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2) When President Carter and Attorney General Bell were about to name a new FBI chief, the bureau's investigation into Bert Lance's affairs, supervised by Adams, stalled for a number of days. At the time, an FBI official admitted the bureau was "holding back" and later confirmed the delay when he proclaimed, "We're going full blast now." There have been no suggestions that either Carter or Bell ordered the stall. The bureau apparently took it upon itself to delay on Lance in order not to offend the Administration.
3) Adams was ordered by the Justice Department to give top priority to investigations of racketeering in the Teamsters Union. But agents soon discovered that two targets, Teamster Boss Frank Fitzsimmons and a powerful Ohio Teamster leader, were insulated from the probe by their "informant's relationship" with high FBI officials. The agents say that the Ohio Teamster leader manipulated the investigation by putting the bureau on the trail of his union enemies, small fry who were not essential to the case. Many agents question the value of using union chiefs as informants, insisting that they gain immunity from investigation but provide little in return.
Webster, of course, defends his choice of Adams. While he acknowledges his inexperience at the bureau, he says he knew what kind of director he did not want—"someone who says, 'We've got a right to do whatever we think is best for the country.' " Webster points out that he talked to many people before naming Adams. He consulted with Bell, Kelley, Congressmen and Senators, six FBI field commanders and the 15-man FBI executive conference. Of the latter group, however, two top-echelon bureau officials agree that "only a couple of those guys know what they're doing." Moreover, all of the six field commanders owe their present jobs to Adams. As for the veteran field agents most disturbed by Adams' rise, Webster readily admits that "I did not ask what they thought of Adams. I don't see many of them. I've been trying to get a grip here at headquarters."
By all accounts, Webster has been doing that at a breakneck pace, while making extra chores for himself by intentionally delaying for two months the appointment of an associate director. His most time-consuming task has involved wrestling with FBI budget problems and testifying about them before appropriation committees on Capitol Hill. Webster has also been working with the Justice Department in formulating a new charter for the FBI, which, Bell promises, should be ready by July. In short, Webster has been as busy as Americans would expect a new FBI director to be. As his knowledge of how the FBI functions deepens with time, his refutation of his "Charlie McCarthy" relationship with Adams—"I am the director of the FBI, and I am running it"—should increasingly ring true.