Less than two weeks later, Lawton was dead and the void left by her passing was devastating. Lawton had written or interpreted almost every law or policy governing the shadowy world of foreign intelligence surveillance for three decades. She was considered such an authority at the DOJ that counterintelligence rules simply became known as “Mary’s Law.”
Unfortunately, Lawton had always been so busy that she didn't leave a paper trail explaining the basis for her rulings. Furthermore, Lawton’s belief that some things were better left undefined, combined with her lack of OIPR guidelines covering internal operations (including her routine practice of informal contacts between the FBI and internal security prosecutors), while not an issue when she was alive, became critical after her death. FISA and OIPR practices were left vulnerable to conflicting interpretations.
Usually there is a rough period of transition instead, which may or may not kill the company, as it transitions from the expression of one driven man's personality and talents, into a healthy corporation.
Unfortunately for America, we had a profoundly corrupt President at the helm when this turf war broke out. He used it to his advantage - to deeply politicize the control of intelligence and law enforcement both.
The cynical amongst us might even suspect that it was not an accident that ended Mary's life.