An FBI employee reportedly traveled to Syria in 2014 and married a "key ISIS operative" she was supposed to be investigating, CNN said Monday. Daniela Greene, an FBI translator with top-secret security clearance, later fled back to the United States and agreed to cooperate with authorities. Greene was sentenced to two years in prison after allegedly lying to the FBI about her whereabouts and was released last summer.
The "key ISIS operative" in question was Denis Cuspert, who was previously known in Germany as rap artist Deso Dogg. In Syria, CNN's Scott Glover reported, he was known as Abu Talha al-Almani. Cuspert reportedly once "praised" al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a track, threatened former POTUS Barack Obama, and appeared in multiple ISIS propaganda videos.
Prosecutors asked the judge in Greene's case to unseal excerpts of the court files after she had completed her cooperation with federal authorities. Though her identity has been revealed, her current location is being protected and her face blurred out in images due to safety concerns. Greene's attorney, Shawn Moore, toldCNN that his client was remorseful for her actions and that she had just been caught up in something "way over her head."
Cuspert is identified in the CNN-obtained court records as "Individual A." The identity of this "Individual A" was later confirmed by a "source familiar with the investigation" as Cuspert. During Greene's work, the FBI was able to link multiple online accounts and contact info to Cuspert, including a Skype account to which Greene had "sole access." Greene would later cross the Syrian border with Cuspert's assistance, at which point the two were married. In emails sent to an undisclosed recipient shortly after the marriage, Greene said she had "really made a mess of things this time" and questioned how long she would survive in her predicament.
CNN is expected to reveal additional details on the 2014 incident in a special report Monday night.
