Agent Complaints Lead F.B.I. Director to Ask for Inquiry
Ms. Rowley wrote that Mr. Mueller's statements to Congress and the public about the attacks were incomplete, officials who have seen the letter said. She also asserted that Mr. Mueller had played down important warning signs of a developing pattern that the F.B.I. had failed to spot, including a memo on July 10 from an agent in Phoenix about Al Qaeda flight training.

Taken together, the evidence should have alerted headquarters here that Osama bin Laden's followers were planning a strike in the United States, Ms. Rowley contended. Ms. Rowley said Minneapolis agents became so frustrated by inaction at F.B.I. headquarters at one point that they went directly to the Central Intelligence Agency for help in building their case against Mr. Moussaoui. Going behind the backs of their superiors was a breach of bureau protocol, and officials at headquarters reprimanded the Minneapolis agents, the officials said.

Ms. Rowley has sought whistle-blower status at the bureau to protect her from possible reprisals. The agency is exempt from the federal whistle-blower protection law, which shields government employees who disclose misdeeds in their agencies from retaliation by superiors.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/24/national/24INQU.html