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FBI agent say he deserves same treatment as whistleblower Rowley

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- An FBI agent seeking to publish a book about the missteps in the terrorism investigation prior to September 11 wants the same treatment the bureau is giving whistleblower Coleen Rowley.

Robert Wright, Jr. filed a lawsuit against the FBI three weeks ago because the bureau won't let him publish the book, claiming there are secrets about the investigation that would harm national security if made public.

Rowley, an agent in the Minneapolis office, last week sent a letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller critical of how FBI headquarters handled the investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui.

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The FBI refused to comment on Wright's allegations. Previously, Justice Department officials, responding to the lawsuit, had been quoted as saying that thousands of hours had been spent investigating whether Islamic charities had links to terrorism.

Mueller and Attorney General Ashcroft have acknowledged that FBI agents in the field have been frustrated by bureaucratic guidelines that hamper investigating possible terrorists. Mueller said Wednesday that criticism from the field should be welcomed as a means of helping to reform the agency.

Wright's lawyer, Larry Klayman, chief counsel for the conservative legal group Judicial Watch, argued that if Rowley's concerns became public without threats from the FBI, then his client should be treated the same.

Assistant FBI Director John Collingwood wrote to Klayman that Wright's employment agreement with the FBI makes clear that he can't publish such information without the agency's permission, and Wright's manuscript could endanger national security.

"In effect, what they're writing here is," said Klayman, "What Special Agent Rowley of Minnesota revealed would have put lives in jeopardy and jeopardized national security and yet, the Director of the FBI is praising her for coming forward but writing a letter to Special Agent Wright effectively threatening him."

Wright has said that the Justice Department didn't take the threat of terrorism seriously. He said the FBI thwarted his investigation of alleged money laundering practices by Islamic charities which he says led to a Saudi businessman who Wright thinks helped finance the bombing of the two U.S. embassies in East Africa in 1998.

Further Wright says that terrorism investigations should not be handled by the FBI but by some other agency. "Until the investigative responsibilities for terrorism are removed from the FBI," Wright said, "I will not feel safe. The FBI has proven for the last decade it cannot identify and prevent acts of terrorism against the United States and its citizens at home and abroad."

At the same time, Klayman says that Wright values his FBI career and does not want to put it in jeopardy.