First there was WACKENHUT. Then there's GUARDSMARK -- whose founder is a friend of Bronfman active in Zionist circles, whose corporate attorney is the Rose Law Firm, and which has a policy of seeking out as its corporate administrators ex-FBI, Secret Service etc. agents ... one of whom was apparently central in the OKBomb cover-up ... Subject: John Doe Times, Vol.V, No.3: Profiles In Coverup: Weldon Kennedy THE JOHN DOE TIMES Vol. V, Number 3 22 March 1997 In This Issue: ** Newsweek Makes Weldon Kennedy Out To Be A Hero.... ** Profile of a Cover-upper: Weldon Kennedy Feathers His Post-OKC Nest *********************************************************** The John Doe Times is an on-line, electronic newsletter published by the First Alabama Cavalry Regiment and friends. Our Motto: Sic Semper Rodentia. *********************************************************** Editor's Note: If the OKC case ends up in Strassmeir meltdown as now seems likely, folks are going to start wondering who was responsible for the coverup-- who made the search for John Doe #2 into John Doe Who? The accompanying "party-line" article by Newsweek, and the profile of Kennedy upon the assumption of his new job in for Guardsmark Security in Memphis by the Commercial Appeal, will likely be useful in providing a baseline to determine Kennedy's culpability later when the subject comes up after Oklahoma Jones destroys the "Lone Bomber theory." *********************************************************** MEMPHIS COMMERCIAL APPEAL 16 March 1997 VETERAN FBI AGENT FINDS SECURITY AT GUARDSMARK By Kevin McKenzie The Commercial Appeal Weldon Kennedy, the No. 2 man at the Federal Bureau of Investigation until he retired in February, is no stranger to Memphis. Kennedy has visited to conduct business, and he was in town inspecting the Memphis FBI office when Elvis Presley died in 1977. "The whole town almost went berserk," recalled Kennedy in an interview from a hotel room in New Mexico. Now Kennedy, the deputy director of the FBI until Feb. 28 and the man who supervised the agency's Oklahoma City bombing investigation, is making Memphis his home. Guardsmark, Inc., the nation's fifth largest private security company, is hiring Kennedy to be its vice chairman. He starts April 1. "I felt it to be a very easy transition to go from the premier law enforcement agency to what I saw as the premier private security agency," said Kennedy, 58. When he and his wife Kathy move into an East Memphis home they've already picked out, Kennedy will be ending life as a nomad. Born in September, 1938 in Menlow, Texas, his family moved frequently in Texas because his father's job with a farm implement manufacturer, Kennedy said. In the FBI, job changes landed him in at least 10 cities, including Jackson, Miss., and Atlanta, since he became a special agent in July 1963. Memphis-based Guardsmark, founded by Ira A. Lipman in 1963, has attracted to its 12,000-employee workforce others retiring from the FBI, U.S. Secret Service, military and police agencies, Lipman said. Kennedy, tapped by FBI Director Louis J. Freeh to become deputy director in August 1995, is the highest-ranking FBI official to land at Guardsmark. The director of the Secret Service from 1973 to 1981, H. Stuart Knight, went to work for the security firm and remains a senior advisor for Guardsmark in Washington, Lipman said. "We are providing security for literally trillions of dollars in assets across America, and (Kennedy's) going to be playing an essential role in everything," said Lipman, chairman and president of the firm. "He's going to be a great asset to the company." Kennedy said he began to gain a reputation as the FBI's most experienced crisis manager after about 1,500 Cubans detained at an Atlanta federal prison rioted and took hostages in 1987. As special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta office, he helped resolve the crisis with no harm to the hostages or hostage takers. He said he subsequently taught courses in crisis management for the agency. Kennedy was special agent in charge of the FBI office in Phoenix when a bomb in April 1995 destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 500. As commander on the scene there, his work helped win him promotion to the deputy director spot. His performance handling such crises also helped him win Presidential Rank of Distinguished Senior Executives Awards in 1991 and 1996. The White House honor carries a $20,000 prize. And he's the only FBI employee to win two. Kennedy said he had no regrets about the Oklahoma City investigation. "I think it was a model of cooperation between federal, state and local law enforcement," he said. Last week, he visited Oklahoma City, where one of his three grown children works. He and his wife, a retiring Veterans Administration nurse who lived in Arizona while he lived in Washington, are traveling. The FBI's investigation of the bombing has been criticized as the trial of bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh nears in federal court in Denver. But criticism from attorneys representing suspects is a normal part of the job, Kennedy said. "Defense attorneys have to earn their pay," he said. The task of handling recent charges of sloppy work by the FBI's crime laboratory also fell to Kennedy as deputy director. He said a "tremendous amount of misinformation" has been generated concerning how problems at the lab might affect past or current cases. The Oklahoma City bombing case is one of a handful where prosecutors determined that defense attorneys should get information resulting from the probe of FBI laboratory procedures, Kennedy said. "We expect it to come up at trial. We do not, however, believe it will materially affect the case," he said. Kennedy says he doesn't think he will be called to testify at McVeigh's trial. He called recent reports that McVeigh had confessed to the crime "astonishing." His new job with Guardsmark will be Kennedy's first private-sector position since part-time jobs he held while earning a bachelor's degree at the University of Texas in Austin. As deputy director of the FBI, he earned an annual salary of about $120,000, Kennedy said. The President earns $200,000, plus significant perks. "I just read this morning where one of these CEOs of a major corporation made 20 some odd million dollars last year with a fraction of the responsibility. So government doesn't pay real well," he said. Kennedy said Guardsmark, a privately held company, is paying him significantly more than his old job. He declined to be more specific. The former FBI official is personally familiar with one private-sector trend-- downsizing. He chose to become the field commander in Phoenix in 1994 after his relatively new boss, Freeh, eliminated the agency's two associate deputy director positions. Kennedy was one of those associate deputy directors. While he enjoys the X-Files, the popular television program, Kennedy says he has no knowledge of real FBI paranormal agents. He said he also has not in his lifetime seen anything about aliens landing in the United States. Twenty years ago during his visit to Memphis, Kennedy recalled a media flood and a shortage of hotel rooms in the aftermath of Presley's death. And no, the FBI can't provide any insights to those still wondering about the whereabouts of Elvis, he said. "It was an interesting time," Kennedy said. Sidebar Box: WELDON L. KENNEDY JOHN DOE TIMES VOL. V, No. 3, Attachment 22 March 1997 SIDEBAR BOX TO Memphis Commercial Appeal Story WELDON KENNEDY AGE: 58 EDUCATION: Bachelor of Arts, University of Texas at Austin, 1960; master's in criminal justice, Georgia State University, Atlanta, 1989. CAREER: After serving as a U.S. Navy intelligence officer, Kennedy joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation as a special agent in July, 1963. Assignments followed to FBI offices in Portland, Ore.; Newark, NJ; Miami; San Juan, Puerto Rico and Las Vegas. Assumed supervisory or inspection duties at FBI headquarters in Washington beginning September 1973. Appointed special agent in charge of the Boston FBI office in July 1978, then returned to FBI headquarters in August 1980 to become inspector of the Inspection Division. Named special agent in charge of the Jackson, Miss., office in April 1982 and then agent in charge of the Atlanta office in January 1985. Returned to FBI headquarters as assistant director of the Administrative Services Division in November 1989 and named associate deputy director-- administration in July 1992. In February 1994, became special agent in charge of the Phoenix FBI office. Appointed deputy director of the FBI in August 1995. Retired Feb. 28. Becomes vice chairman at Guardsmark Inc. on April 1. FAMILY: Married with three grown children. HOBBIES: Flying, woodworking and leather work. WHAT THEY SAID: "In the most difficult of times, and facing the most strenuous challenges, he has always performed with only one goal in mind-- the well-being and safety of the American people." -- U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno at Kennedy's retirement. "He is one of those rare people in government who has made a difference. All of us in the FBI will miss his clear thinking, keen judgement and boundless energy." -- FBI Director Louis J. Freeh. ************************************************************ <cont'd>
