Rank-and-file FBI agents dismayed, ‘embarrassed’ by bureau’s handling of New Orleans terror attack

E

Earl

Well-known member

Rank-and-file FBI agents dismayed, ‘embarrassed’ by bureau’s handling of New Orleans terror attack​


Emergency services attend to the scene on Bourbon Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans' Canal and Bourbon Street on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
Emergency services attend to the scene on Bourbon Street after a vehicle drove into a crowd on New Orleans’ Canal and Bourbon Street on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File) more >




By Kerry Picket - The Washington Times - Saturday, January 4, 2025

FBI agents say the bureau’s first response to the New Year’s Day terrorist massacre in New Orleans’ French Quarter was disastrous and another reason why the Senate can’t move fast enough to confirm President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to run the agency.


According to several agents, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, the FBI failed to execute a comprehensive counter-terrorism plan when Shamsud-Din Bahar Jabbar of Texas, an Army veteran, rammed a pickup truck with an ISIS flag into New Year’s Eve revelers, killing 14 and wounding dozens.



They said the top FBI official on the scene broke with bureau decorum and inexplicably declared the attack not to be terrorism and that the bureau failed to follow basic procedures during the investigation.
 
Agents wondered why Lyonel Myrthil, the special agent in charge of the New Orleans FBI office, did not appear to be on duty when the attack happened, despite what should have been a heightened alert for a major New Year’s Eve celebrations and the college football championship, the Sugar Bowl, scheduled at the city’s Superdome on New Year’s Day.

The agents blamed poor leadership by outgoing FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and Deputy Director Paul Abbate.




Mr. Abbate is poised to become acting director after Mr. Wray resigns, which he said he will do before Mr. Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration.


“They need to go right now, not only Wray, but Abbate needs to go. This is awful. This is embarrassing. Kash Patel is the person to have in there,” an agent said, referring to Mr. Trump’s nominee for FBI director. “He needs to come right now, right away, because these people have to leave.”
 
The New Orleans FBI Office sent Assistant Special Agent in Charge Alethea Duncan, who wore khakis, a blue polo shirt and a nose ring, to the first press conference after the attack.




She immediately contradicted New Orleans Mayor Latoya Cantrell, who said at the press conference that her city was “impacted by a terrorist attack.”


Ms. Duncan stepped forward after the city’s police chief spoke and said, “This is not a terrorist event. What it is right now is there were improvised explosive devices that were found, and we are working on confirming if it is viable or not.”


Hours later, the FBI declared the attack was being investigated as a terrorist incident.


Rank-and-file FBI agents were taken aback by Ms. Duncan’s presentation and her comments.


“The new FBI management has to put in basic decorum rules because the bureau should look like the ’Men in Black,’ that they’re all uniform — that they’re transparent,” an FBI agent said.




He said the public should “see the bureau, not somebody with a ring in their nose. Who the hell would go on TV with a ring in their nose,” another agent said. “Who the hell would ever say it’s not a terrorist event when there’s an ISIS flag flying on the back of a truck? They call that a clue.”
 
What the Biden Administration has done to America's institutions is an abomination.

The FBI, the CIA, the Justice department, the courts...all revered institutions until Biden and the far left Democratic Socialist loons took control.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top