Freeh (L) has praised the "very, very high performance" of Youssef (L).

CAIRO — The FBI's highest-ranking Arabic-speaking agent has been discriminated against by his seniors since 9/11 terrorist attacks because of his origin despite being highly qualified and experienced, an initial Justice Department probe concludes.

The department's Office of Professional Responsibility found "sufficient circumstantial evidence" that Special Agent Bassem Youssef was demoted to office work and blocked from assignments in 2002, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday, July 18.

The 12-page report said the FBI "has provided no rationale" for its failure to promote Egyptian-born Youssef.

One former senior FBI manager revealed in the report that former FBI director Robert Mueller was "appalled" that Youssef had complained to Rep. Frank R. Wolf (R-Va.) about his treatment.

The report, which was given to the Post by Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), said Mueller had approved a transfer for Youssef just days before a meeting with both Wolf and Youssef.

"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.

The FBI declined to comment, citing an ongoing lawsuit by Youssef for discrimination based on his Arab origin.

Youssef, a naturalized US, insists his expertise in Arabic, terrorism and Middle Eastern issues was ignored after the 9/11 attacks.

He began making formal complaints after being assigned to a budget unit in February 2002.

He was later transferred to a unit that processed documents taken from Afghanistan and other overseas locations. He has remained in the documents section ever since.

Alienation

Some believe the episode would scare off Muslims and Arabs in the United States from joining the FBI and undermine efforts to fight extremism.

"Because of this retaliation, we lost four years of expertise for the war on terror from a highly qualified Arab-American agent," Sen.Grassley said in a statement to the Post.

The FBI held on Thursday, April 13, its first nationally televised townhall meeting for Muslim and Arab Americans in an effort to overcome misconceptions and enlist their help in fighting terrorism.

The meeting was broadcast on Bridges TV, an independent, commercial US television network broadcasting lifestyle and culture programs around the clock for a primarily Muslim American audience.

Youssef's attorney, Stephen M. Kohn, said the report is troubling because it indicates "the FBI is playing games with national security after 9/11."

"What is wrong with the FBI that it would take four years of litigation and an investigation by the Justice Department just because one of their leading experts on counterterrorism wants to do operational counterterrorism work?" he asked.

Youssef, who served as FBI legal attaché in Saudi Arabia for four years, has drawn praise from his bosses, especially former FBI director Louis J. Freeh who lauded his "very, very high performance" his work on the Khobar Towers bombing.

Nineteen US servicemen were killed when militants exploded a fuel truck adjacent to the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia in June of 1996.

Amnesty International has said in a report that racial profiling by US law enforcement agencies has grown over the past years to cover one in nine Americans, mostly targeting Muslims.

A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that the Arab Americans and the Muslim community in the United States have taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks.