FBI Whistleblower Colleen Rowley - Essay Example

FBI Whistleblower Colleen Rowley al Affiliation FBI Whistleblower Colleen Rowley  In the hours after the Sept. 11attack, the FBIagents shared a joke. For days, they had made attempts to create interest in the FBI in Washington, to look into Zacharias Moussaoui, who was the 20th hijacker. They had made attempts to ask the FBI to give them the permission to search Moussaoui’s computer; they were denied. Amidst their frustration, they made the joke that the headquarters back in Washington had been working with Osama Bin Laden, as otherwise there would have been no reason for them to turn them down.

This was a disturbing story that was told in a 13-page letter that was written to the director of the FBI Robert Mueller, by Colleen Rowley. The letter is documentation of the effort put by Rowley as well as the Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel, to develop an interest in Moussaoui. Coleen Rowley commenced her career with the FBI in Mississippi and later made relocation to the city of New York in the year 1984. After the 9/11 attacks, Rowley explained to the director of the FBI, how the personnel had not responded to the information that had been providing on Zacharias Moussaoui.

In the months that followed, Muller made the acknowledgment that the attack could have been prevented if the FBI had responded the tips that they had been given. In the month of May 2002, she wrote a letter to the FBI director, Robert Muller. She alleged that the FBI had hampered the investigations into the 20th hijacker, who was Zacharias Moussaoui. She made the claim that the officials at the FBI headquarters were not willing to seek for the search warrants and the agents that sought for assistance from the CIA were admonished. Ms. Rowley said that Muller had the duty of warning the white house that the bureau was not in a position to be able to eliminate the potential terrorist attack that was imminent.

She said that in the weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks, the supervisors at the bureau had blocked the Minneapolis agents that had wanted to take over the investigations of Zacharias Moussaoui, who had long been fingered as a conspirator in the attacks. She was of the opinion that the invasion of Iraq by America would have resulted in a string of domestic attacks by the Al Qaeda as well as other terrorist groups. In her opinion, the FBI was ill prepared to be able to deal with the attack. Ms.

Rowley made the claim that she believed that the FBI would carry on to mishandle the investigation of domestic counterterrorism, including the follow-up that would lead to the arrest of Mr. Moussaoui as well as Richard Reid. Reid was a terrorist who claimed to be affiliated with the Al Qaeda, and made an attempt to blow up the trans- Atlantic Flight, having hidden explosives in his shoes. In her letter, she specifically expressed that fact that she was alarmed by the fact that the FBI, as well as the justice department, had failed to question either of the two as to whether they had any affiliations with Al Qaeda.

Instead, they chose only to focus on the prosecution. The law enforcement officials had speculations that Mr. Atta, who the leader of the Sept, 11 attacks, looked for information on the crop-dusting planes, which he intended to use to spread biological weapons. Ms. Rowley suggested the fact that there was a lack of confidence in the bureau; it was resulting in turmoil among the staff. Regardless of the fact that she heavily criticized the FBI, she said that she held the belief that the FBI was to stay intact, as an agency of domestic intelligence.

In essence, she made the attempt to make the FBI interested in Moussaoui, but the FBI was negligent in its duties. (Kettle, 2014, pp 50-60) References Kettle, Donald F. (2014). System Under Stress: The Challenge to 21st Century Governance. Washington, D.C.: Sage Publications.