Muslim FBI Agent Is Accused Of Not Taping Terror Suspects

by Glenn R. Simpson
The Wall Street Journal
November 26, 2002

Tension within the Federal Bureau of Investigation's antiterrorism campaign in the years before the Sept. 11 attacks was even worse than is publicly known: Two agents have accused a Muslim colleague of refusing on religious grounds to record conversations with Muslim terrorism suspects.

The allegations were first made in 2000, in response to an internal discrimination complaint filed against the FBI by the Muslim agent, Gamal Abdel - Hafiz , then stationed in Dallas. Mr. Abdel-Hafiz, who recently has been stationed in Riyadh as an FBI liaison to Saudi Arabia, didn't respond to a letter seeking comment that was forwarded to him last Friday by the U.S. Embassy in the Saudi capital.

In his internal complaint, Mr. Abdel-Hafiz claimed his reputation had been tarnished and his career undermined by agents who questioned his loyalty to the U.S. One of the agents whom Mr. Adbel-Hafiz cited -- Robert Wright of the FBI's Chicago counterterrorism squad -- responded with an 11-page affidavit, dated March 21, 2000, that attempted to turn the tables on Mr. Abdel-Hafiz. The FBI released the affidavit under the Freedom of Information Act. Mr. Wright alleged that Mr. Abdel-Hafiz refused to cooperate with an FBI probe into BMI Inc., a now-defunct Secaucus, N.J., company that figures in government investigations of Yassin Qadi, a Saudi businessman whom the U.S. government says is a supporter of terrorism.

After a BMI accountant allegedly told Mr. Abdel-Hafiz in 1999 that company funds "may have been used to finance" the 1998 bombings of two U.S. Embassies in East Africa, BMI's president sought a meeting with Mr. Abdel-Hafiz, according to the Wright affidavit. Mr. Wright and federal prosecutors in Chicago asked Mr. Abdel-Hafiz to wear a hidden microphone while meeting with the BMI executive, according to the Wright affidavit. Mr. Abdel-Hafiz allegedly refused, saying, "A Muslim does not record another Muslim," according to Mr. Wright.

An FBI spokesman said the discrimination complaint is still pending and involves significant amounts of classified material. Beyond that, the bureau declined to comment.

A less detailed but similar affidavit was filed in 2000 by Barry Carmody, a 34-year FBI veteran who worked on counterintelligence in the agency's Tampa office and is now retired. "I asked SA [Special Agent] Gamal Abdel - Hafiz to record a telephone conversation during a meeting with an individual involved in an open FBI criminal investigation," Mr. Carmody said. "SA Abdel-Hafiz refused to record this telephone conversation, saying he would make the call but would not record it." The subject of the investigation was a Muslim terrorism suspect in Florida, according to a person familiar with the matter.

This refusal may have "negatively impacted the conduct of the FBI's investigation," Mr. Carmody said in his affidavit. He said he reported the incident twice to FBI headquarters, with no response. Mr. Wright said his attempts to get FBI headquarters to investigate Mr. Abdel-Hafiz also were unsuccessful.

Mr. Wright is a controversial member of the Chicago FBI office's terrorism task force. He helped bring the bureau's biggest terrorist-asset seizure case in 1998, involving a Chicago-area Muslim charity accused of links to Hamas, the Palestinian terror group. Mr. Wright has received favorable performance reviews from his superiors for years.

But he has also been the subject of at least three complaints filed by colleagues other than Mr. Adbel-Hafiz in the last three years, Mr. Wright's lawyer, David Schippers, said. The other complaints were for sexual harassment and disclosure of sensitive information. Two of the complaints have been resolved without action against Mr. Wright, while one concerning disclosure remains open, the lawyer said.

In his affidavit, Mr. Wright denied discriminating against Mr. Abdel-Hafiz. "My only bias is against terrorists," he said in the affidavit. "However, if one is Muslim and their faith interferes with their duty, it concerns me."

Mr. Wright has filed his own lawsuit against the FBI in federal court in Washington, alleging that his employer has improperly blocked release of a 500-page manuscript he has written accusing the FBI of bungling antiterror efforts. The government hasn't responded in court to the suit.

(Copyright (c) 2002, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

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