Welcome to Talking Feds, a roundtable that brings together prominent former federal officials

and special guests for a dynamic discussion of the most important political and legal topics

of the day.

I'm Harry Littman.

We bring you today a special episode focusing on the federal bureau of investigation, traditionally

thought of as the crown jewel of U.S. law enforcement and arguably the premier law enforcement

agency in the world.

The bureau found itself in the bizarre and painful position of being the target of continual

vilification and harassment by the President of the United States over the last four years.

What impacted that have on morale and how might it have affected the FBI's on the ground

work?

Are there ongoing effects of the presidential whipping?

And if so, how can you get at them now?

Then looking ahead, what does the FBI, which retooled its whole mission after 9-11, now

have to do to address the threat that bureau director Chris Ray has called, quote, the

greatest threat we face in the homeland, namely domestic violent extremists, especially

racially or ethnically motivated ones?

Our focus on the FBI is particularly timely because this week, bureau officials, along

with officials from the Pentagon and Department of Homeland Security, will be on the hot seat

in Congress, testifying before a joint session of the Senate Rules and Administration Committee

and the Homeland Security and governmental affairs.

And they surely will face sharp questioning in the bureau's case about why it didn't

...