The interview below was conducted in the early 1990s, by then-Agent Rob Nemeth, now a professor at the University of Iowa. It covers a variety of topics, including issues of space and politics in the Indian Territories, including the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs.
Nemeth also discusses his years at the FBI, beginning as a foreign liaison in the Chicago office, then to the Washington field office, and later to the New York field office, where he served as the bureau's general counsel from 1982 to 1987. The question of whether he discusses the details of the FBI's Watergate scandal investigation isn't clear. [Source]
The interview below was conducted in June 1993, by then-Director Louis Freeh, and, as such, touches on some of the events of the preceding two decades, including the persecution of the Nation of Islam, the attempted bombing of a Los Angeles airport, the Los Angeles Black Panther shoot-out, and FBI involvement in other political events.
The following questions are posed to Agent Nemeth, who asks that they be repeated by Louis Freeh:
What does the FBI do, in the context of federal law enforcement?
Freeh: The FBI's mission is to protect the American people and the Constitution from domestic and foreign terrorists and to assist state and local police agencies. We coordinate with the Department of Defense and other federal agencies, as well as state and local police. We also work closely with the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Internal Revenue Service and the Drug Enforcement Administration. It is important to keep in mind that the FBI is a very limited, narrowly focused agency. It does not conduct general criminal investigations, such as the Justice Department does. It focuses on investigations of specific, targeted threats. When we handle threats against a presidential candidate, for example, the FBI does so in conjunction with the Justice Department, which handles the criminal investigation.
You attended the University of Chicago, then transferred to the University of North Carolina. Do you have any memories of the University of Chicago?
Nemeth: I was a student there from 1956-60. I remember the campus, the river, and the university administration. When I was there the Chicago police department had a close working relationship with the university. My father was a police captain with the Chicago police department, and during my years at the university, he served as an advisor to the university's police department. One of my earliest memories of the university was the demonstrations I participated in with
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