Coleen Rowley

Coleen Rowley
at Georgetown University, 2014
Born	(1954-12-20) December 20, 1954 (age 62) New Hampton, Iowa, United States
Residence	Apple Valley, Minnesota
Occupation	political activist, retired Federal Bureau of Investigation agent
Years active	2006 - present
Political party	Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Spouse(s)	Ross Rowley
Children	4

Coleen Rowley (born December 20, 1954) is an American former FBI agent and whistleblower, and was a Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL) candidate for Congress in Minnesota's 2nd congressional district, one of eight congressional districts in Minnesota in 2006. She lost the general election to Republican incumbent John Kline.

Rowley grew up in New Hampton, Iowa and graduated valedictorian of her high school class in 1973. Her father was a letter carrier for 31 years. She graduated with honors from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa in 1977 with a degree in French. In 1980, she received her law degree from the University of Iowa College of Law and passed the Iowa Bar Exam that summer.

In January 1981, Rowley became a Special Agent with the FBI and was assigned to the Omaha, Nebraska and Jackson, Mississippi divisions. Beginning in 1984, she spent six years working in the New York City field office on investigations involving Italian organized crime and Sicilian heroin. During this time she served three temporary assignments in the U.S. embassy in Paris and the consulate in Montreal. In 1990, she was transferred to the FBI's Minneapolis field office, where she became Chief Division Counsel. There she taught constitutional law to FBI agents and police officers, and oversaw the Freedom of Information, Asset Forfeiture Program, Victim-Witness and community outreach programs.