Shannen Rossmiller: "The Unexpected Patriot"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2011-08-31/shannen-rossmiller-unexpected-patriot
After the September eleventh attacks, President George W. Bush called for a war against terrorism. Some private U. S. citizens heard it as a personal call to arms. One such woman was a municipal judge and mother of three in rural Montana. She began studying Islamic culture and taught herself Arabic. Her goal became infiltrating online terror networks from her home computer. She joined forces with the F. B. I. and posed under dozens of aliases as an Islamic militant. Her work helped create online tactics now crucial in the government’s fight against terror. Diane’s conversation with one woman about her life-changing experience as a cyber spy.
Guests
Shannen Rossmiller
Cyber spy and former Montana municipal judge
Related Items
Read an Excerpt
From "The Unexpected Patriot" by Shannen Rossmiller with Sue Carswell. Copyright 2011 by the authors and reprinted by permission of Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Ltd.
Comments
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I have two questions: 1. How did you develop a dialect as not to come off as some american who learned arabic out of a arabic for dummies book? 2. How deep does the rabbit hole go? Is it really just a 1% fraction of extreme fundamentalist or do you feel, being on all these terrorist blog, that this world view is more prevelant in the middle east that we give credence to.
As a fraud investigator for a large Credit Card Company I stumbled across a terrorist and forwarded the information per our guidelines and found myself being interviewed by a Homeland Security Officer within hours of finding the information and found the experience extremely frightening. Have you ever experienced being questioned as a potential terrorist yourself?
So, this kind of show just amps up the illusion of a deep terrorist threat to the US, it apparently takes very little to make Americans want to give up basic constitutional rights such as habeas corpus. In fact, the main threat to the US are the bone headed actions of US politicians and the unbelieveable consumption we partake in in the US. We use 25% percent of the worlds energy and are 4% of the world's population, this will result in "stress" shall we say.
yeah, communisss hunter, terrorisss hunter, same old same old, essentially its under the rubric of "how did our oil get under their sand?" Typical uber-American know nothingness, and the assumption that all other "god fearing" amerikans would think the same. Of course, violence is bad, whether its from states or non-state actors, but actually exploring the causes of action is more important than tales of daring do in regard to "stopping the bad guy" in the local sense.
The Anderson case times well with the upcoming 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks and adds credence to domestic Homeland Security policy and endorsement of the Patriot Act. Unfortunately, the amount of evidence reflecting a program of internal terrorism, opposed to counter-terrorism, leaves the issue of domestic involvement in the events of 9/11 wide open. With this in mind, getting to the bottom of the 9/11 controversy would seem pertinent to the security of this nation should it be revealed that 9/11, as it played out, was totally manipulated from within. Where lies the true Patriot?
Shannen - THANK YOU!! It is strange how people who are capable and willing are put in a place to help the good. I guess we should thank that ceramic tile in your bathroom!
I really admire your courage. Debby Price, St. Louis MO
How did your family and courthouse co-workers learn about and react to your involvement with the bureau?
I'm also a patriot and while I can appreciate all of her work, I'm disturbed by the fact that she got so involved that she put her family and herself in danger. It seems that she just ignored the safety of her family, and disrupted their lives to the extreme just because of this obsession. Something is wrong with that.
The peril in which our Justice system has put Shannen Rossmiller has a chilling effect on other private citizens who might find themselves with information critical to national security.
The blood worms are using our strengths against us. Likely unwittingly, the defense lawyers did act in the interests of those who would harm our nation.
M's Rehm,
As I was in my car at 11:30AM (Baltimore MD) I was listening to your guest speaking about her experience in the court room, I applaud her for taking a stand against terrorism, she has a lot of courage, that said, I hope you will take a second listen to how some of your guests speak, this woman is a judge, yet she said the word "UMM" an average of 32 times in 5 minutes! I am not a teacher, just an average 53 year old Grandmother, and sometimes I have to tune out a speaker when they repeat phrases like "UMM, and You know" . Yesterday your guest said "you know" 25 times in the 10 minutes I was able to listen, perhaps you could base one of your future shows on the lack of the ability to speak publicly?
I am a recent fan of public radio, I did not begin to listen until last week after the earth quake here in the mid Atlantic area and I was surfing looking for news and happened on public radio. I now keep it on that station all the time, even when I have to tune out the useless phrases we all use, ya know! Sorry I could not resist that last bit.... DJR
Did Sharon claim to be in touch with the Islamic community and then say that there are none in Montana? Seriously?
That is ridiculous. In a split second google search I found http://www.montanamuslims.org/ with links to the Muslim center in Bozeman. So glad that a woman who is involved in the entrapment of US citizens is so unaware of their activities in her own state!
No Muslims in Montana, what are they a type of cactus? They are people who are part of a religion!
I hope the multiple errors in english are from her mastery of another language. If this Judge is real she would have exquisite language used properly; always!
listel wrote:
I have two questions: 1. How did you develop a dialect as not to come off as some american who learned arabic out of a arabic for dummies book?
2. How deep does the rabbit hole go? Is it really just a 1% fraction of extreme fundamentalist or do you feel, being on all these terrorist blog, that this world view is more prevelant in the middle east that we give credence to.
August 31, 2011 - 11:17 am
Absolutely, that rabbit hole goes all the way to the bottom, that world view is universal.
Just as every Jew is a Zionist. No matter how many Feinschmecker airs He/She affects, no matter how liberal He/She acts, in Her/His heart, She/He dreams of the Goys and Muslims, and now the Chinese Buddhists and North Korean Atheists (slowly) consumed in oceans of Fire to avenge all the nasty remarks made about Jews.
Thank You, Judge Katz!!!
Monte Haun mchaun@hotmail.com
Hero? Let's see. She put her family's life in grave danger without their consent or knowledge. Repeatedly. I would have divorced her too. I would have also removed her parental rights as she has continually demonstrated that the welfare of her children was not a concern. Hero? Unfit parent is more appropriate.
I found this interview in general and this guest in particular offensive and xenophobic in a very "entrapment" "prosecutor" way. People like this "judge" are way to scary and anathema to anything resembling civil liberties.
As a mother of two sons in the military, I would like to give Shannen Rossmiller my deepest sincere thanks for going above and beyond in protecting the Americans who are doing what their government is ordering them to do. I never expected to be a military mom and it is hard enough trying not to think about what people there who hate us are planning to do, let alone what traitors in our midst are wanting to do.
It's easy to listen to a program and give high-minded critiques, not so easy when the subject hits you personally. I have contacted every congress person I could to ask why we are still there when the objective was to kill Bin Laden and that's been accomplished. We do need to bring our troops home now and think of more constructive ways of relating to the Muslim world, but that doesn't mean denying the fact that there are those who hate us, who use hate as a way of gaining influence in their world and who desire to harm us.
To the people posting negative comments about this guest; what have YOU done to help your fellow citizens in this regard?
Sitting on your duffs criticizing, by the looks of it.
By that logic, every police officer, every judge, every prosecutor, should have their spouses divorce them and their children taken away.
ZappaCrappa, what an apropos nom de plume....
Have a nice Labor Day weekend.
I have mixed feelings about this show. While I found the content interesting, it was painful to hear this guest's speech pattern, the 'umms' and her gasping for breath. She must have been very nervous. I was also concerned about her secretive behavior that might have put herself and others in danger. Isn't interesting how everyone ends up writing a book that makes them money. And being a 'consultant'?? Aren't there many others with professional backgrounds (FBI and CIA, for instance) who consult and deal with this area of concern?
The whole 'tone' of the interview was rather odd.
This program was riveting. The author's actions are controversial because they required taking a stand, and most of us are not prepared to put everything on the line as Shannen did, independently of any organizational structure. I wanted to show my appreciation for all she has sacrificed and I decided the best way to do that was to buy her book, which I did today. I hope our country will always have people like her.
The people who are commenting on Ms. Rossmiller's apparent ignorance about Muslim people living in MT, don't live where she lives. I graduated from the same High School a year behind Mrs. Rossmiller's husband, and I am sure that it's very hard for most people to imagine how remote that part of the world is. It's the eqivalent of the American Siberia. The nearest town of any size is Great Falls, and there are only 50-60 thousand people who live there. Other than the internet, the Air Force base located there is the ONLY window to the cultures of the outside world for the people of this area. There are no mosques or synagogues in Great Falls MT, and certainly none in the towns which are located around it. The handful of people who reside in Great Falls and the surrounding area who do practice these religions have to go at least 200 miles to find a house of worship(Missoula or Billings). The main ethnic groups who inhabit this part of Montana, are Norwegians, Irish, English, Finns, Germans, Swedes, Italians, Russians, Slavic peoples, a small handful of Jewish families in Great Falls, and Native Americans. So it is no wonder that she would be unaware of the number of practicing Muslims in Montana. I think that she did a brave thing. I do agree that she probably put her family in danger, but at least she did SOMETHING. While the rest of us were just griping and whining about how mad and scared we were, she DID something. Good for her. AND, to that person who thought that she should lose custody of her kids, because of what she did; did you really think that comment through?
I have read Ms. Rossmillers book and all I can say is that I am glad I borrowed the book and did not purchase the it. I have known this family for years and I am amazed that she would print such lies. At the start of the book she states that 4 men in a truck where coming to get her and her family. That was not the case, they did not have weapons or a GPS with her address plugged into it. Her car was not stolen from a locked garage but from the driveway with the keys still in it. All through the book she state how she did this all on her own. NOT TRUE. Her ex-husband assisted her for years. He taught her how hide her tracks online and with endless computer support. She was also part of a group that helped train her and also helped in the capture of Ryan Anderson but she seems to have forgetten them. As to what led to the "downfall of her marrage" it was not the stress of the high profile case in 2007 it was the fact that she was having an affair with her "Best Friend" Chris. Shannen has lied for so many years now that she doesn't know what the truth is anymore. She may have help capture some bad people but in the process has hurt many people including her children. She is certainly not a hero to many.