Posted on 05/23/2002 2:20:24 PM PDT by TomGuy
Former Intelligence Operative Says Author of Phoenix Memo Endangered His Life
By Jacques Billeaud Associated Press Writer
Published: May 23, 2002
PHOENIX (AP) - A former U.S. intelligence operative alleges in a court document that the FBI agent who wrote the memo warning about Arabs training in U.S. fight schools endangered his life three years ago by blowing his cover.
Two Arizona congressmen and a former U.S. senator made inquiries on Harry Ellen's behalf about his complaints about the agency and Special Agent Kenneth Williams. The FBI reviewed the complaints but determined they did not warrant an investigation.
Williams has been lauded for writing a memo last July 10 urging FBI headquarters to check all flight schools nationwide, an idea the agency didn't act on before the terrorist attacks. He briefed lawmakers in Washington on his investigation earlier this week.
Ellen, an Arizonan who did business in the Palestinian territories, said he worked with Williams and other FBI agents in Phoenix for about five years. He said he alerted the FBI in late 1996 or early 1997 that one or more Middle Eastern pilots were training or working in Arizona.
But the relationship turned sour, Ellen said, over his involvement with a Chinese woman the FBI suspected was a spy and with a foundation he ran to provide medical care and help develop businesses in Gaza.
Government officials who spoke only on condition of anonymity said Ellen worked for U.S. intelligence, including the FBI, in the 1990s, as his group did business with Palestinians. Occasionally, Ellen would be jointly debriefed by Israeli intelligence and the FBI, the officials said.
The officials said that Ellen and the FBI had a falling out in the late 1990s after Ellen sought to mix business interests he had in Asia with the matters he was dealing with in the Middle East, raising concerns it might open the door for fresh money or weapons to flow to the Palestinian uprising.
The FBI declined to comment on Ellen's allegations.
Ellen's complaints are contained in a 67-page affidavit filed in the 1999 immigration case of Joanna Xie, a Chinese citizen who denies being a spy and who is seeking political asylum. Ellen and Xie said they were once romantically involved.
Ellen said Williams in 1999 ordered him to stop all contact with Xie and eventually threatened to blow his cover. Ellen said Williams and another agent then told Xie that Ellen worked in American intelligence.
Ellen said a man he knows in the Islamic militant group Hamas later questioned him about working for American intelligence. Ellen said the Hamas contact revealed that his information came from an Arab in Phoenix whom Ellen believes is an FBI informant.
Ellen said the disclosure endangered his life and put his friends and sources at risk.
Saying the FBI has ruined his life, Ellen took his complaints to congressmen in Arizona. The East Valley Tribune, a newspaper serving suburban Phoenix, reported on Ellen's case last July.
Retired Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dennis DeConcini, in a letter he wrote in 2000 seeking an investigation on Ellen's behalf, said he confirmed that Ellen worked for the U.S. government dealing with the Palestinian Authority.
Sen. John McCain forwarded Ellen's investigation request to FBI officials, who determined the allegations didn't warrant an investigation. Spokeswoman Nancy Ives said McCain was disappointed the FBI didn't investigate.
Rep. John Shadegg said he met with FBI officials in Washington and Phoenix to discuss Ellen's allegations and was satisfied the FBI acted appropriately. He declined to comment on whether he found Ellen's allegation credible.
Special Agent Manuel Johnson, spokesman for Phoenix's FBI office, declined to discuss Ellen's allegations or make Williams available for an interview.
AP-ES-05-23-02 1628EDT
If anything, they'd want to pump this guy up to make him look like he was worth more then he actually was.
I'm afraid if anyone's trying to discredit Williamsn, it isn't the Democrats. And think about that one, guys, and what it implies...
But the relationship turned sour, Ellen said, over his involvement with a Chinese woman the FBI suspected was a spy and with a foundation he ran to provide medical care and help develop businesses in Gaza.(Snip)
Ellen's complaints are contained in a 67-page affidavit filed in the 1999 immigration case of Joanna Xie, a Chinese citizen who denies being a spy and who is seeking political asylum. Ellen and Xie said they were once romantically involved.
Ellen said Williams in 1999 ordered him to stop all contact with Xie and eventually threatened to blow his cover. Ellen said Williams and another agent then told Xie that Ellen worked in American intelligence.
Possible Chinese spy ping...
The purpose of discrediting this guy is because he is obviously pretty good at putting two and two togther and would make quite a contribution to the national terrorism effort.
Now gee, just who would it be who would want to keep this guy from being sent to DC to work on a national terrorism effort? Hmmmmmmm, maybe the terrorists and those who back them?
This drip was thinking with the second head...
....and probably playing both sides of the fence.
I agree. And look who was "sorry" the FBI didn't "investigate"...
27 posted on 5/21/02 12:36 AM Pacific by happygrl
Discussion on another thread.
Might be some CYA by the FBI, jealous of the field offices.
This agent misdirected the anthrax investigation (looking for a middle aged white male when all the while it was half a dozen young Arabs), and now the same agent is in there somewhere trying to discredit the utility of the "Phoenix" memo.
It's time for Ashcroft to get off his duff and ferret this guy out!
Good point.
Frequently the California McClatchy chain will publish an article submitted by a freelancer who has been a stringer for AP in the past.
The clever title "AP writer" implies nothing more than AP has published this author's material in the past.
Bad choice of examples. Michael Sabbah, the Latin Rite Patriarch of Jerusalem, is a faithful servant of the PA who blames everything bad in the Middle East on Israel. This is not unusual amongst Christian leaders in Palestine, as can be seen from the linked Joint Statement of heads of churches in Jerusalem from 2000.
Notice how the Statement carefully refrains from offering sympathy to Jewish victims of violence:
Although both peoples have been affected by the events of the past five weeks, we cannot but also note that the overwhelming majority of the victims are Palestinians. We voice our profound solidarity and deep sympathy with all of them, and offer our condolences to the families of all those - young or old - who have lost their lives or sustained injuries.
The first sentence seems clearly to indicate that the solidarity and sympathy and condolences of the second paragraph go out only to the Palestinian victims and their families.
They wouldn't. The Bush administration and the FBI brass would.
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