WP: FBI Bungled Florida Terrorism Investigation, Justice Department Finds

FBI Bungled Florida Terrorism Investigation, Justice Department Finds

By Mark Sherman
Associated Press
Tuesday, December 6, 2005; Page A12

FBI agents botched a terrorism investigation in Florida and tried to cover up mistakes, said Justice Department investigators, who also concluded that a high-ranking official retaliated against the longtime undercover agent who pointed out the problems.

The findings were included in a draft report by the Justice Department's inspector general on a complaint made by former agent Michael German about an investigation in Orlando that he believed showed promising signs of a link between terrorism financing and the sale of illegal drugs.


The inspector general's office "substantiated German's allegations that the Orlando case was mishandled and mismanaged by the FBI's Tampa Division," the report said. German, who left the FBI in 2004 after 16 years, received the Nov. 15 draft and made it public.

But the inspector general did not back up German's contention that the agent in Orlando and FBI supervisors missed the chance to unravel a terrorism financing operation, concluding that there was no evidence to undermine earlier reviews that the suspect had no link to terrorists.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/05/AR2005120502034.html