Robert Wright, Jr.

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Robert G. Wright, Jr. is an FBI agent who has criticized the FBI's counterterrorist activities in the 1990s, when he worked in the Chicago division on terrorists with links to the Middle East, especially on the issue of money laundering. Specifically, he worked on project Vulgar Betrayal, which allegedly implicated Yasin al-Qadi. He wrote a detailed book which the FBI prevented him from publishing with threats of criminal prosecution.[1] He complained that "FBI management intentionally and repeatedly thwarted and obstructed my attempts to launch a more comprehensive investigation to identify and neutralize terrorists."[1][2]

Three months before 9/11 he wrote the following:

"Knowing what I know, I can confidently say that until the investigative responsibilities for terrorism are removed from the FBI, I will not feel safe. The FBI has proven for the past decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and it's [sic] citizens at home and abroad. Even worse, there is virtually no effort on the part of the FBI's international terrorism unit to neutralize known and suspected terrorists residing within the United States."[1][3]

After his revelations circa 2002–2003 he was demoted.[1][4]

On May 6, 2009, Judge Gladys Kessler issued a ruling allowing Wright to publish his manuscript.[5] However, the passage of time has diminished interest in the topic, and now Wright is focused on fighting the system of prepublication review and censorship of government employee writings.[6]

Other FBI agents who supported Wright's allegations were John Vincent and Barry Carmody.[1]

Michael Chertoff described the situation as "conspiracy theories".[1]

According to PBS Frontline, former FBI supervisor Danny Defenbaugh claimed that Wright made "very disparaging racial statements about" agent Gamal Abdel-Hafiz, an FBI agent who was involved in many counter-terrorism cases. Gamal Abdel-Hafiz accused Wright of religious discrimination.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 C-SPAN video, address to the National Press Club on May 30, 2002, with Judicial Watch, via rationalveracity.com
  2. ↑ circa 24:00 of the CSPAN video
  3. ↑ circa 23:30 of the CSPAN video
  4. ↑ circa 59:00 of the CSPAN video
  5. ↑ "Robert G. Wright, Jr. v. Federal Bureau of Investigation, from fas.org 05 06 2009
  6. ↑ "Judge: FBI can't 'censor' agent's book on counter-terror failures", by Josh Gerstein, May 11, 2009, The Politico
  7. ↑ The story of Gamal Abdel-Hafiz: Former agent in the FBI's international terrorism squad, part of Fixing the FBI, PBS Frontline, article on pbs.org website, by Marlena Telvick, 2003

External links


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