Abdel-Hafiz’s case is especially sensitive because of the paucity of Muslim agents; sources say there are only about a half dozen out of an agent force of 11,500. (Only 21 agents are proficient in Arabic.) FBI officials acknowledge they desperately need more–and used to point to Abdel-Hafiz as one reason why. Serving last year as FBI deputy legal attache in Riyadh, Abdel-Hafiz got a crucial confession that led to the arrest of six Buffalo, N.Y.-area men who had attended a Qaeda camp in Afghanistan. “You couldn’t ask for a better job by an FBI agent,” says Paul Moskal, FBI spokesman in Buffalo. But Abdel-Hafiz’s star began to fade when Chicago agent Bob Wright went public with charges that Abdel-Hafiz had hindered another counterterror probe in 1999 aimed at Hamas fund-raising. Wright contends that when Abdel-Hafiz was asked to wear a hidden wire with a key suspect, he balked, saying, “A Muslim does not record another Muslim.” Abdel-Hafiz calls Wright’s account preposterous. “For God’s sake, all my subjects were Muslims,” he says. An internal FBI memo at the time suggests Abdel-Hafiz may only have been describing how secret taping might be viewed by the Muslim community. Abdel-Hafiz’s then FBI boss, Danny Defenbaugh, backs up his account, saying he decided that it was too risky for Abdel-Hafiz to wear the wire. Still, the charge stung and, says Abdel-Hafiz, led to increased scrutiny of the FBI’s Riyadh office.
By then, Abdel-Hafiz’s boss, an agent named Wilfred Rattigan, had converted to Islam. When Abdel-Hafiz and Rattigan flew off to Mecca for the hajj, a top FBI official back in Washington complained. Abdel-Hafiz insists the complaint was unfounded–and that the two Muslim agents gained the confidence of top Saudis during the trip in ways that other agents never could. But officials in headquarters were nervous. Citing “administrative” problems within the office, Rattigan was recalled to New York and Abdel-Hafiz came under disciplinary review. The charge that prompted the review was a recent claim by his ex-wife that Abdel-Hafiz had faked a burglary in his home in 1989 in order to collect $25,000 in insurance money. FBI inspectors concluded Abdel-Hafiz had lied when he failed to disclose his suit to collect the insurance proceeds on his FBI background form. Abdel-Hafiz says this was a misunderstanding and adamantly denies his ex-wife’s charge. The real reason the FBI came down on him, he says, is that “I was too hot.” Now some FBI officials are worried the case could set back efforts to recruit new Muslim agents.
