Fragos Townsend was a key Justice Department official involved with international terrorism issues and intelligence matters from 1991 to 2001. Before her stint at Justice, Fragos Townsend worked on mob and white collar crime cases for then-U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Rudolph Giuliani. Another Fragos Townsend mentor is former FBI Director Louis Freeh, Jr. Fragos Townsend was sacked as head of DOJ's Office of Intelligence Policy and Review (OIPR) after she locked horns with Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court chief judge Royce Lamberth over false statements made by FBI agents on wiretap applications to the court and other policy differences.

Frances Fragos Townsend: Spinning tales about terrorist plots foiled by Bush's "crack" team. However, she was in charge at DOJ for a decade when real terrorist attacks against Americans occurred. And they kept on occurring and occurring until 9-11. Now she's in charge of counter-terrorism at the White House. The Peter Principle is in full force in the Bush administration

Clearly, OIPR under Fragos Townsend was incapable of dealing with requests to conduct surveillance of the 9-11 hijackers. In August 2001, a month prior to 9-11, Fragos Townsend became head of intelligence for the Coast Guard after leaving the OIPR job at Justice.

The following biographical information on Fragos Townsend's DOJ jobs is from the White House web site along with key events that took place on her watch:

1991- Dec. 1993 -- worked in the Office of the Attorney General to assist in establishing the newly created Office of International Programs, the predecessor to the Executive Office for National Security. September 23, 1992, Sanaa, Yemen: Bomb explodes outside US embassy. January 25, 1993, Langley, Virginia: A Pakistani gunman, Mir Aimal Kasi, opened fire on Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) employees in cars at the main gate. Two employees, Frank Darling and Bennett Lansing, were killed and three others wounded. The assailant fled to Pakistan but was later captured and executed in Virginia. Feb. 26, 1993, New York City: bomb exploded in basement garage of World Trade Center, killing 6 and injuring at least 1,040 others. In 1995, militant Islamist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman and 9 others were convicted of conspiracy charges, and in 1998, Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind, was convicted of the bombing. Al-Qaeda was linked to the bombing.

December 1993 - November 1995 -- joined the Criminal Division where she served as Chief of Staff to the Assistant Attorney General and played a critical part in establishing the Division's international training and rule of law programs. March 8, 1995, Karachi, Pakistan: two U.S. diplomats, Jacqueline Keys Van Landingham and Gary C. Durell, are killed by unknown gunmen. November 9, 1995, Algiers: Islamic extremists set fire to a warehouse belonging to the U.S. Embassy. November 13, 1995: Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A car bomb exploded in the parking lot outside of the headquarters of the Office of the Program Manager/Saudi Arabian National Guard, killing seven persons, five of them U.S. citizens.

November of 1995 to November of 1997 -- Director of the Office of International Affairs in the Criminal Division, which serves as the U. S. Central Authority for extradition and mutual legal assistance, and works with the Department of State in the negotiation of international law enforcement treaties. February 23, 1997, New York: a Palestinian gunman opens fire on tourists on an observation deck at the Empire State Building, killing a Danish national and wounding six others. June 25, 1996, Dhahran, Saudi Arabia: truck bomb exploded outside Khobar Towers military complex, killing 19 American servicemen and injuring hundreds of others.

November 1997 -- March 1998 -- appointed as Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, where she oversaw international law enforcement and training matters in the Criminal Division, and acted as an advisor to the Attorney General and Deputy Attorney General on international law enforcement policy. Karachi, Pakistan, November 12, 1997: Four U.S. businessmen from Union Texas Petroleum are killed by members of the Islamic Revolutionary Council in retaliation against Mir Aimal Kasi's conviction for killing two CIA employees in Langley, Virginia.

March 1998 -- Aug. 2001 -- appointed Counsel for Intelligence Policy, managing matters related to national security policy and operations for the Department of Justice. In this capacity she headed the office of Intelligence Policy and Review, an office that provides legal advice and recommendations to the Attorney General and the Department of Justice regarding national security matters, reviews executive orders, directives and procedures relating to the intelligence community, and approves certain intelligence-gathering activities, especially those matters related to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Aug. 7, 1998, Nairobi, Kenya, and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania: truck bombs exploded almost simultaneously near 2 U.S. embassies, killing 224 (213 in Kenya and 11 in Tanzania) and injuring about 4,500. 4 men connected with al-Qaeda 2 of whom had received training at al-Qaeda camps inside Afghanistan, were convicted of the killings in May 2001 and later sentenced to life in prison. A federal grand jury had indicted 22 men in connection with the attacks, including Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden, who remained at large. October 31, 1999: Nantucket, Massachusetts: EgyptAir Flight 990 crashed off the U.S. coast killing all 217 people on board, including 100 Americans. Indications of a struggle in the cockpit. Oct. 12, 2000, Aden, Yemen: U.S. Navy destroyer USS Cole heavily damaged when a small boat loaded with explosives blew up alongside it. 17 sailors killed. Linked to Osama bin Laden, or members of al-Qaeda terrorist network. December 30, 2000, Manila: Across the street from the United States Embassy, a plaza is bombed, injuring 9. January 23, 2001, Sanaa: A Yemeni, Mohammed Yehia Ali Sattar, hijacked a Yemeni plane carrying US ambassador Barbara Bodine and ninety other people. May 27, 2001, Palawan Island, Philippines, terrorists from the Abu Sayyaf Group capture 13 tourists and three employees at a resort and take their captives to Basilan Island. Guellermo Sobero, a United States citizen is beheaded and his body is found in October. Two more United States citizens remained in captivity. August 15, 2001, Minneapolis, Zacarias Moussaoui taken into custody by INS. National Security Law Unit of FBI and Fragos Townsend's OIPR fail to act on FBI Minneapolis request for a FISA warrant to search Moussaoui's computer.

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Hallmark of the Bush administration: screw up and get promoted