James Comey has taken on unusually public profile on big issues as FBI director

In a letter Friday, FBI Director James Comey revealed a new review of recently-discovered emails related to the FBI's previously-closed investigation into Hillary Clinton's use of a private server. In this, profile from June, Kevin Johnson detailed how Comey has performed in this role.

WASHINGTON — When President Obama named James Comey to succeed FBI Director Robert Mueller, the popular nominee acknowledged the long shadow cast by the man who in the previous 12 years had led the bureau longer than anyone except J. Edgar Hoover.

“I must be out of my mind to be following Bob Mueller,’’ Comey said in the 2013 White House Rose Garden ceremony. "I don't know if I can fill those shoes, but I know that, however I do, I will be standing truly on the shoulders of a giant."

Indeed, Mueller’s tenure was widely credited with the post-9/11 transformation of the FBI from a largely reactive law enforcement institution to an intelligence-driven agency bent on preventing new terror strikes. And he did it by shunning the spotlight at virtually every opportunity.

By contrast, Comey, 55,  has staked out a public profile that couldn’t be more different than his predecessor and the traditional confines of the office itself.

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• He has bluntly acknowledged law enforcement’s fraught relationship with racial and ethnic communities in addresses at Georgetown University and Birmingham, Ala.,and has suggested that less-aggressive policing may be contributing to troubling spikes in violent crime in some parts of the country — a position that has put him at odds with his boss, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, and even the White House.
• He has drawn the wrath of the tech industry and privacy advocates earlier this year as the face of the government's legal battle with Apple Inc. to gain access to the iPhone of San Bernardino terrorist Syed Farook. The high-stakes dispute represented what Comey described as the  “hardest problem I’ve encountered in my entire government career.’’
• And he has publicly faced new questions about the bureau's capacity to confront an increasingly daunting challenge: thwarting violent extremists from within who are drawing inspiration from a constellation of radical ideologies to commit mass murder.  At one point during a briefing last week on the Orlando massacre, carried out by a gunman who was twice before on the FBI's radar, Comey acknowledged the vexing nature of the mounting burden, ticking off a list of recent bloody assaults and attempted attacks that have scarred Garland, Texas, Charleston, S.C., Chattanooga, Tenn., San Bernardino, Calif. and now Orlando.

"We are looking for needles in a nation-wide haystack,'' Comey said, "and we are also called upon to figure out which pieces of hay may some day become needles.''

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Not in more than 20 years, say former national security officials, criminal justice analysts and bureau critics, has the bully pulpit of the FBI director been used to address such an array of hot-button issues and with such frequency.

"I've known Jim for a quarter century,'' said Chuck Rosenberg, director of the Drug Enforcement Administration who also served as Comey's first chief of staff at the FBI. "When he feels like he has something to say, he does so only after careful judgment. And while it may seem like an unusual role for an FBI director, it's not a reflex action. It has nothing to do with self promotion or aggrandizement.''

Michael Chertoff, a former Homeland Security secretary during the George W. Bush administration, said the stark difference in "personal style'' that Comey has brought to the office plays to the strengths of someone "well positioned ... to address issues in the forefront of public discussion.''

"Bob Mueller was very quiet; he didn't deal with things publicly,'' Chertoff said, adding that the post-9/11 environment required Mueller to focus his efforts inward to deal with the new terror threat. "I think it's really appropriate (for Comey to speak out). It reflects his independence.''

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Defending the Bureau

A year ago, when the tragic details came to light about a law enforcement breakdown that allowed Dylann Roof to purchase the gun he allegedly used to murder nine people at the iconic Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., it was Comey who delivered the "heartbreaking'' news.

"We are all sick that this has happened,'' a grim-faced director said of the background check system's failure to seize on the contents of an arrest record that would have barred Roof from obtaining the .45-caliber handgun just two months before the shooting. "We wish we could turn back time, because from this vantage point everything seems obvious. But we can't.''

And in the immediate aftermath of the Orlando massacre, it was Comey who provided the unsettling history of the bureau's contacts with gunman Omar Mateen, beginning three years prior to the massacre. Though the director pledged a review of those contacts, which included a 10-month investigation of Mateen's possible terror links, he defended his agency's decision to close that inquiry in 2014 without action and to conclude months later that the 29-year-old security guard had no substantive association with American-born suicide bomber Moner Muhammad Abu Salha. The Vero Beach, Fla., man died in a 2014 attack in Syria.

"We will work all day and all night to understand (Mateen's) path to that terrible night,'' Comey said. "We're also going to look hard at our own work to see if there is something we should have done differently. So far, the honest answer is, I don't think so.''

Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, is among those who have called for a closer examination of the FBI's dealings with Mateen and whether the bureau has the resources to keep pace with "an increasing threat.'' Both issues are expected to be the focus of a hearing next month where Comey and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson are expected to testify.

"I think they are overwhelmed,'' McCaul said, referring to the FBI's load of about 1,000 active investigations involving suspected violent extremists, most inspired by ISIL. "It's quite a challenge for federal law enforcement.''

Despite those serious concerns, McCaul has no issue with the bureau's management. "He's really been a leader,'' the chairman said, referring to Comey's public statements on race, encryption and the threat of domestic radicalization.

"I'm telling you, he has broad support in Congress.''

Frank assessments not universally embraced

For the 6-foot-8-inch, self-described “awkward white guy,’’ a public address on race was not at once a comfortable fit.

During a recent Birmingham speech — at the 16th Street Baptist Church, sacred ground in the American civil rights movement — Comey acknowledged the unusual anxiety he had encountered as he prepared to address the fractured relationship between law enforcement and minority communities during an appearance at Georgetown University in February. "I had struggled for months to figure out whether or not I had something useful to say, and I worried a whole lot how I would be received," Comey told the gathering of civil rights advocates and law enforcement officials assembled at the Birmingham church.

Even Justice officials questioned whether the FBI director was the appropriate figure to raise such issues when Comey's office provided a courtesy copy of the Georgetown address before the February appearance, two officials familiar with the matter said. The two officials, who are not authorized to comment publicly, said the director went forward with the speech, despite those reservations.

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Comey said the desire to speak publicly, following the tumult in Ferguson, Staten Island and Baltimore, was ultimately spurred by the outpouring of "pain'' he encountered at the January 2015 funeral of New York Police Department officer Wenjian Liu. The officer was one of two assassinated by a gunman apparently driven to avenge the deaths of black suspects Michael Brown and Eric Garner by police in Ferguson and Staten Island.

"As I talked to people that day,'' Comey said in Birmingham, referring to the Liu funeral, "I thought, you know, maybe I can contribute something. Maybe if I say things I believe to be true about people, things I believe to be true about law enforcement, maybe I could foster a more open-minded discussion about where we are, who we are and what we need to be.''

At both Georgetown and in Birmingham, Comey acknowledged law enforcement's legacy of distrust in racial and ethnic communities. "Police officers often work in environments where a disproportionate percentage of street crime is committed by young men of color,'' Comey said in Birmingham. "And on an overnight shift, sometimes all an officer sees is trouble. Something can happen to people of goodwill in that environment.''

Comey's remarks prompted powerful, yet disparate responses within the law enforcement community — from the street ranks to the executive suites.

Birmingham Police Chief A.C. Roper, who recalled his own department's checkered history, said the the city's iconic church — where four African-American girls were murdered in a Ku Klux Klan bombing more than 50 years ago — represented "the perfect backdrop'' for the director's remarks last month. "It's an unfortunate reality, but the Birmingham Police Department, which I now have the honor of leading, was the arms and legs of a brutal racist municipal government,'' Roper said. "Although as an agency we continue to change, the complex dynamics of race and law enforcement is playing out across the nation.''

But Jim Pasco, executive director of the nation's largest police union, the Fraternal Order of Police, said Comey's words have amounted to an affront to most officers. "The first thing a police officer learns is that you cannot generalize,'' Pasco said. "Director Comey has demonstrated that he is a very glib generalizer. If he's trying to be provocative, he is succeeding; if he's trying to be instructive I'm not so sure. The shame of it is, he's personally very charming. He's the kind of guy you want to like, but he's making it very hard to do so.''

Comey also has ruffled some with a repeated suggestion that a pull back by police, stung by streaming videos of violent public encounters, is contributing to surges in violent crime in a number of cities across the country. "I was worried about it last fall,'' Comey told reporters last month, echoing a similar assessment he offered during appearances the previous year in Chicago. "And I am, in many ways, more worried now."

A day later, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said the administration response to such crime trends would be “based on evidence, not anecdotes.”

Yet New York Police Commissioner William Bratton said the FBI director should be free to speak his mind, regardless of the uncomfortable political implications. "He's a breath of fresh air,'' Bratton said. "The system is working the way it was intended.''

That a New York police commissioner is even publicly expressing such regard for an FBI director represents a fairly recent breakthrough of its own. For years, the relationship between the two agencies was fractured by turf wars and mutual suspicion.

Clash sparks national debate

Perhaps no other public battle has thrust Comey into the spotlight more than the government's legal pursuit of Apple.

In attempting to force the tech giant to assist federal investigators in unlocking an iPhone used by Farook, the San Bernardino terrorist, the FBI director set off an emotional national debate. In a series of court filings over a period of weeks, the government and Apple engaged in a war of words while Comey took his argument to the court of public opinion.

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“If we’re going to get to a world where there are spaces in American life that are immune from judicial search warrants, then that is a very different world from the one in which we live,’’ Comey told a House panel in February. "Corporations shouldn’t drive us there; the FBI shouldn’t make that decision. The American people should decide how we want to be governed.’’

The debate was put on hold when an unidentified FBI contractor successfully hacked into the seized device, negating the government's need for Apple's help. But likely not for long.

Some civil liberties advocates assert that the FBI director's very public role in the Apple dispute — coming less than halfway through Comey's 10-year appointment — represents a long-term threat that stretches far beyond the San Bernardino terror case. "Director Comey has really taken a leadership role in trying to push Congress to take on encryption,'' said Neema Singh Guliani, a legislative counsel with the ACLU. "San Bernardino was really an attempt at setting precedent (to gain access to private communications). And the reaction from the general public was clear: this was not good for the country.''

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Comey, who has committed to serving his full 10-year term, has said setting precedent was never the goal.

Nobody should be really surprised by the director's outspoken style, if only for his extraordinary appearance nine years ago before a Senate panel in which Comey detailed a 2004 showdown with top George W. Bush administration officials in the hospital room of the seriously ill then-Attorney General John Ashcroft.

At Ashcroft's beside at George Washington Hospital, then-White House counsel Alberto Gonzales and chief of staff Andrew Card sought to persuade Ashcroft to reauthorize the controversial warrantless eavesdropping program. Comey, then deputy attorney general, learned of the meeting and rushed to Ashcroft's hospital room, along with Mueller, the FBI director. When both Comey and Mueller threatened to resign, the White House relented.

The New York Times first reported the incident in 2006, but Comey's vivid recitation offered an instant classic of Washington political theater that resonated nearly a decade later as an example of his independence when he was nominated to take over the FBI.

The quality has not gone unnoticed inside the bureau and among the loyal FBI alumni whom the director has actively courted since his confirmation.

Reynaldo Tariche, president of the FBI Agents Association, said Comey's "straight talking'' way has resonated with street agents. Although the association initially urged the nomination of former Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Mich, a former agent, to succeed Mueller, Tariche said Comey has so far proved to be "powerful spokesman for the bureau.''

"He has an ability to talk about the tough subjects that not only affect that FBI, but law enforcement in general,'' said Nancy Savage, executive director of the Society of Former Special Agents of the FBI. "While he's not out there seeking public approval, he is well-liked. He's very candid with people. He wants them committed to their jobs, but he also wants them to go home to their families at the end of the day.''

Current and former colleagues say Comey, the father of five, also attempts to find the same life balance, usually beginning the workday at  7 a.m., and leaving the office by 6:30 p.m. And there are occasions when meetings are missed because of family obligations, as simple as ensuring that a daughter catches a ride to a school function.

During an April talk to Catholic University law students, he offered an unusually personal window into a management philosophy not often espoused in a city fueled by unvarnished ambition. “I expect you will sleep,’’ Comey said, recounting recent advice to FBI agents. “And I want you to love somebody.’’