“A Higher Loyalty- Truth, Lies, and Leadership”
By James Comey
Our In-House Review
by Charles Letherwood, “Book Spotlight” Bureau Staff Writer
Sometimes it’s nice to think there might still be ethical people left in the world. Not unflawed paragons of ethical perfection, but people who generally try their best to do the right thing. James Comey’s “A Higher Loyalty” is a reassuring reminder that those people do exist, and it offers an educational look at how ethical people behave when the pressure’s on.
I found Comey’s book to be a surprising page-turner of his years in-and-out of government under three presidents. Despite an occasional whiff of comic-book hero, it’s much less self-congratulatory than many political memoirs and I found it very valuable. For instance, I knew the outlines of the hospital showdown at Ashcroft’s bedside during the Bush Administration, but Comey’s concise explanation gave me a new understanding that was worth the read alone. I found all his stories valuable in this same way but there’s little else new in any of them; by now you’ve heard them all (except an astounding story from Comey’s childhood!) in the news. But the real value of this book isn’t in the anecdotes or gossip.
The power of “A Higher Loyalty” lies in watching a flawed human being try to behave ethically in situations that almost exclude ethical behavior at all. Comey recounts wrestling with re-authorization of a spy program. The Bush Administration wanted it and thought it was saving lives, but it had been authorized on (at best) legally shaky ground. Does the loyalty of the DOJ and FBI lie with the law or the President? What ethical framework could lead someone to conclude that legal niceties are more important than American lives? And how strong does that framework have to be to say ‘no’ to an actual President of the United States saying ‘yes’? Comey doesn’t shy away from any of these questions in his telling.
Even deeper insights come from Comey’s handling of the Clinton email investigation. His explanation of these complex events was useful but again, his ethical agony was the most educational. His decision whether to “Disclose or Not Disclose” boils down to “I made a tough decision and damn the consequences”. He could have stopped there, been self-congratulatory and right, yet explaining nothing. Too many political tell-alls would. Instead Comey digs deep into his reasoning and reviews the things he could have done instead. He doesn’t line up a bunch of straw-man bad options either… he emphasizes that another person in his position could have legitimately and ethically taken any of these options. He shows self-awareness, understanding of complex motivations, the realization he could be wrong, and the knowledge that his decision is not the only possibly ethical one. It’s this human doubt, this grappling with grays instead of mindlessly jumping to facile blacks or whites, that’s typical throughout the book and gives credence to the rest of Comey’s ethical pretensions. It makes his book an explanation of difficult decisions instead of just a shallow justification of them, and turns it into something we can all learn from.
Whether in the Court of Public Opinion or an actual legal proceeding, deciding what to believe about the Trump debacle will largely come down to “who do you trust”. If that seems like a ridiculous question given a President with over 3000 documented lies so far in his Presidency it’s not, because proving one person is a liar doesn’t necessarily mean another person is telling the truth. Facts will be crucial but decisions won’t be made on facts alone; motivation, interpretation, intent and more will come into play. At some point, all of us will have to decide who to believe based on past histories, reputations, and our flawed understanding of their thought processes. When it comes to a “he said, he said” battle between Trump and Comey, Comey’s book gives reassurance that Comey-backers are on a solid foundation. In the bigger picture “A Higher Loyalty” is the reassurance we all need that somewhere, sometime, we’re still occasionally well-served by the few ethical people who do indeed still exist.
UPDATE 6/7– As we were putting the final touches on this newsletter, news was breaking about a long-awaited report from the Justice Department’s Inspector General on the handling of the Clinton email probe, a subject covered at length in Comey’s book. It “…is expected to yield an unvarnished account of multiple missteps by former top officials at the department and FBI for their failure to follow long-standing protocols.” The report will be officially released by the time we post the newsletter, but here is a CNN report on the rumors as of 6/7.
