Ken Williams
Phoenix FBI agent Ken Williams
Top down orders not to investigate terrorist suspects
David Frasca of the FBI, the head of the Islamic Fundamentalism Department and boss of Dale Watson (ex CIA), are the managers that Coleen Rowley, Robert Wright and Ken Williams were seeking permission from to continue their investigations. The departments headed by Frasca and Watson blocked all attempts to investigate Islamic cells containing suspects with known links to al Qaeda.
Why take your best terrorism investigator and put him on an arson case?
[HistoryCommons]: Extracts
April 2000-June 2001: Arizona FBI Investigation into Suspect Flight School Students Faces Delays.
In April 2000, FBI agent Ken Williams begins investigating an Arizona flight student named Zacaria Soubra with suspicious radical militant ties. Soubra will be the main focus of Williams’s July 2001 memo about suspect Middle Easterners training in Arizona flight schools (see July 10, 2001). But Williams’ investigation into Soubra is greatly slowed because of internal politics and personal disputes.
When he returns to this case in December 2000, he and all the other agents on the international terrorism squad are diverted to work on a high-profile arson case. James Hauswirth, another Arizona FBI agent, will later say, “[Williams] fought it. Why take your best terrorism investigator and put him on an arson case? He didn’t have a choice.”
The arson case is solved in June 2001 and Williams returns to the issue of Islamic militant flight school students. His memo comes out much later than it otherwise might have. Hauswirth will write a letter to FBI Director Mueller in late 2001, complaining, “[Terrorism] has always been the lowest priority in the division; it still is the lowest priority in the division.”
Others insiders later concur that the Arizona FBI placed a low priority on terrorism cases before 9/11. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 5/26/2002] [NEW YORK TIMES, 6/19/2002]
Entity Tags: Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Williams, James Hauswirth, Zacaria Soubra
Timeline Tags: 9/11 Timeline
Category Tags: Phoenix Memo, Counterterrorism Action Before 9/11
April 2000: Suspicious Behavior of Flight School Student Leads to Arizona FBI Investigation
Zacaria Soubra. [Source: Public domain]
In early April 2000, Arizona FBI agent Ken Williams gets a tip that makes him suspicious that some flight students might be Islamic militants. Williams will begin an investigation based on this tip that will lead to his “Phoenix memo” warning about suspect Middle Easterners training in Arizona flight schools (see July 10, 2001) [NEW YORK TIMES, 6/19/2002] It appears that Lebanese flight school student Zacaria Soubra has been seen at a shooting range with Abu Mujahid, a white American Muslim who had fought in the Balkans and the Middle East. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 10/28/2001; ARIZONA MONTHLY, 11/2004] Abu Mujahid appears to match Aukai Collins, a white American Muslim who had fought in the Balkans and the Middle East, who also goes by the name Abu Mujahid, and is an FBI informant spying on the Muslim community in the area at the time (see 1998). Collins also claims to have been the informant referred to in the Phoenix memo, which again suggests that Collins was the one at the shooting range with Soubra. [SALON, 10/17/2002] On April 7, Williams appears at Soubra’s apartment and interviews him. Soubra acts defiant, and tells Williams that he considers the US government and military legitimate targets of Islam. He has photographs of bin Laden on the walls. Williams runs a check on the license plate of Soubra’s car and discovers the car is actually owned by a suspected militant with explosives and car bomb training in Afghanistan who had been held for attempting to enter an airplane cockpit the year before (see November 1999-August 2001). [GRAHAM AND NUSSBAUM, 2004, PP. 43-44] On April 17, Williams starts a formal investigation into Soubra. [ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 7/24/2003] Williams will be reassigned to work on an arson case and will not be able to get back to work on the Soubra investigation until June 2001 (see April 2000-June 2001). He will release the Phoenix memo one month later. After 9/11, some US officials will suspect Soubra had ties to terrorism. For instance, in 2003, an unnamed official will claim, “Soubra was involved in terrorist-supporting activities, facilitating shelter and employment for people… involved with al-Qaeda.” For a time, he and hijacker Hani Hanjour attend the same mosque, though there is no evidence they ever meet. Soubra’s roommate at the time of Williams’ interview is Ghassan al-Sharbi. In 2002, al-Sharbi will be arrested in Pakistan with al-Qaeda leader Abu Zubaida. While Williams will focus on Soubra, al-Sharbi will also be a target of his memo. [LOS ANGELES TIMES, 1/24/2003] In 2004, Soubra will be deported to Lebanon after being held for two years. He will deny any connection to Hanjour or terrorism. [ARIZONA REPUBLIC, 5/2/2004] Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, the leader of the British militant group Al-Muhajiroun, will later admit that Soubra was the leader of Al-Muhajiroun’s branch in Arizona. [TIME, 5/27/2002]
Entity Tags: Hani Hanjour, Abu Zubaida, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Ken Williams, Sheikh Omar Bakri Mohammed, Zacaria Soubra
Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline, 9/11 Timeline
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