As a law school student at West Virginia University in the late80s, Anne Asbury would never have envisioned she would someday be on the front lines of one of the biggest battles America has ever fought: the war on terrorism.
Now an agent with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in Washington, D.C., Asbury finds herself involved in perhaps the most intense and far-reaching investigation ever undertaken by the U.S. Department of Justice. Her assignment: counter-terrorism and the investigation of John Walker Lindh, the California native accused of conspiring to kill Americans as a member of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Despite the high profile mission, the Huntington native has not forgotten where she came from.
Asbury, 37, graduated from Barboursville High School in 1982, and earned an undergraduate degree in political science and a minor in criminal justice in 1986 from Marshall University. She enrolled that fall at the WVU College of Law.
“Early on, I realized that being a lawyer in the private sector was not the career I was looking for. Law enforcement had always been in the back of my mind,”Asbury said.
Just before beginning her final year of law school, Asbury joined the Navy in hopes of becoming a member of the Judge Advociate Generals (JAG) Corps. After graduation in 1989, she attended officers training school before returning to West Virginia to study for and take the bar exam. While temporarily assigned to the Naval Legal Service Office in Norfolk, Va., she learned she had failed the exam.
After stints at a local surf shop and a Norfolk law firm doing research, she applied for a job with the FBI .
“A lot of my interest and admiration for law enforcement came from my uncle, who is now a magistrate in Cabell County,”Asbury reflected.”He has such a sense of fairness and wants to protect others.”
Four months later, Asbury was accepted by the Bureau, and in January 1991, began New Agents class in Quantico, Va. After graduating from FBI training, her first assignment was in Philadelphia working white collar crimes, drug arrests and bank robberies.
In April 1997, Asbury was temporarily assigned to Washington, D.C., to investigate campaign financing activities during previous presidential elections. In November of that year, she was transferred to the FBI s Washington Field Office and assigned to the National Security Division, counter-terrorism branch.
Much of her work involved events surrounding the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassy in East Africa. Then came Sept. 11, 2001.
“I was actually driving by the Pentagon when the plane hit,”Asbury said.”I, along with some other FBI agents, assisted in traffic control and listened as the local police announced over a loudspeaker to motorists that another plane was headed for Washington. To say the least, it was very surreal.”
When Asbury finally reached her office on that unforgettable day, a command post had already been set up and people were in action. Her role in counter-terrorism had taken on a new, much more significant meaning.
Since Sept. 11, Asburys duties have taken her to Afghanistan as one of the lead investigators in the United Statescase against Walker Lindh. It was Asburys affidavit that was filed in federal court in support of the criminal complaint and an arrest warrant against Lindh.
The U.S. military took the 20-year-old into custody last December after a bloody prison uprising in northern Afghanistan. Walker Lindh made his first appearance in U.S. District Court in Virginia in January. Among the charges against him: providing material support or resources to terrorist organizations, including al Qaeda; engaging in a conspiracy to kill U.S. nationals abroad; and engaging in transactions with the Taliban. If convicted, he could face life imprisonment.
While she cant discuss specifics of the case, Asbury says”being a part of this investigation, to include the Lindh case, has been emotional, educational and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”
Like so many others, Asbury says her life will forever be changed by the events of Sept. 11.
“I dont think anyone in law enforcement, especially in counter-terrorism, will ever look at their job in the same way,”she said.
And while that job often takes her to far off lands where its commonplace to be put in harms way, Asburys memories of West Virginia and her days at WVU are fond.
“I am very proud to say that Im from West Virginia and was educated there. I cant say enough about the WVU law school. Even though I wasnt the greatest student, I feel I received an excellent education. Many of my classmates have gone on to very successful careers as attorneys.”
Asbury likes whats shes doing, and has no immediate plans to try and pass that bar exam again. But every once in awhile, she admits,”I think about that job at the surf shop”