By Allan Lengel
Being the director of the FBI has never been easy. Critics highlight far more of the missteps and failures than the numerous successes.
In these times, it has been extraordinarily difficult. For years, Christopher Wray has come under attack from Donald Trump and his followers for several reasons, many of which have been false or unfair.
For example, the bureau has been wrongly accused of using agents to foment violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6. And it has been criticized for raiding Mar-a-Lago when in fact the bureau and the Justice Department had little choice after repeated requests for Trump to return all the classified documents.
Wray was appointed by Trump in 2017 to replace the fired James Comey, who was a popular director for a while but lost some of the confidence of the agents for being too political and a bit of a showboat.
Wray was the perfect tonic for the bureau – low key and steady. He carried out the job of director with little ego and lots of integrity, and lots of agents appreciated that. Sure, he’s not beloved by all in the bureau. Some are glad he’s leaving. What many saw as one of his attributes — being low key — others saw as a flaw.
Truth is, we’ve never seen a director who was beloved by all the agents. It’s never happened. Never will.
So, with that in mind, we’ve selected Christopher Wray as ticklethewire.com Fed of the Year for 2024. It’s unfortunate he won’t be able to complete his 10-year term.
Wray joins a host other notables who have won the award since it was first given out in 2008.
Previous recipients of the ticklethewire.com Fed of the Year Award include: Chicago U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (2008): Warren Bamford, who headed the Boston FBI (2009), Joseph Evans, regional director for the DEA’s North and Central Americas Region in Mexico City (2010); Thomas Brandon, deputy Director of ATF (2011); FBI agent John G. Perren, who was assistant director of WMD (Weapons of Mass Destruction) Directorate (2012); David Bowdich, special agent in charge of counterterrorism in the Los Angeles FBI Field Office(2013); Loretta Lynch, who was U.S. Attorney in Brooklyn at the time (2014); John “Jack” Riley, the DEA’s acting deputy administrator (2015); D.C. U.S. Attorney Channing Phillips (2016); Joe Rannazzisi, a retired DEA deputy assistant administrator (2017); Special Counsel Robert S. Mueller III and Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein (2018); DEA agent Joe Piersante (2019); Geoffrey S. Berman, U.S. Attorney in New York (2020); Eugene Goodman, U.S. Capitol Police officer (2021); Paul Abbate, the FBI’s deputy director (2022); Special Counsel Jack Smith and Eli Rosenbaum of the Justice Department who spent decades hunting Nazis in the U.S. (2023).
