During a congressional testimony on February 16, 2005 by the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation before the Senate Committee on Intelligence of the United States Senate, insightful remarks crystallized public corruption as an American crisis. Director Robert S. Mueller III poignantly stated:

Public Corruption

“Public corruption continues to pose the greatest threat to the integrity of all levels of government. Recent investigative efforts have been intensified to identify and convict Immigration, Department of State, and Department of Motor Vehicle officials illegally selling visas or other citizenship documents and drivers licenses to anyone with enough money. Their illegal activities potentially conceal the identity and purpose of terrorists and other criminals, facilitating their entry, travel and operation without detection in the United States. Other investigations have convicted numerous law enforcement officers, including those who formed criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking. Many major metropolitan areas in the United States have witnessed the indictment and conviction of corrupt public officials who betrayed the publics trust for profit or personal gain. Over the last two years alone, the FBI has convicted more than 1,050 corrupt government employees, including 177 federal officials, 158 state officials, 360 local officials and more then 350 police officers. In addition to pursuing criminal investigations against corrupt law enforcement officers, the FBI has initiated awareness and training efforts to deter corruption such as Project Identity”.

As a striking indication of this scandal within American government, on December 23, 2004 in New Haven, Connecticut, former governor John G. Rowland, driven from office by corruption headlines, pleaded guilty to a federal felony charge that carried a sentence of up to five years. Ultimately, Mr. Rowland was sentenced to one year and one day but scandalously, a former American governor was now a convicted felon and no longer able to vote or hold public office.

New Jersey Graft Probe

On February 22, 2005, just days after the congressional testimony of the Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, FBI agents swept through Monmouth County, New Jersey and arrested eleven current and former public officials on extortion and other charges, highlighting a long-running probe that prosecutors said proved corruption was pervasive in the region.

This roundup of public officials in Monmouth County included three sitting mayors, four current councilmen and a police commissioner. The bust rivaled the largest graft headlines on one day in New Jersey history. In announcing the arrests, U. S. Attorney Christopher Christie stated, “What we discovered is that this was business as usual across a surprisingly wide swath of Monmouth County, where an attitude of greed, arrogance and entitlement prevailed”.

Ten of these individuals were charged with conspiracy to extort under the color of official right and each face up to 20 years imprisonment. The former councilman of Marlboro, New Jersey is accused of money laundering for a contractor, a crime that may also have a penalty of 20 years of imprisonment. These former “leaders” of Monmouth County government were now appearing in federal court wearing handcuffs and ankle shackles.

As a response to these arrests, U.S. Attorney Christie stated that this type of criminal behavior is an epidemic in New Jersey. This epidemic is verified by the fact that his office has charged or won convictions against 76 New Jersey public officials in the last three years alone.

Corporate Corruption

The epidemic of a culture of corruption, manifested by dishonesty, avarice and hypocrisy does not express itself in public corruption alone. Corruption is a contemporary pestilence, glaringly expressed throughout all facets of American life. The only response is a renewal of ethics as a paragon of leadership, so critically necessary to transform the heart of America.

The corporate climate unfortunately compounds this crisis and also stands as a contradiction to ethics within American society. On March 15, the former Chief Executive Officer of WorldCom, Bernard Ebbers was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and false regulatory filings after a six week federal trial in New York City. The criminal conviction against Mr. Ebbers carries up to 85 years in prison. It is the result of a scandal that eventually unearthed $11 billion in cooked books. It must be noted that this type of corruption is pervasive in American corporations and ultimately the victims are employees, stockholders and society at large due to the disintegration of trust in corporate executives.

Compounding the WorldCom scandal is Enron, another American corporation that is now an icon of greed, deception and dishonesty. On September 11, 2003, the front page of the business section of The New York Times depicted one example of numerous Enron executive scandals. There was a photo with Ben Glison Jr. in handcuffs and shackles after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud by manipulating company financial statements by as much as $1 billion. The former treasurer of Enron’s contemptuous actions led to a 5-year prison sentence.

Commission on the Intelligence Capabilities Of the United States
regarding Weapons of Mass Destruction

On March 31, 2005, this commission, established by Presidential Executive Order, was charged with assessing if the intelligence community is sufficiently authorized, organized, equipped, trained and resourced to support and protect the United States regarding weapons of mass destruction.

In Chapter 6 of this commission report is “Leadership and Management: Forging an Integrated Intelligence Community”. The findings of the commission in this chapter are complimentary to “The 9/11 Commission Report” chapter on “How To Do It? A Different Way of Organizing the Government” which stressed a “Unity of Effort” as paramount in organizing the government.

In this new March 31, 2005 commission report, the summary and recommendations regarding leadership and management within the intelligence community boldly emphasizes:

“Today’s intelligence community is not a “community” in any meaningful sense. It is a loose confederation of 15 separate entities. The Director of National Intelligence must forge a truly integrated intelligence community.

Specifically, the Director of National Intelligence must lead the community with modern management techniques and he must:

1. Bring a mission focus to the management of community resources by creating “mission managers”.
2. Create a leadership structure that manages intelligence collection.
3. Make changes to the intelligence community’s personnel policies creating central human resource authority, develop performance incentives and establish a National Intelligence University”.

In effect, this new commission is recommending sound leadership policies and procedures that develop cohesion, unity and community within the intelligence community as expressive of team building management.

Conclusion

Sound principles of time tested leadership training and development must be standards revitalized in America’s rising to the occasion of overcoming the culture of corruption. Essentially, these are principles which must be the standards utilized in this call to leadership transformation:

• Communicate Persuasively through Personal Credibility
• Trust must be Cultivated
• Welcome Pressures with Calmness and Confidence
• Behave Professionally and without Reproach
• Cultivate a Unity of Effort and Purpose
• Animate Success in Others
• Live by Example and with a Clear Mission
• Sincerely Respect Others
• Foster a Climate of Truthfulness
• Be a Dynamic Performer
• Avoid Underhanded Power Plays
• Be a Paragon of Character

In cultivating these standards of effective leadership within all elements of American society, America will stand true to its legacy and once again shine as a beacon of character and renewal for our country and the world community at large.

Vincent J. Bove, CPP is a Board Certified Protection Professional, Board Certified Crime Prevention Specialist, Certified Law Enforcement Instructor and U.S. Department of Justice Certified Community Anti-Terrorism Awareness Trainer.

He is the 2007 New Jersey recipient of the prestigious FBI Director's Community Leadership Award and was hand-selected to serve as a facilitator and mentor for the 2007 National Conference on Ethics in America and speaker for the 2008 conference at the United States Military Academy at West Point.

"Vincent J. Bove is considered one of the foremost national experts on school and workplace violence prevention, specializing in facility protection, evacuations, terrorism prevention and leadership training." -- U.S. Senate

You can visit Mr. Bove's website at www.vincentbove.com or email him at vincent@vincentbove.com