Yeah, I'm blanking on the female agent's name, but I remember her saying her requests to search his laptop were repeatedly denied.  Interestingly, given our renewed FISA discussion one thread over, I recall that agent laying a some of the blame on being hamstrunng by FISA.

 

Colleen Rowley is the agent's name. And, yes, she tried to get the FBI to investigate Moussaui more thoroughly, but the Bureau claimed they couldn't because of FISA limits. But they didn't even try to obtain a warrant for his laptop.

Colleen Rowley is the agent's name.  And, yes, she tried to get the FBI to investigate Moussaui more thoroughly, but the Bureau claimed they couldn't because of FISA limits.  But they didn't even try to obtain a warrant for his laptop.

I recall they were toying with sending him and his laptop to France where it could be seized and searched, but by then the 9/11 attacks had transpired.

Edited March 21, 200620 yr by FlaSoxxJim

Yeah, I'm blanking on the female agent's name, but I remember her saying her requests to search his laptop were repeatedly denied.  Interestingly, given our renewed FISA discussion one thread over, I recall that agent laying a some of the blame on being hamstrunng by FISA.

The FBI claimed that they didn't have the evidence to go to FISA and get a warrant to search Moussaoui's stuff. However, the 9/11 commission examined the evidence and determined that without a doubt the stuff they had met the "probable cause" standard in FISA. And Given that in 2001, the FISA court had only blocked a handful of requests in 15 years, the FBI agents who made that decision were just plainly wrong.