While the New Mexico-born  cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, is the first American on the CIA’s kill or capture  list, the U.S. State  Department refuses to release documents about al-Awlaki citing his right to  privacy. This disconnect was uncovered as part of the ongoing investigation by  Fox News’ Specials Unit into the cleric who is a leader of a major Al  Qaeda affiliate.
Through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in  March 2010, Fox News requested “….any and all records maintained by the United  States Department of State, in the passport file….” for the cleric.  Initially, the request was referred to Human Resources at the State Department,  before a formal response was issued more than a year later, in August 2011. The  letter reads in part :
“The Department of State, Passport Services has  reviewed your request and has given full consideration to the reasons provided.  However, we have determined that your request must be denied. This denial is  pursuant to subsection (b)(6) of the Freedom of Information Act. The release of  this information to you would be an invasion of personal privacy of another  person, without written authorization from that person.”
The government refused to release the records for  the terror leader who is well known to be the first American that the U.S.  government has green-lighted to be killed or captured.
After 9/11, Anwar Al-Awlaki was a tier one, priority  target for the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) in San Diego because of his  known contacts with the hijackers. A State Department agent assigned to the  JTTF, Ray Fournier, put together an arrest warrant for passport fraud in 2002.  As part of that fraud, al-Awlaki lied on his Social  Security application claiming he was born in Yemen,  not New Mexico. At the time, there was not enough firm evidence to link the  cleric to 9/11, so the passport fraud case was seen as a holding  charge.
In addition, as Fox News was first to report in its  special “The American Terrorist,” the cleric fraudulently  obtained $20,000 in scholarship money to fund his college education in Colorado.  Al-Awlaki, who is a dual U.S./Yemeni national, claimed to be a foreign student.  As an American citizen, the cleric was not entitled to the scholarship paid for  by the U.S. taxpayer. According to the agent who handled the case, the documents  still exist and are held by the State Department.
The denial of State Department documents is part of  an ongoing pattern. In 2010, through the Freedom of Information Act, Fox News  sought an FBI  intelligence report, also known as an EC, that was written about the cleric and  his radical ties two days before the cleric mysteriously entered the U.S. in  October 2002 and the arrest warrant for passport fraud was pulled by the Justice  Department. When the 27 page EC was produced by the FBI, all of the pages  were redacted, citing national security and an executive order — most likely,  the warrantless wiretapping program.
Both the Justice Department and FBI have refused Fox  News’ requests and resisted calls from Congress to explain why the cleric was  able to slip through the grasp of federal agents just one year after the 9/11  attacks. On Oct. 10, 2002, Al-Awlaki was held by Customs agents at JFK  International airport for three hours until an FBI agent, Wade Ammerman, ordered  the cleric’s release, even though there was an active warrant for al-Awlaki’s  arrest on passport fraud.
Despite repeated requests, the FBI has refused to  make agent Ammerman available for questions. The bureau has not disputed Fox  News’ reporting that the FBI was trying to cultivate the cleric as an  intelligence asset or, that at the very least, agents wanted to follow the  cleric to gather intelligence.
Last winter, as part of the Fox News special  “Secrets of 9/11,” Fox News asked the Defense Department to provide all  documents, video or still photos of the cleric’s lunch at the  Pentagon in February 2002. Fox News was first to report that the cleric was  hosted by the Office of General Counsel as part of the military’s outreach to  moderate Muslims. In 2002, there was virtually no vetting of the cleric who had  contact with three of the five hijackers on Flight 77 that slammed into the  Pentagon. At the time, al-Awlaki had already been interviewed at least four  times by the FBI because of his suspicious contacts with the  hijackers.
The Defense Department FOIA request produced only  one email — where almost all of the names of those invited to the event were  redacted — once again citing an invasion of personal privacy.
This summer, the House Homeland  Security Committee launched an official investigation into the cleric —  whether he was an overlooked key player in the plot and whether he was an Al  Qaeda operative from the beginning. The mainstream narrative is that al-Awlaki  was radicalized after 2001, but the Fox News investigation “Secrets of 9/11”  first broadcast in May presents a compelling case that the cleric was at the  center of a pre-9/11 support network.
Newly declassified documents, exclusive interviews,  phone and banking records leave little doubt that the cleric’s contacts with the  two hijackers, Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar in San Diego, and pilot Hani  Hanjour in Virginia were not a series of coincidences but rather evidence of a  purposeful relationship. While House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter  King, R-N.Y., set a deadline of June 17 for the materials and witnesses to  be produced, a Justice Department spokesman told Fox News in August the request  is still being worked on.
Anwar al-Awlaki and his contacts with the first two  hijackers to enter the U.S. in January 2000 are central to the plot. It was at  al-Awlaki’s mosque in a rundown neighborhood of San Diego where the three men  met on a regular basis. A new book by former FBI interrogator Ali Soufan is at  the center of a reported dispute with the CIA. Published reports state the book  will blame the CIA missed an opportunity to disrupt the plot by failing to  provide information to the FBI.
Fox News’ Special Unit continues to investigate the  cleric and its updated special “Secrets of 9/11” will be broadcast in advance of the  9/11 anniversary.
National Correspondent Catherine Herridge’s  bestselling book “The Next Wave: On the Hunt for al Qaeda’s American Recruits”  was published by Crown on June 21st. It draws on her reporting for Fox News into  al-Awlaki and his new generation of recruits – al Qaeda 2.0. It is the first  book to full investigate al-Awlaki’s American life, his connections to the  hijackers, and how the cleric double crossed the FBI after 9/11.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/26/state-department-dont-invade-privacy-cleric-on-cia-kill-list/#ixzz1WFJDT4tm