Editing John P. O'Neill (section)

===1995–1999===
In 1995, he returned to the FBI's Washington, D.C., headquarters and became chief of the [[counter-terrorism]] section.<ref name=Kolker>{{cite news |first=Robert |last=Kolker |date=December 17, 2001 |work=New York |url=http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/sept11/features/5513/ |title=O'Neill Versus Osama |access-date=May 12, 2015}}</ref> On his first day, he received a call from his friend [[Richard A. Clarke|Richard Clarke]], who had just learned that [[Ramzi Yousef]] had been located in [[Pakistan]]. O'Neill worked continuously over the next few days to gather information and coordinate the successful capture and extradition of Yousef.<ref name="pbs"/> Intrigued by the case, O'Neill continued to study the [[1993 World Trade Center bombing]] that Yousef had masterminded and other information about Islamic militants. He was directly involved in the investigation into the June 1996 bombing of the [[Khobar Towers]] in [[Saudi Arabia]], which took place during a retreat O'Neill had organized in [[Quantico, Virginia|Quantico]] for FBI and CIA counter-terrorism agents.<ref name=NewYorker/> Frustrated by the level of cooperation from the Saudis, O'Neill purportedly vented to [[Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI Director]] [[Louis Freeh]], saying they were "blowing smoke up your ass,"<ref name="pbs"/> although Freeh later denied this, claiming they had an excellent relationship.<ref name=NewYorker/>

In 1996 and 1997, O'Neill continued to warn of growing threats of terrorism, saying that modern groups are not supported by governments and that there are terrorist cells operating within the United States. He stated that veterans of the insurgency by [[Afghanistan|Afghan]] rebels against the [[Soviet Union]]'s [[Soviet–Afghan War|invasion]] in the 1980s had become a major threat.<ref name=Kolker/> In January 1997, he moved to [[New York City]] to be Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's National Security Division, the FBI's "largest and most prestigious field office."<ref name=NewYorker/>

By 1998, O'Neill had become focused on [[Osama bin Laden]] and created an [[al-Qaeda]] desk in his division.<ref name=NewYorker/> In August 1998, [[1998 United States embassy bombings|two United States embassies were bombed]] in quick succession in simultaneous attacks in [[Nairobi]], [[Kenya]], and [[Dar es Salaam]], [[Tanzania]]. O'Neill hoped to be involved in the investigation because he had gained a tremendous knowledge of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist network. He persuaded FBI Director Freeh to let his office handle the case, and prosecutor [[Mary Jo White]] later said, "John O'Neill, in the investigation of the bombings of our embassies in East Africa, created the template for successful investigations of international terrorism around the world."<ref name=NewYorker/>

When his friend [[Chris Isham (journalist)|Chris Isham]], a producer for [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC News]], arranged for an interview between bin Laden and correspondent [[John Miller (journalist)|John Miller]], Isham and Miller used information put together by O'Neill to formulate the questions. After the interview aired, O'Neill pushed Isham hard to release an unedited version so he could carefully dissect it.

O'Neill's rise through the ranks at the bureau began to slow as his personal style chafed others, and he made a few slip-ups by losing a bureau [[Mobile phone|cell phone]] and [[PalmPilot]], improperly borrowing a car from a [[safe house]], and losing track of a briefcase with sensitive documents for a short period.<ref name=NewYorker/>

He was a Catholic, married with two children, but separated from his wife; his family continued to live in [[Atlantic City, New Jersey|Atlantic City]], and he supported them financially and paid the mortgage on their house. According to [[Lawrence Wright]] in ''[[The Looming Tower]]'', O'Neill was involved simultaneously in extramarital relationships with three named women during the 1990s, each of whom he had told either that he was not married or that he was divorced, and that he planned to marry her.

He was officially reprimanded and docked 15 days' pay in summer 1999 over the incident involving the safe house because he had allowed his girlfriend to enter it. His lifestyle, which involved frequently giving gifts to his girlfriends and lavish expenditures with his colleagues, resulted in substantial credit card debts which he found difficult to manage on his salary, and consequently, he borrowed substantial sums from wealthy friends.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wright|first=Lawrence|title=The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11|url=https://archive.org/details/loomingtower00lawr|url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Vintage|location=New York|isbn=978-0141029351}}</ref>

In 1999, O'Neill sent a close associate named [[Mark Rossini]] to work in the CIA's [[Bin Laden Issue Station]] in Virginia. O'Neill had a conflict with CIA station chief [[Michael Scheuer]]: O'Neill wanted Rossini to stay at the station and feed him information about what the CIA was doing,<ref name=nowoduff>Nowosielski, Ray, and John Duffy [http://secrecykills.com/transcript  secrecykills.com website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111126035853/http://secrecykills.com/transcript |date=November 26, 2011 }} Audio documentary transcript entitled ''Who is Rich Blee?'' (September 20, 2011)</ref> while Rich Blee, who had been appointed by CIA chief [[George Tenet]] to head of the Bin Laden Issue Station,<ref>{{cite book |first=Steve |last=Coll |author-link=Steve Coll |title=[[Ghost Wars]] |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2004|pages=451–2; 455–6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=9/11 Commission Report |author=9/11 Commission |author-link=9/11 Commission |url=https://archive.org/details/911commissionrep00nati/page/14 |date=July 22, 2004 |place=New York |publisher=W.W. Norton |isbn=0-393-32671-3 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/911commissionrep00nati/page/14 14; 142; 204] |url-access=registration }}</ref> wanted Rossini out working in the field. Later, when the Bin Laden Issue Station learned that bin Laden's associates [[Nawaf al-Hazmi]] and [[Khalid al-Mihdhar]] were headed to the US with visas, Rossini and his colleague Doug Miller attempted to alert O'Neill, but CIA agent Alfreda Bikowsky allegedly blocked the message. Mihdhar and Hazmi became two of the hijackers of [[American Airlines Flight 77]] on 9/11.<ref name=nowoduff/>

Following the December 1999 arrest of [[Ahmed Ressam]], O'Neill coordinated the investigation into the [[2000 millennium attack plots]], described by Richard Clarke as "the most comprehensive investigation ever conducted before September 11th."<ref name=NewYorker/> O'Neill has been described as having a close working relationship with [[Ali Soufan]].<ref>Edmonds, Sibel. (September 10, 2011. "[http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/09/10/podcast-show-55/ Podcast Show #55: The Boiling Frogs Presents Ray Nowosielski & John Duffy]". ''Sibel Edmonds' Boiling Frogs.'' 51:55 mark.</ref>