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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 chosen by the FBI because of his ability to navigate organized crime in and out of prison. They promised to clear him of his criminal record and give him witness protection.
What happened inside the mosque
Craig Monteilh quickly developed a reputation for being very forgetful, leaving his keys and phone at the mosque. These items had secret recording devices installed on them.
He developed friendships, as he was instructed to, with mosque members and started socializing with them outside of service. He made increasingly troubling remarks, suggesting they check out extremist websites the FBI gave him. The entire goal was to lure out jihad sympathizers.
Despite a mountain of data, he was getting no leads. He increasingly mentioned his affection for violence towards America. Planning fake terror attacks is an old counter-terrorism strategy to identify suspects. Much…
