John P. O'Neill

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John O'Neill

John Patrick O'Neill (born February 6, 1952 in Atlantic City (New Jersey) , † September 11, 2001 in New York ) was an American anti- terrorism expert who worked until 2001 as a special agent with the Federal Police FBI was active. After he was involved in the 1995 arrest of Ramzi Yousef , one of the masterminds of the attack on the World Trade Center in 1993 , O'Neill began to delve into the subject. He dealt with al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden and investigated the attacks in Al-Chubar ( Saudi Arabia ) in 1996 and on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000. Due to personal friction within the FBI and the federal government, O 'Neill left the service to become head of security at the World Trade Center , whereupon he was killed in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks at the age of 49. In 2002, O'Neill was the subject of a documentary on the American television program Frontline entitled The Man Who Knew.

Early life and education

O'Neill wanted to become an FBI special agent from a young age. As a teenager, his favorite show was the true-case television series The FBI . After graduating from Holy Spirit High School in New Jersey, he first attended the American University in Washington, DC from 1971. During this time, O'Neill also worked in the FBI headquarters in Washington, initially working with fingerprints, and later as a travel guide. In 1974 he obtained a degree in Administration of Justice (roughly analogous to the Rechtspfleger ) from American University, and later a master's degree in forensics from George Washington University .

FBI career

O'Neill was hired as an agent with the FBI in 1976. During the next 15 years he worked in Washington in the fields of economic crime , organized crime and counter-intelligence . In 1991, O'Neill received a promotion and was transferred to the Chicago field office, where he served as Assistant Special Agent in Charge . During that time, he set up a Fugitive Task Force to improve collaboration between the FBI and local law enforcement . O'Neill also headed a special commission that investigated bomb attacks on abortion clinics.

After returning to Washington headquarters in 1995, he became head of the counter-terrorism department . On the first day he received a call from Richard A. Clarke who had learned that Ramzi Ahmed Yousef was in Pakistan . O'Neill worked ceaselessly over the next few days to gather information and coordinate the successful arrest and extradition of Yousef. Shackled by the case, he continued to deal with the 1993 bombing, which was masterminded by Yousef, and with other information about militant Islamists. He was directly involved in the investigation into the bombings in Al-Chubar ( Saudi Arabia ) in 1996. Frustrated with the level of cooperation with the Saudis, O'Neill allegedly went to FBI Director Louis Freeh and said they were "blowing smoke up your ass" (a phrase for lying).

Throughout 1996 and 1997, O'Neill continued to warn of the growing threat of terrorism, saying that modern groups were not supported by governments and that terrorist cells operated within the United States. He noted that veterans of the Afghan resistance to the occupation of the country by the Soviet Union had become the greatest threat. Also in 1997 he went to the FBI field office in New York , where he became one of the agents in charge of counter-terrorism and national security.

Before 1998, O'Neill had become aware of Osama bin Laden . When his friend Chris Isham, a producer on ABC News , arranged an interview between bin Laden and correspondent John Miller, Isham and Miller used information compiled by O'Neill to formulate the questions. After the interview was broadcast, O'Neill urged Isham to publish an unedited version so that he could carefully analyze it.

Later in the year the two terrorist attacks on the US embassies in Dar es Salaam and Nairobi followed in quick succession . O'Neill hoped to be part of the investigation because of the vast knowledge he had gained of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. However, turf wars and the prevailing opposition to O'Neill from superiors in Washington initially kept the New York FBI office out of the investigation, and then O'Neill stayed behind when other agents were sent from New York to the region .

Because others were bothered by his personal style and he made some mistakes (he lost a service cell phone and a Palm Pilot , inappropriately borrowed a car from hiding, and briefly lost a briefcase full of sensitive documents), O'Neills began himself To slow rise in the ranks of the FBI. After being overlooked on several promotions, he was content to lead the FBI investigation into the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole . After arriving in Yemen, however, he complained about unsafe conditions. During his team's investigation, O'Neill came into conflict with Barbara Bodine, the US ambassador to Yemen. The two had widely divergent views on how to conduct research in Yemeni property and interviewing Yemeni citizens and government officials, and these differences grew over time.

After a month in Yemen, O'Neill had lost 9 kg on his return to New York. He hoped to be able to travel to the country again to continue his investigation, but this was blocked by Bodine and others. He continued investigating the attacks on the USS Cole, but finally decided to stop the FBI investigation in Yemen because of the lack of security.

An August 19, 2001 report in the New York Times indicated that O'Neill was the subject of an internal investigation by the FBI and was responsible for the loss of a briefcase containing classified information, including descriptions of every counter-terrorism and counter-espionage program in New York. The briefcase reappeared shortly after it disappeared. The FBI investigation concluded that the bag had been stolen by thieves involved in a series of hotel thefts and none of the documents had been removed or even touched.

Several people in O'Neill's defense said he was the subject of a smear campaign. The New York Times reported that O'Neill is expected to retire in late August.

New job in the World Trade Center

Lettering John P. O'Neill on the North Fountain of the National September 11 Memorial

O'Neill began his work at the World Trade Center in September 2001 (according to New York City Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik: "That Tuesday (9-11) was his first or second day on the job." - "This Tuesday (9/11) was his first or second day at work. "He was hired by Kroll Associates, controversial director Jerome Hauer. During the month he spoke to his friend Chris Isham about work. Isham jokingly said : "At least they're not going to bomb it again." - "At least they won't bomb it again." O'Neill replied, "They'll probably try to finish the job." - "They'll probably try to complete the job. "

O'Neill's remains were found in the rubble of the World Trade Center on September 22, 2001 and identified by Jerome Hauer.

The CIA investigator Michael Scheuer , who was also responsible for the manhunt for al-Qaida, said in an interview: "For me, the only good thing about the 9/11 attacks was the death of John O'Neill".

Others

The unusual coincidence of O'Neill's death is often cited by supporters of the 9/11 conspiracy theories as an indication that US authorities were involved in the planning and execution of the attacks.

Film documentation

literature

Web links

Commons : John P. O'Neill  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Pages to the broadcast - Public Broadcasting Service (PBS)
  2. ^ New York Times: FBI Is Investigating a Senior Counterterrorism Agent. August 19, 2001 ( Memento of the original from December 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / query.nytimes.com
  3. ^ Lawrence Wright in The New Yorker: The Counter-Terrorist. January 14, 2002
  4. ↑ Center for Research on Globalization (CRG) ( Memento of November 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ^ ZDF documentary on 9/11: The terrorist hunters guerrilla war . Mirror online. August 4, 2010. Retrieved September 14, 2011.
  6. ↑ America's nightmare at arte ( Memento from August 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )
personal data
SURNAME O'Neill, John P.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES O'Neill, John Patrick (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American anti-terrorism expert and FBI special agent
DATE OF BIRTH February 6, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Atlantic City, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH September 11, 2001
Place of death new York