Robert Fuller (FBI agent)
Robert Fuller is an FBI agent who works in counter-terrorism. He has questioned suspected terrorists, handled informants, and testified in both federal court and Guantanamo military commissions.
In late August 2001, the 9/11 Commission Report says Fuller was given a lead on Khalid al-Mihdhar, one of the hijackers. He opened an intelligence case and tried to find al-Mihdhar in the United States within 30 days. Fuller looked in New York databases and at a New York hotel linked to al-Mihdhar’s U.S. entry visa. When nothing turned up, he sent a lead to the FBI office in Los Angeles on September 11 because al-Mihdhar had entered the U.S. at Los Angeles International Airport in January 2000. A Department of Justice inspector general’s report later examined Fuller’s actions in detail. The New York Field Office had started a full intelligence investigation on August 29, 2001, and Fuller began work on August 30, but he was not given high priority and other investigations delayed him until September 4. He filed lookout requests on al-Mihdhar and his associate Nawaf al-Hazmi, and by September 5 he requested various background checks. Fuller said he did a ChoicePoint search on both men; records on al-Hazmi were found soon after 9/11. The inspector general did not fault Fuller personally, but said the New York office should have given the search more priority and resources.
On November 15, 2004, an informant Fuller had been working with since 2001, Mohamed Alanssi, set himself on fire in front of the White House. Alanssi had written that he feared for his life and his family if he testified.
In 2008, Fuller testified in the Guantanamo military commission trial of Salim Hamdan. He said it was not FBI policy at the time to give a Miranda warning about self-incrimination to terrorism suspects, and that a source can be a suspect as well. In March 2002, Hamdan led FBI agents on a tour of compounds in Afghanistan owned by Osama bin Laden.
In 2009, Fuller testified in the military commission trial of Omar Khadr. He recounted interrogating Khadr at Bagram Air Base on October 7, 2002, three months after Khadr’s capture. Fuller’s interview report noted that Khadr identified Maher Arar from a photo and suggested Arar had been at a safe house in Kabul in late 2001. The day after the interview, Arar was rendered to Syria.
Fuller was the FBI handler for Shahed Hussain, who helped James Cromitie plot to attack two Bronx synagogues in 2009. Fuller testified that Hussain made twelve trips to a Newburgh mosque to observe and influence others in counterterrorism operations and to keep his ear open for radical ideas. Hussain was paid tens of thousands of dollars for expenses and services over three years. Fuller encouraged Hussain to push Cromitie to buy an illegal gun, and emails showed a belief that having a criminal charge against Cromitie might be useful if the plot went south. Another email suggested Cromitie would be casing Stewart Airport but posed no danger without Hussain’s help.
In June 2011, U.S. District Judge Colleen McMahon sentenced Cromitie to 25 years in prison and criticized the FBI for playing a key role, saying the government had helped turn fantasies of terrorism into real acts. Hussain became a widely used FBI informant after this case. In July 2023, McMahon ordered the release of Onta Williams, Laguerre Payen, and David Williams, ruling that the FBI had used unscrupulous methods to manipulate them into committing illegal acts, including using Hussain.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:40 (CET).