In separate cases, two new FBI whistle-blowers are alleging mismanagement, lax security and in one case, possible espionage, among those who translate and oversee some of the FBI’s most sensitive, top-secret wiretaps in counterintelligence and counterterrorist investigations.
The allegations of one of the whistle-blowers have prompted two key senators, Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), to pose critical questions about the FBI division assigned to gather and analyze wiretaps.
That whistle-blower, Sibel Edmonds, 32, a former wiretap translator in the Washington field office, raised suspicions about a co-worker’s connections to a group under surveillance. Edmonds was fired in March, after she reported her concerns.
Under pressure, FBI officials have investigated and verified the veracity of parts of Edmonds’ story, according to documents and people familiar with an FBI briefing of congressional staff. Leahy and Grassley summoned the FBI to Capitol Hill on Monday for a private explanation, people familiar with the briefing said.
The FBI confirmed that Edmonds’ co-worker had been part of an organization that was a target of top-secret surveillance and that the same co-worker had “unreported contacts” with a foreign government official subject to the surveillance, according to a letter from the two senators to the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General. In addition, the linguist failed to translate two communications from the targeted foreign government official, the letter said.
The allegations add a new dimension to the growing criticism of the FBI, which has centered in recent weeks on the bureau’s failure to heed internal warnings about Al Qaeda leading up to the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the second whistle-blower case, John Cole, 41, program manager for FBI foreign intelligence investigations covering India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, said counterintelligence and counterterrorism training has declined drastically in recent years as part of a pattern of poor management.
Cole also said he had observed what he believed was a security lapse regarding the screening and hiring of translators.
Edmonds and Cole have written about their concerns to high-level FBI officials. Edmonds wrote to Dale Watson, the bureau’s counterterrorism chief, and Cole wrote to FBI Director Robert Mueller. Both cases have been referred to the Justice Department’s Office of the Inspector General.
