Patrick Syring

Background

Syring was born into a large Catholic family in Toledo, Ohio, and graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1979 and the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in 1981. He is gay. Syring was nominated for appointment as a Foreign Service Officer, Class 2, in March 1982. He was assigned as a consular/commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Paramaribo, Suriname, succeeding Cornelis M. Keur, and served there under Ambassador Robert W. Duemling into at least 1984. He later served as an economic/commercial officer at the U.S. Embassy in Conakry, Guinea, in 1987, and was subsequently posted to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, before transferring in 1992 to the Office of Aviation Negotiations in the Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs in Washington, where he worked on U.S. civil aviation agreements, including 1993 consultations with Germany. From 1993 to 2002 or 2003 (official records vary) Syring served as a consular/commercial officer in Beirut, Lebanon, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and Frankfurt, Germany. After the 9/11 attacks, he began circling "country of birth" and writing the letter "T" on visa applications from people of Middle Eastern descent. Two applications were returned by mail with the word "terrorist" written on the envelope. When confronted, he told a supervisor that "applicants supported terrorism solely by virtue of the fact that they were citizens of certain countries." He also began sending trolling emails from his personal account. He finally accepted "voluntarily curtailment," ending his consular career. Syring's retirement concluded a career of nearly 26 years at the State Department.

Indictment Syring sent three voice mails and four emails to the Arab American Institute in July 2006, during the 2006 Lebanon War. A Federal Grand Jury in the District of Columbia returned an indictment on August 15, 2007, charging Syring with violation of Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 875(c), threatening messages in interstate commerce to injure an individual, and violation of Title 18 of the United States Code Section 245(b)(2)(C), by threat of force, to interfere with the civil rights of the founder and employees of the Arab American Institute.

Syring identified himself in the voice mails and emails he left at the headquarters of the Arab American Institute on July 17, 2006. From July 17, 2006, to July 29, 2006, Syring sent seven email and voice mail messages to the Arab American Institute headquarters offices from his home in suburban Virginia. The indictment claims Syring "did willfully intimidate and interfere with Arab American Institute employees because of their race and national origin", and "threatened to injure Arab American Institute employees".

Asked about Syring, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on August 16, 2007, "Let me just underline the seriousness with which the Secretary approaches the idea that the State Department should be a workplace that in no way, shape or form, tolerates discrimination or hateful language or any other action that would violate federal laws or regulations. It is just not condoned or acceptable in this department." On November 19, 2007, United States District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly denied a motion from Syring to dismiss the charges against him, ensuring that the case would go to trial. "Whether [the] Defendant's communications constituted a true threat," Kollar-Kotelly wrote, "is an issue properly left to the jury." In the memorandum opinion November 19, 2007, the judge added "the Court agrees with Defendant, that on its face the Indictment does not present a compelling case. Nevertheless, even based on the meager context alleged in the Indictment, it is possible a reasonable jury could interpret Defendant's communications as 'a serious expression of an intent to commit an act of unlawful violence to a particular individual or group of individuals'." In an order filed December 14, 2007, Syring's trial was tentatively rescheduled to begin February 11, 2008, but was subsequently rescheduled.

On March 13, 2008, Syring sent an e-mail to a U.S. television network where Zogby had been interviewed, repeating some of the language of his earlier messages.

Release and second indictment Following his release and the completion of a three-year probationary period, Syring again began to send intimidating emails to staffers of the Arab American Institute and other targets, mostly affiliated with the AAI, although he avoided using the threats of violence which had resulted in the original criminal charges. Especially following the 2016 Pulse nightclub shooting, emails increased. On May 30, 2017, Syring began sending violent threats to the AAI again, advocating for the "cleansing" of "Arab American monsters" and eventually repeating the threats that had resulted in his 2008 sentencing. Syring's threats caused Zogby and other employees at the AAI to worry that Syring would target the institute in a mass shooting.

A grand jury recommended conviction, and in 2019, Syring was again convicted on 14 counts, including federal hate crime charges, and sentenced to 60 months in prison. He was released from prison on June 5, 2022.