FBI agent Mark Rossini always knew how to get attention. Gossip columnists linked him romantically to actress Linda Fiorentino. Unfortunately, this time the attention is not very flattering. He resigned Friday and is expected to plead guilty next Monday to accessing FBI computers for personal use.
By Jeff Stein
SPY TALK
WASHINGTON –The FBI agent who stands accused of accessing bureau computers for a notorious Hollywood private eye is no stranger to controversy.
Mark Rossini, 46, was a favorite go-to guy for national security reporters when he worked in the FBI’s media relations office. He had come to the job after several years working with the CIA and other intelligence agents at the National Counterterrorism Center, in Virginia.
Tall, handsome and gregarious, Rossini enjoyed schmoozing with reporters over good cabernet and cigars at Les Halles, a French restaurant around the corner from the FBI headquarters on Pennsylvania Avenue.
Over the past year the recently divorced counterterrorism specialist had also been squiring his raven-haired actress girlfriend, Linda Fiorentino, to the Palm and other top restaurants in Washington and New York.
Rossini had also made a splash of sorts when it emerged on Oct. 1, in this column, that the FBI was blocking him from appearing in a public television documentary about pre-9/11 intelligence failures.
