An American FBI translator with a top-secret security clearance traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a key ISIS operative she was investigating.
The 38-year-old woman, who goes by the name Daniela Greene, lied to the FBI about where she was going and warned her new husband, Denis Cuspert, they were looking into him.
At the time she was still married to her American husband who resided in the U.S.
Rapper Turned Jihadist
Greene’s jihadist husband was a German rapper who turned into an online recruiter for violent jihadists.
His actions put him on the radar of counter-terrorism authorities on two continents.
While Cuspert was in Germany he went by the rap name Deso Dogg, but in Syria he was known as Abu Talha al-Amani.
He praised Osama bin Laden in a song, threatened former President Barack Obama with a throat-cutting gesture and appeared in propaganda videos where he was seen holding a freshly severed human head.
Despite Cuspert’s grizzly activities, Greene boarded an international flight on June 23, 2014 to head to Turkey. She then traveled to the city of Gaziantep, which is 20 miles from the Syrian border.
She contacted her soon-to-be husband with the assistance of a third party arranged by him. She then crossed the border and married Cuspert.
‘I Really Made a Mess of Things’
It wasn’t long, however, after wedding Cuspert that Greene realized she’d made a mistake.
An email to an unidentified person in the U.S. indicated she was having second thoughts and knew she was breaking the law.
“I was weak and didn’t know how to handle anything anymore,” she wrote on July 8. “I really made a mess of things this time.”
The following day she 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…”
On July 22, 2014, she emailed said person again and wrote, “Not sure if they told you that I will probably go to prison for a long time if I come back, but that is life. I wish I could turn back time some days.”
Greene eventually fled back to the U.S., where she was immediately arrested.
Justice Department prosecutors reportedly charged her with a relatively minor offense and asked a judge to give her a reduced sentence in exchange for her cooperation.
Greene pleaded guilty to making false statements involving terrorism and was sentenced two years in federal prison.
She was released last summer and now works as a hostess in a hotel lounge somewhere in the U.S.
A ‘Stunning Embarrassment’ for the FBI
Meanwhile, the FBI is smarting over the incident.
“It’s a stunning embarrassment for the FBI, no doubt about it,” said John Kirby, a former State Department official.
The entry of Greene into Syria most likely required approval of top ISIS leaders.
“So for her to be able to get in as an American, as a woman, as an FBI employee, and to be able to take up residence with a known ISIS leader, that all had to be coordinated,” Kirby said.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Gillice said Greene had “violated the public trust, the trust of the officials who granted her security clearance, and the trust of those with whom she worked and, in doing so, endangered our nation’s security.”
Meanwhile, the FBI told CNN that it’s taken “several steps in a variety of areas to identify and reduce security vulnerabilities.”
“The FBI continues to strengthen protective measures in carrying out its vital work,” the agency said.
