An Interview With Coleen Rowley (Minneapolis FBI & Whistleblower) — Transcript
Full transcript
- 0:00we'll intervene whenever we decide it's
- 0:02in our national security interest to
- 0:05intervene and if you don't like it lump
- 0:08it the problem with America is not that
- 0:10we go around Maring around the world and
- 0:12posing ourselves the problem with
- 0:14America in the last 10 15 years since
- 0:17the end of the Cold War really in the
- 0:18last 60 years is that we've been too
- 0:20slow to get involved I don't know how
- 0:22many Iraqi civilians were killed but I
- 0:24can assure you that the number is the
- 0:26absolute minimal that it's possible uh
- 0:29in modern Warfare every nation in every
- 0:33region now has a decision to
- 0:36make either you with us or you are with
- 0:40the
- 0:41terrorists now that land over there is
- 0:44yours you'll go back to it one day
- 0:47because your fight will prevail and
- 0:50you'll have your homes and your mosques
- 0:52back again because your cause is right
- 0:55and God is on your
- 0:58side welcome to the darkened
- 1:03hour welcome to another episode of the
- 1:05darkened hour I'm your host Adam
- 1:08Fitzgerald with me today is Colleen rowy
- 1:11Colleen has served as a special agent
- 1:13with the FBI and was assigned to the
- 1:14omahan Nebraska and Jacks and the
- 1:16Mississippi divisions and beginning in
- 1:181984 she spent six years working in the
- 1:20New York City field office on
- 1:22investigations involving Italian
- 1:24organized crime during this time she
- 1:26served three temporary assignments in
- 1:28the United States Embassy in Paris and
- 1:30the Consulate in Montreal in 1990 She
- 1:32was transferred to the epbi mapus field
- 1:35office where she became Chief division
- 1:37coun in 2002 Raleigh wrote a memo to FBI
- 1:40director Robert Mueller detailing the
- 1:42mishandling of the intelligence her
- 1:44office had gathered later that year
- 1:47testified before the Senate and also
- 1:49testified before the 911 Commission
- 1:51about the FBI's pre- 911 lapses due to
- 1:54its internal organization and
- 1:56mishandling of information in 2006 she
- 1:59ran as a Democratic former labor Party
- 2:01candidate for congress in Minnesota's
- 2:04second congressional district Colleen
- 2:07thank you very much for coming on yeah I
- 2:10hate to start off uh right off the bat
- 2:12with one minor correction oh please um
- 2:16but I did not testify to the 911
- 2:19Commission uh almost no one who was part
- 2:22of the joint intelligence um committee
- 2:26inquiry did
- 2:28testify uh the reason for that was
- 2:30because they didn't want to duplicate
- 2:32what the jiy had already done so they
- 2:36used uh stuff from The Joint
- 2:38intelligence committee or they chose not
- 2:41to use for instance uh the 28 pages that
- 2:45are in the uh joint intelligence
- 2:46committee Zelo decided not to go into
- 2:49any of that however for the most part
- 2:52they were supposed to Not Duplicate what
- 2:55had already
- 2:56occurred and so most of the people who
- 2:59were Witnesses uh certainly the agents
- 3:02for instance in Minneapolis you know
- 3:04none of very few people I know were
- 3:06testified to the to the 911 Commission
- 3:09per se and the reason for that was they
- 3:11didn't want to duplicate now I did
- 3:14testify to one other entity though
- 3:16besides what uh besides to the Joint
- 3:19intelligence committee the Senate
- 3:21Judiciary Committee I was also debriefed
- 3:25by the Inspector General
- 3:28investigation in fact my memo led
- 3:30directly to that Inspector General
- 3:33investigation uh about the various uh
- 3:36FBI lapsit uh the three main ones being
- 3:40one the musawi case um secondly the
- 3:44Phoenix memo and thirdly the fact that
- 3:47the FBI was uninformed about the the two
- 3:50hijackers that had come into California
- 3:52that the CIA had known about and were
- 3:55tracking so those three things and it's
- 3:58about a 400 I I don't remember exactly
- 4:01the number of pages I reviewed it once
- 4:04and it's several it's a few hundred
- 4:06pages long it took a couple of years for
- 4:08that Inspector General report to come
- 4:11out and it didn't come out until I want
- 4:14to say 2ou it finally got released in
- 4:182000 well it got done in 2004 it didn't
- 4:22actually get publicly released until
- 4:272006 the Inspector General report
- 4:30that went into what how the FBI had
- 4:32messed up right I have to and or the CIA
- 4:37right I have to apologize there because
- 4:38it reminded me of an incident and I
- 4:40interviewed him was involving Anthony
- 4:42schaer of the able danger program in
- 4:45which he gave testimony to the 91
- 4:48commission when uh Vil zow V visited him
- 4:51at BAM Air Force Base in Afghanistan yet
- 4:54they didn't even use the interview in
- 4:56the 911 Commission so I I just want to
- 5:00and the other the other big one that was
- 5:03never used who uh I know very well is is
- 5:07Bogden jackovic you should try to
- 5:09interview him sometime he's written an
- 5:12entire book about this he was the f um
- 5:16the faa's red team leader that found all
- 5:20the lapses at the airports and he he was
- 5:23uh you know testified at length to the
- 5:26911 Commission officially Etc and they
- 5:31left it out completely of their final of
- 5:34their report and of course it's very
- 5:36embarrassing bogden's uh story is
- 5:39extremely embarrassing to everyone and
- 5:41Zelo left that out too yeah it just
- 5:44seems that this is a consistent history
- 5:45with the night1 commission itself
- 5:47exactly um I do have a question for you
- 5:49though because I live in New York and
- 5:50this is very interesting for me um when
- 5:53you worked in the New York City field
- 5:54office regarding Italian organized crime
- 5:56were you involved with the Pizza
- 5:58Connection case because was free was a
- 6:00prosecutor I think back then right well
- 6:03you know the the uh the uh organized
- 6:06crime Strike Force at in I don't know
- 6:1080
- 6:1387 was led by Louis free he was the head
- 6:16of all the prosecutors in that organized
- 6:19crime Strike Force so yes I knew Louis
- 6:21free very well from that point also chof
- 6:25chof was the uh prosecutor on the uh G
- 6:29Ino case excuse me he he was initially
- 6:33on one of the family uh Rico
- 6:36prosecutions but then he was the head of
- 6:39the commission case and so my RO I was
- 6:43on the Columbo family uh prosecution and
- 6:46so uh we had two or three other
- 6:50prosecutors Aaron Maru Bruce Barett I
- 6:52still remember their names um and they
- 6:56were the prosecutors of that family
- 6:58prose organized CRI crime family
- 7:00prosecution of the columbos now the
- 7:03Columbo the the thing that I actually
- 7:06was another case agent really a stute
- 7:09case agent that I was like a main
- 7:11assistant to and we uncovered the labor
- 7:15racketeering uh predicate that all of
- 7:18the families were engaged in fixing
- 7:21prices of of the concrete that went into
- 7:24Super structure so this began in the 80s
- 7:27at some point in the early 80s
- 7:30they were all splitting up the four
- 7:32families not the bananos because they
- 7:33had fallen out out of power but already
- 7:36by that time but the four families were
- 7:39splitting up all of the superstructure
- 7:43concrete work amongst about seven major
- 7:47uh companies so those companies
- 7:51sometimes you know they were kind of
- 7:52forced to by the mob and other times
- 7:55they liked it because they were getting
- 7:58guaranteed uh it was a price fixing so
- 8:01they were all in this big conspiracy and
- 8:03some of the companies for instance the
- 8:05gambino companies and the uh um geneves
- 8:10companies liked it they liked it because
- 8:12they were guaranteed and the other
- 8:14company that was part of this was was
- 8:16the concrete supplier so the concrete
- 8:19supplier in New York was part of this
- 8:21thing in fact they were the ones with I
- 8:23actually trans transcribed a
- 8:25conversation about give the numbers to
- 8:28and it was one of the heads of the
- 8:30concrete companies he was the guy fixing
- 8:32it right so this this very key thing
- 8:35that I was had a direct roll in the
- 8:38other agent had started the whole thing
- 8:40they were they planted microphones in
- 8:43the car of the district council the
- 8:47president of the District Council of
- 8:50laborers in New York was a made Columbo
- 8:54CAO okay so uh he was a high level and
- 8:58he was working of course with other
- 9:00families as well but he was a Columbo
- 9:02guy his two sons were the locals
- 9:05presidents of the two locals right okay
- 9:08their last name was scopo s p and um we
- 9:13I think his first one of them was Ralph
- 9:14scopo I believe Ralph scopo So I
- 9:17listened in and actually transcribed all
- 9:21of these conversations of scopo with um
- 9:25with uh concrete companies Concrete
- 9:28Company people
- 9:30and they were they were from his first
- 9:32of all it was his social club then it
- 9:34was his uh and his home telephone but
- 9:37eventually it was the cars that they
- 9:39were meeting in and the cars where they
- 9:41met in they felt safeer to talk in and
- 9:44so they were long you know usually about
- 9:46an hour long and it you know it was like
- 9:49transcribing was the FW about every
- 9:51third word was the FW and I did this for
- 9:55almost two years uh so nothing you ever
- 9:58see on exciting television shows where
- 10:01you know you're chasing people and all
- 10:03that no it's listening in and
- 10:05transcribing and it was very hard I mean
- 10:08you practically hurt your hearing uh
- 10:10because you had to go over it a million
- 10:12times to perfect the conversation so
- 10:15that when the jury heard it it was you
- 10:17know the same conversation they were
- 10:19listening to very hard to do and
- 10:22especially in places with like the
- 10:23social club was really hard because you
- 10:25had everybody talking at once right and
- 10:28so that's what I did and that predicate
- 10:31if there's a show on Netflix now about
- 10:34the commission cases I don't know if
- 10:36you've watched it no if you're interest
- 10:38you should watch I don't remember the
- 10:39name of it but it's uh a three-part
- 10:42series and of course uh juliani is in it
- 10:46he's taking all the credit for things
- 10:48but also these commission case agents
- 10:51that I was one like my best friend was
- 10:53one of the commission case agents and so
- 10:56they're like some of the heroes of it
- 10:58and the people planted the bugs Etc and
- 11:02the labor racketeering predicate is was
- 11:06actually the strongest part of the
- 11:09entire case of the commission case now
- 11:12the Pizza Connection was a a drug case
- 11:16and that actually I knew a little bit
- 11:19about it too but a lot of those were
- 11:21first uh generation Sicilians not the
- 11:25organized mob banana Columbo geneves
- 11:29whatever they're they're very different
- 11:31so actually a guy that lived in New
- 11:34Jersey just around the block from me was
- 11:37one of the main uh first targets of the
- 11:40Pizza Connection and then he later
- 11:42became a cooperating witness and he
- 11:44lived right I found out the guy lived
- 11:45right around the corner for me in New
- 11:47Jersey kind of scary stuff you know to
- 11:49be his his kids went to the same ele
- 11:53elementary school and I figured out oh
- 11:55my God why you know he know and his wife
- 11:57said oh you're in the FBI
- 12:00so I mean it was like I was like I I
- 12:02thought I should be able to get a
- 12:03transfer out of that because this guy
- 12:05lived right around the corner so you you
- 12:07jump straight from the fire from the New
- 12:09York uh uh terrorist organized crime
- 12:12force and you're in Minneapolis now and
- 12:15during this time uh there was pertinent
- 12:18data showing radical
- 12:20fundamentalists
- 12:22um dur throughout the 1990s but it
- 12:25wasn't really a big issue Within in say
- 12:30the global intelligence Community the
- 12:32FBI New York division actually was
- 12:34probably one of the better divisions and
- 12:36miniapolis and Phoenix um however
- 12:39previous reports given to the FBI by
- 12:41Al-Qaeda link supporters training at
- 12:44flight schools which was outlined in Ken
- 12:45Williams Phoenix memo but it was also
- 12:49outlined years before that in a
- 12:51Philippines police report concerning the
- 12:53interrogation of Abdul hakeim Arad in
- 12:56the 1995 bka plot about sleeper cells
- 12:58and inside the United States training at
- 13:00flight schools now the previous director
- 13:03uh Lewis free and then later Muller
- 13:07didn't act on this intelligence and why
- 13:10do you think that
- 13:11is you know in hindsight I never knew
- 13:15how bad Louis free was um when I of
- 13:18course when I worked in New York and
- 13:20later on when he was director I you know
- 13:23I knew he had some faults about certain
- 13:26things but I never knew how bad he was
- 13:29in terms of being such a a neocon
- 13:33Outlook and if you back up to the 1990s
- 13:37what what what we kind of learned since
- 13:39that time is free directly seemed to
- 13:42have squelched a bombing in uh Saudi
- 13:46Arabia called the Cobar Towers so that
- 13:50Co I had a I had uh some knowledge of
- 13:52the Cobar Towers I think it was 96 or 97
- 13:56that that occurred 96 96 the reason is
- 14:01one of the 20 21 young US Air Force men
- 14:07men who died young guy was from
- 14:10Minnesota and I ended up being the
- 14:13victim witness uh liaison with his
- 14:16parents and young wife I think he was
- 14:19only 21 years old and so Louis free
- 14:23immediately became a micromanager of
- 14:26that Cobar towers and now
- 14:30what I didn't and I kind of should have
- 14:32I maybe should have re I knew he was a
- 14:34micromanaging because he would send out
- 14:36teletypes that I had to personally
- 14:39convey to the family so I would have to
- 14:41drive up to this house where this uh the
- 14:43victims the the whatever and then Al
- 14:47actually also one other time we actually
- 14:49all flew to quanico the parents and the
- 14:52young wife and myself I was like I
- 14:54accompanied them for a weekend were free
- 14:57debriefed uh he would would uh you know
- 15:00his his his uh his pretense was that he
- 15:04was leveling with the families to the
- 15:07point where they even had a whole
- 15:08weekend with highlevel figures Janet
- 15:11Reno Louis free the department of the
- 15:15Secretary of Defense actually uh what
- 15:18was who was it now I forget his name
- 15:20they all made appearances at this thing
- 15:23and so the families anyways I found out
- 15:26later that what I was conveying to the
- 15:29families from free actually all turn out
- 15:31to be lies if you read Gareth Porter and
- 15:34there's a lot of evidence now that the
- 15:37Cobar Towers was done by Al Qaeda uh you
- 15:41know look Saudi Arabia had no Saudi
- 15:45Arabia had no uh willingness to own up
- 15:49to the fact that El qaa had done
- 15:51bombings inside Saudi Arabia and that
- 15:54had killed Americans so they were uh
- 15:57they were uh covering this all up and in
- 16:01fact it looks like they they uh executed
- 16:04people that would have been that would
- 16:06have been knowledgeable about who really
- 16:08did it and on Free's last day in office
- 16:12last day in office he was able uh by
- 16:14that time a change of uh administrations
- 16:19he was able to push through these
- 16:21indictments of
- 16:23shite um Iran they claim they claim Iran
- 16:27connected Shiites that who that Saudi
- 16:30Arabia told free to blame essentially
- 16:34this was the Saudi people telling free
- 16:37this is who you blame and and and in
- 16:40fact the prior Administration said there
- 16:42was very little evidence for this they
- 16:44would not do it but then the change of
- 16:47administrations he was able to push it
- 16:49through on his very last day and then
- 16:52proudly crowed to the families how he
- 16:55had solved the case and this was not the
- 16:58first time had uh micromanaged things
- 17:02and screwed it up royally he did the
- 17:05same thing in the Olympic bombing he
- 17:07screwed it up royally by
- 17:09micromanaging I knew little bits of how
- 17:12this was but only in hindsight did I
- 17:14realize what a freaking neoc Connie was
- 17:17and also because in in hindsight it
- 17:20became so obvious when he became a
- 17:23lobbyist along with all of the other
- 17:25neocon people in government for the me
- 17:28the MU Haden culk that which actually
- 17:31was on the terrorist list he was
- 17:32actually at lobus for a terrorist group
- 17:34the mech and was taking you know
- 17:37thousands of dollars and you know you
- 17:39see those things it takes a little while
- 17:41to put it all together and at the time
- 17:44I'm really really sorry that I conveyed
- 17:48all of these misinformation and lies to
- 17:50the victim's family and just because I
- 17:53was the goet the victim witness
- 17:55coordinator I was telling them stuff
- 17:58that Saudi Arabia want you know wanted
- 18:00to put out but so Cobar Towers there you
- 18:04goes Cobar Towers should have been a
- 18:06wake up and the other thing were the
- 18:08Embassy bombings too and I think if you
- 18:10talk to people like Ali sufan even the
- 18:14coal bombing uh late the very last one
- 18:17of course right before 911 uh you you
- 18:20find out that the FBI was being either
- 18:24duped very much duped by Saudi Arabia uh
- 18:28and some the agents like sufan and his
- 18:32bosses in um New York they were the only
- 18:35Squad that actually was more in tune
- 18:38with the fact that alqaeda and that Bin
- 18:41Laden had turned against us even though
- 18:43he was our he was our man in Afghanistan
- 18:47along with some of the other mujah hadin
- 18:50and we were uh we were on that side in
- 18:53order for these strategic reasons of
- 18:55brazinski fighting the the Soviet Union
- 18:58so
- 18:59along with the Chan terrorist leader but
- 19:02the but so it was slow to figure out
- 19:07that your your your assets and your
- 19:11informant now turn against you and I
- 19:14think some of that was just you know
- 19:16that way but also because Louis free was
- 19:20really solidly sold out to that whole
- 19:22neocon ideology and and the notion of
- 19:26he's he's you know part and parcel of
- 19:29all of this so he's always going to be
- 19:31slow to wake up about it right you hit
- 19:33on you hit on a consistent theme I I've
- 19:35been seeing throughout the last 25 years
- 19:39is that um when there whenever there's a
- 19:41terrorist attack and you know any
- 19:44general historian would know a
- 19:46researcher would know that most of these
- 19:48are all wahhabi oriented yet the primary
- 19:52suspect always seems to be either somewh
- 19:54from the Shi Community the Hezbollah um
- 19:58party of God and always a blame toward
- 20:01either Iran Syria Libya yet all of these
- 20:07terrorist incidents have a direct
- 20:09connection to the wahhabi oriented
- 20:11salapi groups of al-Qaeda and Affiliates
- 20:14thereof of like Abu bah Haram and it's
- 20:18unfortunate that uh director lisis free
- 20:23you know when you speak about the Cobar
- 20:25Towers he actually had met with the um
- 20:28uh King fod and also the defense
- 20:30minister Prince Sultan Ben abdulaziz Al
- 20:34and basically agreed with them in
- 20:36getting rid of the suspects before they
- 20:38could even talk and then it was the
- 20:40Saudi G who basically dissuaded the
- 20:43residents not to speak with the FBI
- 20:45Louis fre shuts down the case and
- 20:47there's no more connection and he gets
- 20:49to take all the credit about closing the
- 20:52case uh but the case was never closed as
- 20:54you outlined um yeah it's a that that
- 20:57one is the most egregious uh incident
- 21:00that I'm aware of and yeah maybe right
- 21:03at the start when this happens in 96 you
- 21:06can't fault anybody for not knowing But
- 21:08as time goes on uh you know as as as why
- 21:13you know by the time he retires uh in 19
- 21:17uh right before 911 two months before
- 21:19911 June of 2000 of of 2001 is when free
- 21:25retired and uh by that time he you know
- 21:28he and he's putting out just the
- 21:31opposite to the families telling them
- 21:33how you know Saudi Arabia is so
- 21:35cooperative and all the rest I mean it's
- 21:37it's absolutely opposite of what we you
- 21:39later learn about the whole situation
- 21:42can you know in let's I want to he later
- 21:45lies about Mech I mean so I find you
- 21:47find out that you know he he wasn't only
- 21:51just
- 21:52incompetent uh and maybe some of it is
- 21:54just pure incompetence too because he's
- 21:57the boss and he's got very big head like
- 22:00all the people when they rise up that
- 22:02level um but you also find out that you
- 22:06know he uh is is uh like like outright
- 22:11not not telling the truth about things
- 22:14to to just revisit um 1993 World Trade
- 22:17Center bombing it seemed that New York
- 22:20again seemed to hit on a notion that it
- 22:23was more than just a rag tag bunch of
- 22:25individuals but there was certain a
- 22:28bigger con connection and very few
- 22:29agents were in on it one of them was
- 22:31Frank pelo and he is the only person at
- 22:34the time who made a connection that this
- 22:36may be even a bigger connection he
- 22:38started chasing um khed shik
- 22:41Muhammad um and he chased him even to
- 22:44Qatar and there was a big argument
- 22:46between the CIA and the FBI about trying
- 22:49to arrest him and he basically escapes
- 22:52the country because the Prime Minister
- 22:53Qatar not the Prime Minister the uh
- 22:56president I forget his name but he
- 22:58basically warns kich M fleas but it just
- 23:01so seemed that the FBI was willing to
- 23:04shut down any type of notion that there
- 23:06was even a bigger problem regarding Arab
- 23:09fundamentalists in the early 90s was
- 23:11that also the case in Minnesota or did
- 23:13they did they getting were they um aware
- 23:18that there might have been a bigger or
- 23:19they just didn't know either well the
- 23:22the Minnesota agents and again I don't
- 23:24know how much background they had of
- 23:28both jinka plot and some of these other
- 23:30things uh the
- 23:331993 uh ramsy Yousef and all the rest
- 23:37I'm not quite sure but I do know that
- 23:40they were up they did know they were
- 23:43pretty intelligent about uh the the
- 23:46background maybe not quite as
- 23:48intelligent as Ali sufan and others but
- 23:51and pelo whatever but they were they
- 23:53were up on it Minnesota had just uh
- 23:56started its joint terrorism task force a
- 23:59couple of months before it had only been
- 24:01up and running for a couple of months
- 24:03before musawi the the phone call comes
- 24:06in from the flight schools that there's
- 24:08a very suspicious student the most
- 24:10suspicious we've ever seen two two calls
- 24:13come in simultaneously from
- 24:15whistleblower uh
- 24:17instructors and that joint and terrorism
- 24:20task force had only been in in uh
- 24:23created a couple of months before the
- 24:25acting supervisor who was a former uh
- 24:28Trooper was a very smart astute guy I
- 24:31don't know how much background he had
- 24:33and then the they they land on the agent
- 24:36who goes out and checks it Harry samit
- 24:38who ends up testifying in the musawi
- 24:40trial was uh not only in aviation in the
- 24:44Navy so he already had this background
- 24:46in piloting and stuff but he also he was
- 24:49up on intelligence stuff he was very
- 24:52smart about this in fact he comes into
- 24:54my office like two days a day or two
- 24:57after musawi was taken into custody and
- 25:00he says these are the possible statutes
- 25:03that I'm you know we're going to seek
- 25:04this emergency fisis search and the the
- 25:08the two statutes he had found one was
- 25:10interference in a in a a Aviation or
- 25:14something I forget the name of it but
- 25:15it's in a Federal Federal Aviation
- 25:18whatever interference sabotage so I mean
- 25:21those are what MWI ends up charged with
- 25:24the same two statutes out of 300 some
- 25:28statutes on the books or more that he
- 25:31whatever he comes in two days later and
- 25:33he points to so it's he was very aute
- 25:36and he of uh knew pretty quickly that
- 25:39the the tie in was to Bin Laden and
- 25:42whatever he he knew that that was the
- 25:44case of course he knows even more after
- 25:47France comes back within days and says
- 25:49uh musawi is recruiting for Abu katab
- 25:53who is uh you know who is this Chetan
- 25:56terrorist leader now here's the missing
- 25:59thing and if you haven't checked it out
- 26:01uh read the Newsweek I think it's
- 26:04Newsweek article by Philip sheenan S h n
- 26:09o n former New York Times called the
- 26:11narrow Miss chance if you have not read
- 26:15that one and that sheenan did not learn
- 26:19about this memo in April of
- 26:222001 entitled Bin Laden and katab are
- 26:26entwined and going to attack April of
- 26:302001 you know I don't know our agents
- 26:33didn't know about that memo obviously
- 26:36they were trying to say well because
- 26:38he's recruiting for katab does not mean
- 26:42he's connected to Al Qaeda you know the
- 26:45cchan terrorist group is a separate
- 26:48group right now that memo says they're
- 26:52entwined and in fact they had been both
- 26:55fighting uh armed by Char in char
- 26:58Wilson's War armed and funded by the
- 27:00United States to fight in Afghanistan
- 27:03against the Soviet Union and I don't
- 27:06know what they what what specific
- 27:08actions they were entwined with but this
- 27:11this memo really makes all the
- 27:13difference in the world because this
- 27:15argument that uh that the argument that
- 27:19um that uh inv that that comes about is
- 27:24that the Chetan terrorist group is not a
- 27:27group that the fisa court would accept
- 27:30well why AR why aren't they well they
- 27:33because they were our terrorists I mean
- 27:35you know this is part of the problem and
- 27:37this these are some of the things that
- 27:38are unset when an informant goes south
- 27:42or a or a proxy terrorist group goes
- 27:47south the the FBI is always going to be
- 27:50loed to turn on a dime and say now
- 27:54they're the you know whatever it takes
- 27:55you know look at Whitey buer Kates from
- 27:57for and many many others okay so when
- 28:00that happens they're not going to be
- 28:03they're not going to turn on a dime and
- 28:05say oh oh our informant is the murderer
- 28:09our proxy group that we funded is now
- 28:13the terrorist group that's not g to
- 28:15happen at least it's not going to happen
- 28:17quickly and so I think that the fact
- 28:20that uh France comes back and has direct
- 28:23proof that musawi was recruiting H for
- 28:26Abu katab
- 28:28and then the connection to Bin Laden of
- 28:30course in my memo I write uh I didn't
- 28:34know I didn't know about the memo in
- 28:36April of 2001 when I wrote my memo in
- 28:402002 I didn't know about that or I could
- 28:43have even been lot stronger I didn't
- 28:45know and I again I don't think our I
- 28:47know our agents didn't know about it now
- 28:49the question is who did know about it
- 28:52who did know about that April
- 28:542001 um memo well the seven or eight
- 28:59assistant
- 29:00directors uh who It came it was a memo
- 29:03from Louis free and the reason this memo
- 29:06became public was because in the mousawi
- 29:08trial it's an exhibit that April 2001
- 29:13memo is an an actual exhibit in the
- 29:16trial and uh and again sheenan didn't
- 29:19even notice it until much later and so
- 29:22read his article first read Philip
- 29:24sheenan because when sheenan goes back
- 29:26to for instance the people
- 29:28headquarters who had were fighting with
- 29:31our agents no we can't do an emergency
- 29:34search we can't take this this to the
- 29:36fisa court it's too weak the Chetan
- 29:39group is not officially a fisa terrorist
- 29:43group uh you have no real evidence that
- 29:46it's connected to Bin Laden blah blah
- 29:48blah all these are and then they watered
- 29:50down some of the of the um emergency
- 29:54affidavit the emergency declaration they
- 29:57watered down some of the wording in it
- 29:59all these things that they did then to
- 30:01like I said to th it um but you know I I
- 30:06would have uh it would be my educated
- 30:09guess that neither of those two uh
- 30:13supervisor or the supervisor's boss the
- 30:15unit Chief or section chief whatever he
- 30:17was um I I doubt they actually knew
- 30:21about the April 2001 Nemo it's possible
- 30:24they knew about it they could have
- 30:26searched and maybe found it I don't know
- 30:28if they knew about it or not but the
- 30:30name on the memo one of the assistant
- 30:33directors was Michael Rollins rol and he
- 30:38actually he didn't he acted like he
- 30:41didn't know about the musawi case for
- 30:43months and months he finally got trapped
- 30:47in in a senate um or a a congressional
- 30:50hearing of some
- 30:51sort um trying to think of when this was
- 30:55like the fall of 2001 May
- 30:58and Rollins is is almost got caught in
- 31:02perjury he almost got caught lying to
- 31:04Congress but somebody in Congress knew
- 31:08that uh that he some he would they they
- 31:11knew somehow that Rollins knew about the
- 31:13musawi case and there's a there's a news
- 31:16article about it I I could never find it
- 31:18in a million years again but there's a
- 31:20news article in a mainstream news that
- 31:22says he was finally forced to admit that
- 31:25he had been briefed about the musawi
- 31:28case this this is after a a while that
- 31:31he pretends he doesn't know about it now
- 31:34he the his briefing was apparently quite
- 31:38brief it was an oral briefing in the
- 31:40hallway type thing and so there's no
- 31:43like official documentation that he was
- 31:46briefed but uh and he makes of course he
- 31:48tries to make light of it you know
- 31:50something in Minnesota of course I
- 31:52didn't take it seriously it was nothing
- 31:54blah blah blah but Rollins was on the
- 31:59other memo April of 2001 where this
- 32:03whole thing falls apart that oh you know
- 32:06uh it's not a it's not a group chians
- 32:10are not terrorists all of this falls
- 32:12apart when he also is on the now all of
- 32:15them claim they don't remember the
- 32:18memo and this is why after
- 32:21911 uh you know what is so what is so
- 32:25compelling here is that you get all of
- 32:28this shock Doctrine moment that now that
- 32:31we've been attacked we know that we have
- 32:33to change everything everything changes
- 32:37we have to start Mass surveillance
- 32:39within a couple of weeks uh Hayden turns
- 32:42on the buttons that begin monitoring you
- 32:45know
- 32:45Americans uh all of those secret memos
- 32:49written by John Yu basically say now we
- 32:52can do all the illegal things that we
- 32:54never could before under emergency the
- 32:57post 911 emergency including torture but
- 33:01all of these things were done it was it
- 33:02wasn't just torture it was a whole bunch
- 33:04of things that John Yu wrote secret
- 33:06mamals right right after 911 within
- 33:09dates essentially almost a martial law
- 33:12theory that it's an emergency and now
- 33:15martial laws in is in place right so
- 33:19okay so one of so they go to this
- 33:22drastic level of saying that we can do
- 33:25all illegal things now under a form of
- 33:28Martial law and yet the one thing that
- 33:32uh that turns out to be the biggest
- 33:35problem is that officials and I don't
- 33:38know of any official who will say yes I
- 33:41read the memo and I can't tell you why
- 33:45either I can't tell you why I remember
- 33:47reading the memo I Can't Tell You Why
- 33:50that I did these things every single one
- 33:52of them testifies in official inquiries
- 33:56that they don't at remember the memos
- 33:59and yet to this day 20 years later I
- 34:03don't think there's ever been any kind
- 34:06of very minor bureaucratic fix that they
- 34:10can at least have a way to find out if
- 34:14you read the
- 34:15memo even under jedar Hoover under jedar
- 34:20Hoover and Clyde Tolson you had Clyde
- 34:23Tolson had this CT and you had to check
- 34:26off this was all paper but uh when you
- 34:29read something or sent something you had
- 34:32to do a little check off in your
- 34:34initials your initials by the check off
- 34:37it's a very rudimentary form of a
- 34:40tracking mechanism so that later on you
- 34:44can't go and say I don't remember that
- 34:46at all but that even like I said after
- 34:50911 it turns out nobody remembers
- 34:53anything and and there's never been a
- 34:56fix of that okay if nobody remembers at
- 34:59the very least what youve got to do is
- 35:01get some kind of tracking thing in there
- 35:04so that people can't whether they saw it
- 35:06or not that you can actually determine
- 35:09these things and you can't just say I
- 35:11don't remember you know it's it's a very
- 35:14small thing no we went to war killed
- 35:16millions of people tortured surveillance
- 35:19all these things and yet to my knowledge
- 35:22this this little fix that could have
- 35:24been a mechanism of finding out
- 35:28what you actually read or knew ahead of
- 35:31time and and I don't even ever see in
- 35:34fact I see it Opposite all the time with
- 35:37in the sonof in the underwear bomber I
- 35:40see it all the time that there they find
- 35:43a memo that was written beforehand and
- 35:46then they say your name is on it it was
- 35:48to your attention and that person is in
- 35:52official thinks ah I don't remember I
- 35:54don't think I ever saw it don't think I
- 35:56ever saw it never saw it don't remember
- 35:58and that still is going on right it's
- 36:00amazing that kind of what's the word
- 36:03discrepancy it's just it floors me and I
- 36:06say it in a lot of I say it in in many
- 36:09many interviews and to this day most
- 36:12people shrug it's like well well they're
- 36:15powerful of course if they don't want to
- 36:17remember they don't have to remember
- 36:18they're the powerful people and they
- 36:20don't have if they don't if they don't
- 36:21think they saw it fine fine and and I'll
- 36:25even get that from interiew you know
- 36:27reporters and everything even right off
- 36:28the bat amazing discrepancy and and that
- 36:31leads beautifully into the next question
- 36:33because as we see with the FBI superiors
- 36:36about
- 36:37males you're in the Minneapolis Chief
- 36:41division Council in 2000 and there's
- 36:43another agency and CIA Alex station
- 36:47which is a virtual station monitoring
- 36:49the movements and financial uh
- 36:52transactions of al-Qaeda and Bin Laden
- 36:54they come into possession that there's
- 36:56two Al-Qaeda operatives inside the
- 36:58United States since khed
- 36:59alidar Minneapolis is not notified
- 37:02because the FBI General was never
- 37:04notified about this fact until August of
- 37:072001 at the National Security grp the
- 37:09FBI was suppressed by CIA lead
- 37:12management such as Tom Wilshire the
- 37:14deputy uh director of Alex station and
- 37:17at the time the deputy chief Michael
- 37:20Shyer who refused to share this
- 37:22information and
- 37:23data and Richard ble who took over him
- 37:26in 1999
- 37:29what it just seemed that there is a a
- 37:31lack there's I don't know whether to say
- 37:33it's malfeasance or something more but I
- 37:35don't want to imply something else
- 37:37without evidence but what you just
- 37:40describe with the FBI it seems that
- 37:43that's the same thing with the CIA in
- 37:45regards to oh we're not sharing
- 37:47information but yet lie about it when
- 37:49they're investigated by the Senate the
- 37:51911 Commission in which they say yes we
- 37:53did share with the FBI but they never
- 37:55did yeah and the agent uh there were two
- 37:59or at least two maybe three agents who
- 38:02wanted to share the information and H
- 38:06forget his name now rosini I think it's
- 38:08rosini and Doug Miller that's right yeah
- 38:10and Ro rosini now admits that he lied to
- 38:14the Inspector General so the Inspector
- 38:17General when they do their like I said
- 38:19my memo led to that uh investigation he
- 38:23was told he had to lie and so there's an
- 38:27interview of rosini again here's the
- 38:29reason for this because there's
- 38:32priorities the
- 38:34priorities and of course telling the the
- 38:37God's truth to the public is the very
- 38:39lowest uh priority but even official
- 38:43inquiries of Congress and um and of
- 38:47Inspector generals are a less priority
- 38:50than what somebody who's the head of for
- 38:53instance the CIA or the NSA will tell
- 38:55you is national security reasons
- 38:58so when they tell you National Security
- 39:00trumps the truth to Congress for
- 39:04instance most people that are part of
- 39:06the system are going to follow that and
- 39:09rosini would be the one to ask about
- 39:11this right because he he is says this in
- 39:14an interview that he actually thought he
- 39:17had to lie because of National Security
- 39:20now here's the difference is that when
- 39:22you have a brazinski or these people at
- 39:26the top who are coming com up with or
- 39:28Louis Frey for that matter who are
- 39:30coming up with their Notions of National
- 39:34Security and uh that and the fact that
- 39:37not telling the truth about things
- 39:39matters more because of foreign policy
- 39:44goals so they come up with their foreign
- 39:47policy goals and
- 39:48agenda they they conflate those with
- 39:52National Security so when a brazinski
- 39:54says we got to do this whatever the
- 39:57foreign policy goal is conflated with na
- 40:00you know supporting the Chetan
- 40:03terrorists well okay well you know
- 40:05that's not a good thing but they always
- 40:07have that friend of the Enemy what is it
- 40:09the enemy the enemy of my enemy is my
- 40:12friend the enemy of my enemy as my
- 40:14friend is always the case they use well
- 40:17Whitey Bulger is a perfect example right
- 40:19so I like to talk about cases that are
- 40:21publicly known like that so when he's
- 40:24found out to be murdering people it's
- 40:27it's much more important to cover that
- 40:29up and that wasn't just a couple of
- 40:31Rogue agents his murders were covered up
- 40:34for a long years and years and in fact
- 40:37it looks like Robert Mueller even
- 40:39probably knew about it and helps cover
- 40:42it up and the reason is it's a bigger
- 40:44goal to get information from Whitey buer
- 40:48on his enemies in the Italian mob than
- 40:52allowing him to commit murders so you're
- 40:54you're
- 40:55prioritizing your goals and when it
- 40:58comes to foreign policy that trumps
- 41:01everything it certainly uh trumps
- 41:03domestic murders for instance you know
- 41:06so if there's a you know you see this
- 41:08all the time with these assassinations
- 41:10that are occurred officials were thored
- 41:14in in finding the truth about certain uh
- 41:18ambassadors and and and heads of state
- 41:21Etc who are assassinated if it conflicts
- 41:25with the United States who who certain
- 41:29people decide are the foreign policy
- 41:32goals and they can flate those foreign
- 41:35policy goals with National Security so
- 41:38when you do that you feel perfectly fine
- 41:41like oh well it's it's the noble lie you
- 41:44have to do this uh and uh because it's
- 41:48more important that these goals be met
- 41:52and you see this all the time it gets
- 41:54worse and worse and worse because now
- 41:55eventually if you go down that road of
- 41:59thinking that the foreign policy goals
- 42:01Trump everything you finally get into
- 42:03outright lying to the public all the
- 42:05time you know making up false flags and
- 42:08everything else it get it goes worse and
- 42:10worse and worse but certainly just to in
- 42:13avoid the embarrassment of all of this
- 42:16baggage of years and years of covering
- 42:20up uh elada and Bin Laden because we
- 42:24were the ones who backed that whole
- 42:26thing to begin with under brazinski I
- 42:29think that's a lot of it and and then
- 42:31again for for little people down the
- 42:34line who might blurt out actually
- 42:36innocently blurt out things uh they
- 42:39don't even know the big picture it's
- 42:41only the people at the top who actually
- 42:44have all the dots right like a Rollins
- 42:46for instance you know the people at the
- 42:48top are the ones most privy to all of
- 42:51the dots because first of all they
- 42:52they're more senior they've been in it
- 42:54longer so a first office agent hard even
- 42:57you know basically kind of doesn't even
- 42:59know as much about it when I was the
- 43:02when I was conveying uh information to
- 43:05this Cobar Towers victim family I didn't
- 43:08know any of this of the bigger picture
- 43:10about Saudi Arabia I only knew the
- 43:11things I was being sent to read my my
- 43:15supervisor again this is a learning
- 43:17curve that I've had now that I'm you
- 43:20know 67 and out of the FBI for so long
- 43:23and and you know as in Daniel Ellsberg
- 43:25will tell you it takes a long time time
- 43:27to kind of put this all together but you
- 43:30know with uh my supervisor my organized
- 43:33crime supervisor in New York for for
- 43:36just for one year I had a couple of
- 43:38other supervisors too but this one
- 43:40supervisor I had for one year head of
- 43:42the banano family Squad was Lynn Deo yes
- 43:47and ly Deo ended up being prosecuted for
- 43:51you know negligent murder because he was
- 43:54operating a top cap
- 43:57boss of the uh banana family Scarpa yeah
- 44:01Greg Scarpa that's yep Scarpa and just
- 44:05the same as buer not for a year or two
- 44:08for like 20 years same as buer this
- 44:11wasn't a little short thing he was
- 44:14handling a Scarpa for a couple of
- 44:16decades and Scarpa was also just like
- 44:19buer murdering people and there's a
- 44:22whole 60 minutes where lindao had he
- 44:25gets off by the skin of his teeth
- 44:27because of a kind of a technicality and
- 44:29he has this Sly smile when he's finally
- 44:33uh interviewed on 60 Minutes you know
- 44:35basically saying you you folks don't
- 44:37know what it takes this is what it takes
- 44:40you have to operate murderers he doesn't
- 44:42say it outright but he he comes close to
- 44:46say admitting and this is the same thing
- 44:49in the inform like I said with foreign
- 44:51policy trumping it's the same thing with
- 44:53all of the informants who go south
- 44:57you're operating top uh Scarpa and
- 45:00Boulder were top Echelon informants so
- 45:05they're the most important bosses of
- 45:08these re of these Rico families they're
- 45:11the bosses of it and they and the FBI is
- 45:13operating them can you imagine the
- 45:15problems of operating the bosses of
- 45:18organized crime crime families and and
- 45:21in my whole career there was almost
- 45:23nobody who ever said hey well should we
- 45:27really be operating the bosses of the
- 45:30families the top Echelon or should we
- 45:33just basically be trying to get info
- 45:35from lower level people so go back to
- 45:38what the only person who outed deio who
- 45:42kind of started seeing these things like
- 45:45oh God Deo is leaking to Scarpa the same
- 45:47way Scarpa is leaking to Deo was a first
- 45:50office agent with only a couple of years
- 45:52in so he he just naive he's naive he
- 45:56doesn't understand stand he blurts it
- 45:57out and I think he he ended up being
- 46:00destroyed uh this whistleblower on on
- 46:03Deo but that's the that's what goes on
- 46:06the whole New York office kellstrom all
- 46:09these bosses the informant unit all side
- 46:12with Deo and he gets off by the skin of
- 46:15his teeth that happens that I always
- 46:17tell people Boulder and Scarpa they're
- 46:20publicly know that's why I can you can
- 46:23talk about them but they're the tip of
- 46:25the iceberg this kind of thing goes on
- 46:28all the time hopefully in lesser crimes
- 46:32than just outright murders like this but
- 46:34it goes on all the time and the reason
- 46:37for it is you find yourself on the wrong
- 46:40side with your goals so your goals in
- 46:44your agenda eventually uh end up on the
- 46:47wrong side and you know it takes a long
- 46:50time to realize no maybe uh the wahabi
- 46:54proxy forces Maybe we shouldn't be uh
- 46:58funding and arming them and you know
- 47:00what they didn't even learn that lesson
- 47:02because in Syria they went right back to
- 47:04doing it it's never never been learned
- 47:05that's right never been learned so
- 47:07French intelligence later receives word
- 47:10that Zacharias MWI is inside the United
- 47:12States and they sent a detailed memo to
- 47:14the Oklahoma and Minnesota field
- 47:16officers and by 2001 a serious file has
- 47:20been secured on
- 47:21masawi um but it seemed that the CIA
- 47:24were made aware of masawi at this point
- 47:27um how how are they not how were they
- 47:29made aware of him and how long do you
- 47:31think they were made aware of him why
- 47:33didn't they inform him of
- 47:36you so going back you're saying the CIA
- 47:39knew that musawi was in the country long
- 47:42before the the the the calls com in from
- 47:46the flight school to Minneapolis see I
- 47:49don't know anything about that um
- 47:53firsthand or any any other way and from
- 47:57what I knew when the agents went around
- 48:00our FBI headquarters to the CIA
- 48:03counterterrorism
- 48:04Center uh from what I know nobody ever
- 48:08told anybody that the CIA already knew
- 48:11about musawi I'm not aware at all that
- 48:14there was any that the CI people in the
- 48:17CIA counterterrorism Center e themselves
- 48:21knew about that or certainly shared it
- 48:24with our agents that would have changed
- 48:26it's it I'm sorry to C the reason why
- 48:28I'm saying that is because when the CIA
- 48:31was um uh investigating uh this Al qaa
- 48:35meeting in qu Lumpur in January of 2000
- 48:37it's alleged that MWI is
- 48:40there yeah I you know it's possibly was
- 48:44you know because his his his uh his
- 48:46associate that eventually links him up
- 48:49with uh with elada was this suat or
- 48:52something who is part of the he's the
- 48:55guy who organized qu that's his business
- 48:58card that musawi has links him right up
- 49:00with that so it's definitely possible I
- 49:02just don't know for sure all I know is
- 49:05at the time that the disc the argument
- 49:08with headquarters was going on and even
- 49:10the calls to CIA now the reason the CIA
- 49:13counterterrorism Center ends up
- 49:16producing this little twoos slide uh
- 49:19briefing to tenant right away you know
- 49:23that that's because the agents call and
- 49:25go around FBI headquarters and called
- 49:28directly to CIA counterterrorism Center
- 49:31they produce this little thing where
- 49:33fundamentalist learns to fly whatever
- 49:36and have six or seven talking bullet
- 49:38points in there and tenant gets
- 49:40briefed uh like August 23rd I think
- 49:44something like that August 23rd or 24th
- 49:47he's briefed right very quickly maybe
- 49:50even before that he's briefed very
- 49:52quickly and on the day of 911 he's
- 49:55having bref with his mentor in Oklahoma
- 49:59forget the guy the senator the former
- 50:00Senator oh that that made tenant what he
- 50:04was he his career Guru you know he's
- 50:07having breakfast with him starts I
- 50:09forget that guy's name that's gonna
- 50:11bother me because I remember yeah I know
- 50:14it h but anyway someone runs in and says
- 50:17a plane has just hit the World Trade
- 50:20Center and the first thing out of
- 50:22tenet's mouth that somebody overheard
- 50:25because it makes makes it into a news
- 50:27article David Bor what his name is David
- 50:32Boren okay and because he overhears it
- 50:35it makes it into a news article tenet
- 50:38says maybe it's the is it the guy in
- 50:40Minnesota so that's how and and and that
- 50:44is actually when you when you talk about
- 50:46the the U information silos and the fact
- 50:51that information can't make its way
- 50:53vertically because of bureaucracy and
- 50:56pecking order and you can't make calls
- 50:59uh over one level above you which I
- 51:03testified to the Senate Judiciary that
- 51:05as being a main problem nobody at a
- 51:08lower level is allowed to even make a
- 51:12call to someone who's more than one rung
- 51:15above their own level that goes back to
- 51:17military you know the FBI being a
- 51:20military thing and if you do try to do
- 51:23that you get into serious trouble
- 51:26and I I I I think it was Feinstein at
- 51:29the time she asked me a question and I
- 51:31said well there's a pecking order I once
- 51:34or twice in my career did it I made a
- 51:37call to a higher level person and you're
- 51:40you're scared out of your mind to do
- 51:42that because that is not Kosher in the
- 51:45FBI to do that it's not Kosher in
- 51:47probably in any of the agencies but the
- 51:50the the agents who went around FBI
- 51:53headquarters people to go to the CIA
- 51:55countert ter ISM Center they got into
- 51:58trouble for that you can't do that and
- 52:02you know if if you uh for instance in
- 52:04our office um not calling um okay so
- 52:09there's a there's another lie here the
- 52:11agent this the agent and his supervisor
- 52:14are tearing their hair out by the end of
- 52:16August and we don't have an special
- 52:19agent in charge so the Minneapolis
- 52:22offices sa had retired in early August a
- 52:26few days before that call comes in 10
- 52:29days I think before the call comes in
- 52:31from the flight school our special agent
- 52:34in charge dolman had re had retired to
- 52:38get a a revolving door job to make more
- 52:40money so he had he had left and so all
- 52:43we had was an acting sa so the agents
- 52:47when they're tearing their hair out his
- 52:49name was Ray Morrow they go into him and
- 52:52say you got to make a call you got to
- 52:54make a call they can't do it they can't
- 52:56go up of the who they're talking to
- 52:58already and they're the people they're
- 53:00talking to are you know basically
- 53:02thoring it and so he promises he will
- 53:05moral promises he'll make a call uh I.E
- 53:09D Rollins I think it would have been D
- 53:10Rollins or some somebody like that and
- 53:14that he tells them he made the call and
- 53:16there's nothing that can be done that
- 53:18all turns out to be a lie the the deal
- 53:21is he was afraid to make the call how
- 53:25can you know people don't understand
- 53:26that all the big grade FBI that you see
- 53:29on television shows eim zimis Jr and
- 53:32you're shaking in your shoes to make a
- 53:34telephone call and that's exactly what
- 53:37it is because this bureaucratic
- 53:40militaristic hierarchy is run on the
- 53:43operation that you can't make calls up
- 53:46above a rung below above yourself and
- 53:49inherently this acting sa is already a
- 53:53run below who he would have had to call
- 53:56because that's he's he's not an sa and
- 53:59it goes on this level I I tried I don't
- 54:01think Feinstein understood maybe she did
- 54:03I don't think she understood me when I
- 54:05said there's a pecking order and you
- 54:06can't do this I could have called and my
- 54:10my little mistake here is I should have
- 54:12picked up my phone and called Spike
- 54:14Bowman who was who was two rungs ahead
- 54:17of me right you know I could have called
- 54:19the the the 14 the uh the assistant
- 54:23legal person which I didn't do either
- 54:26and partly because uh at the time you
- 54:30know first of all you have a certain
- 54:32amount of trust in their ability to know
- 54:34all all of these things and I'm trying
- 54:37to think of why I didn't call him
- 54:38directly but uh I could have called him
- 54:41directly uh and argued with him but but
- 54:45until Spike Bowman who is the head of it
- 54:48says no there's no probable cause and I
- 54:50don't know all the facts I don't know I
- 54:53thought maybe Spike Bowman read it right
- 54:56turns out Spike Bowman lied too he
- 54:58didn't read it the Senate Judiciary
- 55:00Committee uh forced him to own up and
- 55:03this isn't until
- 55:062002 you know way later over a year
- 55:09later Spike Bowman admits he didn't read
- 55:12it either he didn't read the draft
- 55:14declaration so at the time I kind of
- 55:17figured he must have read it no he was
- 55:19just orally briefed never you know
- 55:22determined was it a two-minute briefing
- 55:24now basically the briefing could have
- 55:26been the guy the headquarters supervisor
- 55:29says you don't want to go with these
- 55:31dumb agents in Minnesota right that's
- 55:33the briefing how what do they know in
- 55:35Minnesota that could have been the
- 55:37briefing we don't know what it was they
- 55:39think they landed on a terrorist and at
- 55:41the most it connects to the Chans
- 55:43there's no probable cause right and that
- 55:45could have been the briefing sure it
- 55:48yeah so it all goes right back to mswi
- 55:51because mswi when he enter when he calls
- 55:54uh the U the flight school one of the
- 55:57trainers there um you were referring to
- 56:00him earlier his name was Clarence
- 56:02Prevost and he actually is talking to
- 56:04MWI MWI is actually telling him yeah
- 56:07he's making these like very suspicious
- 56:09statements about wanting to fly a Boeing
- 56:11right away even though he's never flown
- 56:14a pilot or trained in any type of
- 56:16Airline and he's saying I just want to
- 56:18learn how to fly not land and he makes
- 56:20all these statements so he calls the up
- 56:24so on AUST no no no I'm sorry
- 56:26does not no preos does not call the FBI
- 56:32here's what happened Prevost is talking
- 56:35to other flight instructors at the
- 56:37school and telling them basically what
- 56:41you just said this is like my most
- 56:43suspicious student he tells him them all
- 56:45these things and they have a little
- 56:48discussion and and uh they say God
- 56:50somebody should call the FBI about this
- 56:53and preos actually apparently either was
- 56:57too busy or too chicken Pros does not
- 57:00cough it's uh two other guys um I'll
- 57:04remember their names here too they they
- 57:07don't even know and here's here when you
- 57:09have this kind of dynamic that two
- 57:12separate flight instructors who are who
- 57:14are getting the information
- 57:17secondhand who themselves are
- 57:19whistleblowers because they're going
- 57:21against their own flight school they are
- 57:25all the worried about making a call
- 57:27because it hurts their flight school and
- 57:31this is a paying customer they're not
- 57:33supposed to do this right and so these
- 57:36two guys don't even know each other is
- 57:38calling one called to our St Paul
- 57:41resident agency and one called into
- 57:43Minneapolis they call within an hour of
- 57:45each other and so that alone that alone
- 57:48is is really telling it's very strong
- 57:51evidence that whatever now when when it
- 57:53all then the agents go out Prevost is
- 57:57the actual flight instructor of mousawi
- 57:59he's the one who has the firstand so
- 58:01when the Agents come to Prevost that
- 58:04then he opens up and tells them yes all
- 58:06these things that you're talking what
- 58:08makes him suspicious so once they come
- 58:10to him he then tells them all these
- 58:13reasons they go back and put this all
- 58:15they work overtime for a day or two put
- 58:17it all into a uh an emergency FIS um
- 58:21request and and then wait for the French
- 58:23uh first French information that comes
- 58:25in and send it right in within within a
- 58:28very short time but pre here's the the
- 58:31end of the story as what's his name used
- 58:34to say the end of the story is Prevost
- 58:36of course becomes the star witness in
- 58:38the musawi trial and in and maybe even
- 58:43more or less embellishes to a little bit
- 58:48uh uh how he was so astute and knew all
- 58:52of this ahead of time but he's not the
- 58:54one who made the call and Prevost Harry
- 58:58samit puts Prevost in for
- 59:02A5
- 59:04million
- 59:06reward and that is huge money I've never
- 59:09in my life heard he was the star witness
- 59:13it was a terrorist case headquarters OK
- 59:16it Pros gets $5
- 59:19million for testifying after he
- 59:22testifies in the musawi probably by the
- 59:24way told he was is going to get it too
- 59:27so this is most in most Witnesses
- 59:30cooperating Witnesses know they're going
- 59:32to be paid afterwards which is already a
- 59:35problem for justice systems by the way
- 59:37because if you know you're GNA be paid
- 59:40it will bias your testimony sure
- 59:43especially $5 million but I don't know
- 59:45that for a fact I'm just surmising
- 59:47because I know it's the standard well
- 59:50were the two men's name Hugh Sims and
- 59:52Tim Nelson yes and so Nelson and Sims
- 59:57yeah Nelson and Sims uh see that he gets
- 1:00:01five million and they're iate they got
- 1:00:04nothing stiff and if if they hadn't
- 1:00:06called who knows what would have
- 1:00:08happened and so then they make a stink
- 1:00:11about it and FBI headquarters gives them
- 1:00:14up I think they actually give one of
- 1:00:16them 5,000 or 10,000 and the other guy
- 1:00:21gets a couple thousand I mean incredible
- 1:00:24right they get they get stiffed and they
- 1:00:26they chuckle about it you know in a way
- 1:00:28I've had conversation with them they
- 1:00:30were when they when uh when this first
- 1:00:33came out about the flight school the uh
- 1:00:38Jessie ventur was governor at the time
- 1:00:41and he wanted to give an award uh they
- 1:00:44wanted to give an award when again this
- 1:00:46was known that there were white school
- 1:00:48whistleblowers who who started this
- 1:00:50whatever and this is after mwi's already
- 1:00:53charged but before the trial but before
- 1:00:56the trial and and I was on the phone
- 1:00:59even with Jessie Ventura's office and
- 1:01:01and nixed it they were that these two
- 1:01:04guys were not to get any award until
- 1:01:06after the trial was over because it can
- 1:01:09impact the trial you can't give money
- 1:01:12and awards to to people who could
- 1:01:15potentially be Witnesses and so we had
- 1:01:17to tell Ventura's office that they were
- 1:01:19not to give any recognition to the two
- 1:01:22flight school then later on the other
- 1:01:25guy who becomes you know the witness be
- 1:01:27becomes gets five million and they get
- 1:01:29nothing so this this is actually some
- 1:01:32news articles too um the uh Star Tribune
- 1:01:36reporter uh Greg Gordon wrote a couple
- 1:01:39an article about this whole thing and it
- 1:01:41was it's egregious but it hap this kind
- 1:01:43of stuff happens all the time but not
- 1:01:46what doesn't happen all the time is $5
- 1:01:48million sure uh inent a ward for a
- 1:01:52witness I have to get I have to give
- 1:01:54myself a convenient excuse
- 1:01:56is that sometimes I I I noticed this
- 1:01:58myself like I'll mix the names up and
- 1:02:01say like with the example Prevost um
- 1:02:04making the call meanwhile was the other
- 1:02:06two guys I just named and this seems to
- 1:02:09be like I think it's because of my old
- 1:02:11age I'm getting there I'm 51 so I just
- 1:02:14want to make that excuse myself just say
- 1:02:16it's all plain ignorance um but however
- 1:02:20uh you bring up uh when it comes to M
- 1:02:22too on August 16 2001 it was Harry samon
- 1:02:26John whis and Dave rap they drive to the
- 1:02:28resident in where mswi and um associ I
- 1:02:33think just whis and samic I'm not sure
- 1:02:36if rap was with him really um yeah they
- 1:02:39they drive to the residents in and he's
- 1:02:42MWI is actually with uh Hussein alus and
- 1:02:46they separate the two and they question
- 1:02:47them and MWI says to I don't know who he
- 1:02:50says this to but uh Aus tells somebody
- 1:02:53he says rwi believes it's acceptable to
- 1:02:56kill civilians who harm Muslims and
- 1:02:58proves martys and they find in the in
- 1:03:01the hotel room there's a there's a
- 1:03:02laptop there's a martydom will in our
- 1:03:05authors however is a big question
- 1:03:08technical question for you they can't
- 1:03:10expect they can't expect these items
- 1:03:12because they need a fisa war can you
- 1:03:15tell my audience what is a fisa
- 1:03:18war the after the church committee with
- 1:03:21all of the abuses under Hoover and coel
- 1:03:24pro where up till that point uh the FBI
- 1:03:29of course is counterintelligence and
- 1:03:32criminal um so the Fourth Amendment um
- 1:03:35which protects people's rights in a
- 1:03:37criminal case does not protect your
- 1:03:40rights in an intelligence matter so up
- 1:03:44until that point Hoover could under the
- 1:03:46aaces of National Security go around the
- 1:03:49Fourth Amendment if he said it was
- 1:03:52National Security even domestic
- 1:03:54extremism like
- 1:03:56um J like Martin Luther King um he
- 1:04:00didn't need to really have very much
- 1:04:03evidence for those types of things you
- 1:04:05know they might write up a little thing
- 1:04:06but they didn't have to have they didn't
- 1:04:08have any formal mechanism Hoover could
- 1:04:10do all of that and it really wasn't you
- 1:04:13know you can say was it illegal then but
- 1:04:16the courts had not recognized this as
- 1:04:17being illegal really there were court
- 1:04:21cases Supreme Court cases that had
- 1:04:23started to make this um legal Doctrine
- 1:04:26about expectation of privacy that might
- 1:04:29have you could say oh well it was
- 1:04:31already illegal people have that debate
- 1:04:33chicken or egg you know but bottom line
- 1:04:34is Hoover did it after the after these
- 1:04:37things were came out in the church
- 1:04:39committee they had a compromise and in
- 1:04:4378 they passed the fisa law because they
- 1:04:45said well they can't make it as hard as
- 1:04:48having to have probable cause of a crime
- 1:04:51so you have to have a slightly different
- 1:04:53probable cause and that will allow you
- 1:04:57to go to a secret court so it will never
- 1:05:00come out publicly it will all remain
- 1:05:03secret
- 1:05:05forever and uh so this fisa compromise
- 1:05:08went into place in 78 there was a woman
- 1:05:11at the Department of Justice Mary Lon
- 1:05:15God I remember some names Mary lton who
- 1:05:19was the head of
- 1:05:21OIP which handled fisa warrant
- 1:05:26and so when a lot of cases are
- 1:05:30combinations the musawi case is a
- 1:05:33perfect example is it a crime to
- 1:05:36sabotage a federal
- 1:05:38aircraft is it also could be an
- 1:05:41intelligence matter if you're recruiting
- 1:05:43for the chians ETC well it's both and
- 1:05:46actually a lot of them are both so they
- 1:05:49call they came up with this Doctrine oh
- 1:05:51by the way Mary lton uh comes up with a
- 1:05:54system in her head of trying to keep the
- 1:05:58Fourth Amendment from being abused so
- 1:06:02you're trying to keep PE the FBI from
- 1:06:05having an easy way like Hoover an easy
- 1:06:09way around the fourth amendment
- 1:06:11protection of people's expectation of
- 1:06:14privacy that you have to have probable
- 1:06:16cause under the Fourth Amendment you're
- 1:06:19you're so she is coming up with a way to
- 1:06:21do that protect people's rights the
- 1:06:23constitutional rights and
- 1:06:26still uh effectively have a level of
- 1:06:29information and even sometimes sharing
- 1:06:32that
- 1:06:33information now Mary lton does this for
- 1:06:36years and years but she and she was
- 1:06:38still relatively young I think she was
- 1:06:40in her 50s she ends up having a back
- 1:06:43surgery and dies unexpectedly young and
- 1:06:47when she died in the early 90s around 92
- 1:06:51or so she dies nine of her success
- 1:06:55cessors can figure out what this system
- 1:07:00of what came to be known as the wall a
- 1:07:04wall was to separate intelligence so
- 1:07:07that the FBI didn't abuse the
- 1:07:09Constitution and and and was still able
- 1:07:12to do its job whatever so Jamie gorick
- 1:07:16writes a memo o her successor writes a
- 1:07:19memo there end up to be all these legal
- 1:07:22memos written that are all mutually
- 1:07:26contradictory and you know an agent
- 1:07:29trying to do this job afterwards I would
- 1:07:32go to Legal counsil uh conferences and
- 1:07:35especially the New York office
- 1:07:38especially the New York FBI office was
- 1:07:40running into all kinds of problems
- 1:07:42because that that guy my counterpart in
- 1:07:45New York or counterparts would raise
- 1:07:47their hands and they would say you say
- 1:07:49in this memo to do it this way and you
- 1:07:51say in this memo that we have to share
- 1:07:54criminal information with do J but they
- 1:07:56were all mutually one was on secrecy now
- 1:08:00nobody uh wanted to this was like nobody
- 1:08:03wanted to touch us with a 10-foot pole
- 1:08:05headquarters I'm I'm talking about
- 1:08:06headquarters did not want to touch us
- 1:08:08with a 10- foot pole probably because
- 1:08:11there's no good answer to it so what
- 1:08:14we've come up with after 911 by the way
- 1:08:16has been a lot of of of uh violations of
- 1:08:20the Fourth Amendment okay so there's
- 1:08:23been now it went from being afraid
- 1:08:27afraid to share uh information that came
- 1:08:30up in an intelligence case with a
- 1:08:32criminal investigation beforehand now it
- 1:08:35went the opposite way now there's no
- 1:08:37wall at all and so now you do have the
- 1:08:41abuses and potential abuses of the
- 1:08:43Fourth Amendment it was just went and
- 1:08:45maybe that's why the smarter people at
- 1:08:47headquarters again after this death of
- 1:08:50Mary lton she was doing fine by all
- 1:08:52those years from 78 to '92 it was not an
- 1:08:56issue or a problem after she died they
- 1:08:59didn't know what the heck to do they
- 1:09:00wrote all these contradictory memos
- 1:09:02mutually contradictory nobody has told
- 1:09:05the truth about that to this I mean
- 1:09:07maybe somebody has but I don't think so
- 1:09:09because you know what that makes us look
- 1:09:11like mud too it means that for for for
- 1:09:1510 years uh people either didn't
- 1:09:18understand or like a Jamie gorlic or
- 1:09:21they they did their best but they didn't
- 1:09:23want to touch it with a 10 foot pole by
- 1:09:25by the way so um so you you said what is
- 1:09:29a fisa well the problem with this is
- 1:09:33that they were so
- 1:09:34afraid they they they came up with all
- 1:09:38of these quote unquote procedures not to
- 1:09:41violate the wall before
- 1:09:45911 and one of these was that you had to
- 1:09:48do all this checking to ensure that
- 1:09:51there was no criminal investigation
- 1:09:53already opened and that you were see
- 1:09:55they were just going
- 1:09:57fisa Route because it was easier and it
- 1:10:00was a way around and they'd say it
- 1:10:03didn't pass the smell test one
- 1:10:06supervisor at headquarters prior to 911
- 1:10:10uh last name was Resnik there are
- 1:10:12articles about this got into trouble
- 1:10:15with the fisac cour he got reamed out
- 1:10:18told never appear before us ever again
- 1:10:21because you are violating the fourth
- 1:10:24amendment by not do doing this these
- 1:10:26procedures and this checking and that
- 1:10:28actually has an impact then on all of
- 1:10:30his successors at on 911 because they
- 1:10:34know that their predecessor got into
- 1:10:37huge trouble with the fisac court and
- 1:10:40and that's part of it so this Emer fisa
- 1:10:43fisa usually would take at least a month
- 1:10:46or two if it's an ordinary fisa they
- 1:10:50would have to really dot the eyes cross
- 1:10:52the teas um there was a there's a debate
- 1:10:55about whether the fisa court merely
- 1:10:57robber stamped everything brought to it
- 1:11:00because they had only turned down one or
- 1:11:02something before 911 they had never
- 1:11:04hardly ever turned him down but then the
- 1:11:07free free Louis free side would say
- 1:11:10that's because they're so perfectly done
- 1:11:13we and and doj would say this as well
- 1:11:16they're all so perfect eyes dotted teeth
- 1:11:19crossed that there's never been a
- 1:11:21problem with with getting them past the
- 1:11:22fisa cour that's their argument the
- 1:11:24other argument is that the fisa judges
- 1:11:27don't know exactly the facts of anything
- 1:11:30you see this with the Carter page the
- 1:11:32the the the judges don't have any way of
- 1:11:34knowing the truth of these allegations
- 1:11:37that are in a fisa declaration and they
- 1:11:39just rubber stamp so there's two
- 1:11:40different thoughts on this and I think
- 1:11:43it's probably both I think before 9911
- 1:11:47that actually they were done very the
- 1:11:49ordinary ones were done super super well
- 1:11:52they took a couple of three months now
- 1:11:54the agents were so worried they didn't
- 1:11:57think they had a couple three months so
- 1:12:00that's that's why they sent it in as an
- 1:12:02emergency to be done right away they
- 1:12:04tried to make it as urgent and almost no
- 1:12:08I don't know the numbers of emergency
- 1:12:11fe uh warrants that were approved it was
- 1:12:15very small so uh Playing devil's
- 1:12:19advocate on behalf of FBI headquarters
- 1:12:22they would have had to go out on the
- 1:12:24limb to say this is an emergency fisa
- 1:12:27because I don't think there were very
- 1:12:29many even though our agents knew it was
- 1:12:31an emergency and a lot of reasons uh but
- 1:12:35there was hardly any and then you couple
- 1:12:37it with the problem that Resnik had been
- 1:12:40by the way that was that was the former
- 1:12:42head of the FIS of Court Royce Lamberth
- 1:12:44he's another piece of work he flipflops
- 1:12:47all the time you know he's he's
- 1:12:49partially to blame for this also because
- 1:12:52he's the one and this Resnik thing was
- 1:12:54all bog BS [ __ ] they should never have
- 1:12:58you know those procedures were all kind
- 1:13:01of stupid and whatever uh but anyway
- 1:13:04Royce Lamberth you know Bears some blame
- 1:13:07and then he goes completely opposite the
- 1:13:09other way afterwards too sure now
- 1:13:12there's a huge now there's a big
- 1:13:13question here because I think this is
- 1:13:15where the dividing line came in between
- 1:13:17the agents and the supervisor Minnesota
- 1:13:19was that agent samit posits that both
- 1:13:22musawi and alatas were conspiring to
- 1:13:25violate Title 18 of the US statutes
- 1:13:27relating to terrorism destruction of us
- 1:13:30facilities now the memo is sent to the
- 1:13:32radical fundamentalist unit uh led by
- 1:13:35Mike Maly and both Maly and Rita Flack
- 1:13:39then send a request to the National
- 1:13:41Security Law unit Mar Marian [ __ ] Bowen
- 1:13:45however in the memo mpy had edited the
- 1:13:48request in which the memo was now an
- 1:13:51immigration issue not a criminal issue
- 1:13:53and edited out was mwi's link to
- 1:13:56al-Qaeda in Cheta under Ian
- 1:14:00katab two two po question why was the
- 1:14:03memo edited and what was Dave frasca's
- 1:14:07Rollings yeah I don't know ex frasa was
- 1:14:10and Malt B were were in it together
- 1:14:13totally as far as I know they didn't
- 1:14:14disagree about anything they were you
- 1:14:17know frasa was taking malt beside on all
- 1:14:20this um yeah they they definitely
- 1:14:22changed wording and edit things that
- 1:14:26made the agents very mad they watered it
- 1:14:28down they not only watered down the
- 1:14:30emergency fisa request they also watered
- 1:14:35down the warning to the FAA that's very
- 1:14:38critical they also watered that down now
- 1:14:42samit was so concerned that he tried
- 1:14:46locally to brief the local F FAA with
- 1:14:50the original strong
- 1:14:52warning that because he knew that FBI
- 1:14:55headquarters of course the people here
- 1:14:56were the same things you know they
- 1:14:58covered up too the local FAA like who
- 1:15:00are we we are we're not going to do
- 1:15:02anything and the the biggest way to
- 1:15:04prevented 911 was simply if you combine
- 1:15:07Bo bog and jovic's information along
- 1:15:11with everything that was happening was
- 1:15:12to shut the to firm the lock the the
- 1:15:16cockpit doors as soon as you lock the
- 1:15:18cockpit doors it makes the whole plot go
- 1:15:21you know Up and Smoke they can't get
- 1:15:22into the cockpit and when I I got asked
- 1:15:25I got grilled whenever the the
- 1:15:27debriefers by the way both the jiy ones
- 1:15:31and the inspector general ones that
- 1:15:33debriefed me and FBI headquarters in the
- 1:15:36heart of the administration and the
- 1:15:39public affairs that were saying the
- 1:15:41exact opposite with minders in the
- 1:15:44interview uh I had minders in all these
- 1:15:47interviews even with people that had top
- 1:15:50security clearances so all of the people
- 1:15:53on the jiy the staff on the jiy I'm
- 1:15:56sorry I'm digressing here so bring me
- 1:15:58back but all of the people on the jiy
- 1:16:01had top secret clearance because they
- 1:16:03were former FBI former CIA former Secret
- 1:16:07Service that's only people they hired
- 1:16:09about 30 Stafford and they were all
- 1:16:11people that came out of federal agencies
- 1:16:13with top secret clearances I still had
- 1:16:16an FBI minder in my interview in case I
- 1:16:20would say something that that hurt the
- 1:16:23FBI and this is with the the the formal
- 1:16:25joint intelligence committee same thing
- 1:16:27with the Inspector General okay so you
- 1:16:30know to be brave and tell them what you
- 1:16:33know you can't do this this is why
- 1:16:34rosini uh you know partially you should
- 1:16:37ask him directly but you know why he
- 1:16:40lies because he knows that people will
- 1:16:41know exactly what he tells even though
- 1:16:44it has nothing to do with with the okay
- 1:16:47so I got off base here on
- 1:16:50uh yeah they edit they edited the
- 1:16:52information regarding mwi's link to a
- 1:16:55and J you right so so uh shutting the
- 1:17:01cockpit doors is the number oh so when I
- 1:17:03was in these things when they get to the
- 1:17:06end of you know I would say go through
- 1:17:08the story what I knew and stuff uh they
- 1:17:11would say but
- 1:17:12colen there was no way to have prevented
- 1:17:16911 how I am
- 1:17:19paraphrasing because they wouldn't say
- 1:17:21it precisely in this leading of a way
- 1:17:24but this is what they were saying to me
- 1:17:27and this came up every time and it would
- 1:17:29be towards the end they would say but
- 1:17:32you know how would
- 1:17:35you have how would you have prevented
- 1:17:4191 it you know how in the heck could
- 1:17:44this have been been prevented and so
- 1:17:46then I would have to say well yeah yeah
- 1:17:49it does take a while once the search is
- 1:17:51author once the search occurs to put it
- 1:17:54with Malaysia and quala lur and suat to
- 1:17:57get the fingerprint of Ramsey Ben Al
- 1:17:59sheep yes that takes a while but you
- 1:18:02never know if things could have been uh
- 1:18:04speeded up it turns out there are
- 1:18:06theories of how it could have been sped
- 1:18:08up Greg Gordon wrote a whole article
- 1:18:10about how it could have been sped up Etc
- 1:18:12so I'd say well who knows yes I
- 1:18:15understand that this the actual search
- 1:18:17it doesn't really link up with Ramsey
- 1:18:20Ben El for after 911 so even if you
- 1:18:24would have got got the authority on
- 1:18:26August 24th the time just runs out okay
- 1:18:30so then but I said but what if somebody
- 1:18:32then put two and two with the Phoenix
- 1:18:35memo and I said the final thing is why
- 1:18:38would they not have with all of the sits
- 1:18:40known just tell the FAA the Phoenix memo
- 1:18:45knowledge that musawi is in Flight
- 1:18:47School tell the FAA in stronger words to
- 1:18:50shut the doors of the cockpits and then
- 1:18:53they kind of looked at
- 1:18:55so this is this this would be what I'd
- 1:18:57go through and and by the way I said if
- 1:18:59you would have learned of the Phoenix
- 1:19:00memo you know if our agents would have
- 1:19:02known about it it that would have
- 1:19:04changed everything alone but all of
- 1:19:07these information silos where nobody
- 1:19:09knows and again there's the Phoenix memo
- 1:19:12there's the hijackers in California and
- 1:19:14nobody and the memos that nobody claims
- 1:19:17they ever read afterwards when you put
- 1:19:19it all together there's there's plenty
- 1:19:22for people to at least have and and
- 1:19:24nobody would have watered down that FAA
- 1:19:26warning to them to shut the Copic doors
- 1:19:29Etc and then yeah they kind of like oh
- 1:19:32huh huh and they'd write something down
- 1:19:34in their notes but the the
- 1:19:37reluctance to take any responsibility
- 1:19:41for something as horrible as killing
- 1:19:443,000 people like this is is is it's
- 1:19:48just a natural human nature and
- 1:19:51everybody who's part of an organization
- 1:19:53is not going to want to own up it's just
- 1:19:55like the Catholic priesthood it took 20
- 1:19:5830 years for anybody in that hierarchy
- 1:20:01to ever admit oh my God we had some bad
- 1:20:05priests that were abusing CH children
- 1:20:07the first whistleblower was
- 1:20:101985 on the Catholic priesthood all
- 1:20:13covered up for year and most of the
- 1:20:15people who covered it up were not bad
- 1:20:18themselves but they C you can't own up
- 1:20:21to bad things you just can't that's part
- 1:20:24of
- 1:20:25I know I would say this to Liberal I a
- 1:20:28lot of liberals will say oh I would have
- 1:20:31I would have not a person I have ever
- 1:20:34met in my life I don't care how saintly
- 1:20:38or good they are what have ever ever
- 1:20:42like that like that first office agent
- 1:20:44who said oh my supervisor is operating a
- 1:20:46murderer you know what it is one in a
- 1:20:49million person and half the time most of
- 1:20:53the whistleblowers I know
- 1:20:55it's
- 1:20:56naivity like a Thomas Drake uh whatever
- 1:20:59it's naivity that you think or or even
- 1:21:03my cover my Time Person cover with
- 1:21:06Sharon Watkins Cynthia Cooper no one
- 1:21:09would do this if they knew what's gonna
- 1:21:12result for them they are naive enough to
- 1:21:15believe oh the system is still good
- 1:21:17enough if I get the truth out we I
- 1:21:20thought the same thing I never thought I
- 1:21:22would be fired they were talking about
- 1:21:24firing me a day after my first memo in
- 1:21:28in headquarters and I went whoa I was
- 1:21:31tell I was talking to Top Secret my memo
- 1:21:34went to Feinstein and Shelby who are top
- 1:21:37secret how the heck could I be fired for
- 1:21:40you know leaking and stuff I can't be I
- 1:21:43could not understand that because I was
- 1:21:45too naive but you know what that's our
- 1:21:47system is really and you know what as
- 1:21:50bad as it was 2001 it's far far worse
- 1:21:53now far far
- 1:21:56you all right at 911 happens and you
- 1:22:00become one of the very first people to
- 1:22:02speak out against malens in the highest
- 1:22:05levels you ended up writing a paper to
- 1:22:08FBI director Robert Mueller a bold move
- 1:22:11documenting how Personnel mishandled
- 1:22:13information regarding to 911 um and of
- 1:22:17course to zachar masawi what did you
- 1:22:19write what tell us what you wrote to and
- 1:22:21and by the way I didn't even know some
- 1:22:23of the worst parts of it I didn't know
- 1:22:25about I didn't know everything about the
- 1:22:27hijackers that the CIA knew about The
- 1:22:29Quon po I did not know about these early
- 1:22:32memos written months before that the
- 1:22:34Chan terrorist group was was aligned
- 1:22:38with Bin Laden there there's a lot I
- 1:22:40didn't even know I just knew that I knew
- 1:22:42this part about the that that our
- 1:22:44headquarters was lying about the fact
- 1:22:47that there was no probable cause and you
- 1:22:49know they weren't even owning up to the
- 1:22:51problems of the wall at the time they
- 1:22:54weren't it was all completely they what
- 1:22:57what happens is the cover up really went
- 1:22:59too far and so even somebody at the
- 1:23:02lower level could see that oh this isn't
- 1:23:05true and Mueller who had only been FBI
- 1:23:08director for one week before 911 he went
- 1:23:11in front of the cameras for a solid
- 1:23:14month or two months and said we didn't
- 1:23:16know any information that could have
- 1:23:18prevented 911 well that actually went
- 1:23:21way too far right you know and I I
- 1:23:23called up again naive naive at the time
- 1:23:26the first time he went before the
- 1:23:28cameras publicly after 911 and said that
- 1:23:31I called again at that point I'm making
- 1:23:34calls I'm not even worried about uh the
- 1:23:37pecking order I was making calls in into
- 1:23:39his office and saying please warn him
- 1:23:42not to say that anymore there's a
- 1:23:44there's all kinds of stuff there's I
- 1:23:45don't know if I knew about the Phoenix
- 1:23:47memo I said here we have a terrorist
- 1:23:49every time I talked to somebody after
- 1:23:51911 nobody knew about an a terrorist
- 1:23:54suspect suspect who was under arrest in
- 1:23:56August of 2001 we had explained this
- 1:23:58over and over and and there was a solid
- 1:24:01cover up solid cover up uh something
- 1:24:05that hasn't really been publicly known
- 1:24:08is that headquarters organized a uh what
- 1:24:12I what best characterized as this is our
- 1:24:17story and we're sticking to it meeting
- 1:24:20after 911 it was on the FBI um
- 1:24:24headquarters meeting called in the
- 1:24:26Minneapolis office on Halloween of 2001
- 1:24:30and initially they were going to have so
- 1:24:32Sam it I don't know who his supervisor
- 1:24:34I'm not sure who went to it two or three
- 1:24:36agents went to it his acting supervisor
- 1:24:39I think I'm not sure they all they went
- 1:24:40to this meeting where it basically was
- 1:24:43headquarters trying to tell the the
- 1:24:45Minneapolis office to shut up and uh
- 1:24:49before this because this wasn't known at
- 1:24:52all and and our top levels were lying
- 1:24:56their heads off including
- 1:24:58Mueller because Mueller by by that time
- 1:25:00he knew he knew what was known um and
- 1:25:04Mueller has a history of line about he's
- 1:25:06not any golden guy that you put up like
- 1:25:08the Russia gate on the pedestal he maybe
- 1:25:11not as quite as bad as free but he was a
- 1:25:13he lied to um anyway uh they had this
- 1:25:18meeting and I called it this is our
- 1:25:20story and we're sticking to it and that
- 1:25:23that meeting the the Minneapolis office
- 1:25:26was allowed to say here's what we knew
- 1:25:28blah blah blah they kind of sat there
- 1:25:30like this I didn't go to this meeting I
- 1:25:32was not invited but initially they were
- 1:25:35going to have the meeting with the
- 1:25:36Phoenix office and the Minneapolis
- 1:25:40office together and I think somebody at
- 1:25:43headquarters realized well we can't have
- 1:25:45Williams coming in with samon because
- 1:25:48they will be pretty strong if they're
- 1:25:51together right so they separated they
- 1:25:54had the Phoenix office come in
- 1:25:56separately obviously Williams and you
- 1:25:59know telling him this is what we're
- 1:26:01saying yeah you know this is our story
- 1:26:03and we're sticking to it that there's no
- 1:26:05way we could have possibly you know and
- 1:26:08they and again this is done in a very
- 1:26:10smooth way you don't have to say these
- 1:26:13words per se because everybody is
- 1:26:17everybody knows what's expected you
- 1:26:19don't have to give explicit orders you
- 1:26:22know you know from the the the the wind
- 1:26:24blowing which way it's going uh but that
- 1:26:27there was these meetings and then at
- 1:26:30shortly after those meetings there was a
- 1:26:32timeline that the legal councils began
- 1:26:36to prepare this timeline and they knew
- 1:26:39that at a certain point cheni would
- 1:26:42would have to give in to having some
- 1:26:43official inquiry about 911 I think they
- 1:26:46started in November December preparing
- 1:26:49this timeline and the timeline was
- 1:26:51skewed the timeline was skewed to their
- 1:26:54narrative that there was nothing that
- 1:26:55could be done there was no probable
- 1:26:57cause you know their that was their
- 1:26:59their their narrative and so at one
- 1:27:02point I would get copied on on the
- 1:27:04timeline as it progressed and at one
- 1:27:07point I saw that they were leaving out
- 1:27:10some some key facts one of the facts was
- 1:27:13that I was on the phone where I had
- 1:27:16personal involvement and the one thing
- 1:27:18that I had personal involvement was I
- 1:27:20was on the phone with uh with Maltby on
- 1:27:24911 on the day of 911 I'm on the phone
- 1:27:26with him and he says you guys can't do
- 1:27:28anything you can't go seek a a criminal
- 1:27:31warrant you you don't know anything uh
- 1:27:34your office is just one office and if
- 1:27:36you do something like that you could
- 1:27:38screw it this is on 911 itself and uh
- 1:27:42you you might screw it up for somebody
- 1:27:44else and I say well you know at this
- 1:27:47point it would have to be the biggest
- 1:27:49coincidence in the world if this if the
- 1:27:51musawi case was not connected to the New
- 1:27:54York what's happening in New York and he
- 1:27:56comes back and says that's probably what
- 1:28:00it is just a big
- 1:28:02coincidence so I'm hearing from this guy
- 1:28:06on okay so that's kind of a big little
- 1:28:08they had this they had lots of details
- 1:28:10this timeline was all very detailed well
- 1:28:14but it's missing that and when I call up
- 1:28:16to headquarters to uh legal counsil
- 1:28:18people who by the way I know I know the
- 1:28:20people in legal counsel who are doing
- 1:28:22this I know I'm personally I worked with
- 1:28:24one in in uh New York
- 1:28:27City and uh and uh and I'm told no that
- 1:28:32can't go in because that was only verbal
- 1:28:36that was only verbal well Spike Bowman's
- 1:28:40being uh saying there's no probable
- 1:28:42cause was also verbal but his is in
- 1:28:46there that the the unit chief of the
- 1:28:48legal council said there's no no
- 1:28:50probable cause of course that's in there
- 1:28:52and that was also verbal so I mean am I
- 1:28:55I know look you can see what's going on
- 1:28:57here which is that they're trying and
- 1:29:00the legal council of course like a
- 1:29:02lawyer like a corporate lawyer they're
- 1:29:04doing things not for uh public truth and
- 1:29:08Justice and whatever they're doing
- 1:29:10things to protect the FBI this happened
- 1:29:13in the Waco it happened in every single
- 1:29:16investigation uh internal is that they
- 1:29:19find ways to try to protect the agency
- 1:29:21that's their job I I did the same thing
- 1:29:24in in my office too I tried to protect
- 1:29:27agents all the time when they messed up
- 1:29:29you know I I talked about operating
- 1:29:32informant to go south wall I would go
- 1:29:34into judges and try to explain things I
- 1:29:36mean I that's what you do as an agency
- 1:29:38Council and so this was going on big
- 1:29:41time and it's it's just the norm uh
- 1:29:45after 911 so then when when I got called
- 1:29:48to uh be debriefed by The Joint
- 1:29:50intelligence committee I couldn't sleep
- 1:29:53for a couple of nights and I kept
- 1:29:54thinking of all these little little
- 1:29:56facts and again I didn't even know half
- 1:29:58of it and I and I was afraid I wouldn't
- 1:30:00remember them so when I'm in there
- 1:30:02because I got a minder and I'm you know
- 1:30:05nervous and everything I thought you
- 1:30:06know what and I said I gotta just put
- 1:30:08this on writing just because I'm not
- 1:30:10even going to remember it and that's how
- 1:30:12it started when I first started to do it
- 1:30:14it was just to get it down in writing I
- 1:30:17I didn't I didn't sleep a couple nights
- 1:30:18I went into the office at 4 o'clock in
- 1:30:20the morning and started getting it all
- 1:30:22down because I it was like a day before
- 1:30:24I left or or three about three I only
- 1:30:27had about three four days of warning
- 1:30:28that I was flying to New York or to
- 1:30:30Washington and uh so then I I put it all
- 1:30:34down in writing and then over time I
- 1:30:37thought here's what happened the the
- 1:30:40staffers there were five or so staffers
- 1:30:43of the joint intelligence committee that
- 1:30:46were doing the FBI there were a few
- 1:30:49others doing the CIA and a few others
- 1:30:51doing the NSA but there were like five
- 1:30:54and so the the the head of these five
- 1:30:58staffers that were supposed to be doing
- 1:31:00the the debriefings in the FBI were
- 1:31:03headed up by a former FBI legal
- 1:31:08council um forget his name he was Irish
- 1:31:11his last name ah I KN o
- 1:31:14no I can't remember his name right off
- 1:31:17off hand but I I actually knew the guy
- 1:31:19personally I probably talked to him a
- 1:31:22little bit once or twice
- 1:31:24but I also saw that he had been the
- 1:31:28legal counsel in the FBI he was a unit
- 1:31:31Chief former unit chief he wasn't just a
- 1:31:33low-level one he was a a unit Chief kind
- 1:31:36of like a spike
- 1:31:37Bowman
- 1:31:39and he had been accused maybe by
- 1:31:43Grassley I don't know who he had been
- 1:31:45accused by but he was accused by
- 1:31:47somebody of having helped cover up the
- 1:31:51Danforth inquiry
- 1:31:54Senator Danforth had done the inquiry of
- 1:31:58wakeo and this guy who was in the F who
- 1:32:01was in the FBI at the time as a legal
- 1:32:04counsel uh had been accused of that and
- 1:32:08I like the guy I liked him I a little
- 1:32:11bit I knew about him he was fine and I
- 1:32:13actually in my own head said I don't
- 1:32:16think that's true that he covered up
- 1:32:18anything of the FBI with Danford at the
- 1:32:21time this is what I thought in my head
- 1:32:23maybe not
- 1:32:24but I thought I don't think he is but to
- 1:32:27be but to be careful because I thought
- 1:32:31he would skew it so he was the head of
- 1:32:34this the staffers and because he already
- 1:32:37had a track he was accused of having
- 1:32:40covered up a prior
- 1:32:41inquiry I thought you know what I can't
- 1:32:45just give it to these staffers and so
- 1:32:48then that's what triggered me to say I'm
- 1:32:50going to take it directly to a couple of
- 1:32:53people people on The Joint intelligence
- 1:32:55committee couple of the Senators
- 1:32:56directly and so then I didn't know who
- 1:32:59to put I didn't even know who the two
- 1:33:00heads of it the minority and Majority
- 1:33:02Leader were I just knew Feinstein and
- 1:33:05Shelby because I saw their names in a
- 1:33:07news article that they were asking
- 1:33:09questions in the joint they were on the
- 1:33:11joint intelligence committee and they
- 1:33:13were asking questions I saw their names
- 1:33:15and I put that those two on it I put
- 1:33:18internal affairs on it they call it
- 1:33:20office of professional responsibility I
- 1:33:22put them on and I put Mueller on so I
- 1:33:25ended up with five I had the the jiy of
- 1:33:28course I handed it to them then I had
- 1:33:30Mueller I had to go to Muer's office and
- 1:33:32drop off a copy then I went to internal
- 1:33:35uh o office of professional
- 1:33:37responsibility then I took a cab over to
- 1:33:39the Senate building and delivered two
- 1:33:42envelopes you know sealed envelopes one
- 1:33:44to Feinstein's office and one to Shelby
- 1:33:47the only reason I did that is because
- 1:33:50the
- 1:33:51jiy uh staffers
- 1:33:53honestly I was not wrong I think they
- 1:33:56would have covered it up too my memo
- 1:33:58would have just been buried totally
- 1:34:00buried and if if the Senators somewhere
- 1:34:05they're the ones who leaked it they're
- 1:34:07the ones who leaked it to CNN and New
- 1:34:09York Times or whatever because I get
- 1:34:12this call to a day or two later well
- 1:34:14some staffer took it on themselves to to
- 1:34:17leak it and if that hadn't happened you
- 1:34:20know heaven knows nothing would have
- 1:34:21come out it would have maybe eventually
- 1:34:25have come out that it would have taken a
- 1:34:26lot
- 1:34:27longer you my final question to you
- 1:34:30after all
- 1:34:32this uh with all the pre-int telligence
- 1:34:36over the years way before 911 early 9s
- 1:34:40showing a strong link with Saudi
- 1:34:43Arabia foreign intelligence having maybe
- 1:34:46four knowledge that were existing inside
- 1:34:48the United
- 1:34:50States in 2002
- 1:34:53Secretary of of State Coen
- 1:34:57Powell uh goes before the United Nations
- 1:34:59security Council to get approval for the
- 1:35:03invasion of Iraq and instead of using
- 1:35:06all the intelligence that is amassed by
- 1:35:09your office in Minnesota Phoenix New
- 1:35:12York wherever
- 1:35:14instead he uses unvetted
- 1:35:17information from the CIA we get the war
- 1:35:21in
- 1:35:21Iraq give me your thought
- 1:35:24yeah I mean this is the kind of this is
- 1:35:27the you know again this is where all
- 1:35:30naivity of being a an inside person goes
- 1:35:33up and smoke and I I've told people now
- 1:35:37I am so cynical now I hate to even admit
- 1:35:40this about myself uh I can't you know
- 1:35:43like F I sit here calling fouchy every
- 1:35:46name in the book because I know he's
- 1:35:48lying his head off and you know he has
- 1:35:50lying and walinsky is beautiful face but
- 1:35:53but she's lying her head off and I I'm
- 1:35:56so cynical now that I frankly have a
- 1:36:00difficult time believing anyone in power
- 1:36:02at all and I think it it actually I
- 1:36:05think we're we're at the this kind of
- 1:36:07the Empire and this huus that Michael
- 1:36:10Shyer talks about uh Imperial hubris I
- 1:36:14think the Imperial hubris as bad as it
- 1:36:16was on 911 20 years later it has gotten
- 1:36:21I mean it went from that bad to up it is
- 1:36:25just horrible they think they can
- 1:36:27manufacture their own reality oh Carl R
- 1:36:31you stupid little people we can make our
- 1:36:33own reality and you're just left to deal
- 1:36:36with the aftermath hahaa that kind of
- 1:36:39that thing that a a Carl Rove who
- 1:36:42already was a you know creepy ly um you
- 1:36:46know constant constant line in po
- 1:36:50politics so Carl Rove is imbued with
- 1:36:53constant line but Carl Ro's mentality
- 1:36:55about making your own reality that's
- 1:36:58gone to everybody now everybody who's
- 1:37:01even at a low level the Russia gate uh
- 1:37:03the co all of this stuff now is
- 1:37:06everybody thinks you know what we own
- 1:37:08the media we can lie about anything with
- 1:37:11impunity not a single soul has ever been
- 1:37:15held accountable for the most agre Co
- 1:37:18and Powell my God he's he's worshiped
- 1:37:21and adored and he's the hero blah blah
- 1:37:23blah law a couple of people on
- 1:37:25alternative media call out Powell he's
- 1:37:28murdered millions of people all based on
- 1:37:32lies and you know coni rice and and
- 1:37:36Hillary Clinton and Samantha power both
- 1:37:39parties it has nothing to do with
- 1:37:41partisanship it's people who get those
- 1:37:43positions in power they have no they
- 1:37:47have no example of anyone who's ever
- 1:37:50been held accountable so why should they
- 1:37:53even begin why should this even enter
- 1:37:55their brain and make them even think I
- 1:37:59oh maybe I shouldn't do this maybe I
- 1:38:01shouldn't say this there's nothing to
- 1:38:03even enter their brain because we've now
- 1:38:06gone a full 20 20 plus years and not a
- 1:38:11single bit of Truth has ever mattered if
- 1:38:13the little bit of truth yes dribs and
- 1:38:16drabs eventually come out it doesn't
- 1:38:18have any impact on anything like I said
- 1:38:21they they I don't think they've even
- 1:38:23made a way for any bit of accountability
- 1:38:27to to see if people can to prevent
- 1:38:31officials from line that they either
- 1:38:35didn't read a memo didn't see a memo
- 1:38:37even when their name is on it that they
- 1:38:40didn't see it read it or or whatever and
- 1:38:43they would have to explain why they
- 1:38:44didn't do anything even that little tiny
- 1:38:48tiny bit of making a bit of
- 1:38:50accountability has never happened and
- 1:38:53people still go up there oh didn't see
- 1:38:56it ah didn't see it I didn't know about
- 1:38:59that and there's nothing to hold them to
- 1:39:01it because there's no way that you can
- 1:39:03you know you know a grassly or someone
- 1:39:05might say are you sure you didn't see
- 1:39:08this that's all they can do or or Rand
- 1:39:10Paul with trying to grill fouchy about
- 1:39:13the woan lab I mean there's almost
- 1:39:15nothing and and they can just lie with
- 1:39:19total impunity and and know I'm sorry
- 1:39:22I'm real cynical at this point but you
- 1:39:24know I have I have the facts for the
- 1:39:28cynicism you know and and the facts like
- 1:39:30I said I didn't even know about half of
- 1:39:32it I didn't know how Lou free how could
- 1:39:34you stand up in front of a a room full
- 1:39:38of parents and wives and husbands who
- 1:39:43died and spouted out your lies from
- 1:39:46Saudi Arabia how can you do that how can
- 1:39:49fouchy lie about these things I don't
- 1:39:51know you're kill I think the I'm sorry
- 1:39:54I'm going into covid but I think they're
- 1:39:56G they're they're apt now to kill lots
- 1:39:58and lots of children um if you have
- 1:40:00grandchildren I honestly 5 to 11 I think
- 1:40:04fouchy has no conscience
- 1:40:07whatsoever but he in his own ego defense
- 1:40:11I you know criminals have this
- 1:40:12Psychopaths have this strong ego defense
- 1:40:16and if you're in a system where
- 1:40:18everybody lies and cheats and gets away
- 1:40:20with it you're going to say well I'm not
- 1:40:22doing anything different than anybody
- 1:40:24else and that's how very you know your
- 1:40:26ego defense is what's different about me
- 1:40:29I'm you know that's deo's defense he
- 1:40:31wasn't the only one he was a one who got
- 1:40:35caught because of a what he thinks of as
- 1:40:37a stupid first office agent the same
- 1:40:40thing with what same thing with all of
- 1:40:41the agents who operated buer they blame
- 1:40:45that's what criminals do they blame the
- 1:40:47victims they blame other people and they
- 1:40:49don't ever admit that they did anything
- 1:40:51wrong uh what's his name at mili um
- 1:40:55forget his name now but the the guy uh
- 1:40:57the mili guy who uh oh I forget his name
- 1:41:03the guy the soldier yeah and he did no
- 1:41:06time in prison he did nothing but he got
- 1:41:09a Cali Cali I think it's Sergeant or
- 1:41:13Cali is the one the main one so yeah
- 1:41:16William Cali Jr yeah Cali finally just a
- 1:41:20couple three years ago says I'm really
- 1:41:22sorry
- 1:41:23for what I did that's an unusual
- 1:41:27thing Calli said that uh mnea in that
- 1:41:31fog of War when he's grilled he said
- 1:41:34yeah I made a couple of mistakes you
- 1:41:36know due to the fog of War uh so that's
- 1:41:40that's actually very unusual the
- 1:41:42majority of people strong ego defense
- 1:41:45they are don't admit it to their own
- 1:41:47self they never did anything wrong it
- 1:41:50was all the people around them blah blah
- 1:41:52blah and to some extent when you're in a
- 1:41:55system when you have systemic problems
- 1:41:58like this systemic make your own reality
- 1:42:01anytime you want to make up your own
- 1:42:03reality you're allowed to do it because
- 1:42:05the greater foreign po we're going to go
- 1:42:07to war with China and Russia Russia gate
- 1:42:10the greater foreign policy goals Trump
- 1:42:14anything like that you know truth goes
- 1:42:16way down the priority list and when
- 1:42:19you're in a system like that almost
- 1:42:21everybody's going to lie because that's
- 1:42:23the that's the nature of the Beast um
- 1:42:26sorry to be so cynical but Colleen uh F
- 1:42:30FBI agent out of Minnesota whistleblower
- 1:42:32I want to thank you so much for coming
- 1:42:34on thank you very much y yep keep
About this transcript
This page contains the full transcript of An Interview With Coleen Rowley (Minneapolis FBI & Whistleblower) by Adam Fitzgerald, generated from the public captions YouTube serves with the video. The transcript has 16,393 words across 2,247 segments, with the original timestamps preserved so you can click any line to jump to that moment in the embedded player.
What you can do with it
Use the transcript to take notes, quote the speaker, build a study guide, generate a summary with ChatGPT or Claude via the YouTube Summary tool, or export it as a timed subtitle file with YouTube to SRT. You can also re-open it in the transcriber to translate the transcript into 100+ languages.
Free YouTube transcript tool
YouTube2Text is a free YouTube transcript generator — no signup, no daily limit. Paste any YouTube link and get the full transcript instantly, with timestamps, click-to-jump, translation to 100+ languages, AI prompts for ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini, and exports to TXT, SRT, VTT, or Markdown.