Senators Write Letter to FBI Director Mueller

W A S H I N G T O N, May 24, 2002 -- Three senators — Patrick Leahy, D-Vt.; Charles E. Grassley, R-Iowa; and Arlen Specter, R-Pa. — sent a letter today to FBI Director Robert Mueller asking for a copy of a letter written by FBI Agent Coleen Rowley. Leahy is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee while the other two senators are committee members.

The Honorable Robert S. MuellerDirector, Federal Bureau of Investigation

Dear Director Mueller:

Thank you for meeting with the Committee in classifiedsession on May 21, 2002, and making available FBIAgents from the Phoenix field office to discuss thePhoenix memorandum regarding suspicious activity atcivil aviation schools. We want to follow up on anumber of matters from this meeting.

First, we want to make sure that you are now aware ofthe Committee's practice of holding all classifiedsessions on the record with a transcript. TheCommittee planned to hold the May 21 meeting on therecord, as is regularly done by this Committee and theSelect Committee on Intelligence for classifiedsessions. As you can appreciate, these are importantmatters for all Members of the Committee but allMembers are not always able to attend the fullsessions. Transcripts are the only mechanism to keepall members entitled to review this importantinformation fully informed. For this reason theSelect Committee on Intelligence always putsclassified hearings and meetings with Members presenton the record. The Judiciary Committee does the same.

At the outset of the meeting, you requested that aformal record transcript not be made of the statementsof Agent Kenneth Williams and Supervisory SpecialAgent Billy Kurtz. Your request was granted so thatwe could proceed without disrupting or delaying themeeting and over the objection of one of us — SenatorSpecter — who appropriately and correctly requestedthat regular order be followed and a record be made.

Subsequently, the Committee has learned that you andthe same two Phoenix Agents met with the SelectCommittee on Intelligence, including both Members andstaff, on May 22, 2002, and that this meeting was onthe record with a formal transcript made of thestatements of the Agents. Please explain thedisparity in the FBI's position regarding making aformal transcript of the proceedings before theJudiciary Committee and the Select Committee onIntelligence.

Second, a Justice Department representative advisedthe Chairman's staff that a record of the meetingwould have "profound implications for the trial." Please explain what trial he was talking about andwhether a record made in the Intelligence Committeewill have fewer "implications for the trial" than arecord made in a classified session before theJudiciary Committee.

Third, press accounts have appeared after the May 21meeting with the Judiciary Committee containinginformation provided by "a senior FBI official" thatdiffers from information provided in that meeting. Apress account on May 22 states that the RadicalFundamentalist Unit at FBI Headquarters had decidednot to pursue the recommendations in the Phoenixmemorandum before September 11, 2001, since accordingto "[o]fficials . . . the FBI counterterrorismdivision was swamped with urgent matters." Anotherpress account on May 23 contains a correction by "asenior FBI official" and that "the FBI's Osama binLaden Unit was responsible" for the decision rejectingthe recommendations. Statements at the May 21 meetingwith the Committee indicated that the "routine"recommendation from the Phoenix office had not beendealt with by FBI Headquarters before September 11because action on matters marked "routine" usuallytook 60 days. Please explain this discrepancy.

Fourth, please provide a copy of the letter regardingthe Moussaoui case that was sent to you by AgentColeen Rowley, Legal Adviser in the Minneapolis fieldoffice. You are quoted in the press as stating thatyou "immediately referred this matter out of the FBIto the inspector general for investigation" and thatyou "respect that process and all the independence andprotection it affords." Will the matter of the Rowleyletter be considered in conjunction with SenatorGrassley's prior request on May 15, 2002, that theJustice Department Inspector General investigate theFBI's handling of the Phoenix memorandum in order toassist the Judiciary Committee in carrying out itsoversight responsibilities" As Senator Grassleystated in that request letter, "it is essential thatthere be an outside review of this matter by [theInspector General's] office to answer all outstandingquestions, ensure accountability at the FBI, andreaffirm the trust of the American people."

Fifth, press reports of Agent Rowley's letter statethat you wrote a memorandum to all FBI employees inNovember 2001 stating, "I will not tolerate reprisalsor intimidation by any bureau employee against thosewho make protected disclosures, nor will I tolerateattempts to prevent employees from making suchdisclosures." Please provide a copy of thismemorandum and your assessment of whether or not AgentRowley's letters to you and to Members of the Senatewere clearly "protected disclosures" under currentlaw. As you are aware, the proposed FBI Reform Actwould make clear that disclosures to Members ofCongress are "protected disclosures."

Finally, it has been noted that Supervisory SpecialAgent Dave Frasca in the Radical Fundamentalist Unit(RFU) may have been involved in handling the Phoenixmemorandum and the Moussaoui investigation at FBIheadquarters. Please explain his role and the role ofthe RFU in evaluating the requests from theMinneapolis field office in the Moussaoui case; whatconnection, if any, he or others drew between the twoongoing investigations; and whether he or othersbrought such a connection to the attention of higherlevel FBI officials.

If a briefing rather than a written answer wouldfacilitate your response to the questions regardingAgent Frasca, please let us know. We want to cooperatewith you to address these important JudiciaryCommittee oversight concerns in a manner that is leastdisruptive to the FBI's operations.

Sincerely,

Sen. Patrick LeahyChairman, Senate Judiciary Committee

Sen. Charles E. GrassleyMember, Senate Judiciary Committee

Sen. Arlen SpecterMember, Senate Judiciary Committee