Coleen Rowley | |
|---|---|
 At Georgetown University, 2014 | |
| Born | (1954-12-20)December 20, 1954 (age 70) |
| Occupation(s) | Political activist, retired FBI special agent |
| Years active | 2006–present |
| Political party | Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party |
| Spouse | Ross Rowley |
| Children | 4 |
Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American formerFBI special agent andwhistleblower. Rowley is well known for testifying as to concerns regarding the FBI ignoring information of a suspected terrorist during 9/11, which led to a two-year investigation by the Department of Justice.[2]
Rowley was also aDemocratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate forCongress inMinnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eightcongressional districts in Minnesota in 2006. She lost the general election toRepublicanincumbentJohn Kline.[3] As of 2024, she is a member ofVeteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.
Rowley grew up inNew Hampton, Iowa, and graduatedvaledictorian of her high school class in 1973. Her father was a letter carrier for 31 years.[citation needed] She received herB.A. degree in French and with honors fromWartburg College inWaverly, Iowa, in 1977. In 1980, she received herJ.D. degree from theUniversity of Iowa College of Law and passed theIowabar exam that summer.[4]
In January 1981, Rowley became a special agent with theFBI and was assigned to theOmaha, Nebraska, andJackson, Mississippi, divisions. Beginning in 1984, she spent six years working in theNew York City field office on investigations involving Italianorganized crime and Sicilian heroin. During this time she served three temporary assignments in the U.S.embassy inParis and theconsulate inMontreal. In 1990, she was transferred to the FBI'sMinneapolis field office, where she became chief division counsel. There she taught constitutional law to FBI agents and police officers, and oversaw theFreedom of Information, Asset Forfeiture Program,Victim-Witness and community outreach programs.[4]
After theSeptember 11 attacks in 2001, Rowley wrote a paper for FBI DirectorRobert Mueller documenting how FBI HQ personnel inWashington, D.C., had mishandled and failed to take action on information provided by theMinneapolis, Minnesota, Field Office regarding its investigation of suspected terroristZacarias Moussaoui. Moussaoui had been suspected of being involved in preparations for a suicide-hijacking similar to the December 1994 "Eiffel Tower" hijacking ofAir France 8969. Failures identified by Rowley may have left the U.S. vulnerable to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Rowley was one of many agents frustrated by the events that led up to the attacks, writing:
During the early aftermath of September 11th, when I happened to be recounting the pre–September 11th events concerning the Moussaoui investigation to other FBI personnel in other divisions or in FBIHQ, almost everyone's first question was "Why?—Why would an FBI agent(s) deliberately sabotage a case?" (I know I shouldn't be flippant about this, but jokes were actually made that the key FBI HQ personnel had to be spies or moles likeRobert Hanssen who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden to have so undercut Minneapolis's effort.)[5][6][7]
In May 2002 Rowley testified to theSenate and the9/11 Commission about the FBI's pre-9/11 lapses due to its internal organization and mishandling of information related to the attacks.[4] "We have got to call America's attention to this in order to stop the continuation of errors",[8] Rowley stated. Mueller and SenatorChuck Grassley (R-IA) pushed for and achieved a major reorganization, focused on creation of the new Office of Intelligence at the FBI.[9] This reorganization was supported with a significant expansion of FBI personnel withcounterterrorism and language skills.[citation needed]
In February 2003, Rowley wrote a second open letter to Mueller, in which she warned her superiors that the bureau would not "be able to stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq".[10] In April 2003, Rowley stepped down from her legal position to return to being an FBI special agent. At the end of 2004 she retired from the FBI after serving for 24 years.[4]
Rowley jointly held theTime magazinePerson of the Year award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers:Sherron Watkins fromEnron andCynthia Cooper ofWorldCom.[11] She also received the 2002Sam Adams Award; she was the first person to ever receive this award.[12]
In May 2005, Rowley announced that she was considering running against incumbent RepresentativeJohn Kline forMinnesota's 2nd District seat in theUnited States House of Representatives in 2006. At the time of her announcement, she had been living inApple Valley, Minnesota, for 15 years. Rowley had formerly voted and identified as a Republican, but on June 27, 2005, she announced that she was entering the race as aDFLer, and on July 6 officially kicked off her campaign at her home.[13]
On August 18, 2005, Rowley attended a vigil inCrawford, Texas, outside PresidentGeorge W. Bush's ranch requesting that the president meet withCindy Sheehan to answer Sheehan's questions about theWar in Iraq and the death of Sheehan's son, Casey.[13]
On January 3, 2006, an unauthorized professionally retouched image appeared on Rowley's campaign website. This image depicted Kline, a retiredMarine Corps colonel, asColonel Klink fromHogan's Heroes. Kline objected to the photo, and the Rowley campaign removed the image the same day and initiated an investigation. Rowley apologized quickly.[14]
RepresentativeJohn Murtha (D-PA) endorsed Rowley. He visited the district during the campaign and held a rally for Rowley at the localVFW in Rosemount, while veterans protested outside. The Rowley campaign subsequently focused efforts on veterans' groups and others with direct experience of the war in Iraq. Financing her campaign proved difficult. Opposing an incumbentconservative such as Kline in a conservative district did not attract money from the most robust Democratic resources, such as theDNC.[15]
Kline's campaign achieved a 2–1 advantage in raising funds,[16] and he easily retained his seat.[17]
Since 2003 Rowley has spoken publicly on ethics and ethical decision-making to various groups.[18] She is a writer and blogger. She joined other whistleblowers on the June 2015 speaking tour "Stand Up for Truth" which went through London, Oslo, Stockholm and Berlin.[19] She returned to lecture at her alma mater three times, in 2003,[20] 2004[18] and 2015.
Rowley is married and has four children. During her time in the FBI she was "the sole breadwinner of a family of six".[6]
Rowley authored a chapter inPatriotism, Democracy, and Common Sense: Restoring America's Promise at Home and Abroad. edited by Alan Cutis and Kevin Phillip (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005, 496 pages,ISBN 0742542173).
She has been a regular contributor atThe Huffington Post since January 2006[21] and Rowley has written forThe Guardian.[22]
