Programme 11: 23rd September 2007

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Coleen Rowley, FBI whistleblower post-9/11

In the months after the September 11th attacks, one senior FBI agent stood up to Bureau Director, Robert Mueller, claiming the attacks could have been curtailed had the FBI done its job properly.  Chief Legal Advisor at the FBI's Minneapolis office, Coleen Rowley had been among the first to know in August 2001 when a French-Moroccan man with Al Qaeda connections had been reported acting suspiciously at a flight school in Minnesota.  FBI agents worried that he was planning to hijack a plane, and wanted to search his laptop and personal effects to find out more.

But FBI central approval for further investigation was not forthcoming.  At every opportunity, says Rowley, her efforts were blocked by inefficiency and deliberate obstruction.  After September 11th, when it emerged that Zacarias Moussaoui had links to the hijackers, Rowley wrote an angry memo to the Director of the FBI in Washington, Robert Mueller.  The memo was leaked to the media, who descended on her home immediately.  After Rowley testified in Congress about her experiences, she found herself the subject of threats and harassment.