Politicized Police In The Making?
Patrick Gray’s ‘New Improved’ FBI
By John Jekabson
Alternative Features Service
Last May, L. Patrick Gray, 56,
an obscure naval officer and law
yer, was named temporary head
of the FBI. Now as he is expected
to come up for Senate confirma
tion, people are looking back fond
ly on "the good old days of J.
Edgar Hoover,” for in his short
term in office, Patrick Gray has
made the FBI an essentially poli
tical agency. Unlike Hoover, he is
not above party politics but is a
Nixon loyalist on assignment to
make over the FBI to suit the
present Administration’s needs.
The directorship is not a Cabi
net position, but it carries more
power than almost all of Nixon’s
appointments, for once confirmed,
the FBI chief has almost free
rein. He is no longer answerable
to Congress for any of his actions
and can use the bureau’s 8,000
agents, 11,000 clerks and $300 mil
lion budget as he wishes. Where
as Hoover had hardly ever left his
Washington sanctum, Gray took
the unprecendented step during
the Presidential campaign of trav
elling throughout the country,
echoing Nixon’s policies in public
speeches. Hoover, however, never
made political speeches on behalf
of any president or presidential
candidate. Naturally, Gray tried
to disguise his cross-country tour
as merely a way of "informing the
public on law enforcement prob
lems” while he covered 60,000
miles and gave major addressses
in 14 key states.
In September, he asked 21 FBI
field offices to supply important
information to the Republican
Election Committee “in order for
John Ehrlichman to give the Pres
ident maximum support during
campaign trips over the next
several weeks.” Under Hoover
such a request would never have
been honored.
According to a close former
aide of Hoover, he wanted the
bureau to be free of politics and
become “an organization to which
you could go no matter what your
politics.” During his long reign,
though Hoover was rightly con
demned for his outlandish views
on radical causes, he was never
accused of favoritism toward ei
ther of the two established politi
cal parties. His favoritism was
always to the FBI, in that it
could get at the truth, no matter
whose toes had to be stepped on.
No one questioned the FBI’s find
ings even though they contradict
ed the Nixon Administration’s
statements on the ITT case a few
months before Hoover died.
Just the opposite has been true
of the FBI under Gray. More
questions were raised than ans
wered by the bureau’s investiga
tion of the Watergate affair. It
is quite evident that Gray has
personally been responsible for his
toning down the investigation in
order to save some of his former
colleagues from embarassment.
Though the agency has often re
peated that it launched a “massive
probe” of the case, independent
sources and newspaper reporters
have found themselves far ahead
of the “crack” investigators from
the FBI.
Agents assigned to the case
were told not to follow any leads
without the approval of the
Justice Department and Richard
Kleindienst, an exercise designed
to cause delays and frustrations.
When investigators met with a
wall of silence at the White House,
Gray refused to intercede with
CADET SLOUCH
by Jim Earle
“I’m afraid I’ll flunk out unless this good weather
ends soon!”
Nixon to force cooperation; in
stead he urged agents to go slow
er. Even before the probe was
complete, Gray said in public, “It
strains the credulity to believe
that President Nixon or the White
House could have perpetuated a
con job on the American people in
the Watergate incident.”
The fact that Watergate was
just part of a larger Republican
espionage scheme was too big a
story to stay long hidden. But
when it was broken it was done
by reporters doing intensive re
search, not the FBI. In fact,
Gray tried to contain the story
by minimizing its importance. In
two apparently unrelated moves,
he transferred the head of the
Washington office, Robert Kunkel,
and his assistant director, Charles
Bates, to other parts of the coun
try. What the two men had in
common was that they had been
in charge of the Watergate in
vestigation and both had talked
freely with journalist friends.
Gray’s ability to gloss over
scandal and place his loyalty to
Richard Nixon above the indepen
dence of the FBI has earned him
opposition from liberal Congress
men who will bitterly oppose his
confirmation. There is also wide
opposition to Gray within the FBI
itself.
Many of Hoover’s old hands are
dismayed by his lack of law en
forcement experience and want a
professional lawman for the post.
There is nothing in Gray’s back
ground to suggest he has the ex
perience or the competence to run
a complex and powerful police
organization—he has no police ex
perience of any sort. Most of
his adult life has been spent in
the Navy as a submarine com
mander. In 1960, he left the serv
ice to work in Nixon’s first pres
idential campaign. Afterwards, he
practiced law in Connecticut un
til 1968 when he again joined
Nixon’s election staff. Then he
was rewarded with a high—though
not a major—position in the Jus
tice Department.
Before he was appointed to the
FBI post, the only time his name
came before the public was in
1971 when he headed a group of
government officials who obtained
a court injunction forbidding anti
war Vietnam veterans from camp
ing in Washington, D. C. After
the veterans ignored the injunc
tion, he did nothing. This left
several federal judges fuming at
him for his incompetence.
Later that same year, he played
a role in the drawn-out confirma
tion hearings on Richard Klein
dienst for Attorney General. Gray
coached Kleindienst during the
ITT probe and made sure the Jus
tice Department’s files on ITT
could never be seen by the Con
gressional investigation commit
tee. All in all ,his main qualifica
tion for the FBI post is his devo
tion and loyalty to Richard Nixon
and the men who serve him.
The bureau that Gray is in
heriting is riddled with adminis
trative chaos, for Hoover in his
last years was unable to keep up
with the demands that placed do
mestic radical activity and civil
rights questions under the FBI’s
auspices. Publically Gray praises
Hoover, saying “No one can re
place the Giant,” while he quietly
tries to clean up the administra
tive mess.
Gray’s most visible talent so
far has been a flair for public re
lations. He has captured head
lines by proposing a "shakeup and
modernization” of the FBI. Part
Cbe Battalion
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EDITOR MIKE RICE
Managing Editor Larry Marshall
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TODD CHRISTOPHER
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of this includes accepting women
agents for the first time, and re
cruiting more blacks and other
minority members as agents. He
has also relaxed the outdated
rules on dress and appearance.
Now agents can have longish hair
and moustaches and wear mod
clothing. All of these changes
have been revealed to the press as
part of his new “open window”
policy toward the media.
Among the upper echelons,
many of the Old Guard are up
set by his “modernization” which
has purged lots of the older
agents from the bureau. The scope
of the dissension is seen in the
Watergate case. The FBI has of
ten “leaked” stories to the press
for its own purposes, but they
have always done so at the direc
tor’s wish. The leaks about the
Republican espionage scandal
came not from the chief but from
anti-Gray people who wanted to
contradict his toned-down reports
of the findings.
Though there is widespread op
position to Gray, he is expected
to be approved, along with the rest
of the crew selected by Nixon
to run the country for the next
four years.
Despite his relaxation of the
FBI’s hair and dress, the new
director has little to say on cer
tain matters of great importance.
When he first took the post, for
instance, he said that there were
no secret dossiers on Congressmen
“that I know about.” Later, when
such documents were shown to
exist, he said they would be des
troyed. What he failed to men
tion is that under the bureau’s
complex cross-filing system, it is
virtually impossible to wipe out
any of the records.
The one thing that could stop
Gray is his health—he recently
had an intestinal operation. Bar
ring that, the country is not ex
pected to find out many of the
facts about recent Republican
scandals. In the meantime, the
press—if it can remain free—will
have to become even more active
in ferreting out scandal and cor
ruption in the halls of power.
Services Today
For Dr. W. M. Potts
Funeral services for Dr. Wil
liam M. Potts, professor emeritus
of chemistry at Texas A&M Uni
versity, were to be held at 4 p.m.
today at the A&M Church of
Christ.
Dr. Potts died early Monday at
a local nursing home at the age
of 80.
He served on the Texas A&M
faculty 33 years until retirement
in 1958.
Survivors are his wife, Mrs.
Eris Potts of College Station,
sons Dr. William E. Potts of Den
ver, Colo., and Dr. Robert C.
Potts of Houston; five grandchil
dren, a sister and brother.
Memorial gifts may be made
to the A&M Church of Christ Li
brary for Dr. Potts.
Page 2
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