(2 of 4)
Felt and Miller claim that Gray gave them verbal authorization for the break-ins, but Gray denies talking with them about the matter. Along with offering this defense for Felt and Miller, their attorneys are likely to argue that the foreign connections of the Weathermen drew the case into the espionage classification. But Miller himself rejected that contention in an interview with a TIME reporter in August 1976. "I wish I could tell you that the foreign ties of the Weathermen were a factor," he said then, "but I can't. We looked into those connections and didn't find enough to justify the suspicion of espionage. My motivation in approving the break-ins was the bombings, the terrorism and my own desire to solve those cases."
The indictments of Gray, Felt and Miller, as well as the bureau's announced plans to discipline or dismiss 68 agents who carried out the "bag job" orders, were the most serious blows yet to the buffeted FBI. But many agents are less concerned, as one of them put it, "with those three turkeys" than with the current top leadership of the bureau.
The elevation earlier this month of James B. Adams, 51, to the No. 2 post in the bureau is at the core of their resentment. The promotion, one of the first major moves made by newly installed FBI Chief William Webster, angered veteran agents across the country not only because of Adams' record as a headquarters hatchet man for the late J. Edgar Hoover but also because of his lackluster performance as the FBI's chief of investigations for the past four years.
After Webster announced Adams' promotion and called him a man "who enjoyed the respect of the entire FBI," reaction from many longtime agents belied Webster's claim. "I was speechless," said a Chicago FBI man, "because I threw up." Asked a shocked Cleveland agent: "Is Adams the best this outfit can produce?" Another agent now likes to refer to FBI headquarters as a "Charlie McCarthy show," with Webster the dummy. Says he: "Whenever Webster opens his mouth, it's Adams talking."
Born in Texas, Adams was educated at Baylor University and served two years as a state legislator before joining the FBI in 1951. After less than two years in the field, he was assigned to the administrative division in Washington. At headquarters, under Division Chief John P. Mohr, Adams helped oversee the bureau's budgets, as well as firings and promotions, transfers of agents and disciplinary purges. Agents in the field reviled Mohr's administrators, but Adams prospered.
Adams and other top officials in the administrative division bestowed cash bonuses of $500 to $1,000 upon themselves for "outstanding service." Adams collected six of these so-called M.V.P. (Most Valuable Player) awards, prompting field agents, who rarely got such bonuses, to call him a "six-star general."