Honoring William H. Webster, March 6, 1924 - August 8, 2025
At a time when political rancor is seemingly everywhere, it was an honor to attend a bipartisan memorial service recently for the extraordinary William H. Webster. Along with a few hundred others at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC, I was reminded to rededicate myself to being like him, filled with kindness, integrity, and bipartisanship. It's a goal we all might consider as we learn more about the weight he willingly took on his shoulders to help protect this country and its people.
Judge Webster was the only person ever to serve as both FBI and CIA director. Before that, he was U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri and later a Justice on the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. His appointments came after he served proudly in the U.S. Navy during both World War II and the Korean War. His unquestioned skills and loyalty to the Constitution resulted in appointments, regardless of party, by Presidents Eisenhower, Carter, Reagan, both Bushes, Obama, and Trump.
Mike Kortan, Judge Webster, & Katherine Schweit at the Retired FBI Agents Association Luncheon in the DC area.
Even President Reagan, reflecting on Judge Webster’s time at the FBI, captured his spirit, “He does not look upon his nation's call to duty as something onerous, something to be endured. He looks upon it instead as something inviting, something even invigorating.”
Mr. Webster, who was 101 years old at the time of his passing, lived a life synonymous with the word integrity. I sat next to him at lunch when he joined our retired FBI agents’ lunch shortly after he turned 100. He was his ever-charming self, laughing, telling jokes about how he had finally had to quit tennis, and telling us how proud he was of his fellow hard-working civil servants. He was wearing his favorite hat that sported the line, “Not everyone looks this good at 100.”
A quote of his from 1978 has guided me: "Security is always seen as too much until the day it's not enough."
If you didn't know him, you would have after listening to eulogies during the service and the memorial event the day before at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). Integrity was the most frequent word used by the many speakers; among them, former FBI Director Christopher Wray, former CIA directors Robert Gates and John Brennan, Chief Judge Steven Colloton of the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, former FBI Assistant Director William Baker, former National Security Agency (NSA) General Counsel Glenn Gerstell, former NSA Director Michael Hayden, and former Navy and FBI long-time friend Willam F. McSweeny.
Joining his wife, Lynda, and his large extended family were U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, former Attorney General Merrick Garland, and too many others to mention. The FBI family included former FBI Director Louis Freeh, FBI Co-Deputy Director Dan Bongino, former FBI Deputy Director Paul Abate, and former acting FBI Director Brian Driscoll. Filling the pews, Judge Webster's extended families from the CIA, NSA, his law firm, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP, and the Homeland Security Advisory Council, which he chaired from 2005 to 2020.
Just before his 80th birthday, Judge Webster was asked how he'd like to be remembered. This is what selflessness sounds like.
"I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to serve my country and to serve my profession, which is the law and which I have loved," he said. "What I'd like history to conclude is that I loved my country and that I served it as best I could. I have tried to respect the principles of our Constitution and the values that have made our country what it is. I have a strong belief that we can preserve our values, and at the same time protect ourselves from those who would try to destroy us.”
