Experts challenge the 9/11 report: dozens of whistleblowers from federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies—FBI, CIA, Customs and more—are uniting to expose and oppose the 9/11 Commission report

New American, The, Oct 4, 2004 by William F. Jasper

For more than two years, Sibel Edmonds, a former FBI translator of Turkish and Turkic languages, has been warning the country of major security problems that remain unaddressed at the FBI headquarters in Washington. Mrs. Edmonds has been responsible for making public a number of alarming revelations of FBI malfeasance and cover-up in matters concerning our most sensitive areas of national security and counter terrorism.

Edmonds broke the story of the case of Melek Can Dickerson, the Turkish translator who was hired by the FBI after 9/11 despite her and her husband's records of associations with individuals and organizations that were targets of FBI investigations. Melek Can Dickerson was given a top-secret clearance and given access to numerous documents concerning terrorism investigations. Dickerson blocked investigations into suspect organizations she was involved with and, with her supervisor's approval, took hundreds of pages of top-secret documents outside the FBI to unknown recipients.

In 2002, Melek Can Dickerson and several FBI targets of investigation fled the United States. No criminal investigation has been opened into the Dickerson case, and Dickerson's supervisor, who facilitated her criminal conduct, has been promoted to supervising Arabic language units of the FBI's counterterrorism and counterintelligence investigations.

Sibel Edmonds testified before the 9/11 Commission, but the Commission's report does not include her explosive information, and only mentions her name in a single footnote. In an August 2, 2004 open letter to the 9/11 Commission, Mrs. Edmonds recounted the Dickerson case, as well as several other important incidents illustrating the depth and breadth of the crisis at the FBI. Her letter stated:

   Your report omits these significant
   incidents, and your recommendations
   do not address this serious security
   breach and likely espionage issue.
   This issue needs to be investigated
   and prosecuted. The translation of
   our intelligence is being entrusted
   to individuals with loyalties to our
   enemies. Important "chit-chats" and
   "chatters" are being intentionally
   blocked from translation. Why does
   your report exclude this information
   and these serious issues despite the
   evidence and briefings you received?
   How can budget increases address
   and resolve this misconduct by midlevel
   bureaucratic management? How
   can the addition of an "intelligence
   czar" solve this problem?

Earlier this year, Edmonds was subpoenaed by attorneys for a group of 9/11 families in their lawsuit against the federal government. They were seeking to have her testify concerning information she reportedly saw at FBI headquarters proving senior officials knew of al-Qaeda plans to attack the U.S. with aircraft months before the strikes. However, in April, the Bush administration obtained a court gag order preventing her from testifying.

On Monday, September 13, Sibel Edmonds held a whistleblowers press conference in Washington, D.C., bringing together veteran agents, analysts and other experts from various government agencies involved in national security.

She was joined at the press conference by four other former federal civil servants: Diane Kleiman, former Special Agent, U.S. Customs; John M. Cole, former Veteran Intelligence Operations Specialist, FBI; Bogdan Dzakovic, former Special Agent & Red Team Leader, FAA; and Melvin A. Goodman, former Senior Analyst/Division Manager, CIA.

In her opening comments, Sibel Edmonds called upon Congress "to refrain from narrow political considerations and to apply brakes to the race to implement the [9/11] Commission recommendations." This "unique opportunity to introduce salutary reform," she noted, "must not be squandered by politically driven haste."

Edmonds further stated:

   Omission is one of the major flaws
   in the Commission's report. We are
   aware of significant issues and cases
   that were duly reported to the Commission
   by those of us with direct
   knowledge, but somehow escaped attention.
   Serious problems and shortcomings
   within government agencies
   likewise were reported to the Commission
   but were not included in the
   report. The report simply does not
   get at the key problems within the
   intelligence, aviation security, and
   law enforcement communities. The
   omission of such serious and applicable
   issues and information by itself
   renders the report flawed, and casts
   doubt on the validity of many of its
   recommendations.

A more detailed report on the whistleblower press conference will appear in the next issue of THE NEW AMERICAN.