A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership

I, like I assume most people, picked this up to get some insight into the dirt going on in the Trump administration from one of it's most interesting victims. Comey was fired as FBI director by Trump last year because of his handling of the Russia investigation (rather, because the Russia investigation wasn't being shut down) after a series of decisions by Comey to reveal information about investigations that many people believe caused Clinton to lose the election. I wouldn't say that there was much dirt, or even any new information regarding the investigation (albeit this book is a little dated in that regard, at this point), but what it does provide is a look into Comey's life and professional development, as well as his views on honesty and leadership and how his values were affected by serving under three very different presidents.

The story starts with Comey as a teenager with a disdain for bullies and a few nasty traumas to work through, then moves forward to when Comey was a prosecutor going after people in the NYC mafia. This section honestly feels like a not-so-sly suggestion that the current US president bears a lot of resemblance to the mafia bosses he used to put away. There's more to it, showing where Comey started really seeing the theory and practice of leadership clashing in front of him, but there was a lot of subtext here that made me chuckle about the situations he would end up in twenty years later.

The most interesting sections of the book have to do with Comey's tenure under Bush and Obama in a couple of different roles. His opinions on Obama versus Bush seem almost comically divergent; it's hard to believe he donated to Republican legislators and presidential campaigns when he writes about the amount of respect he held for Obama. By Comey's account, Bush seems sort of quirky and somewhat disruptive, but there doesn't seem to be much opinion on him as a leader. There's a lot of talk about Comey's interactions with other members of the administration, but Bush doesn't seem very heavily involved in many of his challenges. On the other hand, Comey ends his section of the 2016 election by noting his conversation with Obama where Comey explicitly said he'd miss Obama - this being after talking publicly about the Clinton investigation and not the Russia investigation, which many think was a hugely political move in favour of the Republican campaign. He makes no effort to hide his Republican leanings throughout the book, but his opinions of the Republican presidents of late doesn't read very favourably.

What I was expecting to be the most interesting part of the book was his work in the Trump administration, but there wasn't much in the way of new information. His discomfort with Trump's loyalty shenanigans is more apparent than in his other public testimony, but the juicy bits had been hashed out within a couple months of the book coming out. Comey's writing does give you a more emotional view of things than his Senate testimony (to no one's surprise, I hope), but the acts themselves are nothing I didn't already know.

Something that I appreciated about this book is that it not only humanizes Comey - which I think is important given how everyone has decided to drag him through the mud since before the election - but it spends a lot of time building up how Comey believes he needs to act as a leader and a public figure, and how these beliefs informed decisions that he has been judged harshly for. It can be hard to say whether or not releasing information on Clinton's email investigation was a good or bad decision, but the book makes it clear that it was a bloody hard decision and you're not really surprised by what he did once you have the whole context of his experience. He's made a lot of hard decisions, and even when he got it wrong you can at least see that he tried pretty hard to do what he thought was right.

It's also nice to hear him trash Trump a couple times. He generally tries to be respectful when talking about his disagreements with the way leaders (and especially presidents) have handled things, but he doesn't hold much respect for Trump at all. Comey may as well be an overgrown boy scout if you believe this book, yet he makes sure the epilogue notes how messed up the situation in the White House and America as a whole is right now. It's sort of cathartic.

Since I listened to the audiobook, it's worth noting that it's narrated by Comey himself and he does a fantastic job. He's clear, he has good pacing, and there's never a moment of dissonance between the words and the voice. It's basically Comey telling you about his life and his beliefs. It's pretty nice.

Reading this, you want to like the guy. His message is that the he had no political agenda and everything he did was forced upon him. Though he admits, others could have made principled choices different from his, he says he would make the same choices again, which, though he admits were not ideal, were the only way to keep the FBI from appearing biased. Here's why I was not convinced.

The FBI already appeared biased. He fully admits that individual agents (and law enforcement in general) tends to be conservative but insists they could do their job despite this. Even assuming for the sake of argument that this is true, when he announced the reopening of the Clinton email case so close to the election, it gave the impression of bias anyway. It was well known (and discussed by the media) that the FBI was, in the words of one agent who spoke to The Guardian, Trumplandia. His announcement was going to be seen in that context. He would appear biased. He argues, what if he didn't announce it and it was leaked instead? That would actually have looked better, especially when it was followed by an announcement that there was nothing of substance found by the investigation. And he should have made heroic efforts to prevent any leak. He doesn't tell us of any such efforts at all. In the end, he appears to be defending himself. Still, I want to like the guy.

Earlier in the book, he condemns the use of torture by the CIA, says it was unnecessary despite what they claimed and tells of his efforts to prevent the justice department from giving it legal cover. He tells it in the context of he and John Ashcroft outmaneuvering Dick Cheney and Alberto Gonzales. If you weren't careful you would think that was the whole story. In fact, he actually signed off on the legality waterboarding (as long as it wasn't done mixed in with other "enhanced interrogation techniques.") I wonder how many readers of the book know this. I wouldn't have had I not read about it on line. If he told the whole truth, admitting that he couldn't declare it illegal on the technicality of how torture was defined by law, it would have looked better for him. (One's downfall is always the coverup.)

Still, he tells some good stories and writes well so he gets 3 stars. You want to like the guy.

My impression of James Comey as a man is at odds with my impression of this book of his.

Comey worked as General Counsel for Lockheed Martin at the same time I participated in their Leadership Development program, so I heard his keynote to us in 2010 as he was preparing to leave for Bridgewater. His speech's clarity and structure impressed me, and he gave us practical advice. His writing style sounds like the innocently principled prose of former President Jimmy Carter, but unlike Carter, deliberately prefaces his version of each event with stories of how honorable and bipartisan he is, even explicitly drawing parallels to George Washington.

After spending most of the book emphasizing how critical it is to have good leaders, Comey says he's sure the country will be fine with a bad leader, and that we'll become stronger as a country because of it. I think this jarring inconsistency in his worldview is ego protection, allowing him to disown responsibility for the consequences of his actions.

In the end, his argument appears to be that "good" people acting with "good" intentions can't possibly cause anything but "good" outcomes. That in fact, the consequences are irrelevant to people who act from their principles. In the best light, he appears to be invoking the modern Christian attitude of fatalism that "God is in control" or that it'll all turn out right in the end, even if that end is the apocalypse.

This book adds very little additional information to current events and little value to leadership training, management, or political theory. It comes across as a dissembling cover-your-ass, and possibly a way of cashing in on media attention.

According to this book, James Comey's alignment is Lawful Good (I'd go so far as to call him a paladin), and Trump's is chaotic evil. No wonder they didn't get along.
In the first chapters, Comey describes his formative years and early career, focusing on leaders who made an impression on him, including his boss at his first job. He then moves on to the reasons you bought this book: the reasons why he made his much-discussed announcement about reopening the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email; his private meetings with Donald Trump, and his eventual firing.
All in all, he comes across as honest, and with a deep love and appreciation for the institutions that make America free. As far as I can tell, the book lines up with what we the public know from news reports. I could be wrong, because who can keep up anymore?
If you're a Trump supporter, you won't like the comparisons Comey draws between Trump and the Mafia bosses he used to pursue earlier in his career. But even so, the book is worth considering for its insight into what makes a good leader, and why separation of powers makes America strong.

In this excellent and important book, former FBI director James Comey writes what are essentially his memoirs, but with a very obvious purpose. Drawing on episodes throughout his personal life and professional life, which includes his time prosecuting members of the mafia and Martha Stewart, and serving three presidents as deputy attorney general or FBI director, Comey highlights traits, good and bad, that he observed in others and helped shape his ideal of ethical leadership, an ideal which he strove for. While doing so, he methodically and logically builds a case against President Trump’s style of leadership, despite not mentioning his name until the final few chapters.

The book is a fascinating take on what happens at the highest levels of our government, including some pretty dramatic events such as the race between then Deputy Attorney General Comey and the White House counsel to Attorney General Ashcroft’s hospital bed. Comey’s appraisal of the various figures he worked for or with seems even-handed and fair. But mostly it’s a reminder of that higher loyalty all of us should have, not to our political tribe but to building and maintaining a just nation for all.

If you watch the news at all or read the 1 star Amazon reviews by people who appear not to have read the book you will be led to believe this is a book about Trump, and bashing him, or outing him as unfit in some way. Especially if you know that the RNC has gone out of their way to create a website just ahead of the book release for the sole purpose of Comey bashing. So let me bust that myth. This is not a book about Trump. There are no big jaw dropping Trump secrets here. This is a book about James Comey, from his early childhood until the here and now. Comey touches on childhood memories, being bullied, later on participating or at least turning a blind eye to bullyng himself. He speaks on his experience being home alone with his brother when the "Ramsey Rapist" broke into his house. He tells you how and why he decided to pursue law as a career instead of becoming a doctor. There are humorous anecdotes about his first job in the grocery store and yes some about his final days as FBI director. You do not have to be a fan of Comey or any of his decisions to enjoy this book. You may or may not be satisfied with his explanation of why he decided to make such public announcements on Hilary's emails, but that is a small part of this book. Personally I was not satisfied and he does admit that others may have handled it differently. If you are only looking for bombshells this book is not for you. By the time it gets to the visit to alert Trump to the salacious allegations the book is 70% over, because as I said this is not a book about Trump.
Even if I do not agree with Comey's decisions to publicly give his opinion on one candidate while withholding the fact that there is an investigation surrounding the other even with the "classified info" that he says we still do not know about I was still able to enjoy this book. I agree with his assessment in the last televised interview he gave, that if Comey is an idiot he is at least an honest idiot.
Amazon rejected my review even though my copy came from there, and even though they allowed reviews from people who obviously have not read the book and who have said nothing about the book and only bashed the author. My original review did not mention Amazon, this was added after the rejection