CHIEF U.S. MARSHAL AIMS TO PROTECT, SERVE

He 'has a sense of right, and he won't change his mind in the face of
political pressure'

WASHINGTON -- Hollywood frequently presents the U.S. Marshals Service
as an iconic law-enforcement agency filled with buff action heroes
played by the likes of Clint Eastwood, Arnold Schwarzenegger and
Jennifer Lopez.

The reality is more complex and not nearly as glamorous. For years
now, the Marshals Service has been a law-enforcement laggard with a
reputation as an agency poorly led by a string of political appointees.

The marshals' shortcomings came into even sharper focus after the
murders in Chicago last year of Judge Joan Lefkow's husband and
mother. Ensuing inquiries highlighted the Marshals Service's
inability to reliably assess threats against court personnel and its
reluctance to share information with other law-enforcement agencies
or the judges it is charged with protecting.

Those troubles prompted the Bush administration to break from a
tradition of patronage appointees and tap a soft-spoken, gray-haired
marshal named John Clark as the first career Marshals Service
employee to direct the agency. The Senate confirmed his appointment in March.

Clark, 45, does not fit the celluloid stereotype of a marshal as a
Type A lawman. But in his own way, Clark has been very much a man of
action, especially when it comes to the marshals' main clients,
federal judges, who were sharply critical of the agency after the
Lefkow killings.

Since taking the job, Clark has addressed judicial conferences,
visited judges across the country and begun setting up a national
clearinghouse to collect and assess threats against the judiciary.

"Every field visit I make, every opportunity I get, I meet with
judges," Clark said in a recent interview. "I want to get their point of view."

Clark said because he is a career employee rather than a political
appointee, "I think that they [judges] have at least some confidence
that I'm trying to make decisions on their best behalf."

So far Clark's outreach seems to be paying off.

"It's early, but my assessment is quite good and quite positive. . .
. The presumption is that this is a merit appointment, so three
cheers for that," said Charles Kocoras, chief judge of the Northern
District of Illinois.

Like many young people who join the marshals, Clark initially was
looking to chase bad guys. "I was particularly attracted by the
fugitive apprehension mission," said Clark, a 23-year agency veteran.

But the marshals' core duty is protecting judges and other court
officers, and Clark's resume is laden with experience in that field.

During lengthy stints at marshals' headquarters in suburban
Washington and as U.S. marshal for the Eastern District of Virginia
in Alexandria, Clark helped arrange court security for cases
involving a string of high-profile defendants, including FBI turncoat
Robert Hanssen, CIA traitor Aldrich Ames, "American Taliban" John
Walker Lindh and Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

'The Ultimate Gentleman'

Security procedures included posting sharpshooters on rooftops and
blocking streets as well as other measures potentially disruptive to
nearby condominium dwellers. But Clark managed to minimize the
hassle, said David Buckley, president of a local condominium association.

"John Clark was the ultimate gentleman. He was so cooperative, so
communicative," said Buckley. "Everything was adjusted so that
disruption was minimal."

Clark was at his Alexandria post last August when Benigno Reyna, a
former police chief of Brownsville, Texas, announced his resignation
as director of the marshals service. Atty. Gen. Alberto Gonzales
asked Clark if he wanted the job.

According to the marshals' historian, Clark became the only career
employee to head the marshals since the director's slot was created in 1969.

The boyish-looking Clark grew up on a dairy farm outside Plattsburgh,
N.Y. His wife, Lucia, was, until recently, a career Marshals Service
official herself. She now works for the Drug Enforcement Administration.

Clark volunteers in the Angel Tree program of Prison Fellowship
Ministries, founded by Watergate felon Charles Colson, and delivers
holiday gifts to inmates' families. That may seem odd for someone who
spent much of his career putting people in prison, but he says it's
important to limit the damage caused by incarceration.

"We see the individual going to jail and some heinous crime has been
committed and we think that guy or gal deserves it," Clark said.
"What we forget is at home there is a mom or son or daughter or
youngsters that are the innocent victims of this person's criminal mindset."

The charitable involvement is a facet of a personality that
colleagues describe as straight-arrow but not overly rigid.

Clark "has a sense of right, and he won't change his mind in the face
of political pressure, but [he's] not bull-headed," said Robert
Banks, a retired chief inspector for the marshals who has known Clark
since he joined the Marshals Service.

Clark is also not without friends in high places. As marshal in the
Eastern District of Virginia, Clark worked closely with then-U.S.
Atty. Paul McNulty, who is now Gonzales' deputy and enthusiastically
endorsed Clark for the top marshals job.

"He has a kind of humility and confidence blended together," McNulty
said. "There's a sense of strength about him."

Clark will need all the friends he can get as he joins a Capitol Hill
scrum for limited funding with politically savvy and higher-profile
agencies such as the FBI and Secret Service.

Challenges To Come

Clark also has an especially difficult challenge in bringing the
marshals up to speed on judicial protection.

In addition to capturing fugitives and providing security to court
personnel in the nation's 94 federal judicial districts, the 4,600
marshals employees also run the witness-protection program, transport
prisoners and operate the asset-forfeiture program.

For now, Clark says he's got enough money for the marshals to do
their jobs. But he added that the agency needs to make sure it's at
the table when legislators or policy-makers opt for more aggressive
law enforcement, because such measures usually mean more prisoners
for the marshals to track down and transport.

For all of the enthusiasm that has greeted Clark's appointment, it's
no secret that funding for his agency will be tight.

"There's a strong commitment within the department to help John
succeed," McNulty said. But "we will have to make the best decisions
we can. . . . We're stretched very thin."