Special Agent in Charge Paul M. Abbate.

DEARBORN — Paul M. Abbate, the new Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Detroit Division visited The Arab American News’ (TAAN) office on Nov. 25 as part of a series of meetings to introduce himself to the region’s Arab and Muslim communities. TAAN conducted a short introductory interview with him prior to a meeting at the newspaper with other community leaders including Osama Siblani, publisher of TAAN, Ali Jawad,  founder of the Lebanese American Heritage Club, Allie Berri, chairman of the Congress of Arab American Organizations in Michigan, Chaker Aoun, president of Tri County Business Association and Ali Siblani, president and CEO of EnvisionTEC. 

Abbate has granted similar interviews to other local media outlets, as part of ongoing efforts to reach out to different communities across metro Detroit. 

Abbate was accompanied by  John Shoup, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Detroit and  Bushra Alawie, who works for the FBI as a liaison to the Arab American community. 

TAAN’s staff took advantage of the opportunity to discuss with  Abbate some  of the issues Arab and Muslim Americans have had with the agency and asked that he address them. 

He was asked about the continued profiling of Arab and Muslim Americans at the U.S.-Canada Border.  Abbate was also reminded of the individuals from both communities who were placed on the U.S. No Fly List without having criminal backgrounds. 

The Council on American Islamic Relations of Michigan (CAIR) and the Arab American Civil Rights League (ACRL) filed lawsuits on behalf of Muslim and Arab Americans in 2012 against the FBI and other federal agencies because of both issues. 

Abbate showed a great deal of concern and compassion toward the experiences community members have had with being placed on the U.S. No Fly List and at the U.S.- Canada Border. He appeared eager to help address the issues and urged people not to be discouraged from reaching out to the agency when they witness illegal activity or feel their rights are violated. 

“It doesn’t matter who you are or what community you’re from, we’re focused on protecting you,” he said.   

Abbate replaces the former FBI Special Agent in Charge of Detroit, Robert Foley, who left the agency after one of his family members developed a health issue that required more of his time.

Abbate is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He comes to Detroit with a background in working with the Arab and Muslim communities, in addition to other diverse ethnic groups.  

Before coming to Detroit he was special agent in charge of the Counterterrorism Division at the Washington, D.C. Field Office.

Abbate began his career as a special agent in March 1996. He first reported to the New York City Field Office and investigated a range of criminal violations in the white-collar crime program.

In December 2003, Abbate transferred to FBI Headquarters, where he served as supervisory special agent in the Iraq Unit of the Counterterrorism Division.

In October 2005, Abbate was deployed to Iraq where he served as the senior FBI liaison officer to the U.S. Department of Defense, and led a group of specialized FBI personnel conducting counterterrorism investigations and operations in theater.

From February 2006 to December 2009, Abbate served as a supervisory special agent on the Newark Division Joint Terrorism Task Force.

In September 2007, Abbate was temporarily detailed to the Directorate of Intelligence at FBI headquarters where he provided support and assistance in the implementation of several significant intelligence-related initiatives on a national level.

In February 2008, Abbate was deployed to Afghanistan to serve as FBI deputy on-scene commander, leading FBI counterterrorism operations and personnel in theater.

In December 2009, Abbate returned to the Counterterrorism Division at FBI headquarters as Assistant Section Chief for International Terrorism Operations Section I and provided national-level management and oversight for all international terrorism investigations within the United States.  

In July 2010, Abbate reported to the Los Angeles Field Office to serve as an assistant special agent in charge for counterterrorism matters, managing and overseeing the primary branch of the Los Angeles Joint Terrorism Task Force.

In August 2011,  he served as section chief of International Terrorism Operations Section II at FBI Headquarters, where he had oversight of all FBI extraterritorial international terrorism investigations outside of the United States. 

Below are excerpts of the interview TAAN conducted with Abbate:

The Arab American News: One major concern a lot of Arabs and Muslims have is over the continued profiling of minorities at the U.S.-Canada border. In 2012, CAIR Michigan filed a lawsuit against the FBI and CBP on behalf of Muslims over the repeated detention and questioning of their faith. Many Muslims have been asked how many times a day they pray and what mosque they pray at. Is there anything you could do to prevent these types of questions from being asked? 

Paul M. Abbate: So our agents, when we’re out doing the work that we do, operate under strict investigative guidelines, which are published, everyone is aware of them. They are strictly prohibited, both within the rules and regulations, guidelines and law, from engaging in profiling, and we do not tolerate that, so if that was to occur I would want to know about it, and we would take steps to ensure it wasn’t occurring. I would tell you, I’m sensitive to that. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard things like that, and I think in terms of what I can do here is what I said before, we operate in a very strict set of guidelines that prohibit our agents from being involved in those types of things. 

And that is my expectation that we will follow those guidelines, rules and regulations. 

PA: Yes, we have liaisons for other communities, and that is important for me and for us. It is important to reach out and have relationships with people from all communities. We defend and represent everyone. 

Special Agent in Charge Paul Abbate (3rd from left) sits down for an interview with staff from TAAN at the paper’s office. He was accompanied by Community Outreach Specialist Bushra Alawie (L). PHOTOS: Imad Mohamad/TAAN

TAAN: One elderly Arab American man who is paralyzed was placed on the U.S. No Fly List and had no criminal background. He’s been removed since, but how can the agency prevent this type of situation from reoccurring? A local civil rights group filed a lawsuit against the FBI and other federal agencies on his behalf.  

PA: The U.S. Terrorist Screening Center administers the list and all I can tell you from my own experience is that I’ve never worked there, however I have dealt with that entity. Can mistakes be made? Yes. In order for somebody to be nominated in that process there has to be very articulate facts. 

PA:  My relationship with the Arab American community in general is very extensive. When I worked in other field offices in Washington D.C. and California, we had relationships with a whole range of communities, including the Arab and Muslim communities.  In preparing to come to Detroit, I did do some research in order to get filled in. I’ve been here for about a month now, and my first order of business was to meet internally with all of our employees, which has taken a while. I’ve gone out and also visited all of our sub offices. Now I am starting to get out and meet people externally, and I have begun the process of introducing myself to the community.

Paul Abbate (C), Alawie and Assistant Special Agent In Charge of Detroit John Schoup surrounded by community leaders at TAAN’s office, Monday, Nov. 25.

TAAN: There are serious misconceptions about the FBI in different communities. Many feel the agency is out to get them, rather than protecting and serving them. How would you address these concerns?

PA: I think that perception is not accurate. Our core mission is to protect people and keep them safe. That is what we are focused on every day. But with the limited resources that we have, particularly now with sequestration, where we’ve had a recent ten percent budget cut across the board, it has severely impacted our operations and our personnel. But we continue to function by having people work harder at what they do. The bottom line is, it doesn’t matter who you are, what community you are from, or where you are from, we are focused on protecting you. We all come from different places, and sometimes our backgrounds influence our perception of things. But with the resources that we have, we direct our rules and guidelines to follow the law, with the core mission of keeping people safe.

PA: Nationally, the FBI’s top priority remains countering terrorism. The threat still exists and we see it everyday, not just here, but around the world. We do however have the flexibility, with every state and city, to use our resources to maneuver our priorities towards crime issues that exist within a particular community or place. It’s a fluid situation and it’s always changing. For example, here in Detroit, violent crime is a major issue with communities. Public corruption is another major concern, so we have devoted resources towards those criminal priorities. But all in all, our number one priority remains counterterrorism. 

PA: The FBI investigates civil rights allegations, civil rights violations and hate crimes in that range of allegations. We are always conscious of that. If we receive an allegation of wrongdoing, whether it’s by the police, or a citizen, we are going to follow up and investigate it. In terms of how the Detroit Police Department chooses to handle business, as long as it’s within the law, we will not interfere. We are not out on the street doing the day to day policing that police departments are commissioned to do, so that is not within the realm of our responsibilities.  

PA: We deal with that every day. We get complaints and allegations from all kinds of different sources all the time. They can call, or sometimes may even leave an anonymous message or drop a letter. Often times those allegations could be made for the wrong reasons. It might be a business dispute, or a personal dispute. We treat each allegation objectively and equally, and it’s our job to get to the bottom of it and investigate it. That’s how we treat it. We’ll do our analysis with what we have and then go from there. 

We do what we can in order to resolve it. If an individual is coming in and making false accusations, we’d need to find that out too. It’s important to know however, if someone comes in and makes a false accusation, they can be prosecuted. Often times that does happen, it is quite common. We don’t want to be wasting resources chasing false accusations.