Law | Politics | Equality
The FBI’s Anti-Islamic Spy Mission Is Now Backfiring
The case of Craig Monteilh infiltrating the Irvine Islam Center.
The U.S. Supreme Court will soon hear about an Islamic spying case in Orange County. In 2007, the FBI paid an informant to infiltrate mosques throughout southern California. The mission revealed the opposite of what they’d expected to find. Yet it is the revelations from this lawsuit that are the most problematic for the FBI.
The spy mission went wrong
Each day, Craig Monteilh arrived at the mosque parking lot before sunrise. He was in full white robes, with a tiny camera hidden in his button. Before entering the mosque, he spoke into a recorder on his keys, documenting each upcoming session. Months earlier, he’d approached a mosque, telling them he wanted to convert to Islam, which he did.
He was told to attend local religious services and get to know the other attendees. He was welcomed and accepted by the community and was known to them as Farouk al-Aziz. The FBI sent him to build a case about a mosque member who was on their watch list. The case never came to anything.
Monteilh was a criminal, who’d been convicted of forging checks and grand theft auto. He was…
