FBI agent warned superiors 70 times about Moussaoui.Harry Samit Harry Samit is a Federal Bureau of Investigation Special Agent based out of the FBI Field Office in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a former United States Navy naval aviator, gifted Naval Intelligence Officer, and a certified private pilot and "Giver Of Flight". , the Minnesota FBI agent who arrested Zacarias Moussaoui Zacarias Moussaoui (Arabic: زكريا موسوي) (born May 30, 1968 in St Jean de Luz[2]) is a French citizen of Moroccan descent who was convicted of conspiring to kill Americans as part of the September 11, 2001, three and a half weeks before the September 11,2001 terror attacks, provided explosive testimony against his superiors during cross-examination by Moussaoui's defense attorneys. Samit, who arrested Moussaoui and his Oklahoma University roommate Hussein Al-Attas on August 16, confirmed on the witness stand that he and other agents in the Minnesota office had argued repeatedly with their Washington, D.C., superiors, urgently requesting permission for a warrant to search Moussaoui's laptop computer, as well as Moussaoui and Al-Attas' apartment and possessions. Agent Samit said he had contacted his superiors 70 times, urgently requesting assistance with the Moussaoui/Al-Attas investigation, only to be repeatedly rebuffed without any rational explanation. He said the superiors who thwarted the Minnesota investigation were guilty of "criminal negligence The failure to use reasonable care to avoid consequences that threaten or harm the safety of the public and that are the foreseeable outcome of acting in a particular manner. and obstruction." "You tried to move heaven and earth to get a search warrant to search this man's belongings and you were obstructed," defense attorney Edward MacMahon said to the agent. "Yes sir, I was obstructed," Samit replied, noting that these actions were a "calculated" decision "that cost us the opportunity to stop the attacks." His superiors even blocked him from sending a memo to the Federal Aviation Administration Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), component of the U.S. Department of Transportation that sets standards for the air-worthiness of all civilian aircraft, inspects and licenses them, and regulates civilian and military air traffic through its air traffic control to apprise them of the information he had uncovered about Moussaoui and Al-Attas and his belief that they were involved in an international hijacking hijacking Crime of seizing possession or control of a vehicle from another by force or threat of force. Although by the late 20th century hijacking most frequently involved the seizure of an airplane and its forcible diversion to destinations chosen by the air pirates, when plot. They also prevented him from putting an undercover Arabic-speaking agent in the same cell with Al-Attas. Samit's charges echo those of Minnesota FBI agent and lawyer Coleen Rowley Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is a former FBI agent and whistleblower, and was a candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent John Kline. , who wrote a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller bitterly criticizing Washington's obstruction in the Moussaoui case. Moussaoui, a French citizen, is the only person charged in this country as a result of the September 11 attacks September 11 attacks Series of airline hijackings and suicide bombings against U.S. targets perpetrated by 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda. . He pleaded guilty last April 22 to conspiring with al-Qaeda to hijack aircraft and commit other crimes. However, he had claimed that he was not directly involved in 9/11, but was training instead for a follow-up attack. Agent Samit had been called to the witness stand on March 20, during the sentencing phase of the trial, to determine Moussaoui's punishment: death or life in prison. |
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