Lobbying Firms Now Hiring Former FBI Agents

Former FBI agent Jim Davis shown with Saddam Hussein in 2003 following his capture

A former FBI agent is going over to the dark side to work. The Indiana Legislative Insight reports that Jim Davis, a former special assistant in charge of the Indianapolis division of the FBI, has been hired as a senior policy adviser by Bose Public Affairs Group where he will advise the firm's clients on risk management, crisis communications and reputation management. Very comforting, eh?

Davis has a very interesting background. He was temporarily assigned by the FBI to work in Iraq during that colossal quagmire. He was among a team of American interrogators who first questioned former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein following his capture in 2003. The 26-year FBI veteran performed undercover work for the FBI in Chicago during the 3-year Operation Silver Shovel investigation that netted two dozen convictions, including six Chicago aldermen.

Davis served as a special investigator for the independent counsel that investigated former Clinton Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt in the late 1990s. That investigation centered around whether Babbitt and Interior Department officials rejected an Indian casino proposed in Wisconsin after competing casinos lobbied the administration for the rejection of the casino project and contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Democrats. Babbitt was cleared of any wrongdoing in that investigation.

Davis came to the Indianapolis FBI office in 2003 where his responsibilities included program management of all FBI criminal investigations in Indiana. His service in Indianapolis was interrupted on several occasions for temporary duty assignments he served in Iraq and Afghanistan.

More recently, Davis worked as the head of the Colorado Department of Public Safety for Gov. John Hickenlooper's administration after several years as special agent in charge of the Denver FBI office. He left that job to start his own private security firm. Denver's sheriff's department paid his firm $80,000 over a five-month period as a consultant helping the office implement reforms.