Author: Tim McGlone

NEW NORFOLK FBI HEAD SURVIVES BAPTISM BY FIRE

On the morning of Sept. 11, Michael E. Varnum held his first all-hands
meeting, one day after taking over as head of the Norfolk FBI office.

As agents and staff packed a conference room, "someone walked in and said,
'You ought to turn the television on,' " Varnum recalled.

As suddenly as the planes crashed into the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, Varnum's job direction changed.

An agent who had spent the bulk of his career fighting organized crime and
Colombian drug lords, Varnum now had to structure a plan to investigate
terrorists and potential threats in Hampton Roads and to assist in New York
and Washington investigations. He had to do it without knowing a single
person on his staff. And he had to do it fast.

"My whole agenda changed as a result of that," he said.

Varnum is 53 and by all accounts a by-the-book G-man.

He wears his hair neatly trimmed, his suits dark, his shirts sometimes
striped. He speaks in low, polite tones that seem reserved for government
agents yet reveal his New England roots.

But he wasn't always this way.

It was the late 1960s and his peers were standing toe to toe with the
National Guard protesting the Vietnam War.

He seemed a little unsure of what to do after graduating in 1971 from
Ricker College, a small, now-defunct liberal arts school in the far reaches
of northern Maine. (An alumni Web site describes life there as something
akin to the movie Animal House. "That's not the Mike I know," said one agent.)

Protesting the war was out. Work was what he needed. His interests were
business and economics, but jobs were scarce.

He moved near home in Rhode Island and scanned the "Help Wanted" ads.

Something caught his eye: The Federal Bureau of Investigation was looking
for agents.

He began at the bottom. He wasn't even an agent when he started, working
instead as a clerk in the procurement division in Washington. He lasted a
year before quitting for a better-paying job with the phone company in New
Jersey.

It wasn't long before he got the itch to join the FBI again. He reapplied
and this time was hired as an entry-level agent.

He spent 10 years in the Newark, N.J., office, rounding up organized crime
figures and corrupt public officials. His most notable successes were a
racketeering case in Hudson County, N.J., that brought down a state senator
and a mayor, and a labor racketeering case that ended with the conviction
of a longshoreman's union official.

Riding a wave of success, Varnum was promoted in 1987 to supervisor of the
Newark public corruption squad. He realized then his career track was
headed upward.

From 1990 to 1997, Varnum worked at FBI headquarters in Washington, where
his investigations focused on the Colombian drug cartels, public corruption
and economic crime cases.

He supervised the white-collar crime program in the Philadelphia office
from 1997 through May 2000 before returning to headquarters as a deputy
assistant director in charge of personnel. That job, he said, paved his way
to become special agent in charge of the Norfolk office, where, for more
than a year, its public Web site has featured a community alert for
assistance in fighting corruption by public officials.

Asked if he will launch an expansive campaign against public corruption,
Varnum said that is not his directive from his bosses in Washington.

"I don't really have a sense that it's an overwhelming problem here," he
said, at least not at Philadelphia and New Jersey levels.

Whatever plans he had before his arrival changed Sept. 11.

"September 10 was a fairly quiet day. The 11th turned everything upside
down," he said.

The conference room where he had been meeting with his staff was turned
into a command center minutes after the first of two jetliners crashed into
the World Trade Center towers.

He didn't have to bark orders or demand information from his 60 agents. He
watched as his new staff fanned out.

"They're reaction was phenomenal," he said.

Phones, wires, tables, chairs, and computers were brought into the
conference room. His agents began fielding calls. At first they trickled
in, but soon they were coming in waves.

Investigations yielded no serious terrorist threats, but the FBI did get
one tip that remains a mystery: Two of the hijackers, Mohamed Atta and
Marwan Al-Shehhi were in the Virginia Beach area between February and May.
Both are believed to have died, one in each of the two jetliners that
slammed into the twin towers.

Hotel records showed that the pair stayed here for short periods on
different occasions and withdrew cash from a bank on Laskin Road. Other
than that, Varnum and other federal officials said they know little else
about the visits by the terrorists.

"Why they were here in Virginia Beach is something we would like to know
very much," Varnum said.

Varnum estimates the FBI fielded hundreds, if not more than a thousand,
phone calls since Sept. 11.

Varnum would not discuss specific cases, but he said the FBI's newly formed
terrorism task force will concentrate on potential threats in the area and
preventive security measures.

Varnum also learned how Washington covets some members of his staff. The
Norfolk FBI forensics team led the search through the rubble at the
Pentagon. The hazardous materials unit was called to Miami after the first
anthrax attack at a Florida-based media company.

"We get paid to handle things like this. We really step up when this happens."

But the adrenaline rush that followed the attacks has settled down. The
conference room that once served as a command center is dark these days,
the extra desks and phones gone.

"We're beginning to settle back into more of a routine," he said. "We
recognize that we have other responsibilities."

The FBI investigates criminal violations of federal law, including
terrorism, bank robberies, computer crimes, environmental crimes,
interstate narcotics and gun trafficking, violent gangs, organized crime,
and mail, telemarketing, health care and insurance frauds.

Varnum has been meeting regularly with local police chiefs and other law
enforcement officials to ensure communication lines are open and
information is shared. It's something the FBI has been criticized for not
doing in the past.

To that end, Varnum will set up an advisory committee to assist in
information sharing.

But it's still a work in progress. He has been waiting for directives from
Washington. FBI Director Robert S. Mueller is beginning to reorganize the
bureau to place more emphasis on counterterrorism and cybercrime and
handing over most drug investigations to the federal Drug Enforcement
Administration.

"I don't think it's been clearly mapped out yet," Varnum said. "If you're
going to commit them to terrorism, where are the bodies going to come from?"

Varnum replaces Chuck Owens, who retired after three years as head of the
local office and now works in the private sector.

"I'm thrilled to be here," Varnum said. "It's a job I've always wanted.
It's kind of like having your own business."

Varnum lives in Virginia Beach with his wife. They have two daughters in
college.