by thecowl.news on May 4, 2017
National and Global News
by Sarah Gianni ’18
News Staff
National security was one of Donald Trump’s main concerns during his 2016 presidential campaign. He persistently emphasized the unthinkable atrocities that the ISIS terror group has committed, stating, “We cannot let this evil continue.” What happens, however, when there is a major security breech within the FBI?
This event was not the result of a terror attack or computer hacking of top-secret information. According to CNN, “An FBI translator with a top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a key ISIS operative she had been assigned to investigate.”
According to federal court records, the former employee Daniela Greene lied to the FBI about where she was going and warned her new husband he was under investigation. Greene’s husband was Denis Cuspert, a German rapper turned ISIS pitchman.
Under the pretense of traveling to Munich, Germany to visit her parents, Greene boarded an international flight that was headed to Istanbul, Turkey. From there she met Cuspert who helped her cross into the Syrian border. The two were wed once in Syria.
Within weeks of marrying Cuspert however, Greene seemed to realize she had made a huge mistake. In an email sent from inside of Syria, Greene wrote “I am gone and I can’t come back. I wouldn’t even know how to make it through, if I tried to come back. I am in a very harsh environment and I don’t know how long I will last here, but it doesn’t matter, it’s all a little too late…”
Against the odds however, Greene was somehow able to escape Syria unharmed after a few months. After flying back to the United States, she pled guilty to making false statements involving international terrorism and was sentenced to two years in federal prison.
Greene was released last summer and now works as a hostess at an undisclosed hotel lounge. It still remains unclear as to why Greene chose to engage in this action. “She endangered our national security by exposing herself and her knowledge of sensitive matters to those terrorist organizations,” said Assistance U.S. Thomas Gillice in a report to CNN. Greene’s actions highlight the sensitivity of our nation’s security. Additionally, they create a puzzling narrative that the FBI will continue to monitor.