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FBI Agents Pre 9-11 Warning "Someone Will Die"
FBI MAN'S PRE-9/11 WARNING
By BRIAN BLOMQUIST and MURRAY WEISS
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September 21, 2002 -- WASHINGTON - A New York FBI agent on the trail of one of the 9/11 hijackers weeks before the attack warned a supervisor that "someone will die" after he was blocked from going all-out to find the terrorist.
The agent sent that chilling prediction in an explosive email to an analyst at FBI headquarters just 13 days before Sept. 11, it was revealed at congressional intelligence hearings yesterday.
The FBI agent - who testified from behind a screen to shield his identity, since hes still involved in sensitive cases - was expressing his anger at bureau lawyers who insisted on legal grounds that he was barred from looking at certain information on terrorist Khalid al-Mihdhar.
The agents story is perhaps the most stunning example yet of how poor communication between the FBI and CIA hindered any chance of preventing 9/11.
The federal crime fighter, who was part of a team investigating al Qaedas deadly attack on the USS Cole, said hes unsure what would have happened if hed gotten full support from his superiors and CIA cooperation.
The FBI man said he hed been told by superiors to lay off al-Mihdhar because it would violate the legal "wall" that prevented overseas intelligence from being used in criminal prosecutions.
After being turned down, the New York agent wrote back to an analyst at FBI headquarters on Aug. 29, 2001:
"Whatever happened to this - someday someone will die - and wall or not - the public will not understand why we were not more effective and throwing every resource we had at certain problems.' "
The devastating email continued: "Lets hope the [FBIs] National Security Law Unit will stand behind their decisions then, especially since the biggest threat to us now, UBL, is getting the most protection.' "
UBL refers to Osama bin Laden, whose name is spelled "Usama" by the feds.
The FBI agent said he first learned about al-Mihdhar in the spring of 2001 through a source who claimed that someone bringing money to the chief suspect in the Cole attack had met with al-Mihdhar in Malaysia.
When he became aware of the hijackers names after the attack, the FBI agent told Congress, "I remember saying that this was the same Khalid al-Mihdhar that we had talked about for three months."
The FBI agent is a 37-year-old former jet fighter pilot who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy.
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