Posted on 06/06/2002 2:02:00 PM PDT by Paul Ross
Edited on 04/13/2004 3:36:34 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Minneapolis FBI agent Coleen Rowley, who testifies before Congress today, faced more than bureaucratic obstacles in August while she pressed FBI headquarters for a warrant to search the belongings of suspected terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui.
Minnesota's federal law enforcement leadership was in flux during the weeks that crucial decisions were being made.
(Excerpt) Read more at startribune.com ...
This is worthless. Just set things up correctly going forward. All the analysing is a waste of time.
Granted, there were some rotten apples, such as Michael Resnick but in typical Clintonian and Reno fashion, they made it almost impossible to get the FISA Warrants according to that report...totally contrary to their purpose. And there is no indication anywhere that Rowley is a loose cannon such as Resnick.
The editors will get to meet him face to face no doubt! - the sooner the better, too -
1. This memo is a case of a middle-level manager (not in possesion of all the facts on 9/11), who finally pieced together a self-serving memo that showed that she would have handled this whole "situation" in a better way than her superiors. It was her way to get her "15 minutes of fame" (and maybe more if everyone keeps fawning over her).
2. She was covering her a$$, Big Time. Read this paragraph (which rambles on and on with no punctuation so I'll only quote a small portion):
In one of my peripheral roles on the Moussaoui matter, I answered an e-mail message on August 22, 2001, from an attorney at the National Security Law Unit (NSLU). Of course, with (ever important!) 20-20 hindsight, I now wish I had taken more time and care to compose my response.
She goes on to state:
Leaked news accounts which said the Minneapolis Legal Counsel (referring to me) concurred with the FBIHQ that probable cause was lacking to search Moussaoui's computer are in error. (or possibly the leak was deliberately skewed in this fashion?)
3. This woman can neither write nor speak. The memo that appeared in Time was edited and still looks like what my kids produced in the grade English.
Why is catching ALF members so hard?
"We walk a tightrope between possibly infringing on somebody's First Amendment rights to assemble or express opinions, and effectively investigating the crimes," said Coleen Rowley, an agent and attorney for the FBI in Minneapolis.
She said the FBI is further restricted by guidelines issued by the U.S. attorney general's office. The guidelines, some dating to the 1960s, are meant to protect the civil rights of protesters. She said police aren't bound by the guidelines and are freer to gather background data on groups such as ALF.
ALF's loosely knit structure - it has no formal membership - also makes it difficult to investigate, Rowley said. And unless a group spokesman can be directly linked to an illegal activity, she added, that person can say anything short of inciting a riot and not be charged.
The FBI in Portland, Ore., says it has investigated 12 ALF arsons in the past five years. All are unsolved. "We can't approach them like a normal criminal investigation," said Gordon Compdon, spokesman for the FBI in Portland. "This is very sticky stuff. The attorney general's guidelines are very stringent."
Link June, 1999.
Gosh Golly Gee .. Care to see a interview with Spokesman/Agent/Lawyer Rowely??
She is talking about the Patriot Act and 9/11
If that doesn't work here is the page to get at it .. scroll down to the bottom .. her name is high lighted
There was a letter in today's WSJ from an FBI agent in NY. It contained many hard specific questions to ask Rowley ....too bad the Senators didn't use it.
I was NOT impressed by Rowley.
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