Salon Newsreal | Betrayed by the FBI

A L S O+T O D A Y

Clinton should be disbarred
By Lori Leibovich
A leading legal ethicist offers a punishment consistent with the president's crimes
(12/11/98)

T A B L E+T A L K
Should men who are tricked into fatherhood be forced to pay child support? Join the debate in the Politics area of Table Talk
___________________
Find out more about FBI Informants at BarnesandNoble.com
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R E C E N T L Y
Ruff going
By Bruce Shapiro
Clinton's lawyers take their best shot, but impeachment seems all but inevitable
(12/10/98)
Impeachment hearing voices
A round-up of the most quotable moments from Wednesday's hearing
(12/10/98)
Clinton: TV or not TV?
By Joan Walsh
As the lame-duck House moves toward impeachment, the president counts votes and ponders another national address
(12/09/98)
Impeachment hearing voices
Eleven hours of testimony and questioning on the first day of the White House's defense of President Clinton Tuesday produced some memorable quotes
(12/09/98)
A swarn of witnesses
Clinton defense who's who A roster of the witnesses for the president
(12/09/98)
Gentleman's agreement
By Christopher Hitchens
Why Clinton gets to stay mum on Pinochet
(12/08/98)
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---Betrayed by the FBI
INFORMANTS WHO'VE RISKED THEIR LIVES REVEALING TERRORIST PLOTS, MOB HITS AND SOVIET ESPIONAGE FIND THEMSELVES HUNG OUT TO DRY.
BY JEFF STEIN | In terms of job prestige, "snitch" probably ranks somewhere down at the bottom with lawyer and reporter. Think Linda Tripp. But consider, too, Frank Serpico, the honest cop who blew the whistle on corruption in the New York Police Department.
The fact is, one person's snitch is another person's hero. Without the use of informants, the FBI, CIA, cops and prosecutors would be hard-pressed to make cases, especially against targets like organized crime, terrorists and crooked politicians. Nowhere is that more true than at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where the information snitches provide is the mother's milk of successful prosecution.
So you'd think the FBI would be grateful. Not so -- or at least not always so, according to the cases of three high-profile informants made available to Salon. To these bitter three, "FBI" might as well stand for "Federal Bureau of Ingratitude."
The informants range from a man who helped the bureau nail New York mob figures to a Jordanian airline steward who helped the U.S. government capture one of the most wanted terrorists of the 1980s to a woman who worked as a double agent in a Soviet front group in the United States, meeting regularly with Kremlin officials.
Unlike their popular image, none of them were criminals or even suspects -- mokes who "flipped" on their friends to beat a rap themselves. They were ordinary citizens who came forward in the interest of justice. Now, their service done, the FBI has cast them aside.
Take the case of Barbara Makuch. As she wrote to me from an undisclosed location this week, "You need to be clear on one thing in my case. I was not an informant, I was not forced because I was a criminal, I was a patriot who became a double agent against the KGB." As a young housewife in Buffalo in the 1960s, Makuch flocked to the anti-war movement, where most protesters wanted nothing more than peace, love, social justice and maybe a hit of marijuana to a rock 'n' roll beat. But one day a young man told her of his plans to bomb the student union and a local NBC affiliate. Makuch, the German-born child of Holocaust survivors, called the FBI.
Thus began her 22-year undercover sojourn as a double agent in the anti-war movement, shuttling between her KGB handlers in the Kremlin and her FBI controllers here. In Moscow she was under constant surveillance by Soviet operatives. All this for pay that ranged from $40 to "a couple hundred" dollars a month. In 1987, her work led to the indictment and guilty plea of an American clergyman on charges of laundering "peace movement" funds for Moscow.
At the end of the Cold War, the FBI gave Barbara Makuch its Louis E. Peters Memorial Award, its highest civilian decoration. But a wooden plaque is about all she's gotten. Because she was only a confidential source, officially, and not a U.S. government employee, she's received no Social Security, pension or health benefits a regular employee would receive, nor tuition funds that her FBI handler promised for her daughter, she says. A usable résumé that the bureau promised her never materialized. She and her husband, who often traveled with her to the Soviet Union as part of her mission and now suffers from kidney disease, are both unemployed.
"Lots of promises were made," Makuch says, "including not having to worry about my future as long as I did as I was told and testified in the trial. I have sent letters to congressmen and senators. No response at all," she says.
"Twenty-five years ago, when I began my work, no one told me that I would have to look out for myself," she says. "I had no contract except for the one the FBI insisted I sign. I had no attorney or friend to advise me. I was not allowed to speak with anyone regarding my work with the FBI. Now, not only am I unable to find suitable employment, but I also realize that I have been abandoned by the government I served."
N E X T+P A G E+| A far worse fate

A L S O+T O D A Y Clinton should be disbarred By Lori Leibovich A leading legal ethicist offers a punishment consistent with the president's crimes (12/11/98) T A B L E+T A L K Should men who are tricked into fatherhood be forced to pay child support? Join the debate in the Politics area of Table Talk ___________________ Find out more about FBI Informants at BarnesandNoble.com ___________________ R E C E N T L Y Ruff going By Bruce Shapiro Clinton's lawyers take their best shot, but impeachment seems all but inevitable (12/10/98) Impeachment hearing voices A round-up of the most quotable moments from Wednesday's hearing (12/10/98) Clinton: TV or not TV? By Joan Walsh As the lame-duck House moves toward impeachment, the president counts votes and ponders another national address (12/09/98) Impeachment hearing voices Eleven hours of testimony and questioning on the first day of the White House's defense of President Clinton Tuesday produced some memorable quotes (12/09/98) A swarn of witnesses Clinton defense who's who A roster of the witnesses for the president (12/09/98) Gentleman's agreement By Christopher Hitchens Why Clinton gets to stay mum on Pinochet (12/08/98) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Browse the Newsreal Archives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
		---Betrayed by the FBI INFORMANTS WHO'VE RISKED THEIR LIVES REVEALING TERRORIST PLOTS, MOB HITS AND SOVIET ESPIONAGE FIND THEMSELVES HUNG OUT TO DRY. BY JEFF STEIN \| In terms of job prestige, "snitch" probably ranks somewhere down at the bottom with lawyer and reporter. Think Linda Tripp. But consider, too, Frank Serpico, the honest cop who blew the whistle on corruption in the New York Police Department. The fact is, one person's snitch is another person's hero. Without the use of informants, the FBI, CIA, cops and prosecutors would be hard-pressed to make cases, especially against targets like organized crime, terrorists and crooked politicians. Nowhere is that more true than at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where the information snitches provide is the mother's milk of successful prosecution. So you'd think the FBI would be grateful. Not so -- or at least not always so, according to the cases of three high-profile informants made available to Salon. To these bitter three, "FBI" might as well stand for "Federal Bureau of Ingratitude." The informants range from a man who helped the bureau nail New York mob figures to a Jordanian airline steward who helped the U.S. government capture one of the most wanted terrorists of the 1980s to a woman who worked as a double agent in a Soviet front group in the United States, meeting regularly with Kremlin officials. Unlike their popular image, none of them were criminals or even suspects -- mokes who "flipped" on their friends to beat a rap themselves. They were ordinary citizens who came forward in the interest of justice. Now, their service done, the FBI has cast them aside. Take the case of Barbara Makuch. As she wrote to me from an undisclosed location this week, "You need to be clear on one thing in my case. I was not an informant, I was not forced because I was a criminal, I was a patriot who became a double agent against the KGB." As a young housewife in Buffalo in the 1960s, Makuch flocked to the anti-war movement, where most protesters wanted nothing more than peace, love, social justice and maybe a hit of marijuana to a rock 'n' roll beat. But one day a young man told her of his plans to bomb the student union and a local NBC affiliate. Makuch, the German-born child of Holocaust survivors, called the FBI. Thus began her 22-year undercover sojourn as a double agent in the anti-war movement, shuttling between her KGB handlers in the Kremlin and her FBI controllers here. In Moscow she was under constant surveillance by Soviet operatives. All this for pay that ranged from $40 to "a couple hundred" dollars a month. In 1987, her work led to the indictment and guilty plea of an American clergyman on charges of laundering "peace movement" funds for Moscow. At the end of the Cold War, the FBI gave Barbara Makuch its Louis E. Peters Memorial Award, its highest civilian decoration. But a wooden plaque is about all she's gotten. Because she was only a confidential source, officially, and not a U.S. government employee, she's received no Social Security, pension or health benefits a regular employee would receive, nor tuition funds that her FBI handler promised for her daughter, she says. A usable résumé that the bureau promised her never materialized. She and her husband, who often traveled with her to the Soviet Union as part of her mission and now suffers from kidney disease, are both unemployed. "Lots of promises were made," Makuch says, "including not having to worry about my future as long as I did as I was told and testified in the trial. I have sent letters to congressmen and senators. No response at all," she says. "Twenty-five years ago, when I began my work, no one told me that I would have to look out for myself," she says. "I had no contract except for the one the FBI insisted I sign. I had no attorney or friend to advise me. I was not allowed to speak with anyone regarding my work with the FBI. Now, not only am I unable to find suitable employment, but I also realize that I have been abandoned by the government I served." N E X T+P A G E+\| A far worse fate