WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Two Minnesota flight instructors who reported Sept. 11 terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui to the FBI will be considered for a multi-million-dollar reward from which they had been excluded.
The decision was disclosed Tuesday by Minnesota Sens. Norm Coleman and Amy Klobuchar after meeting privately with State and Justice Department officials involved in the "Rewards for Justice" program.
The FBI confirmed that it will review the case involving Tim Nelson and Hugh Sims, who were left out of a $5 million payout made last month to Clarence Prevost, one of the other original tipsters.
"They assured us that they will take another look at this case," said Coleman, a Republican who had sought the FBI review.
Both Coleman and Klobuchar joined a chorus of critics after it was learned that Nelson and Sims had not been recognized by the secretive reward program, which has paid more than $75 million to more than 50 tipsters in recent years, including $30 million for the information that led authorities to Saddam Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay Hussein.
Klobuchar, a Democrat who has written to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice about the affair, emphasized that she and Coleman are not questioning the reward given to Prevost, the flight instructor who testified in Moussaoui's trial as a Sept. 11 conspirator.
"The idea was that they needed to look beyond to the other people who had contributed to Moussaoui's conviction," she said.
Prevost reportedly urged his bosses at Minnesota's Pan Am International Flight Academy to call the FBI in August 2001 to report his suspicions about Moussaoui, who was seeking commercial jetliner training without any previous flight experience.
But Nelson and Sims actually made calls to the FBI, risking their jobs by reporting a client. Nelson, a former program manager, and Sims, a former flight manager, were honored for their bravery in a 2005 Senate resolution.
Nevertheless, their names were apparently never forwarded to a committee that considers nominations to the Rewards for Justice program.
The two Minnesota senators attributed the oversight to the fact that the federal prosecutors on the case worked most closely with Prevost, a former Navy pilot.
"I think it's fair to say there was a less than thorough review of the entire file," Coleman said. He said he and Klobuchar expressed that concern Tuesday to program representatives.
Mike Kortan, an FBI spokesman, said "there was an agreement to review the information and keep the senators informed." He added that following the new scrutiny, "it makes sense to look at it again."
Nelson said he was encouraged by the decision.
"It was never done initially with the reward in mind," he said. "But when you give a reward as sizable as it is, given some of the circumstances, that's what upset me."
Washington bureau correspondent Conrad Wilson contributed to this report. Kevin Diaz • 202-408-2753 kdiaz@startribune.com
