As part of our experience here in the nation’s capital we got to have dinner with Michael Kortan, an assistant FBI director, and Kevin Johnson, a reporter for USA Today.
We met them at Rosa Mexicana, an excellent restaurant right across from the Verizon Center (home to the Wizards and Capitals). Over guacamole and enchiladas we discussed their careers and our experiences in Washington so far.
Kortan is the media guru for the FBI. He is in charge of all aspects of public affairs for the Bureau. Kortan handles everything from talking to movie directors who seek to portray the FBI in a film to overseeing the FBI.gov website. He told us great stories including how he worked closely with the directors of the hit movie “Breach” about FBI agent Robert Hanssen who was a mole for the Soviets. Kortan also told us about new electronic billboards that the FBI is employing to help track suspects, find missing persons, and issue terror alerts.
Johnson also had a slew of interesting tales to entertain us. He has worked for USA Today for more than 15 years and mainly covers crime and justice issues. Johnson covered the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and was one of a small pool of reporters at Timothy McVeigh’s execution. He said in an interview with McVeigh the first thing that McVeigh asked him was “How big is your circulation?” referring to how many people would read the story. Johnson said McVeigh was cold and made him feel uncomfortable.
Johnson also talked about his time in Iraq. He spent six weeks in the country in 2004, arriving after the murders of American contractors in Fallujah. He said that he assumed the identity of an Irish reporter in order to avoid violence from locals who hated America. Johnson talked about a time when he sat down with tribal leaders eating cookies and drinking Pepsi. He said that the leaders offered him a local woman as a gift and he declined saying “I think that my wife would be more dangerous than you guys if I accepted that.”
The dinner was an awesome experience and a great way to meet two real Washington insiders. Hopefully the next day and a half will be just as informative and fun.
Benpetitto's Blog 