Buzz
In 2011, businessman Brooks Kellogg paid a covert FBI agent posing as a hitman $2,000 to kill a former business partner. The agent, equipped with a hidden camera intended to record the meeting, faced an unexpected setback: the camera failed to capture anything significant as the two men weren’t positioned properly. To make matters worse, the audio didn’t capture their conversation either.
Despite the lack of solid evidence, Kellogg was ultimately sentenced to six years in prison and fined $100,000. His case wasn’t the first time the Federal Bureau of Investigation mishandled an operation or made a significant mistake. Here are ten instances where the FBI truly faltered.
10. The FBI Used the Wrong Photo on Bin Laden’s Wanted Poster
In 2010, the FBI crafted an edited image of what they imagined Osama bin Laden might look like. Since bin Laden had been out of the public eye for years, the FBI had to make educated guesses—adding gray hair, wrinkles, and other aging features. To create this image, the FBI took a 1998 photo of bin Laden and enhanced it using what they called 'cutting edge' technology. In reality, an agent took the face of Spanish politician Gaspar Llamazares and pasted it onto bin Laden’s image. The result looked more like Llamazares than bin Laden.
This didn’t sit well with Llamazares, who expressed concern for his safety, fearing he might be mistaken for bin Laden—someone who, by this time, was living much more securely. Bin Laden wouldn’t have been thrilled either, as the image erased his signature turban and swapped his long beard for Llamazares's neatly trimmed one. The FBI later admitted that the agent had downloaded Llamazares’s photo from the web and merged it with bin Laden’s face. So much for 'cutting edge' technology.
9. The FBI’s Philadelphia Office Was Burgled
On March 8, 1971, eight members of the Citizens Commission to Investigate the FBI, an anti-Vietnam War and civil rights group, broke into the FBI’s Philadelphia office and stole up to 1,000 classified documents. These documents exposed the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO), a covert operation aimed at dividing civil rights groups and discrediting activists such as Martin Luther King.
As unbelievable as it sounds, the activists didn’t use anything too complex to break in: just a crowbar and a lock-picking expert. However, their plan was carefully executed. In classic FBI style, the activists surveilled the building and kept track of the agents’ movements. One of the activists, Bonnie Raines, wife of John Raines—the mastermind—went as far as posing as a college student and interviewing agents for a fake school project about career opportunities for women in the FBI.
The activists broke in on the same night Muhammad Ali fought Joe Frazier in the legendary Fight of the Century, knowing the agents would likely be distracted by their radios. The FBI didn’t realize the breach until after it had happened and, in response, created a sketch of the supposed college student but could never identify her. The break-in enraged FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, who assigned over 200 agents to track down the burglars, but they were never caught.
8. The FBI’s New York Counterterrorism Plans Were Lost by the Agent in Charge
In July 2000, FBI agent John O’Neill misplaced a briefcase that contained several classified documents. Among these was the Annual Field Office Report, detailing active counterespionage and counterterrorism operations in New York, as well as sensitive information about an FBI informant.
O’Neill lost the briefcase in a hotel conference room while he attended an FBI meeting. It was later recovered, and the documents were examined for fingerprints to see if they had been tampered with. No prints were found, leading to speculation that the briefcase had been stolen by thieves rather than a foreign intelligence agency. O’Neill retired from the FBI in August 2001 and took a position as the World Trade Center’s head of security, where he tragically perished on September 11, 2001.
7. Agents Left Behind A Classified Document At A Suspect’s Home
On September 24, 2010, the FBI raided the homes of seven activists in Minneapolis and Chicago. At the home of Mick Kelly and Linden Gawboy, they seized documents, books, computers, cell phones, and a passport but left behind their operation order. This order contained details about the operation’s planning, along with surveillance photos of the suspects and interrogation questions.
The order also included suspicions that two of the activists, Merideth Aby and Jessica Rae Sundin, had connections to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), based on their participation in a peace summit held in FARC-controlled areas in Colombia.
The couple didn’t immediately notice the classified document, as it was mixed in with other papers scattered on the floor of their home. They simply put all the papers into a filing cabinet and didn’t find the document until going through it seven months later.
6. An FBI Agent Married The ISIS Fighter She Was Investigating
In 2014, FBI agent Daniela Greene was assigned to monitor Denis Cuspert, an ISIS fighter and recruiter active on social media. Cuspert, a former German rapper known as Deso Dogg, adopted the name Abu Talha al-Almani after joining ISIS. He became notorious for his violent actions and was featured in a video holding a severed head while threatening then-president Barack Obama.
Somehow, Greene fell for Cuspert, who persuaded her to come to Syria. She told her husband she was visiting family in Germany, but instead, she traveled to Syria through Turkey. Just two weeks into her marriage, she realized that life as an ISIS bride wasn’t as ideal as she had imagined. After a few months, Greene returned to the US and was sentenced to two years in prison.
5. An FBI Agent Crashed A Stolen Ferrari During A Joyride
In 2008, the FBI seized a 1995 Ferrari F50 during a drug raid in Kentucky. The car had been reported stolen in 2003 and belonged to Motors Insurance, which had already compensated the original owner. Although the FBI notified Motors Insurance about the recovery, they refused to return the vehicle. A year later, an agent crashed it while giving a ride to an assistant US attorney.
The crash caused the vehicle’s frame to break, along with some minor dents and scratches. Motors Insurance filed a lawsuit against the US government for $750,000, the car's value. However, the Department of Justice rejected the lawsuit, stating that the FBI wasn’t liable for the damage since the vehicle was in their custody at the time of the incident.
4. It Enabled A Future Mass Murderer To Legally Purchase A Firearm
On the night of June 17, 2015, 21-year-old Dylan Roof, a self-identified white supremacist, entered the Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina, and participated in a Bible study with several attendees. An hour later, he pulled out a handgun and shot and killed nine black individuals.
Investigations have shown that Roof used a legally obtained firearm in the murders, despite being ineligible to acquire one. U.S. law stipulates that gun sellers must request background checks from the FBI on potential buyers. The FBI has three days to approve or deny the request, and if no response is given, the sale can proceed.
Although Roof had been charged with drug possession and admitted his guilt, which should have led the FBI to deny his request, the agency failed to do so. This was because his information was improperly entered, resulting in confusion between two different police departments.
The issue started with inaccuracies in Roof’s arrest records. The National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) incorrectly attributed his arrest to the Lexington County Sheriff’s Department instead of the Columbia Police Department. The FBI contacted the wrong department, Lexington County Sheriff’s, who redirected them to the Columbia Police Department.
However, the FBI mistakenly reached out to the West Columbia Police Department instead of the correct Columbia Police Department. This error occurred due to the city of Columbia being split between two counties, with both having similarly named police departments. West Columbia Police Department denied having any record of Roof’s arrest, which allowed him to purchase the firearm.
3. It Used the Wrong Video for a Wanted Murder Suspect
James 'Whitey' Bulger was a notorious criminal involved in murder, extortion, drug trafficking, money laundering, and organized crime. He held the title of the FBI's most wanted American for 16 years before his capture. His wanted poster was placed right below Osama bin Laden's on the FBI’s website. Ironically, Bulger had once been an informant for the FBI, using this position to turn on his rivals. A corrupt FBI agent nearly led to his arrest in 1995 by tipping him off.
What ensued was a relentless 16-year pursuit, spanning across the United States, the UK, France, Italy, Ireland, Thailand, Brazil, and Spain. The FBI eventually tracked him down through an unexpected method: they placed television ads seeking information about his girlfriend, Catherine Greig's whereabouts. These ads ran on shows popular among women in their sixties (Greig’s demographic), and the FBI offered a $2 million reward for any tips leading to her arrest.
The strategy paid off, and just 48 hours later, the couple was apprehended in Santa Monica, California. Pakistan’s ambassador to the US drew a comparison between the capture of Bulger and Greig and the hunt for bin Laden, saying, 'If Whitey Bulger can live undetected by American police for so long, why can’t Osama bin Laden live undetected by Pakistani authorities?'
A few years prior to Bulger's capture, the FBI had come across a video showing a couple they initially believed to be Bulger and Greig. The video was filmed at a resort in Sicily, and the couple was traced to Germany. The FBI aired a request on a German crime show, asking for information about the couple's location. The couple later came forward to clarify that they were not the fugitives the FBI had been pursuing.
2. It Let A Top Nazi Spy Off The Hook
In 1938, just a year before World War II erupted, the FBI uncovered a Nazi spy network operating within the United States. The investigation began with the arrest of Rumrich, a Nazi agent who was attempting to pose as the U.S. Secretary of State. His mission, assigned by his superiors, was to acquire 35 blank American passports for spies that Germany intended to send to Russia.
Rumrich called the New York passport office, impersonated the Secretary of State, and requested that 35 blank passports be delivered to a hotel in Manhattan. He then arranged for Western Union to collect the passports and send them to a telegraph office, where he planned to retrieve them. Rumrich was caught while picking up the passports and quickly revealed the identities of other Nazi spies. The head of the ring, Ignatz Griebl, also gave up the names of his fellow agents, all of whom were subsequently arrested.
However, the FBI made a crucial mistake when one of its agents informed the spies they would be testifying before a grand jury. This leak allowed most of the agents, including Griebl, to escape. Griebl’s escape was particularly shocking, as he was supposed to be in FBI custody due to his leadership role in the ring. Surprisingly, the FBI never detained him. Instead, they made him take a lie detector test and then released him without further surveillance.
1. The FBI Director Called Poland A Nazi Accomplice
In 2015, FBI Director James Comey faced criticism after suggesting that some Poles collaborated with the Nazis during World War II. In an editorial for The Washington Post, Comey shared that he routinely sent new FBI intelligence analysts and agents to the Holocaust Museum, hoping they would grasp the extent of human cruelty. He argued that the Nazis were supported by seemingly good people who betrayed their neighbors, specifically pointing to the Poles and the Hungarians.
According to his statement:
In their view, the murderers and accomplices from Germany, Poland, Hungary, and countless other nations didn’t perceive their actions as evil. Instead, they rationalized it as the right course of action, something they had to do.
This sparked outrage among Polish officials, who immediately denounced the article and demanded an apology from the U.S. Ambassador to Poland. Ambassador Stephen Mull emphasized that the U.S. held Nazi Germany responsible for the war crimes. Hungary also joined Poland in criticizing Comey, though it initially cooperated with the Nazis before being invaded when it tried to negotiate peace with the Allies. Poland, by contrast, resisted Nazi cooperation but was ultimately invaded and occupied.
