The insider

WASHINGTON - Judge Louis Freeh, a former FBI agent, was yesterday appointed Director of the FBI by President Clinton, who called Mr Freeh 'a law enforcement legend', Patrick Cockburn writes.

Mr Freeh, 43, said in a brief speech in the White House Rose Garden that he had wanted to be an FBI agent since he was a child. He served five years in the job before becoming a federal prosecutor. He was appointed a federal judge in Manhattan by President Bush in 1991. Mr Clinton hopes that Mr Freeh will get a grip on the FBI which eluded Mr Sessions. Since J Edgar Hoover's death in 1972 the FBI has resented the appointment of outside directors.