John Walker Lindh

Senators Demand Answers on ‘American Taliban’ Meeting With ISIS Supporter

Sens. Maggie Hassan and Katie Britt are asking the Justice Department how two convicted terrorists managed to meet up while out on parole and under FBI surveillance

February 8, 2023

(COMBO) This combination of pictures created on April 17, 2019 shows at left a police file photo made available February 6, 2002 of the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh and at right a February 11, 2002 photograph of him as seen from the records of the Arabia Hassani Kalan Surani Bannu madrassa (religious school) in Pakistan's northwestern city of Bannu. - John Walker Lindh, an American captured with the Taliban in November 2001 just weeks after the US launched the war in Afghanistan, is to be released in May 2019 after 17 years in prison. Recently filed court documents confirmed that the 38-year-old, dubbed "American Taliban," will be released from federal prison in Indiana on May 23, even as the conflict in Afghanistan continues to rage. Born into a Catholic family, Lindh converted to Islam while a high school student near San Fransisco. — This combination of pictures shows at left a police file photo made available Feb. 6, 2002 of the "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh and at right a Feb. 11, 2002 photograph of him as seen from the records of the Arabia Hassani Kalan Surani Bannu madrassa (religious school) in Pakistan's northwestern city of Bannu. (TARIQ MAHMOOD // AFP via Getty Images)

Two senators are asking the Justice Department how “American Taliban” John Walker Lindh was able to meet with a convicted ISIS supporter in full view of the FBI while out on parole.

In a letter obtained by Rolling Stone, Sens. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.) wrote to Attorney General Merrick Garland to “express concern over the federal government’s ability to monitor and prevent threats to public safety from people convicted of terrorism-related crimes upon their release from federal custody.”

Hassan and Britt also ask the Justice Department to provide answers on whether Lindh met with any other known extremists and how it handled the discovery of his apparent parole violation. The two also state their concern that “compartmentalized information between Department of Justice agencies may have prevented authorities from taking appropriate action” in Lindh’s case.

The questions come following the revelation in court documents, reported by Rolling Stone, that Lindh met with convicted ISIS supporter Ali Amin while both men were on probation and under surveillance by the FBI.

On three separate occasions in late 2021, FBI agents allegedly spotted Lindh meeting with Ali Amin. Lindh, the first American prosecuted as part of the decades-long “War on Terror,” was sentenced to 20 years in prison and given early release and probation in 2019. Like Lindh, Amin was out of prison on early release and both men were subject to rules requiring that they not associate with known extremists.

FBI officials notified Amin’s parole officer of the violation in October 2022. A federal judge terminated his early release and Amin was re-arrested and sent back to prison in January. But no such intervention was apparent in Lindh’s case and the October 2022 notification provided to Amin’s parole officer took place months after Lindh’s sentence officially ended.

Lindh’s continued embrace of extremism after years in prison remained a subject of concern for both counterterrorism officials. A 2016 National Counterterrorism Center report obtained by Foreign Policy warned that Lindh “continued to advocate for global jihad.” Lindh also wrote to an NBC Los Angeles producer about his support for ISIS and said the terrorist group was doing “a spectacular job.”

In their letter, Hassan and Britt note that the Justice Department has indicated that “more than 100 individuals convicted of terrorism-related crimes would be released from federal prisons by 2025” and ask Garland whether “any other released terrorist offenders” have associated with known extremists while out on parole.