Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993 TAG: 9310140048
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
After just six weeks on the job, Freeh fulfilled part of his pledge to increase the bureau's diversity with changes that mean one-quarter of the bureau's assistant directors - officials who rank behind only Freeh and Deputy Director Floyd Clarke - will be female or minority members.
The appointments show "what a long way we've come," Freeh said at a news conference where he announced the appointments.
Burdena Pasenelli will be the first female assistant director and Manuel Gonzalez will be the first assistant director of Hispanic descent. Paul Philip will be the second black man at that job level.
Freeh stressed that all the appointees named Wednesday - including four white men - earned their posts.
"These are people who have worked exceedingly hard and with great excellence over their careers," he said.
Attorney General Janet Reno praised the appointments and said the fact that the bureau's regular career board recommended them "speaks for the direction that the Federal Bureau of Investigation Freeh will take."
Freeh said it was "very likely" that the FBI's makeup would change enough during his 10-year tenure that it would mirror the U.S. population. About 87 percent of the agents are white, 5 percent black, 6 percent Hispanic and 12 percent women.
Pasenelli, who heads the Anchorage, Alaska, field office, said she was thrilled by her promotion to be assistant director for the finance division.
"I've succeeded beyond my wildest dreams," Pasenelli said.
Gonzalez, the senior assistant special agent in charge of the Miami field office, will be in charge of personnel.
Philip, who is deputy assistant director for the inspection division, will lead the training division.
The first black to be an FBI assistant director was John Glover, who headed inspections from 1982 to 1986 and then became executive assistant director until his 1989 retirement.
The bureau's 12 assistant directors who head individual divisions and the New York City and Washington, D.C., metropolitan field offices will report directly to Freeh and Clarke.
Freeh also said he did not expect to take any disciplinary actions as a result of Justice Department reports released last week on the Waco, Texas, standoff which ended in April with the deaths of more than 80 Branch Davidian cult members.
The reports detailed conflicts between negotiators and tactical personnel. "There are things that in hindsight could have been done much better," Freeh said.
by CNB