Take a look at almost any news report and you’ll see a story questioning the ethics or competence of the FBI. You might turn a blind eye to it, assuming it’s “fake news.”
But former FBI agent, William Larsh, knows otherwise. In fact, he’s written a book about the agency, “The FBI: They Eat Their Young.”
Larsh, of Waynesboro, knows a thing or two about the inner workings of the nation’s primary federal law enforcement agency—he was a member of the FBI for 28 years, as a field agent, street agent and supervisor special agent, to name a few roles.
“The theme [of the book] is the FBI management is vindictive,” Larsh explained. “A lot of people running it have huge egos. It got to be ludicrous the second half of my career.”
The title of the book came from an old joke in the agency: “What’s the difference between FBI executive management and a shark? Sharks don’t eat their young.”
Behind the cover
“The FBI: They Eat Their Young” takes readers behind the cover of an FBI agent’s career, disclosing the inner workings of the agency by providing insight into the investigations of a multitude of cases personally worked on by Larsh, including drugs, fugitives, white-collar crime, foreign counter-intelligence, espionage, police corruption, civil rights and internal affairs matters.
“I planned to write this book even before I retired,” Larsh said. “Throughout my career, it seemed like I worked in more places than most agents. I was a storyteller to my family and friends. A lot of agents would tell me, ‘You should write a book.’”
Larsh said after his 2012 retirement, he began writing down all his stories.
“I honed my skills writing in the FBI for years,” he said. “Every time you do an investigation, you write it down. It’s actually ridiculous the amount of writing agents have to do. Most of them complain about it. I enjoyed it.”
Before he knew it, Larsh had 600 or 700 pages of tales.
“I had all the names. It had a negative slant of FBI management. I thought, ‘I could never publish this,’” he recalled.
Larsh said he shelved the book for years before sending a draft to a friend and fellow retired FBI agent who had penned his own novel. “He said, ‘You should do it.’”
Larsh returned to his book and began removing names, but keeping enough detail to tell the stories.
“I thought by describing my cases, the public would realize what’s involved in investigating a case and what an agent has to go through to prove a case and take it to court,” Larsh explained.
During his 28-year career, his work took him from Baltimore to Orlando, Fla., to Washington, D.C., to Oklahoma City and back to the nation’s capital before his retirement.
Under Cover
Larsh, who grew up in the Baltimore, Md., area, said looking back, he treasures his career. “It was the luckiest day of my life getting into the FBI,” he recalled.
But he had no idea what he was getting into.
The book details Larsh’s scrapes with FBI management and he exposes a dark side of the FBI hierarchy, illustrating their pettiness, vindictiveness, massive egos, and retaliatory nature. “If they go after you, they can do anything they want to you,” he said.
And his experiences weren’t uncommon, he’s discovered.
“I’m so surprised how many former agents shared a similar experience to me,” he said.
Larsh said he did have to have the manuscript approved by the agency before getting it published. “They had to make sure no classified information was in it or that I didn’t violate the Privacy Act,” he said.
Larsh, who worked under Robert Mueller, said since his retirement, even he has shaken his head at what’s happened at the agency, especially with James Comey.
“When the director of the FBI gets on TV and lays out evidence … he was laying out almost like a prosecutor would an indictment for prosecution, but yet he never sent that to a prosecutor, I almost fell out of my chair,” he recalled. “I’ve never seen the FBI decline their own case. It’s supposed to be forwarded to the Department of Justice or the U.S. Attorney’s office. The FBI itself doesn’t decline prosecution.”
“The FBI: They Eat Their Young” is available on <a href=”http://Amazon.com” rel=”nofollow”>Amazon.com</a> or from the author directly at WilliamLarshBooks@gmail.com.
Contact Andrea Rose at arose@therecordherald.com or 717-762-2151 or on Twitter @AndreaCiccociop.