Mike Mason/fbi photo

By Allan Lengel
ticklethewire.com

WASHINGTON — Under the category of “you’ve got to be kidding me” rumors, comes the latest: former FBI agent Michael Mason is being considered to take over as director of the FBI.
On Monday afternoon, Mason told ticklethewire.com that the rumor was ridiculous. He said he’s happy as director of security for Verizon where he’s said to be making big big bucks. (He’s got two kids he needs to put through college).
“This is the first I’ve heard of this,” he said. “I don’t have any interest in the position.”
He said he’s a big fan of director Robert Mueller III and hopes he “does what he said he was going to do and serves the whole term.”
Mason, a 23-year veteran of the bureau, stepped down as executive assistant director of the criminal branch in December 2007 to take the job at Verizon.
Eric Holder, who is President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for Attorney General, could not be reached Monday for comment.

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In Washington there are plenty agents and prosecutors who have good things to say about Eric Holder. But some Congressional members might rough him up a little during the confirmation hearings over his role in the pardon of Marc Rich during the Clinton regime.

By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
New York Times
Nine-year-old Eric Holder sat in the basement of his family’s house in Queens, enraptured by the inaugural words of the fresh-faced president from Massachusetts. The broadcast on the tiny television set faded in and out, muffled by the steady roar of jetliners at nearby La Guardia Airport, but John F. Kennedy’s call for hope and change was enough to stir the boy’s desire to serve.
By ninth grade, Ricky, as he was known to his friends, was standing before his peers in the auditorium making his case for student body president. In high school, towering above his classmates and teachers at 6 feet 3 inches tall, he passionately debated how to rid African-Americans of their second-class status.
Now, four decades later, Eric Himpton Holder Jr., 57, the Bronx-born son of Miriam, an Episcopal church secretary from New Jersey, and Eric Sr., a real estate broker from Barbados, is expected to be nominated on Monday by President-elect Barack Obama to become the attorney general of the United States. He would be the first black person to do so.
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Read Washington Post Editorial on What the Next A.G. Must Do

In an area known for its large Arab population, any rules giving the FBI more power has always raised concerns. Here’s the latest.

By Niraj Wariko
Detroit Free Press
DETROIT — Beginning Monday, the FBI will get increased power to investigate suspected terrorists under revised administrative guidelines that some Muslim Americans and civil rights advocates in metro Detroit are concerned may target innocent people.
The new Justice Department guidelines will allow FBI agents, for the first time in terrorism-related cases, to use undercover sources to gather information in preliminary probes, interview people without identifying who they are and spy on suspects without first getting clear evidence of wrongdoing.
They’re the most significant changes the Bush administration has made since 2003 to rules that govern security investigations in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
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OTHER STORIES OF INTEREST

The FBI and the Corruption Eradication Commission in Indonesia Sign Pact For Technical Cooperation (Jakarta Post)

As the drug wars in Mexico escalate, Americans in the Houston area are profiting from the insatiable appetite for guns.

By Dane Schiller
Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Drug cartel gangsters waging a criminal insurgency against Mexican society and government are making the Houston area their marketplace of choice, as they spend millions of dollars statewide buying military-style weapons and ammunition.
Gangsters have honed in on this city because of its glut of gun shops, its proximity to the border, and its long-established networks for smuggling narcotics into the United States, federal law-enforcement officials said.
The surge in fraudulent purchases comes as more than 4,000 people have died in Mexico’s criminal underworld violence this year.
Authorities can point to numerous crimes, including the infamous 2007 Acapulco Massacre to illustrate the carnage brought on by Houston-bought guns that have gotten into the hands of ruthless killers.
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