WASHINGTON, June 19 (UPI) -- A lawyer working on a lawsuit against the FBI claims that several current and former FBI counter-terrorism experts lack a detailed understanding of terrorism.
Stephen M. Kohn, who took depositions from a number of top FBI counter-terrorism officials, said the officials were promoted to top jobs even though they had little experience in the field, The New York Times reported Sunday.
The paper said Kohn sent the 15-page letter to two Republican senators -- Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Charles Grassley of Iowa -- and one Democrat, Patrick Leahy of Vermont.
Kohn told the senators the FBI's top counter-terrorism officials said in sworn depositions they did not know the relationship between al-Qaida and Jamal Islamia, a South Asia offshoot of the terror network. He also said the officials were unaware of the connection between Osama bin Laden and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, a spiritual adviser to bin Laden whose relationship to bin Laden dated back to the 1980's.
Kohn said former FBI Director Robert Mueller, in his deposition, seemed unsure of bin Laden's relationship to the sheik -- who was convicted in 1996 on terrorism charges.
