Editorial: A 9/11 lesson for the ages

Wednesday, March 22, 2006 | 7:10 a.m.

Capturing most of the headlines lately in the sentencing trial of convicted terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui has been the judge's finding that a federal attorney disobeyed her orders and coached seven aviation security witnesses, precluding them from appearing and forcing a week's delay. But the trial resumed Monday, and it is important that testimony not be overshadowed by this incident.

Of particular importance Monday was the testimony of Minneapolis FBI agent Harry Samit, who had interrogated Moussaoui after his arrest on Aug. 16, 2001. According to coverage by Washington Post reporters, Samit told the jurors he became convinced that Moussaoui was an al-Qaida terrorist intent on hijacking an airplane and that he warned his supervisors "more than 70 times."

The agent said his every effort to secure a warrant to search the laptop computer that Moussaoui had with him at the time of his arrest was thwarted by his supervisors. He acknowledged having told the Justice Department's inspector general's office that he thought his supervisors were guilty of "criminal negligence."

Samit said in court that his suspicions were raised for several reasons, among them that Moussaoui had been training on a 747 flight simulator. Also, Samit had learned from FBI agents in France that Moussaoui "had been a recruiter for a Muslim group in Chechnya linked to Osama bin Laden," the Post reported.

FBI officials above Samit refused to seek the search warrant because, they maintained, there was no probable cause. Because of the cable from France, Samit then tried going through the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which is now well known following reports that President Bush bypassed it in authorizing secret wiretapping after 9/11. Again, Samit's supervisors refused.

Samit's testimony paralleled what another Minneapolis FBI agent, Coleen Rowley, spoke publicly about in 2002 - that FBI supervisors erred badly in not seeking a search warrant in a case involving a suspected terrorist and a suspected terrorist act.

Ironically, Samit is a prosecution witness who testified during the criminal trial that, had Moussaoui not lied to FBI agents after he was arrested, they would have raised "alarm bells" and would have stopped the 9/11 attacks. His testimony in the sentencing trial, however, shows that alarm bells were raised, but were silenced by his supervisors. When the FBI sought and received court permission to examine Moussaoui's laptop - on 9/11 - warnings were issued about possible attacks from crop dusters.

The lesson here is that the FBI, if it has any evidence at all about a terrorism suspect, should immediately seek a court order for a search warrant. We hope it is a lesson forever remembered.