Photo via Washington Examiner

I stared down the ‘Blind Sheikh’ for the FBI. What’s happening today is far more dangerous

Read the original at Washington Examiner ↗
Cite

Strange, K. (2026, November 1). I stared down the ‘Blind Sheikh’ for the FBI. What’s happening today is far more dangerous. Washington Examiner. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/op-eds/4784814/political-islam-sharia-law-us-constitution/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

Washington Examiner · collected 2026-11-01 · by Ken Strange

Quick Summary

An FBI agent recounts his encounter with Omar Abdel-Rahman, known as the "Blind Sheikh," during a surveillance operation in Jersey City. The article reflects on how the initial threat from Islamic extremists was more direct and less ideologically complex compared to current dangers, which involve radicalization through social media and other modern platforms.
Written by AI on 2026-11-01, from this article's own text only (the story summary below draws on all the coverage).

AI analysis

Story summary

In 1993, Ken Strange, an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), confronted the "Blind Sheikh," Omar Abdel-Rahman, in Jersey City. Abdel-Rahman is the spiritual leader of the Islamic Group and issued a fatwa to assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat. During this time, JTTF agents monitored early jihadi networks across New York and New Jersey, including those involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Agents conducted physical surveillance and cultivated informants among radicals who were also attempting to appear assimilated by shopping at American retailers like Sam’s Club.

Written for “FBI Whistleblower Warning Today” on 2026-11-01, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.

Story

📰 FBI Whistleblower Warning Today
Crime & Law · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
6
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 6 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
Leans strongly right
of the writing, not the subject · beta estimate
Publisher signals
70/100
Washington Examiner's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Crime & Law
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-11-01 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Washington Examiner · 3895 article(s) · 7 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 7 correction(s)
2026-10-26
Obama knows better. He just sacrificed 4,000 years of Jewish history
2026-10-19
DOJ launches investigation into DC jails over treatment of prisoners
2026-10-11
An ‘Epic’ failure: I paid my hospital bill — then their AI demanded $27,000 more
2026-10-09
Christa Pike woke up: With a 7% botch rate, lethal injection is an engineering disaster
2026-10-03
Tennessee’s prison chief resigns after failed Christa Pike execution, Bill Lee says
2026-10-03
Alito says there’s no perfect time to retire while confirming he will reconsider next year
2026-10-01
Christa Pike was set to be the first woman to be executed in Tennessee in 200 years before botched attempts: What to know

Who wrote this

Ken Strange
2 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 In the hookah bars and mosques of New York and New Jersey, our JTTF teams stared down the early networks or cells of jihadis, men who would go on to perpetrate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
2026-11-01 · assertive framing · I stared down the ‘Blind Sheikh’ for the FBI. What’s happening today is far more dangerous
🔮 This open defiance would eventually result in bin Laden’s revoked citizenship and expulsion from the Kingdom, setting him on a definitive path of global terrorism.
2026-09-11 · assertive framing · I taught Saudi royalty in 1979. I saw the seeds of 9/11 decades before the planes hit
Also by Ken Strange
I taught Saudi royalty in 1979. I saw the seeds of 9/11 decades before the planes hit
2026-09-11 · Washington Examiner
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.

Topics

Egyptian FBI Jersey City the Islamic Group the Joint Terrorism Task Force

Subjects

Egyptian NORP · 2× Anwar Sadat PERSON · 1× FBI ORG · 1× Jersey City GPE · 1× Omar Abdel-Rahman PERSON · 1× Saudi Arabian NORP · 1× United States GPE · 1× the Islamic Group ORG · 1× the Joint Terrorism Task Force ORG · 1× the Muslim Brotherhood ORG · 1×

Narrative

It was a surreal moment — here I was, an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, standing on a street corner in Jersey City, going jaw to jaw with the infamous spiritual leader of the Islamic Group, the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-11-01
🔮 In the hookah bars and mosques of New York and New Jersey, our JTTF teams stared down the early networks or cells of jihadis, men who would go on to perpetrate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
2026-11-01 · Washington Examiner
I stared down the ‘Blind Sheikh’ for the FBI. What’s happening today is far more dangerous · assertive framing

Claims (6 extracted, 0 hedged)

It was a surreal moment — here I was, an FBI agent on the Joint Terrorism Task Force, standing on a street corner in Jersey City, going jaw to jaw with the infamous spiritual leader of the Islamic Group, the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman. asserted
I → stand → Group
An Egyptian cleric marinated in ideological hatred by the Muslim Brotherhood, the man who issued the “fatwa” to assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, now spewed forth vitriol toward me and the United States government. asserted
who → marinate → me
I knew this hatred intimately, having once dodged an irate mob of Saudi Arabian villagers who took serious offense to a cross necklace I was wearing. asserted
I → know → necklace
In the hookah bars and mosques of New York and New Jersey, our JTTF teams stared down the early networks or cells of jihadis, men who would go on to perpetrate the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. asserted
who → star → bombing
We spent our days conducting physical surveillance and cultivating informants. asserted
We → spend → informants
Ironically, these were some of the same radicals endorsing American consumerism on television, even shopping at Sam’s Club, to project a desire to assimilate. asserted
these → endorse → desire
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support
Terms · Privacy · beta v2.0.0
Articles to 1 Nov 2026