DVD REVIEW: FBI special agent John O’Neill was ‘The Man Who Knew’

There’s much speculative intrigue in The Man Who Knew, a 2002 episode of FRONTLINE on PBS, which was recently released on DVD. Ultimately, the 60-minute program never lives up to its provocative title. There are as many furrowed brows and question marks at the end of the Sept. 11 documentary as there are at the beginning.

But still, the story of FBI special agent John O’Neill is a fascinating one. The man was a dedicated servant who sought to protect the United States and its citizens. He built a notable career with the Feds and specialized in the resurgence of foreign terrorist groups, namely Osama bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network. The TV program leads us to believe that O’Neill was an early voice that demanded attention be paid to the terror cells in Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan. He studied these men and their increasingly violent ways, becoming a self-avowed expert. But in the 1990s, many of his assertions fell on deaf ears.

Through talking-head interviews, we find out that O’Neill was a maverick in the FBI. He worked long hours and pushed one too many buttons. He had a lot of supporters, but some key detractors as well. When he made a mistake, the brass knew about it and the consequences were sometimes dire. One time, the special agent removed classified documents from the FBI office and they were later found in his briefcase. That incident haunted him for years and eventually led to his “early retirement.”

The tragedy of O’Neill’s story is that after he left the FBI in the summer of 2011, many of his theories proved true. As the audience clearly knows when watching the FRONTLINE program, the special agent turned out to be the boy who cried wolf. Bin Laden struck, and he struck hard.

And now for the eerie coincidence: After O’Neill left the FBI, he became the head of security at the World Trade Center. He did not come home on Sept. 11.

There’s no doubt that O’Neill’s story makes for an intriguing TV special, but the FRONTLINE program seems to push too hard in finding a connection between the special agent and Sept. 11. There’s no doubt that he was onto the emerging global network of terrorism. There’s no doubt that if he would have had the chance to properly investigate the bombing of the USS Cole, more details could have surfaced on al-Qaeda. There’s no doubt that he may have put enough pieces together to figure out the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But all of these assertions are built around skepticism. There was probably an equal chance of O’Neill not figuring out everything before that fateful day.

The Man Who Knew is a somewhat deceptive title for the program. It’s not a discredit to O’Neill to say that hindsight is often 20-20. It does appear that the FBI had some chances to further investigate this extremist group, but sometimes they chose to focus their efforts on other priorities. It’s true that the Bureau has a lot of political wrangling and in-fighting, much like any company or business. But in this case, the bureaucratic Bureau may have prevented an agent’s best work from materializing.

Many of the officials interviewed for the program are knowledgable former FBI agents. Richard Clarke, former national security counterterrorism co-coordinator, provides some of the most interesting information about O’Neill and his work.

There’s no problem with investigating this skeptical history, but it’s all framed around the question: What did the government know? That may keep the audience interested from beginning to end, but it sensationalizes the story to the point where it feels somewhat exaggerated. The truth of the matter, as one interviewee points out, is that O’Neill had a lot of information, but perhaps not enough information. Time was of the essence.

The documentary, written, produced and directed by Michael Kirk, features mostly taped interviews with some interludes that feel oddly out of place. To show O’Neill’s “maverick” side of working late hours, wearing fine suits and smoking some cigars, the program shows nighttime images of Washington, D.C., and New York City with cheesy jazz music in the background. It gives the aura of a Jason Bourne or Jack Ryan thriller — again, maybe that makes the story more interesting, but it feels too exaggerated.

The best part of the program are the sentiments of O’Neill’s former girlfriend, Valerie James. She offers the most insightful and seemingly truthful accounts of the man she loved. We also get a glimpse beyond the “Nostradamus” archetype and more at the human being behind the suit and cigar smoke. There’s no denying that the life of this faithful public servant was cut too short by men he knew all too well.

By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com

• The Man Who Knew

• A FRONTLINE production on PBS

• Written, produced and directed by Michael Kirk

• Running time: 60 minutes

• Rating: