Both Sibel and Coleen are mentioned in footnotes in the back of the 9/11 Report. Sibel gave 3 1/2 hours worth of testimony, and with regards to Coleen, "the commission chose to only rely upon transcripts from the Joint Senate-House Intel Inquiry. [...] As far as Ms. Rowley is aware, no one from the FBI Minneapolis (3-4 Agents with direct information) was asked to provide testimony/info to the 9/11 Commission." - Jon

Source: citizensforethics.org

Full Report
Click Here (PDF)

7/16/2008

Today, CREW has released its newest study, Those Who Dared: 30 Who Stood Up for Our Country, recognizing the brave individuals who have acted and spoken out against unethical and dishonorable conduct in the Bush administration. The full report can be found here.

The actions of those named in the report are as varied as the people themselves and cut across the federal government. Some, like Glenn Fine at the Department of Justice and John Higgins at the Department of Education, are inspectors general who have been the only check on agency-wide corruption, misconduct and undue political influence. Others are included for a single act of courage, such as Army Specialist Joseph Darby who turned over to authorities the now infamous pictures of detainee abuse at Abu Ghraib, and former Deputy Attorney General James Comey, who rushed to Attorney General Ashcroft’s hospital bedside to prevent top White House officials from pressuring the Attorney General to approve an illegal surveillance program.

In creating the list, CREW reviewed hundreds of news articles, inspector general reports, and congressional reports, and considered the impact of each individual’s actions, the changes they wrought, and the risks they faced.

Melanie Sloan, executive director of CREW said:

As the Bush administration draws to a close, CREW commends those who stood up against the full weight of the federal government to do the right thing, risking their livelihoods and, in some cases, even their lives. These individuals personify the American values of honesty and integrity. Although some have already been recognized as heroes, others have been vilified for daring to say what no one else would. By publicly recognizing the courage of these people, CREW hopes others will be encouraged to join the fight against government misconduct.

From the report...

SIBEL EDMONDS, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Sibel Edmonds was hired as an FBI wiretap translator following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, but was dismissed from the position in March 2002.1 An investigation conducted by the Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine revealed that she had been dismissed in retaliation for reporting mismanagement and suspected espionage in the FBI’s translation division.2

Ms. Edmonds is fluent in Turkish, Persian and Azerbaijani and was given a high-level security clearance to review and translate documents obtained from potential terrorists.3 She alleged that a colleague suppressed intelligence reports and leaked information to an organization under investigation by the FBI.4 Ms. Edmonds also asserted that documents were not translated because of incompetence and corruption within the department, in an effort to make the department appear overworked and under-staffed so that it could receive a larger budget and staff.5 For example, one of her supervisors erased completed translations from her FBI computer to stall her progress.6

Ms. Edmonds has been outspoken regarding the FBI’s ineptitude in translating intelligence documents and has brought her concerns to the 9/11 Commission, congressional investigators and the Justice Department, as well as agreeing to testify in a civil suit filed against the government relating to the 9/11 attacks.7 She filed her own suit alleging that her termination was in retaliation for speaking out about her concerns with the FBI’s translation section, but her suit was dismissed when the government asserted the state secrets privilege, arguing that interests of national security precluded her lawsuit from going forward. 8

In August 2004, Ms. Edmonds founded the National Security Whistleblowers Coalition, where continues to serve as the organization’s president.9

1. Rebecca Carr, Help Urged for Whistle-Blowers; National Security Focus of Report, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, April 28, 2005 (Exhibit 1).
   
2. Dan Eggen, Official Faults FBI Probe of Translator’s Complaint, Washington Post, January 15, 2005 (Exhibit 2).
   
3. Linda Greenhouse, Justice’s Reject FBI Translator’s Appeal on Termination, New York Times, November 29, 2005; Ed Bradley, Lost in Translation; Foreign Language Documents FBI Neglected to Translate Before and After September 11th, CBS 60 Minutes, August 8, 2004 (Exhibit 3).
   
4. Eggen, Washington Post, Jan. 15, 2005.
   
5. Bradley, CBS 60 Minutes, Aug. 8, 2004.
   
6. Id.
   
7. Id.; R. Jeffrey Smith, Access to Memos is Affirmed; Classified Status Can’t Be Changed, Washington Post, February 23, 2005 (Exhibit 4).
   
8. Greenhouse, New York Times, Nov. 29, 2005.
   
9. Stephen Barr, Whistle-Blowers Urge Congress to Get Tougher on Retaliation, Washington Post, April 29, 2005; Carr, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Apr. 28, 2005 (Exhibit 5).
   

COLEEN ROWLEY, Federal Bureau of Investigation
Coleen Rowley, a career FBI special agent, served as Chief Division Counsel in the Minneapolis field office of the FBI from 1990 until her retirement at the end of 2004.1 In May 2002, Ms. Rowley wrote a detailed letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller outlining her criticisms of how FBI headquarters had mishandled the pre-9/11 terrorist investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui and the Director’s post-9/11 defense of the FBI as being unable to prevent the attacks because it had no advance warning.2 Despite Mr. Mueller’s initial decision to classify the letter to keep it out of public view,3 much of its contents were published in Time, revealing the degree to which FBI headquarters had suppressed field office attempts to more thoroughly investigate Mr. Moussaoui prior to 9/11,4 and the “climate of fear” at the FBI “which has chilled aggressive . . . law enforcement action.”5

In the month leading up to 9/11, FBI agents in Minneapolis identified Mr. Moussaoui as a terrorist threat and sought to investigate him further, based on his confirmed affiliations with radical fundamentalist Islamic groups connected to Osama Bin Laden and the fact that he was learning to fly a 747 jumbo jet at a Minnesota flight school.6 The agents took Mr. Moussaoui into custody on overstay charges, then contacted FBI headquarters for approval to seek a criminal search warrant from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Minnesota to search Mr. Moussaoui’s home and laptop.7 The FBI headquarters refused the request despite its knowledge of French reports linking Mr. Moussaoui to terrorism and its possession of a July report from the Phoenix FBI field office regarding al-Queda agents training in flight schools.8 Immediately after the 9/11 attacks, Ms. Rowley and the Minneapolis agents again sought FBI headquarters’ approval for a search warrant for Mr. Moussaoui, and again headquarters denied the request.9 Later in the day on September 11, FBI headquarters approved the warrant, based on substantially the same evidence initially submitted by the Minneapolis field office.10 The search uncovered the phone number of another terrorist involved in the 9/11 attacks on Mr. Moussaoui’s laptop.11 Ms. Rowley’s revelations about the FBI’s pre- and post-9/11 missteps were included in the 9/11 Commission Report, which also included further failures of the FBI leading up to 9/11.12 The Commission Report noted that Ms. Rowley and the Minneapolis agents attempted to circumvent the roadblocks from FBI headquarters by turning to British Intelligence and attempting to alert the FAA.13

1. Coleen Rowley, Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller, Time, May 21, 2002; Greg Gordon, Coleen Rowley Retires From the FBI: Whistle-Blower Spoke Out About Sept. 11, Iraq, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), January 1, 2005 (Exhibit 1).
   
2. Rowley, Time, May 21, 2002.
   
3. Jonathan Alter, Between the Lines Online: Who Let the Terrorists Succeed?, Newsweek Web Exclusive, May 28, 2002 (Exhibit 2).
   
4. Rowley, Time, May 21, 2002; Alter, Newsweek Web Exclusive, May 28, 2002; Dan Eggen and Bill Miller, FBI Flaws Alleged by Field Staff; Moussaoui Probe Lapses Blamed on Headquarters, Washington Post, May 24, 2002; Bill Miller and Dan Eggen, FBI Culture Blamed for Missteps on Moussaoui; Agent Says ‘Climate of Fear’ Hurt Probe, Washington Post, May 25, 2002 (Exhibit 3).
   
5. Miller and Eggen, Washington Post, May 25, 2002.
   
6. Rowley, Time, May 21, 2002; Gordon, Star Tribune (Minneapolis), Jan. 1, 2005.
   
7. Rowley, Time, May 21, 2002.
   
8. Id.; Where Gumshoes Fear to Tread, Economist, June 1, 2002 (Exhibit 4).
   
9. Rowley, Time, May 21, 2002.
   
10. Id.
    
11. Economist, June 1, 2002.
    
12. Tom Webb, Moussaoui in on Plot; Minneapolis FBI was Stymied by Bureaucratic Roadblocks in Case, St. Paul Pioneer Press, July 24, 2004 (Exhibit 5).
    
13. Id.