By Allan Lengel
Every year federal law enforcement agents and officers put their lives on the line.
With that in mind, we can think of no better person to give the ticklethewire.com Fed of the Year Award for 2021 than Eugene Goodman, the veteran U.S. Capitol Police officer who faced an angry mob on his own in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 and managed to lure the rioters away from the Senate chamber at great risk to himself. It’s the selflessness that represents the best in federal law enforcement.
It’s the first time since we began giving out the award in 2008 that it is going to a federal police officer rather than a federal agent or prosecutor.
Jan. 6 stands as a shameful stain on American history. But from that comes the pride many Americans feel for the heroics of Eugene Goodman. The U.S. Senate certainly felt that pride, adopting a resolution in February awarding Goodman the Congressional Gold Medal.
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) and Geoffrey S. Berman, the ex-U.S. Attorney in the Southern District of New York (2020).
