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CNN: The FBI translator who went rogue and married an ISIS terrorist

M

Makonero

Member
An FBI translator with a top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a key ISIS operative she had been assigned to investigate, CNN has learned.

The rogue employee, Daniela Greene, lied to the FBI about where she was going and warned her new husband he was under investigation, according to federal court records.

Greene's saga, which has never been publicized, exposes an embarrassing breach of national security at the FBI—an agency that has made its mission rooting out ISIS sympathizers across the country.

It also raises questions about whether Greene received favorable treatment from Justice Department prosecutors who charged her with a relatively minor offense, then asked a judge to give her a reduced sentence in exchange for her cooperation, the details of which remain shrouded in court-ordered secrecy.
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He was Denis Cuspert, a German rapper turned ISIS pitchman, whose growing influence as an online recruiter for violent jihadists had put him on the radar of counter-terrorism authorities on two continents.

In Germany, Cuspert went by the rap name Deso Dogg. In Syria, he was known as Abu Talha al-Almani. He praised Osama bin Laden in a song, threatened former President Barack Obama with a throat-cutting gesture and appeared in propaganda videos, including one in which he was holding a freshly severed human head.

Within weeks of marrying Cuspert, Greene, 38, seemed to realize she had made a terrible mistake. She fled back to the US, where she was immediately arrested and agreed to cooperate with authorities. She pleaded guilty to making false statements involving international terrorism and was sentenced to two years in federal prison. She was released last summer.
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On June 11, 2014, Greene filled out a Report of Foreign Travel form -- a document FBI employees and contractors with national security clearances are required to complete when traveling abroad.
Greene, who was still married to her American husband at the time, characterized her travel on the form as "Vacation/Personal," court records show.
"Want to see my family," she wrote. Specifically, Greene said, she was going to see her parents in Munich, Germany.
She boarded an international flight on June 23, 2014. But her destination wasn't Germany. She flew instead on a one-way ticket to Istanbul, Turkey, where she had reservations at the Erguvan Hotel. From there she traveled to the city of Gaziantep, about 20 miles from the Syrian border.
She contacted "Individual A," the documents state, and with the assistance of a third party arranged by him, crossed the border into Syria. Once there, according to the court records, she married him.
Shortly after, Greene sent emails from inside Syria to an unidentified person in the US showing she was having second thoughts and suggesting she knew she was breaking the law.
"I was weak and didn't know how to handle anything anymore," she wrote on July 8. "I really made a mess of things this time."
Click to expand...

More here



Well, our FBI is incompetent. So there's that.
 
C

cirrhosis

Member
She had her life ruined and the best part is she did it to herself. Did time in prison and got released. Can't see anything wrong here.
 
S

Soroc

Member
I don't understand this article. You mean after all that she did, she came back to the states was arrested and only sentenced to 2 years??? WTF is wrong with our criminal justice system. How is this not treasonous?
 
P

Podge293

Member
FStubbs said:
She joined ISIS. Why is she free?
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Going from the OP cuz she was cooperative. Probably cut a deal and the desire to not have complete embarrassment)the justice department gave her a great one

Edit: maybe it was really good info

Still quite a short time
 
M

MastaKilla

Member
cirrhosis said:
She had her life ruined and the best part is she did it to herself. Did time in prison and got released. Can't see anything wrong here.
Click to expand...

Well, usually civilian people who run away to join a terorrist group and get caught afterward will spend the rest of their lives in prison. You'd expect somebody who did so while working for the FBI with secret info would get atleast the same.
 
andythinkpad

andythinkpad

Member
Soroc said:
I don't understand this article. You mean after all that she did, she came back to the states was arrested and only sentenced to 2 years??? WTF is wrong with our criminal justice system. How is this not treasonous?
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It was only a few weeks. It's like one of those Dennis Rodman marriages.
 
M

Makonero

Member
cirrhosis said:
She had her life ruined and the best part is she did it to herself. Did time in prison and got released. Can't see anything wrong here.
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she went to jail for two years

TWO YEARS

people get more than that for drug possession

this was absolute treason by an FBI agent
 
S

Soroc

Member
MastaKilla said:
Well, usually civilian people who run away to join a terorrist group and get caught afterward will spend the rest of their lives in prison. You'd expect somebody who did so while working for the FBI with secret info would get atleast the same.
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This is exactly what I'm talking about. Damn something is so fishy with this stuff sometimes.
 
M

Mimosa97

Member
How is it the FBI's fault ? One woman went crazy and married a terrorist. This isn't the first time this has happened.

Now the problem is that she only got 2 years in prison ... Ugh.
 
P

ponpo

( ≖‿≖)
In Germany, Cuspert went by the rap name Deso Dogg.
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lol I remember hearing about this guy. The article was naming some songs and one was "Das ist ein Drive-by"

Think he died in a drone strike.
 
O

Omegasquash

Member
Podge293 said:
Going from the OP cuz she was cooperative. Probably cut a deal and the desire to not have complete embarrassment)the justice department gave her a great one

Edit: maybe it was really good info

Still quite a short time
Click to expand...

Considering that she probably shared every scrap of top-secret info that she knew of, I agree. What's amazing is that she was duped that hard. You'd think that an FBI agent would be nigh impossible to radicalize, but apparently not.s
 
D

drspeedy

Member
suaveric said:
I love that she said she "really made a mess of it this time" so casually.
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History... Repeats itself

Laural-and-Hardy-560x373.jpg
 
M

Metroidvania

People called Romanes they go the house?
....What on earth?

This whole thing is just....odd.

You immigrate in from Germany, start working for the FBI, flee to go get married (when you're already married to a US citizen) to a terrorist front-man suspect.....

then come back to the US, and only get 2 years?

Unless this was a long-con, how do you even fall in love (or whatever justification there could be) for doing so?
 
S

SkeptiMism

Member
Kinyou said:
Within weeks of marrying Cuspert, Greene, 38, seemed to realize she had made a terrible mistake.
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You don't say?!
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Yeah this is so confusing. How on earth didn't she see that coming beforehand?

It'd be fascinating to see into the minds of people who fall in love like this. What is seriously going on in such a mind? I can somewhat understand the English girls who went to marry Syrian men of ISIS, since they were young and naive. Unfortunately propaganda can be very effective. The girls going was still really, really stupid, but in some ways understandable.

But in this case? The woman is a grown up who must know what ISIS isn't secretly some nice thing that the west is just labeling a terrorist organisation for whatever conspiracy theories.
 
finalflame

finalflame

Banned
This is absolutely disgusting. How can someone be tricked this hard by "love"? Falling in love with an ISIS operative knowing damn well not only that they are merciless terrorists capable of disgusting violence, but also that you are betraying your country with access to information that concerns matters of national security.

I guess she probably offered good information in a deal to only get 2 years, but I don't understand how the judge was quite so lenient. Even says in the article that independente analysis show the average sentence for even trying to do this is 13.5 years, and the judge cited to share examples of other sentences that show this is "in line" with usual sentencing. Bullshit.
 
A

Afrikan

Member
Greene sent emails from inside Syria to an unidentified person in the US showing she was having second thoughts and suggesting she knew she was breaking the law.
"I was weak and didn't know how to handle anything anymore," she wrote on July 8. "I really made a mess of things this time."
Click to expand...

lol... not the first time fucking up huh? Geezus.
 
P

Previous

check out my new Swatch
Only 2 years in prison is crazy.

Why does CNN blur her face? She practically committed treason.
 
D

Dusk Golem

A 21st Century Rockefeller
This... Is certainly an odder story.

I'm legitimately curious how the US husband feels about all of this.
 
finalflame

finalflame

Banned
Dusk Golem said:
This... Is certainly an odder story.

I'm legitimately curious how the US husband feels about all of this.
Click to expand...

I'd imagine once your wife betrays you and your country to marry a terrorist you'd want nothing to do with her? I can't think of any other outcome.
 
S

shandy706

Member
Beer Monkey said:
This is straight out of Homeland.



This isn't too much different than what happens with guys in prison all the time. Bad boys are exciting.
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Well, my ex-wife did seem to enjoy them. Hence the "ex".

Got a lot of "You're too nice all the time." over the years.
 
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