for the retaliation that see suffered and also backpay. finally, we interviewed bassem sub10 who was and is probably still today the highest highest-ranking american fbi agent. bassem had never done an interview and he went on camera to tell us that in his estimation, the fbi was very poorly educated about radical islam and this was someone who had worked on prior to 9/11, all the major terrorism cases and was really considered an expert. after 9/11, for a variety of reasons, he was not used in that capacity, and in the interview he said the fbi wasn t doing everything that it could do to combat terrorism, and that when it was involved and obviously they asked by fbl was involved it was doing in a haphazard and ignorant fashion and he also talked about he had been discriminated against after 9/11. i just want to read, as part of this story, steve was allowed to pose a number of senior fbi officials. we ended up doing this story using an interview with bassem but as a kind of
would meet them they feel persecuted, hated or ignored by their own organization and there is a certain therapy element to dealing with them, and i m sure steve can talk about that. he has to deal with them day after day, sometimes for years. they are often not used to feeling like outcasts in their own organizations in the pressure on them can be really intense. some of them start to it imagine conspiracies and threats and it leads to a difficult, often a difficult situation up front. in addition many of these folks often are kind of affection is by nature, and in my experience some of them almost excessively follow the rules. then they are so disappointed when people around them don t treat the rules in the same fashion. so, it is the job of the reporter to determine how big of a deal their grievances are, because in some cases they might be petty and they may be right. someone may have violated a rule but it may not be that consequential so that is part of the process of
to point out information. have you looked at the briefing in the court case recently? have you checked on the contract data base lately? little tidbits that keep us straight and guidance to a story. that is to start. finally, because of the pressures and the range of emotions that it was a blur goes through, i found that the end of the process, when you go get the other side of this story, often times whistle-blowers feel this moment of the trial. we need to have both sides of the story. we need to ensure that what you told us is accurate because it does not serve your case in course case in court if i did something wrong or if i do not have a balanced story. those principles have guided my relationships with whistle- blowers. as the art of whistleblowing becomes increasingly dangerous with fewer and fewer legal protections, having a sense of how to work with the media and the court of public opinion it is becoming more and more important. thank you. . . i really want t