Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American former

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

special agent and

whistleblower Whistleblowing (also whistle-blowing or whistle blowing) is the activity of a person, often an employee, revealing information about activity within a private or public organization that is deemed illegal, immoral, illicit, unsafe, unethical or ...

. Rowley is well known for testifying as to concerns regarding the FBI ignoring information of a suspected terrorist during 9/11, which led to a two-year investigation by the Department of Justice. Rowley was also a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican

incumbent The incumbent is the current holder of an office or position. In an election, the incumbent is the person holding or acting in the position that is up for election, regardless of whether they are seeking re-election. There may or may not be ...

John Kline. As of 2024, she is a member of Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity.

Early life and education

Rowley grew up in New Hampton, Iowa, and graduated

valedictorian Valedictorian is an academic title for the class rank, highest-performing student of a graduation, graduating class of an academic institution in the United States. The valedictorian is generally determined by an academic institution's grade poin ...

of her high school class in 1973. Her father was a letter carrier for 31 years. She received her B.A. degree in French and with honors from

Wartburg College Wartburg College is a Private college, private Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, Lutheran Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Waverly, Iowa. History Wartburg College was founded in 1852 in Saginaw, Michig ...

in Waverly, Iowa, in 1977. In 1980, she received her J.D. degree from the University of Iowa College of Law and passed the

Iowa Iowa ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the upper Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Ill ...

bar exam A bar examination is an examination administered by the bar association of a jurisdiction that a lawyer must pass in order to be admitted to the bar of that jurisdiction. Australia Administering bar exams is the responsibility of the bar associat ...

that summer.Max Lerne
Coleen Rowley
Civil liberties in times of war. PBS Now, April 3, 2005

Career

FBI

In January 1981, Rowley became a special agent with the

and was assigned to the

Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the List of cities in Nebraska, most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's List of United S ...

, and

Jackson, Mississippi Jackson is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Mississippi, most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. The city sits on the Pearl River (Mississippi–Louisiana), Pearl River and is locate ...

, divisions. Beginning in 1984, she spent six years working in the

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

field office on investigations involving Italian

organized crime Organized crime is a category of transnational organized crime, transnational, national, or local group of centralized enterprises run to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for profit. While organized crime is generally thought of as a f ...

and Sicilian heroin. During this time she served three temporary assignments in the U.S.

embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a Sovereign state, state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and the

consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of mission, it is usually subordinate to the state's main representation in the capital of that foreign country (host state), usually an embassy (or, only between two Commonwealth countries, a ...

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

. In 1990, she was transferred to the FBI's

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

field office, where she became chief division counsel. There she taught constitutional law to FBI agents and police officers, and oversaw the Freedom of Information, Asset Forfeiture Program, Victim-Witness and community outreach programs. After the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

in 2001, Rowley wrote a paper for FBI Director

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York University, Mueller served a ...

documenting how FBI HQ personnel in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, had mishandled and failed to take action on information provided by the

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Field Office regarding its investigation of suspected terrorist

Zacarias Moussaoui Zacarias Moussaoui (, '; born 30 May 1968) is a French member of al-Qaeda who pleaded guilty in a U.S. federal court to conspiring to kill citizens of the United States as part of the 9/11 attacks. He is serving life imprisonment without the ...

. Moussaoui had been suspected of being involved in preparations for a suicide-hijacking similar to the December 1994 "

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower from 1887 to 1889. Locally nicknamed "''La dame de fe ...

" hijacking of Air France 8969. Failures identified by Rowley may have left the U.S. vulnerable to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Rowley was one of many agents frustrated by the events that led up to the attacks, writing:

During the early aftermath of September 11th, when I happened to be recounting the pre–September 11th events concerning the Moussaoui investigation to other FBI personnel in other divisions or in FBIHQ, almost everyone's first question was "Why?—Why would an FBI agent(s) deliberately sabotage a case?" (I know I shouldn't be flippant about this, but jokes were actually made that the key FBI HQ personnel had to be spies or moles like Robert Hanssen who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden to have so undercut Minneapolis's effort.)Coleen Rowle
APFN.org Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller. An edited version of the agent's 13-page letter
American Patriot Friends Network, May 21, 2002

In May 2002 Rowley testified to the

Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...

and the

9/11 Commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, commonly known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, to investigate all aspects of the September 11 attacks, the deadliest terrorist attack in world history ...

about the FBI's pre-9/11 lapses due to its internal organization and mishandling of information related to the attacks. "We have got to call America's attention to this in order to stop the continuation of errors", Rowley stated. Mueller and Senator

Chuck Grassley Charles Ernest Grassley (born September 17, 1933) is an American politician serving as the president pro tempore of the United States Senate since 2025, a role he also held from 2019 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Re ...

( R- IA) pushed for and achieved a major reorganization, focused on creation of the new Office of Intelligence at the FBI. This reorganization was supported with a significant expansion of FBI personnel with

counterterrorism Counterterrorism (alternatively spelled: counter-terrorism), also known as anti-terrorism, relates to the practices, military tactics, techniques, and strategies that governments, law enforcement, businesses, and Intelligence agency, intelligence ...

and language skills. In February 2003, Rowley wrote a second open letter to Mueller, in which she warned her superiors that the bureau would not "be able to stem the flood of terrorism that will likely head our way in the wake of an attack on Iraq". In April 2003, Rowley stepped down from her legal position to return to being an FBI special agent. At the end of 2004 she retired from the FBI after serving for 24 years.

Honors and awards

Rowley jointly held the ''Time'' magazine Person of the Year award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers:

Sherron Watkins Sherron Watkins (born August 28, 1959) is an American former Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation. Watkins discovered and reported the 2001 Enron scandal to Enron's then- CEO Kenneth Lay. Watkins was selected as one ...

from

Enron Enron Corporation was an American Energy development, energy, Commodity, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was led by Kenneth Lay and developed in 1985 via a merger between Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both re ...

and Cynthia Cooper of

WorldCom MCI, Inc. (formerly WorldCom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second-largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. WorldCom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunicatio ...

. She also received the 2002 Sam Adams Award; she was the first person to ever receive this award.

Political

John Murtha at Coleen Rowley rally 17 Sept 2006

Coleen Rowley rally protesters 17 Sept 2006

In May 2005, Rowley announced that she was considering running against incumbent Representative John Kline for

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

's 2nd District seat in the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives is a chamber of the Bicameralism, bicameral United States Congress; it is the lower house, with the U.S. Senate being the upper house. Together, the House and Senate have the authority under Artic ...

in 2006. At the time of her announcement, she had been living in

Apple Valley, Minnesota Apple Valley is a city in northwestern Dakota County, Minnesota, and a suburb of the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities. The population was 56,374 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the 17th most populous city in Minnes ...

, for 15 years. Rowley had formerly voted and identified as a Republican, but on June 27, 2005, she announced that she was entering the race as a DFLer, and on July 6 officially kicked off her campaign at her home.Mark Zdechli
Kline, Rowley provide clear choice on Iraq
Minnesota Public Radio, July 26, 2006 On August 18, 2005, Rowley attended a vigil in Crawford, Texas, outside President George W. Bush's ranch requesting that the president meet with Cindy Sheehan to answer Sheehan's questions about the

War in Iraq This is a list of wars involving the Republic of Iraq and its predecessor states. , style="background:#F88" , Coalition of Gulf War, Coalition victory * Kuwait, State of Kuwait resumes self-governance over all Kuwaiti sovereign territory * Esta ...

and the death of Sheehan's son, Casey. On January 3, 2006, an unauthorized professionally retouched image appeared on Rowley's campaign website. This image depicted Kline, a retired

Marine Corps Marines (or naval infantry) are military personnel generally trained to operate on both land and sea, with a particular focus on amphibious warfare. Historically, the main tasks undertaken by marines have included raiding ashore (often in supp ...

colonel, as Colonel Klink from ''

Hogan's Heroes ''Hogan's Heroes'' is an American television sitcom created by Bernard Fein and Albert S. Ruddy which is set in a Prisoner-of-war camp, prisoner-of-war (POW) camp in Nazi Germany during World War II, and centers around a group of Allied prisoner ...

''. Kline objected to the photo, and the Rowley campaign removed the image the same day and initiated an investigation. Rowley apologized quickly. Representative John Murtha (D- PA) endorsed Rowley. He visited the district during the campaign and held a rally for Rowley at the local VFW in Rosemount, while veterans protested outside. The Rowley campaign subsequently focused efforts on veterans' groups and others with direct experience of the war in Iraq. Financing her campaign proved difficult. Opposing an incumbent

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

such as Kline in a conservative district did not attract money from the most robust Democratic resources, such as the DNC. Kline's campaign achieved a 2–1 advantage in raising funds, and he easily retained his seat.

Civil liberties and peace activism

Since 2003 Rowley has spoken publicly on ethics and ethical decision-making to various groups.University of Iowa News Servic
Rowley To Discuss Patriot Act, Ethics At UI Lectures
University of Iowa, February 9, 2004 She is a writer and blogger. She joined other whistleblowers on the June 2015 speaking tour "Stand Up for Truth" which went through London, Oslo, Stockholm and Berlin. She returned to lecture at her alma mater three times, in 2003, 2004 and 2015.

Personal life

Rowley is married and has four children. During her time in the FBI she was "the sole breadwinner of a family of six".

Bibliography

Rowley authored a chapter in ''Patriotism, Democracy, and Common Sense: Restoring America's Promise at Home and Abroad''. edited by Alan Cutis and Kevin Phillip (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2005, 496 pages, ). She has been a regular contributor at ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' since January 2006 and Rowley has written for ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

''.Coleen Rowley
''The Guardian''. undated, retrieved September 29, 2015

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, Coleen 1954 births 21st-century American women American whistleblowers Candidates in the 2006 United States elections Federal Bureau of Investigation agents Law enforcement officials from Mississippi Law enforcement officials from Nebraska Law enforcement officials from New York City Living people Minnesota Democrats People from Apple Valley, Minnesota People from New Hampton, Iowa University of Iowa College of Law alumni Wartburg College alumni Women in Minnesota politics