At ALA Midwinter, Arab-American FBI Agent Says Agency Cuts Corners
Norman Oder -- Library Journal, 1/12/2008
- First appearance at public forum
- Says FBI lax on National Security Letters
- Suggests gag order isn’t wise
In his first appearance at a public forum (though he has done media interviews), Bassem Youssef, the highest-ranking Arab American agent in the FBI, this morning offered a careful but impassioned indictment of current FBI practices in the war on terror, warning that the FBI is cutting corners to acquire data without supporting the human intelligence that would be more effective. He had been scheduled to present a speech at the American Library Association (ALA) Midwinter Meeting in Philadelphia, but after the FBI got wind of an ALA press release, he was limited to answering questions and was sometimes cautioned by his attorney, Stephen Kohn, not to offer more details.
Youssef, who noted that he was speaking for himself, not the FBI, explained how FBI standards have become less stringent in overseeing what may become fishing expeditions for information. Before 9/11 and the USA PATRIOT Act, he said, National Security Letters (NSLs)—which do not require judicial oversight, as do subpoenas—had to be authorized by an official at FBI headquarters. After the Patriot Act, however, NSLs could be authorized by the Special Agent in Charge at FBI field offices. “That diffused it, in terms of authority,” he said.
NSLs, Youssef, explained, allow the FBI to search the “community of interest” of a target—essentially anyone the person calls. “If there’s an assumption that all their contacts are bad contacts, we’re in big trouble.”
Shunted aside?
Youssef, who immigrated to the United States with his family from Egypt, had been lauded for work in the 1990s, but after he complained that his skills were not being used following the 9/11 attacks, he was shunted aside and has sued for discrimination. (The Department of Justice’s Office of Professional Responsibility, in a preliminary investigation, found grounds to believe that Youssef’s disclosures to the FBI director contributed to his not being placed in a department investigating international terrorism.) “All I’ve ever wanted to do was be a good FBI agent…and arrest terrorists,” Youssef told the audience.
Youssef was moved from counterintelligence to head the Communications Analysis Unit, supervising 50 agents. “As easy as it was to get an NSL for warrantless searching, the FBI wasn’t even doing that,” his lawyer explained. “Instead, they were relying on a very narrow exception known as exigent circumstances, where they need nothing—nothing!”
FBI officials, Kohn said, told Youssef that an exigent circumstance meant “we need it promptly. We now know that the definition provided was a false definition, because exigent circumstances require life-threatening or imminent [danger].”
Gag order OK?
Attorney Tom Susman, a consultant to ALA’s Washington Office, asked Youssef whether he thought the gag order accompanying NSLs, which prohibits targets—such as the four “John Doe” librarians in Connecticut—from revealing that an investigation is ongoing, was “in all cases fully justified.”
“There’s so much I can’t get into,” replied Youssef. “But I can say that it takes an official who’s got the expertise and experience to justify” whether such a gag order is necessary.
“Would it make it less effective if there were more central control?” Susman followed up.
Obtaining telephone, library, and email records in counterterrorism investigations, Youssef responded, requires expertise. He gave the hypothetical example of an FBI official who has worked only organized crime. “You could imagine what sort of abuse might happen as a result.”
“If the person signing the NSL hasno real basic understanding of terrorism,” Kohn continued, “what gives them the qualification for signing for warrantless searches for thousands of Americans?”
Depressing or inspiring?
One questioner in the audience called the session “the most depressing 45 minutes,” while another, later on and after Kohn urged attendees to support the work of the National Whistleblowers Center, said that Youssef’s willingness to press on was inspiring.
“I’m a strong believer in God,” Youssef responded, explaining the source of his fortitude. “I believe that God is a righteous God. Jesus Christ is my lord, and I live for him.” Later, at the end of the session, he got a standing ovation.
