The Oath with Chuck Rosenberg

Frank Figliuzzi: The FBI Way


Listen Later

Frank Figliuzzi grew up in southern Connecticut, but with his eyes and ears tuned to the nearby New York City media market and to enthralling stories of mob busting FBI agents. Those amazing tales made a big impression on a young Frank. As an 11-year-old, he wrote a letter to a senior FBI special agent, asking how he could one day join their ranks. To this day, he still has the personal reply that he received, encouraging him to pursue that dream.

Back then, the FBI primarily hired attorneys and accountants to become special agents, and so Frank later went to law school, to polish his resume for the FBI. It worked, and in 1987, after graduating from the FBI Academy, Frank was assigned to the Atlanta field office, where he began a career working – among other things – counterintelligence cases.  

In counterintelligence work, the FBI tries to identify and neutralize threats from foreign intelligence services that seek to steal our military, economic, and trade secrets. Our adversaries also attempt to recruit US persons and to turn them against our own country. In this episode, Frank describes the vital work he did in counterintelligence, including how his recruitment of a double agent from another country to assist the United States, came to a sudden halt when the FBI and the United States was betrayed by one of its own – Robert Hanssen – a disgraced former FBI special agent now serving a life sentence in a federal prison for espionage. It is a fascinating and disturbing story.

Frank’s long and distinguished career in the FBI, took him to many different places – San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Cleveland. Among the most challenging posts he held was in the FBI’s Office of Professional Responsibility, where he imposed discipline – including dismissal – on men and women who violated the FBI’s strict code of conduct – decisions that were often agonizingly difficult but necessary to preserve the integrity of the organization.

At the end of his FBI career, Frank ran the Counterintelligence Division of the FBI, and instituted important changes to ensure that intelligence analysts and special agents worked more closely together to protect our nation from relentless foreign adversaries.

Frank was a thoughtful and principled leader and has written eloquently about his time at the FBI and about its core principles – such as compassion, credibility, and consistency – in his new book, The FBI Way.

If you have thoughtful feedback on this episode or others, please email us at [email protected].

Find the transcript and all our previous episodes at MSNBC.com/TheOath 

...more
View all episodesView all episodes
Download on the App Store

The Oath with Chuck RosenbergBy Chuck Rosenberg, NBC News

  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8
  • 4.8

4.8

15,593 ratings


More shows like The Oath with Chuck Rosenberg

View all
The Rachel Maddow Show by Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

The Rachel Maddow Show

37,655 Listeners

Morning Joe by Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, MSNBC

Morning Joe

8,675 Listeners

All In with Chris Hayes by Chris Hayes, MSNBC

All In with Chris Hayes

5,826 Listeners

The ReidOut with Joy Reid by Joy Reid,  MSNBC

The ReidOut with Joy Reid

3,081 Listeners

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle by MSNBC

The 11th Hour with Stephanie Ruhle

3,914 Listeners

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell by Lawrence O'Donnell, MSNBC

The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell

7,117 Listeners

Deadline: White House by Nicolle Wallace, MSNBC

Deadline: White House

6,728 Listeners

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast by Chris Hayes, MSNBC & NBCNews THINK

Why Is This Happening? The Chris Hayes Podcast

9,607 Listeners

Way Too Early with Ali Vitali by MSNBC

Way Too Early with Ali Vitali

606 Listeners

The Al Franken Podcast by ASF Productions

The Al Franken Podcast

8,690 Listeners

So You Wanna Be President? with Chris Matthews by NBC News

So You Wanna Be President? with Chris Matthews

830 Listeners

Into America by MSNBC, Trymaine Lee

Into America

3,353 Listeners

#SistersInLaw by Politicon

#SistersInLaw

10,312 Listeners

The Lincoln Project by The Lincoln Project

The Lincoln Project

8,921 Listeners

Velshi by MSNBC

Velshi

908 Listeners

Saturdays & Sundays with Jonathan Capehart by MSNBC

Saturdays & Sundays with Jonathan Capehart

358 Listeners

American Radical by MSNBC

American Radical

4,348 Listeners

Trumpland with Alex Wagner by Alex Wagner, MSNBC

Trumpland with Alex Wagner

1,705 Listeners

Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra by Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra

31,708 Listeners

The Revolution with Steve Kornacki by Steve Kornacki, MSNBC

The Revolution with Steve Kornacki

2,146 Listeners

Main Justice by MSNBC

Main Justice

7,073 Listeners

Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News by Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Rachel Maddow Presents: Déjà News

6,298 Listeners

The Briefing with Jen Psaki by MSNBC

The Briefing with Jen Psaki

993 Listeners

Ayman by MSNBC

Ayman

58 Listeners

Rachel Maddow Presents by Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

Rachel Maddow Presents

214 Listeners

The Weeknight by MSNBC

The Weeknight

7 Listeners