Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is a former FBI agent and
whistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization. This misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest,...
, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for
CongressThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in
Minnesota's 2nd congressional districtMinnesota’s 2nd Congressional District covers the south Twin Cities metro area and contains all of Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, Goodhue and Rice Counties. It also contains most of Dakota County and south Washington County including the cities of Cottage Grove and the southern part of Woodbury...
, one of eight
congressional districts in MinnesotaMinnesota currently has eight congressional districts. There were 9th and 10th districts but they were eliminated in 1963 and 1933 respectively...
in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent
John KlineJohn Paul Kline is an American politician. He has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota.-Background and education:Kline was born in Allentown,...
.
Rowley grew up in
New Hampton, IowaNew Hampton is a city in Chickasaw County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,692 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chickasaw County.-Geography:New Hampton is located at ....
and graduated valedictorian of her high school class in 1973. Her father was a letter carrier for 31 years.
| Coleen Rowley |
| Born |
December 20, 1954 |
| Place of Birth |
New Hampton, IowaNew Hampton is a city in Chickasaw County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,692 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chickasaw County.-Geography:New Hampton is located at ....
|
| Spouse |
Ross Rowley |
| Children |
4 |
| Residence |
Apple Valley, MinnesotaApple Valley is a city located in northwestern Dakota County in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities. It was incorporated in 1969, and was known before then as Lebanon Township. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 45,527, making it the 15th most populous city in...
|
| Profession |
political activist, retired F.B.I. agent Special agent is usually the title for a detective or investigator for a state, county, municipal, federal or tribal government.A special agent is not a 'spy' , but an investigator. An agent is a worker for any other federal agency, and a secret agent is one who works for an intelligence...
|
| Political Affiliation |
Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor PartyThe Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party is a major political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It was created on April 15, 1944 when the Minnesota Democratic Party and the Farmer-Labor Party merged. Hubert Humphrey was instrumental in this merger. The party is affiliated with the national...
|
| Years Active |
2006 - Present |
Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is a former FBI agent and
whistleblowerA whistleblower is a person who alleges concealed misconduct on the part of an organization or body of people, usually from within that same organization. This misconduct may be classified in many ways; for example, a violation of a law, rule, regulation and/or a direct threat to public interest,...
, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for
CongressThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in
Minnesota's 2nd congressional districtMinnesota’s 2nd Congressional District covers the south Twin Cities metro area and contains all of Carver, Scott, Le Sueur, Goodhue and Rice Counties. It also contains most of Dakota County and south Washington County including the cities of Cottage Grove and the southern part of Woodbury...
, one of eight
congressional districts in MinnesotaMinnesota currently has eight congressional districts. There were 9th and 10th districts but they were eliminated in 1963 and 1933 respectively...
in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent
John KlineJohn Paul Kline is an American politician. He has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota.-Background and education:Kline was born in Allentown,...
.
Early life
Rowley grew up in
New Hampton, IowaNew Hampton is a city in Chickasaw County, Iowa, United States. The population was 3,692 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Chickasaw County.-Geography:New Hampton is located at ....
and graduated valedictorian of her high school class in 1973. Her father was a letter carrier for 31 years. She attended
Wartburg CollegeWartburg College is a selective four-year liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America located in Waverly, Iowa. Wartburg also operates a satellite campus in Denver, Colorado, referred to as Wartburg West....
in
Waverly, IowaWaverly is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,968 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Bremer County and is part of the Waterloo–Cedar Falls Metropolitan Statistical Area....
, graduating in 1977 with a degree in
FrenchFrench is a Romance language globally spoken by about 65 million people as a first language , by 50 million as a second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired foreign language, with significant speakers in 57 countries. Most native speakers of the language live in France,...
. In 1980, she received her
Juris DoctorJuris Doctor is a first professional degree.The degree was first awarded by Harvard University in the United States in the late 19th century as a degree similar to the old European doctor of law degree...
from the
University of IowaThe University of Iowa is a public research university located in Iowa City, Iowa. The university is organized into eleven colleges granting undergraduate, graduate, and professional degrees...
College of Law and passed the
IowaIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
Bar Exam. She is married and has four children.
FBI career
Shortly after she became a Special Agent with the FBI, Rowley was assigned to the
Omaha, NebraskaOmaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
and
Jackson, MississippiJackson is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Mississippi. It is one of two county seats of Hinds County , but the city also contains areas in Madison and Rankin Counties...
Divisions. Beginning in 1984, she spent six years working in the
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
Office on investigations involving
organized crimeOrganized crime or criminal organizations can be defined as a transnational grouping of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for the purpose of generating a monetary profit...
. She also served in the U.S. embassy in
ParisParis is the capital of France and the country's most populous city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
, and the consulate in
MontrealMontreal is the second-largest city in Canada and the largest city in the province of Quebec. Originally called Ville-Marie , the city takes its present name from Mont-Royal, the triple-peaked hill located in the heart of the city, whose name was also initially given to the island on which the...
. In 1990, she was assigned to the FBI's Minneapolis office where she became the chief legal adviser to the office.
After the September 11, 2001, attacks, Rowley wrote a paper for FBI Director
Robert MuellerRobert Swan Mueller III is the current Director of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation .-Early life and education:...
documenting how FBI HQ personnel in
Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C. , formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, the District, or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States, founded on July 16, 1790...
, had mishandled and failed to take action on information provided by the
Minneapolis, MinnesotaMinneapolis is the largest city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Hennepin County. The city lies on both banks of the Mississippi River, just north of the river's confluence with the Minnesota River, and adjoins Saint Paul, the state's capital. Known as the Twin Cities,...
Field Office regarding its investigation of suspected terrorist
Zacarias MoussaouiZacarias Moussaoui is a French citizen who was convicted of conspiring to kill citizens of the USA as part of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks...
. This individual had been suspected of being involved in preparations for a suicide-hijacking similar to the December 1994 "
Eiffel TowerThe Eiffel Tower is a 19th century iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris that has become both a global icon of France and one of the most recognizable structures in the world. The Eiffel Tower, which is the tallest building in Paris, is the single most visited paid monument in...
" 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 Hansen, who were actually working for Osama Bin Laden to have so undercut Minneapolis' effort.)
Rowley testified in front of the
SenateThe United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral United States Congress, the lower house being the House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate and the House are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution . Each U.S state is represented by two senators,...
and for the
9/11 CommissionThe National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002 "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11, 2001 attacks", including preparedness for and the immediate response to...
about the FBI's internal organization and mishandling of information related to the September 11, 2001, attacks. Mueller and Senator
Chuck GrassleyCharles Ernest "Chuck" Grassley is the senior United States Senator from Iowa. A conservative Republican, he has served in the Senate since 1981. From 1958 to 1974, he was an Iowa state legislator. Thereafter he served three terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives...
(R-
IAIowa is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, an area often referred to as the "American Heartland." It derives its name from the Ioway people, one of the many American Indian tribes that occupied the state at the time of European exploration. Iowa was a part of...
) pushed for and got 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 and language skills.
Rowley retired from the FBI in 2004 after 24 years with the agency.
Rowley jointly held the
TIME "
Person of the YearPerson of the Year is an annual issue of the United States newsmagazine Time that features and profiles a man, woman, couple, group, idea, place, or machine that "for better or for worse, ...has done the most to influence the events of the year."- History :The tradition of selecting a Man of the...
" award in 2002 with two other women credited as whistleblowers:
Sherron WatkinsSherron Watkins was Vice President of Corporate Development at the Enron Corporation. She is considered by many to be the whistleblower who helped to uncover the Enron scandal in 2001....
from
EnronEnron Corporation was an American energy company based in Houston, Texas. Before its bankruptcy in late 2001, Enron employed approximately 22,000 and was one of the world's leading electricity, natural gas, pulp and paper, and communications companies, with claimed revenues of nearly $101 billion...
and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom. She also received the
Sam Adams AwardThe Sam Adams Award is given annually by the Sam Adams Associates for Integrity in Intelligence, a group of retired CIA officers, to an intelligence professional who has taken a stand for integrity and ethics. It is named after Samuel A. Adams, a CIA whistleblower during the Vietnam War, and takes...
for 2002.
Political career
In
May 2005May 2005 was the fifth month of that year. It began on a Sunday and ended after 31 days, on a Tuesday.May 2005 : ← - January - February - March - April - May - June - July - August - September - October - November - December - →-Events:...
, Rowley announced that she was considering running against incumbent Representative
John KlineJohn Paul Kline is an American politician. He has been a Republican member of the United States House of Representatives since 2003, representing Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota.-Background and education:Kline was born in Allentown,...
for
MinnesotaMinnesota is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. The twelfth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.2 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the...
's 2nd District seat in the
United States House of RepresentativesThe United States House of Representatives, commonly referred to as the "House," is the lower house of the bicameral United States Congress, the upper house being the United States Senate. The composition and powers of the House and the Senate are established in Article One of the Constitution...
in 2006. At the time of her announcement, she had been living in
Apple Valley, MinnesotaApple Valley is a city located in northwestern Dakota County in the U.S. state of Minnesota, and a suburb of the Twin Cities. It was incorporated in 1969, and was known before then as Lebanon Township. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 45,527, making it the 15th most populous city in...
for 15 years. Previously she had voted and identified as a Republican, but on June 27, 2005, Rowley announced that she was entering the race as a DFLer, and officially kicked off her campaign at her home on July 6.
On August 18, 2005 she attended a vigil in Crawford, TX outside President
George W. Bush'sGeorge Walker Bush was the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009 and the 46th Governor of Texas from 1995 to 2000....
ranch requesting that the president meet with
Cindy SheehanCindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son was killed during his service in the Iraq War on April 4, 2004. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President George W...
to answer Sheehan's questions regarding the War in Iraq and the death of Sheehan's son,
CaseyCasey Austin Sheehan was a Specialist in the United States Army who was killed by enemy action while serving in the Iraq War. He is the son of Patrick Sheehan, a sales representative, and Cindy Sheehan, who subsequently became a prominent anti-war protester.-Early years:Sheehan joined the Cub...
.
On January 3, 2006, a professionally retouched image appeared without authorization on the Rowley campaign website. This image depicted Kline as Colonel Klink from
Hogan's HeroesHogan's Heroes is an American television sitcom that ran for 168 episodes from September 17, 1965, to July 4, 1971, on the CBS network. Starring Bob Crane as Colonel Robert E. Hogan, the show was set in a German prisoner of war camp during the Second World War...
. Kline objected to the photo. The campaign removed the image the same day and initiated an investigation. Rowley apologized quickly. The Kline campaign also accused a Rowley supporter, David Bailey, of attempting to make a cash contribution to Kline’s campaign. A cash contribution is not legal and Kline subsequently asserted that this constituted an effort to undermine his campaign apparatus.
Representative
John MurthaJohn Patrick “Jack” Murtha, Jr. is an American politician from the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Murtha, a Democrat, has represented Pennsylvania's 12th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives since 1974...
(D-
PAThe Commonwealth of Pennsylvania , often colloquially referred to as PA by natives and Northeasterners, is a state located in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States...
) endorsed Rowley. He visited the district during the campaign and held a rally for Rowley at the local
VFWThe Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States is a congressionally chartered war veterans organization. VFW currently has 1.6 million members and is the largest American organization of combat veterans.-Membership:...
in Rosemount, while veterans protested against them outside. The Rowley campaign subsequently focused efforts on veterans' groups and others with experience that relates directly to the war in Iraq. Obtaining financing for her campaign proved difficult. Opposing an incumbent conservative such as Kline in a conservative district did not attract money from the most robust of Democratic resources such as the
DNCThe Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
.
Kline's campaign achieved a 2-1 advantage in raising funds, and he retained his seat.
External links