Saturday, January 11, 2020

Books: "A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership"




One thing that is guaranteed to rope me in is a well told human story behind ‘the big picture’. I don’t necessarily need to read about heroes, or villains for that matter, and I don’t have to have larger than life characters to entertain me. No, at the end of the day, just getting into someone’s head so I can understand their take on a situation is enough to hold my attention usually. Not surprisingly this set of interests is magnified when it revolves around an incident or issue I am familiar with.

A Higher Loyalty sets out to not only tell us about one man’s experience in the justice department and the FBI, it makes the case for difficult decisions, and even mistakes made by the author leading up to that time, giving context and a human dimension to the raw facts disgorged by the media over the past year and a half.

From a story-telling standpoint, Comey’s narrative style, word choices, and voice (I was listening to the audio book read by the author) are captivating, well measured, and most importantly, well paced. This is not a book that throws you headlong into the Trump White House, but at the same time the voyage to that point is not a long, plodding, painful trip either. Comey talks about his childhood, with several formative moments highlighted in wonderful detail. We’re also introduced to his time as a father, a husband, a US Attorney, and then his appointment to the directorship of the FBI. Each position, role, and its responsibilities are fleshed out, as well as the context of the role, both to the nation and to Comey himself. But I really have to come back to the narrative style on this; Comey is engaging, articulate, and precise, and when we are clearly at the mercy of his possibly flawed interpretation of a situation, he makes an effort to say as much, but does so smoothly, as part of the overall story. This is not the annotated memo of past event, this is the personal, almost intimate memoirs of man who admits his flaws with enough candor to add, not detract, credibility to his overall message.

Substantively, the story carries a lot of weight in a lot of highly relevant modern subjects. Over the course of his government service, we follow him as he navigates the political terrain around issues such as the US Enhanced Interrogation Policies, warrantless wiretapping and data collection, phone encryption, The Hillary Clinton email investigation, and finally the admitted tumult of his brief term under the Trump administration. Each of these topics is discussed in detail, with a solid argument presented for decisions made, and an almost equal measure of self reflection given on the harder moments. The book is not, and does not pretend to be the final authority on any subject, other than that of James Comey’s perspective, but does vividly and assertively present the author’s perspective for your consideration.

At its core, this book could be viewed in two ways. Perhaps in fifty years, it will be considered an important essay on the merits of leadership, decisions making, and ethics in the sphere of public service. And to be sure, it is absolutely that, and much of its text is penned with the type of timelessness that will make it a credible, and relevant read well into the future.

But, in the immediate sense, this book is also the counter-punch to a man who’s personal reputation was delivered an undisputed body-blow by the conservative body politic of the United States.

Comey explains that he learned of his firing as director of the FBI while on stage at the Los Angeles field office of the FBI, speaking with agents and technical staff. His first inkling of the termination was seeing the news ticker roll across a TV screen at the back of the room while mid-sentence of his remarks to the local agents. A few minutes and a phone call later, he was a newly-made civilian who was not even allowed to stay in the building, and stranded in Los Angeles with no established means to get home. And all of that was long before he even saw the memo notifying him of his termination. This episode, painted with candor, raw emotions, and admitted tears, sets the tone for his penultimate chapter in the book, and lays the groundwork and final context for his senate testimony.

A Higher Loyalty is, in the immediate context, a critical argument against the methods, style, ethics, and mentality of the Trump presidency. He describes Donald Trump’s interactions as “Transnational” (ie. quid-pro-quo), and “Loyalty based”. The overarching sub-theme of the book is an undisguised narrative comparison between Trump and the mafia bosses of the John Gotti era. Early on, he talks about how the bosses of the crime families demanded personal loyalty, and clearly spells out in academic terms how these demands highlight personal and professional failures in their leadership situations, calling them (and not inappropriately) bad leaders for it. As we follow Comey through his career, we not only see his case for these parallels in Donald Trump, we share in his astonishment as he learns about them as well.

While it is hard to say that talking about Trump can be anything other than political, something that the book does well is to establish itself as apolitical. Comey’s arguments and positions throughout the book, which includes his work under George W, Bush, Barack Obama, and finally Donald Trump, are made as strong absolute legal arguments, set aside from any political positions of his own. In fact, one of the critical points of the book is a conversation with then President Obama before he was named Director of the FBI, where he candidly told the newly inaugurated president “I voted for the other guy”. This exchange served as a jumping off point for Comey to explain to us, the audience, how the department of justice, and specifically the FBI must operate at ‘an arm's length’ from the president in order to maintain their independence as law enforcement agencies.

For those critical of Trump, the added perspective will be a welcome addition to your conversation. And for those supportive of Trump, I will argue that if you are hopeful of defending him as a leader, there is no better place to start than words of his own critics so that you can best respond directly to with your own arguments.

In the end, I’m strongly of the opinion that this book is worth reading, no matter your political position.

By: James Comey (Audio book read by the author)
Published: April 17, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-250-19245-5 (Hardcover)