FBI Agent speaks out against Ashcroft

From: "spiker" FBI Agent speaks out against Ashcroft

Source:
Star-Tribune [Minneapolis-St. Paul]
http://www.startribune.com/

FBI's Rowley pulls no punches in critique of Ashcroft
http://www.startribune.com/stories/484/4149222.html

By Greg Gordon mailto:ggordon@mcclatchydc.com

Published October 12, 2003

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Coleen Rowley, the Minneapolis FBI agent who accused
bureau headquarters of bungling chances to foil the Sept. 11 attacks, is
criticizing the Bush administration for "whittling away our civil liberties."

In an opinion piece published in today's Star Tribune,
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4147904.html Rowley takes issue
with U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft's assertion in a Twin Cities
speech last month that America "is freer today than at any time in the
history of human freedom."
"Well, this American disagrees!" Rowley wrote.

She contends that the administration's "us versus them" mentality in
fighting terrorism is intimidating Americans and fueling anti-Arab feelings.

Rowley praised FBI Director Robert Mueller for reaching out to Arab groups.
But, she said, the roundup of illegal immigrants, special registration
requirements for visitors from Muslim nations and the wars in Afghanistan
and Iraq are "sending 'social signals' that are worsening these biases."

Ashcroft was in Minnesota last month as part of a nationwide speaking tour
aimed at rallying support for further Patriot Act revisions to broaden the
Justice Department's investigative authority.

But Rowley wrote: "The intimidation in this country that's been whipped up
by this official fear and warmongering has been far more effective than any
Patriot Act in whittling away our civil liberties."

She said Ashcroft "is not above using this technique to lump those who
disagree with him in with the terrorists to thereby discourage debate." She
cited his post-Sept. 11 comment that critics of expanded law enforcement
powers "give ammunition to America's enemies."

In a brief phone conversation, Rowley said she received pre-publication
clearance from FBI headquarters before submitting the op-ed piece to the
Star Tribune's editorial page staff.

It is rare for an FBI agent to publicly criticize an attorney general, who
serves as the nation's top law enforcement officer. But FBI spokesman Bill
Carter stressed that "it's not unusual for agents to write pieces for
either newspapers or publications. . . . FBI agents, just like other
citizens, have the right to free speech and they can express their opinions."

Rowley was named one of Time magazine's three "Persons of the Year" in 2002
for her decision to criticize FBI headquarters' handling of the pre-Sept.
11 investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui. In a stinging letter to Mueller and
in congressional testimony, she criticized bureau counter-terrorism
supervisors for rejecting Minneapolis agents' requests for a national
security warrant allowing a search of Moussaoui's possessions. A post-Sept.
11 search turned up clues linking Moussaoui to Al-Qaida operatives.

After being hailed as a hero for speaking out, Rowley drew a more mixed
response last February with a second letter to Mueller when the country was
on the brink of war with Iraq. In it, she warned that a U.S. invasion could
set off an unprecedented wave of terrorism "both at home and abroad."

Since going public, she has been a sought-after speaker on college
campuses, at think tank seminars and to women's groups. She presented a
paper on balancing civil liberties and law enforcement in July to a forum
sponsored by the Milton Eisenhower Foundation. Later that month, she was in
a speaking lineup with Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and three law
school professors in a lecture series sponsored by the New York-based
Chautauqua Institution.

While she has avoided disciplinary action for her speeches and writings to
date, she notes in her opinion piece that "it's no secret that this
administration has used its considerable power to fight giving any real
legal protection to government whistleblowers."

She said she relies on the First Amendment, though "the official warnings
along these lines that I've repeatedly received in the course of my
attempts to speak on issues of public importance seem little more than
veiled threats."

A mother of four who is her family's sole breadwinner, Rowley is a 22-year
FBI veteran. She will not become eligible for a pension until she turns 50
in December 2004.

Greg Gordon is at ggordon@mcclatchydc.com.

Also see:
Coleen Rowley: The wrong side of 'us vs. them'
http://www.startribune.com/stories/562/4147904.html