Federal Bureau of Investigation special agent Bassem Youssef has, in his 18 year career, gotten “rave reviews” and even the intelligence community’s highest honor for his counterterrorism work. Yet, after September 11, the FBI moved him as far away from the front lines of counterterrorism as it could, even though it needed all the help it could get from people just like him.

Youssef, a naturalized citizen who immigrated from Egypt and one of only six FBI agents fluent in Arabic, is suing the FBI for discrimination after being kept out of counterterrorism assignments since 2002. When he complained internally, he was retaliated against, he said.

And an internal Justice Department investigation concluded in June lends weight to his case.

An internal investigation by the department’s Office of Professional Responsibility found “sufficient circumstantial evidence” that Special Agent Bassem Youssef was blocked from a counterterrorism assignment in 2002 after he and U.S. Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) met with FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III to discuss Youssef’s complaints.

Mueller had approved a transfer for Youssef just days before the meeting, but it never occurred and Youssef was never informed of Mueller’s decision, according to the report. Investigators also said the FBI “has provided no rationale” for its failure to promote Youssef, although one former senior FBI manager said Mueller was “appalled” that Youssef had complained to a congressman about his treatment.

“We found both the awareness of senior management and the timing of the failure to implement the placement to be circumstantial evidence of retaliation,” the report said. . . .

“Because of this retaliation, we lost four years of expertise for the war on terror from a highly qualified Arab-American agent,” [said Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa)] in a statement. — Washington Post

“Concern about retaliation for FBI whistleblowers is well-placed given that they have virtually no protections against retaliation and the FBI has been particularly aggressive,” writes Beth Daley from the Project on Government Oversight.

The FBI would never keep a Middle East terror expert on the bench after 9/11, would it? Actually, yes it would, and it would go even farther than that.

Youssef’s undercover work helping to infiltrate the terror organization of the so-called “blind sheik,” Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman, earned him the intelligence community’s most-prestigious award, the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal.

But now, for the first time, Youssef is speaking out against the agency he loves.

“I don’t believe that the FBI’s doing everything it can to combat terrorism,” the 18-year FBI veteran tells NBC News. — NBC Nightly News

NBC News obtained taped depositions of senior FBI managers admitting that they have little to no knowledge of even the most basic facts about Islamic terrorism. And FBI director Robert Mueller III has admitted openly that counterterrorism experience is not “an absolute requirement” for career advancement in counterterrorism.

“Leadership ability is transferable. And often you can pick up the subject matter if you’ve got leadership skills,” he said.

Would you trust a bank manager who couldn’t calculate interest on a loan?

Someone without even the most basic knowledge of counterterrorism is expected to lead counterterrorism investigations? Consider this example. In his deposition, John Lewis, until recently the FBI’s deputy assistant director of counterterrorism, admitted to not knowing what the connection was between the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

The FBI also has a severe shortage of native Arabic speaking special agents, but instead of actually recruiting them, it relies primarily on translators, which counterterrorism agents say actually hampers investigations, and while foreign language training for existing special agents, only 33 have even a limited proficiency in the language, according to statistics released in October.

This is ridiculous. You don’t bench your star quarterback when you’re 14 points behind at halftime, because you think he has an attitude problem. Well, maybe you do if you’re running a football team and have absolutely no aspirations for the Super Bowl, but when you’re looking for people who don’t speak English and want to kill us, it’s a recipe for disaster.