Allan Lengel, editor of ticklethewire.com, is a veteran journalist who has covered law enforcement at major publications including the Washington Post and the Detroit News. He also served as an intern under the late investigative columnist Jack Anderson and was an adjunct journalism professor at the University of Maryland.
FBI Director James Comey Becomes a Prisoner of His Boy Scout Image
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com The other day, a commentator on MSNBC described FBI Director James Comey as having a Boy Scout image. That’s a good thing for an FBI director. The problem is that Comey appears to have become a prisoner of that image, and has placed more importance on his image and the FBI’s…
15 Years Later, Ex-Congressman Gary Condit Decides to Lie About His Relationship With Chandra Levy
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com Ok, so it’s an election year where both sides in the presidential race have been endlessly accusing one another of lying. Perhaps, having been out of the game for a while, former Congressman Gary Condit, a blue dog Democrat from California, feels left out and has the itch to lie, too….
Despite All the Dead Motorists, GM Gets to Pay Off Justice Department
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com DETROIT — Imagine if you will, if former Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick was able to pay the Justice Department hundreds of thousands of dollars instead of going to prison for 28 years. Imagine if Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, accused of having a hand in 19 murders, was able to pay a…
My Adventures Tracking Marion Barry
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com In March of 1997, after being on strike at the Detroit News for 19 months, I headed off to D.C. to work for the Washington Post. Sure, D.C. was home to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, but to me, just importantly, it was home to the legendary Mayor Marion Barry,…
Terrorists Have Probably Given Secret Service More Credit Than It Deserves
By Allan Lengel ticklethewire.com I think the American public in general has been blown away by recent news of the lapses in Secret Service security involving the President. I have to think, had terrorists any clue that it was so easy to breach security and get into the White House, they would have tried something…