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Susan Lindauer

Former CIA asset and congressional staffer who claims the U.S. intelligence community had detailed advance warnings of the 9/11 attacks months before they occurred, and that she was arrested under the Patriot Act to silence her.

FieldDetails
Full NameSusan Lindauer
RoleIntelligence Insider / Whistleblower
PlatformBook, interviews, public speaking
Notable WorksExtreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq (2010)
StatusTARGETED
Current LocationUnited States

Their 9/11 Claims or Findings​

Susan Lindauer served as a U.S. congressional staffer for Representatives Peter DeFazio, Ron Wyden, and Zoe Lofgren, as well as Senator Carol Moseley Braun. She claims she was recruited by CIA officer Richard Fuisz to serve as an unofficial back-channel intermediary between the United States and the governments of Libya and Iraq through their United Nations missions, operating in this capacity from approximately 1993 to 2002.

Lindauer's central 9/11 claim is that the CIA had specific advance knowledge of the September 11 attacks. She states that in April and May of 2001, her CIA handler Richard Fuisz summoned her and instructed her to confront Iraqi diplomats at the United Nations through her back channel, demanding any intelligence fragments regarding airplane hijackings and airplane bombings targeting the World Trade Center. According to Lindauer, this meant the CIA was aware of the specific nature and target of the planned attacks at least five months before they occurred.

Lindauer further claims that she personally attempted to warn government officials. Starting in 2000, she delivered multiple letters to Andrew Card, who became George W. Bush's Chief of Staff, leaving them at the doorstep of his home in Northern Virginia. In these letters she urged Card to intercede against an invasion of Iraq and offered to act as a back channel in negotiations.

In her book Extreme Prejudice, Lindauer claimed that Iraq had been cooperating extensively with U.S. intelligence on anti-terrorism matters before the invasion, and that the Bush administration deliberately ignored this cooperation because it conflicted with the narrative needed to justify war.

Key Quotes​

"In April 2001, my CIA handler Richard Fuisz told me to confront the Iraqis and demand any fragment of intelligence about airplane hijackings and airplane bombings." -- Susan Lindauer, as recounted in multiple interviews and in Extreme Prejudice

"The CIA knew about 9/11 before it happened. They knew the World Trade Center would be the target. They knew it would involve airplanes. And they did nothing to stop it." -- Susan Lindauer, public statements

"I was the second non-Arab arrested on the Patriot Act. They used it to silence me because of what I know about 9/11 and Iraq." -- Susan Lindauer, interviews

Key Arguments & Evidence They Cite​

  • Claims her CIA handler Richard Fuisz specifically referenced airplane attacks on the World Trade Center in April/May 2001, months before September 11
  • States that Fuisz met with her approximately once per week from 1994 to 2001, establishing a long-term intelligence relationship
  • In a June 2008 court hearing, one of Lindauer's associates testified that she had mentioned an imminent attack on Manhattan with airplanes in 2001, providing independent corroboration of her timeline
  • Claims Iraq was cooperating with U.S. intelligence on anti-terrorism prior to the invasion, contradicting the official justification for war
  • Points to her arrest under the Patriot Act as evidence that the government was willing to use extraordinary legal measures to silence those with knowledge of pre-9/11 intelligence
  • Her letters to Andrew Card, written before and after 9/11, are documented and provide a contemporaneous record of her attempts to communicate intelligence concerns to senior officials

Suppression Timeline​

  • 1993-2002: Served as CIA asset, working as back-channel intermediary to Iraq and Libya at the United Nations
  • April/May 2001: Claims she was told by her CIA handler about expected airplane attacks targeting the World Trade Center and instructed to press Iraqi diplomats for any intelligence
  • September 11, 2001: Attacks occur as she claims she was warned they would
  • 2000-2003: Delivered multiple letters to Andrew Card's home urging against Iraq invasion
  • March 11, 2004: Arrested by the FBI in Takoma Park, Maryland. Indicted by a grand jury for "acting as an unregistered agent of a foreign government" (Iraq). The indictment alleged she accepted $10,000 from the Iraqi Intelligence Service in 2002, which she denied
  • 2005: Incarcerated at Carswell Air Force Base in Fort Worth, Texas for psychological evaluation. The Department of Justice sought to have her forcibly medicated with antipsychotic drugs, claiming this would render her competent to stand trial
  • 2005-2006: The presiding judge refused to allow forced medication, blocking the prosecution's request
  • January 16, 2009: The government dropped all charges, stating that prosecuting Lindauer would "no longer be in the interests of justice." No trial ever took place
  • 2010: Self-published Extreme Prejudice, her full account of the experience

Why This Person Is at Risk​

Lindauer's case represents one of the most aggressive uses of the Patriot Act against an American citizen who claimed to have intelligence community connections. The specific sequence -- claims of advance 9/11 knowledge, followed by arrest on espionage-adjacent charges, incarceration on a military base, attempted forced medication, and eventual dismissal of all charges without trial -- follows a pattern consistent with silencing rather than prosecution.

Key risk factors:

  • What she disclosed: Specific CIA foreknowledge of 9/11 attacks, including method (airplanes) and target (World Trade Center), months in advance
  • Who retaliated: The Department of Justice, using the Patriot Act
  • Method of suppression: Criminal charges as "unregistered agent," involuntary psychiatric commitment at a military facility, attempted forced medication with antipsychotic drugs
  • Outcome: All charges dropped without trial after five years, suggesting the government could not or would not allow the evidence to be tested in open court
  • Protective factor: The judge's refusal to authorize forced medication may have been the critical intervention that prevented her permanent institutionalization

Where They've Said It​

  • Extreme Prejudice: The Terrifying Story of the Patriot Act and the Cover Ups of 9/11 and Iraq (book, 2010)
  • June 2008 court hearing where associate testimony corroborated her advance knowledge claims
  • Interview with Abby Martin on Breaking the Set (RT America)
  • Multiple appearances on alternative media programs discussing her CIA work and 9/11 foreknowledge
  • WWUH radio appearance discussing the Patriot Act and cover-ups of 9/11 and Iraq
  • Numerous speaking engagements at 9/11 truth events

The Counterargument​

  • Federal prosecutors characterized Lindauer as mentally unstable, which formed the basis for her psychiatric evaluation at Carswell Air Force Base and the attempt to have her forcibly medicated
  • The government's position was that she was an unwitting dupe of Iraqi intelligence rather than a legitimate CIA asset, and that her claimed intelligence role was delusional
  • Skeptics note that her book was self-published rather than picked up by a major publisher
  • Some critics argue that her letters to Andrew Card demonstrate obsessive behavior rather than genuine intelligence work
  • Richard Fuisz has not publicly confirmed or denied Lindauer's full account of their relationship, though both acknowledge they met regularly
  • The CIA has neither confirmed nor denied that Lindauer was an asset, consistent with standard intelligence community practice
  • Sibel Edmonds -- Another female whistleblower who reported that the FBI had advance intelligence about 9/11 that was suppressed; both women were targeted by the government for speaking out
  • Coleen Rowley -- FBI whistleblower who documented how FBI headquarters blocked the Minneapolis field office from investigating Zacarias Moussaoui before 9/11, corroborating the pattern of suppressed warnings
  • Philip Zelikow -- Executive Director of the 9/11 Commission, whose conflicts of interest raise questions about whether testimony like Lindauer's was deliberately excluded from the official investigation

Other Coverage Worth Reading​

  • Richard Gage: Architect who organized 3,500 professionals demanding a new investigation into the WTC collapses.
  • Bob Graham: Senate Intelligence Chair who said the 9/11 investigation was deliberately obstructed by the White House.
  • Niels Harrit: Danish chemistry professor found nano-thermite in WTC dust -- then lost a libel case for being called "crackpot."
  • Christopher Bollyn: Investigative journalist beaten and tasered by undercover police after publishing 9/11 research.

Sources​

This information was compiled by Claude AI research.