AirTalk Radio Discussion on the FBI's relationship with the Muslim community

FBI Informants And The Muslim Community

AirTalk Show, KPCC (NPR Station), Friday, Feb. 27

A frank discussion on the issue of the FBI's relationship with the Muslim community

Hosted by: Larry Mantle

Randy Parsons, Retired Special Agent in Charge of Counter Terrorism and former Acting Assistant Director of the Los Angeles office of the FBI

Hussam Ayloush, Executive Director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)

[ Listen ]

AirTalk's introduction to the program
The Muslim American community represents a potent ally in the FBI's fight against Al-Qaeda. But if the FBI profiles members of the Islamic community or wrongly accuses them, they risk alienating people who might otherwise help them.

This basic dilemma is a theme in the case of Alhmadullah Sais Niazi, a man arrested by the FBI and charged with perjury and fraud. He says the FBI unfairly singled him out because he refused to act as an informant. Also revealed in the case was Craig Monteilh, a 46-year-old Irvine resident who was sent by the FBI to infiltrate several Orange County mosques as part of a case against Niazi.

What does this mean to the Islamic community of Southern California? And what can the FBI do to track potential criminals, while not inappropriately targeting innocents who happen to be Muslim?