Brian Driscoll on the Hollowing Out of the FBI: "It's Devastating”
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey everybody, it's Rachel Maddow here. Forgive me popping in deer feed like this, but I wanted to tell you that more than a dozen of us from MSNOW are going to be in Texas on Saturday, September 26th. I'm going to be there, Lawrence O'Donnell will be there, so will Jen Psaki and Stephanie Ruhl and Ali Velshi and Chris Hayes and Jacob Soboroff and Simone Sanders-Townsend and, and, and... A whole bunch of us are all going to be there in Texas. Tickets start at just over 30 bucks each. It's in Arlington, just outside Dallas. There's a ton to do there. If you come, you'll get to meet all of us. You'll also get to meet everybody else there, all these other great people from our great MSNOW community. We'd love to see you.
And if you buy a ticket to the Texas event, you will get access to our new MSNOW membership free for a year. We're really excited about it. It launches later this summer. You'll be able to talk with me, talk with some of the other hosts. But Tickets for Texas are on sale now. You can learn more at ms.now slash together. Hope to see you in Texas.
Anybody who's holding these positions of power right now, any mistakes that they're making, any potential damage they're causing to the institutions that they lead, it's just for a little bit more. And there's a lot of people that are either placed in exile like myself and a lot of the DOJ that were pushed out that are watching and with no malice or thoughts of retribution in their heart who want to serve and correct if there are broken pieces to pick them up and rebuild. And I think we're all going to be prepared for that.
Hi there, everybody. He said, I'll take the wrench. It is, of course, a reference to an exquisite scene in the iconic movie Good Will Hunting, when Robin Williams' character finally breaks through Matt Damon's character, and Damon is describing his foster father's sadistic abuse, in which Damon's character... is forced to choose if he will be beaten with a stick, a belt, or a wrench. Robin Williams says, the belt. And Damon says, I went with the wrench. And that is how the man described by Jack Smith as a folk hero within the FBI described the choice he made to stand on principle and protect the men and women of the FBI from Donald Trump's political retribution. The story's only begun to be known by people like us publicly, and we're thrilled to be able to hear some of it here.
So without any further ado, this is The Best People, and this is one of them, former acting director of the FBI, Brian Driscoll.
Thank you.
Thank you for having me. It's an honor.
No, it's our honor. I have to say, listening to you describe what you did as The Wrench, I felt like I got it. And I know you don't want to be lifted up, so I'll try to do as little of that as possible. But I just wonder if you can talk about what you left behind, the men and women who are still there, and what you think they're dealing with.
Yeah. I mean, besides the fact that that job was more than a job, it was a life's purpose for me. It was a calling for those who choose to do it. I mean, you hear, you know, cliches about little kids, like I want to be a G-man or G-woman or be an FBI agent when I grow up. That's a large part of what it is.
Do you remember how old you were when you first knew that's what you wanted to do?
Yeah, I remember I had a conversation with my dad when I was in high school. And I was a mediocre student at best. I was more of an athlete. So he had a conversation with me because I didn't really have... I was kind of not listless in a bad way or rudderless. But he said, you know what? You have kind of an analytical mind. The only classes I got A's in were English. And I like to write. And he said, you'd make a good detective, I think. And so... That planted a seed that really didn't start to sprout until my senior year in college when 9-11 happens. And I had two uncles in the towers. One uncle was my dad's best friend. I grew up calling uncle. Another was my mother's brother. One worked for Cantor and didn't make it.
And the other made it out.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–17:20
2
What prompted Brian Driscoll to join the FBI and how did 9/11 shape his career path?
17:20–26:42
3
How did service on the Hostage Rescue Team and the Syria operation influence Driscoll's leadership approach?
26:42–40:42
4
What cultural values and mission mindset define the FBI according to Driscoll?
40:42–53:57
5
How has the Trump administration's retribution campaign 'hollowed out' FBI expertise and morale?
53:57–1:02:47
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Best People with Nicolle Wallace
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