Leadership is an idea that pervades the popular discourse.
We need individuals of persuasive vision who inspire others to realize the organization’s mission in creative and forward-looking ways. Moreover, we need ethical leaders, not just effective leaders, who are distinctly humane, value justice, integrity, and respect. They feel a duty to uphold the truth, even when it is inconvenient. They hold sacred the consequences of actions, weighing the greatest good for the greatest number. Our institutions need effective, ethical leaders. James B. Comey embodies the ideals of the ethical leader.
When James B. Comey was 17 years old, he and his brother were held at gunpoint by the notorious “Ramsey Rapist” who was responsible for a rash of home invasions and rapes of female teenagers. Mr. Comey and his brother barely escaped. He has said that the incident left a profound impression on him. He later reflected on the experience: “It most affects me in giving me a sense of what victims feel. Even the notion that no one was physically harmed doesn’t mean no one was harmed, because I thought about that guy every night for five years.”
In 2013, after a remarkably successful career as an attorney in government, the private sector, and academia, Mr. Comey was appointed Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation by President Barack Obama, as successor to Director Robert Mueller. By a vote of 93-1, he was confirmed for a ten-year term. In his memoir, “A Higher Loyalty,” Mr. Comey says that he wanted to see the FBI become a “leadership factory.” Further, he submits, “I was going to drive leadership into every corner and every conversation.” He defines a leader as having “integrity and decency, [being] confident and humble, kind and tough, transparent, and what is said is important, but what is done is far more important.” He concludes, “we would develop ethical leaders.”
By 2016, Mr. Comey was in the center of an historic confluence of political currents in the presidential election. The FBI investigated the controversial use of a private email server arranged by Secretary Hillary Clinton. Mr. Comey ultimately did not pursue charges, but his public rebuke of her actions—that she was “extremely careless in handling classified information”—according to many, may have affected the election outcome. Was this an error in judgment? The Inspector General later concluded that Mr. Comey had been “insubordinate,” and that he “deviated from FBI procedures.” Is this a critique that Mr. Comey acted unethically? Or was he overzealous in espousing his judgments? In fact, when later testifying on his critical remarks of the Clinton email situation, he says that it makes him “mildly nauseous” to think that his actions impacted the outcome of the election.
In Congressional testimony, he disclosed that he had been a registered Republican most of his life but he is no longer so registered. Mr. Comey further asserted that the FBI is “resolutely apolitical.” He posits that he is aspiring toward a higher loyalty than that of any political party. Indeed, he may be suggesting that his higher loyalty goes beyond the strictures of the office of Director of FBI—that his thoughts and deeds are transcendent in pursuit of the truth or what is right, independent of party or office rules.
Then, in 2017, Mr. Comey informed Congress that the FBI was investigating links between Russia and President Trump’s campaign staff. Mr. Comey met with Mr. Trump. According to his memoir, Mr. Comey was asked by Mr. Trump for “loyalty.” He responded by saying “you will always get honesty from me.” Within weeks, Mr. Trump relieved Mr. Comey of his duties after his Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General recommended his removal.
We must consider that these words, these two ideas, in juxtaposition are crucial—loyalty and honesty. The ethical leader may not be loyal if he or she thinks an action is wrong. The President was interested in loyalty and Mr. Comey did not give that assurance.
Mr. Comey had not brought charges against Mrs. Clinton. He did not drop the charges brought against Mr. Trump’s National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. We must think of these considerations in the motive of the dismissal. Mr. Comey shows a pattern of following his conscience in light of the facts. For that, he has had to endure the consequences.
Before the Senate, Mr. Comey revealed that he “orchestrated the leak of accounts of conversations with President Donald Trump [that he had kept in a personal journal] because he thought it might lead to the appointment of a special prosecutor to lead the Russia investigation.” In fact, Mr. Mueller was appointed to examine aspects of the campaigns including potential Russian collusion with the Trump campaign, and possible obstruction of justice. We might consider that Mr. Comey believes in “morality at all costs and whatever means.” His Higher Loyalty might be considered the pursuit of the truth and strict adherence to his moral code, his conscience, and the greater good.
This fall at his alma mater, The College of William and Mary, James B. Comey is co-teaching a course on ethical leadership.