FBI Whistleblower testifies about FBI knowledge before 9/11

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2004 22:52:30 -0800
From: "Robert J. Berger" <rberger () ibd com>
Subject: FBI Whistleblower testifies about FBI knowledge before 9/11

"We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of 2001"
A former FBI translator told the 9/11 commission that the bureau had
detailed information well before Sept. 11, 2001, that terrorists were likely
to attack the U.S. with airplanes.
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2004/03/26/translator/index.html

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By Eric Boehlert

March 26, 2004  |   A former FBI wiretap translator with top-secret security
clearance, who has been called "very credible" by Sen. Charles Grassley,
R-Iowa, has told Salon she recently testified to the National Commission on
Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States that the FBI had detailed
information prior to Sept. 11, 2001, that a terrorist attack involving
airplanes was being plotted.


 Referring to the Homeland Security Department's color-coded warnings
instituted in the wake of 9/11, the former translator, Sibel Edmonds, told
Salon, "We should have had orange or red-type of alert in June or July of
2001. There was that much information available." Edmonds is offended by the
Bush White House claim that it lacked foreknowledge of the kind of attacks
made by al-Qaida on 9/11. "Especially after reading National Security
Advisor Condoleezza Rice [Washington Post Op-Ed on March 22] where she said,
we had no specific information whatsoever of domestic threat or that they
might use airplanes. That's an outrageous lie. And documents can prove it's
a lie."

 Edmonds' charge comes when the Bush White House is trying to fend off
former counterterrorism chief Richard A. Clarke's testimony that it did not
take serious measures to combat the threat of Islamic terrorism, and
al-Qaida specifically, in the months leading up to 9/11.

 Edmonds, who is Turkish-American, is a 10-year U.S. citizen who has passed
a polygraph examination conducted by FBI investigators. She speaks fluent
Farsi, Arabic and Turkish and worked part-time for the FBI, making $32 an
hour for six months, beginning Sept. 20, 2001. She was assigned to the FBI's
investigation into Sept. 11 attacks and other counterterrorism and
counterintelligence cases, where she translated reams of documents seized by
agents who, for the previous year, had been rounding up suspected
terrorists.

 She says those tapes, often connected to terrorism, money laundering or
other criminal activity, provide evidence that should have made apparent
that an al- Qaida plot was in the works. Edmonds cannot talk in detail about
the tapes publicly because she's been under a Justice Department gag order
since 2002.

 "President Bush said they had no specific information about Sept. 11, and
that's accurate," says Edmonds. "But there was specific information about
use of airplanes, that an attack was on the way two or three months
beforehand and that several people were already in the country by May of
2001. They should've alerted the people to the threat we're facing."

 Edmonds testified before 9/11 commission staffers in February for more than
three hours, providing detailed information about FBI investigations,
documents and dates. This week Edmonds attended the commission hearings and
plans to return in April when FBI Director Robert Mueller is scheduled to
testify. "I'm hoping the commission asks him real questions -- like, in
April 2001, did an FBI field office receive legitimate information
indicating the use of airplanes for an attack on major cities? And is it
true that through an FBI informant, who'd been used [by the Bureau] for 10
years, did you get information about specific terrorist plans and specific
cells in this country? He couldn't say no," she insists.

 Edmonds first made headlines in 2002 when she blew the whistle on the FBI's
translation department, which was suddenly thrown into the spotlight as
investigators clamored for original terrorist-related information, often in
Arabic. Edmonds made several reports of serious misconduct, security lapses
and gross incompetence in the FBI translations unit, including supervisors
who told translators to work slowly during the crucial post-9/11 period to
ensure the agency would get more funds for its next annual budget. As a
result of her reports, Edmonds says she was harassed at the FBI. She was
fired in March 2002.

 Litigation followed, and in October 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft
asked the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to dismiss the
Edmonds case, taking the extraordinary step of invoking the rarely used
state secrets privilege in order "to protect the foreign policy and national
security interests of the United States." Ashcroft's move was made at the
request of Mueller.

 During a 2002 segment on "60 Minutes" exploring Edmonds' initial charges of
FBI internal abuses, Sen. Grassley was asked if Edmonds is credible. "She's
credible and the reason I feel she's very credible is because people within
the FBI have corroborated a lot of her story," he said.

 The Inspector General's office then launched an investigation into Edmonds'
charges and told her to expect a finding in the fall of 2002. The report has
yet to be released. Edmonds suspects if it is ever publicly released
Ashcroft will demand that it be immediately classified. "They're pushing
everything under the blanket of secrecy," she says.

 That's why she felt it was so important to appear before the 9/11
commission: "It's the only hope I have left to get this issue added to the
public domain."

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--
Robert J. Berger - Internet Bandwidth Development, LLC.
Voice: 408-882-4755 eFax: +1-408-490-2868
http://www.ibd.com

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