was fired and people were asking how can we get him this mug and then the question came out they said he has to authorize the use invite debate to as an interlocutor in my free time getting you to sign something and all that. How is your family dealing with this. Because they have been through a lot as well. We were talking about this recently. Theyve done well. We probably took for granted they were going to be more resilient than they were. We both think that they absorb i do not read twitter comments which i gather is a good thing. I try to open the window of craziness only a crack. We realize our children were consuming it in large amounts. They know me and they know us and it was probably harder for them than we thought so weve tried to be more attentive to that recently but its really well because of the relationship that we are stuck in in a great way. Friends and family and community we are able to be deeply frustrated and laugh at the same time and have sort of like each other through it. It hasnt been very easy. Its painful. The worst part, i miss the people of the fbi. I do not miss the political weasels outside of the fbi but the people that devoted their lives to commission there is no group of people youve ever encountered like that. I grieve for that all the time anover time andthat is a sort o. We are in a weird state right now because i wont commit to anything fulltime until next year because i need to be free to speak so im a little bit in a state of suspended animation. I cant go read a nonprofit or take a prominent position someplace else because i need to be able to speak for the same reason youve spoken and i will end with that. This book is public service. I hope people will read it and realize that the institution is like and why everybody has to speak to protect it for the sake of our country. Thank you. [applause] we will have the book signing up here if you would like to get your signed, please feel free to exit appeared at the top. Th
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