ronald kessler

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Investigative reporter Ronald Kessler discussed his research into the FBI, and the Secret Service, and revealed behind-the-scenes stories, and secrets about how they operate. He portrayed the FBI's long-running chief J. Edgar Hoover as both a patriot and a menace. "Near the end, he was getting more and more idiosyncratic," and actually started a vendetta against FBI agents drinking coffee, he said. The FBI employed clever and complicated ways to break into suspects home. For instance, in the case of a Mafia family they were investigating, they introduced static on their phone line, and intercepted the call when the suspect dialed the phone company for repair. Then, FBI agents came to the home posing as telephone repairmen, and installed bugs in their phone while "fixing" the static, Kessler detailed. One of the fascinating stories he learned about the Secret Service was that they were tipped off about a psychic's vision that Pres. George H.W. Bush could be assassinated when he was giving a speech in Enid, OK. When the agents interviewed the psychic, she correctly led them to the airport hangar where the motorcade limos were hidden, and then predicted that Bush would be wearing a sports coat instead of a suit (which was very out-of-character for him) when he got off Air Force One. When that was confirmed, they decided to change the motorcade route, avoiding any overpasses where she said the shooting would happen. Contrary to conspiracy theories, Clinton White House aide Vince Foster did commit suicide, Kessler announced. One-week before his death, during a disagreement with Hillary Clinton at a meeting with other top aides, he was humiliated when she called him a "small town hick lawyer." After that, his behavior changed dramatically, and he became much more withdrawn, and tearful. The FBI concluded that it was the meeting with Hillary that triggered his suicide, he said. Books by Ron Kessler THE SECRETS OF THE FBI IN THE PRESIDENT'S SECRET SERVICE Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect THE TERRORIST WATCH Inside the Desperate Race to Stop the Next Attack LAURA BUSH An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady A MATTER OF CHARACTER Inside the White House of George W. Bush THE CIA AT WAR Inside the Secret Campaign Against Terror THE BUREAU The Secret History of the FBI THE SEASON Inside Palm Beach and America's Richest Society INSIDE CONGRESS The Shocking Scandals, Corruption, and Abuse of Power Behind the Scenes on Capitol Hill THE SINS OF THE FATHER Joseph P. Kennedy and the Dynasty He Founded INSIDE THE WHITE HOUSE The Hidden Lives of the Modern Presidents and the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Institution THE FBI Inside the World's Most Powerful Law Enforcement Agency INSIDE THE CIA Revealing the Secrets of the World's Most Powerful Spy Agency ESCAPE FROM THE CIA How the CIA Won and Lost the Most Important KGB Spy Ever to Defect to the U.S. THE SPY IN THE RUSSIAN CLUB How Glenn Souther Stole America's Nuclear War Plans and Escaped to Moscow MOSCOW STATION How the KGB Penetrated the American Embassy SPY vs. SPY Stalking Soviet Spies in America THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD The Story of Adnan Khashoggi THE LIFE INSURANCE GAME