The New Spy Catchers

[Valin]

Newsweek:

The agencys young guns are steeped in the world of Hezbollah, Chinese hackers, and Russian spies

Jeff Stein12/13/13

 

Not that long ago, top FBI counterterrorism officials didn't know the difference between Sunnis and Shiites. And, judging from their public statements, didn't really care.

 

"You don't need subject-matter expertise," the FBI's chief of counterterrorism, Gary Bald, said in one of several risible statements a few years ago by high-level FBI officials. "The subject-matter expertise is helpful, but it isn't a prerequisite. It is certainly not what I look for in selecting an official for a position in the counterterrorism [program]."

 

That was 2005. Now, slowly, and with little notice, the FBI is finally fielding a team of intelligence and counterterrorism leaders who came of age, professionally speaking, in the post-9/11 era. Unlike most of their FBI forebears, who impressed their bosses by collaring bank robbers, kidnappers, Mafia bosses, and white-collar criminals, the new generation of FBI leaders is steeped in the world of al Qaeda and Hezbollah, Chinese hackers, and Russian spies.

 

(Snip)