Posted by DXer on April 12, 2011
to learn more about Lew Weinstein and his novels,
go to … http://lewweinsteinauthorblog.com/
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This entry was posted on April 12, 2011 at 7:15 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. Tagged: *** 2001 anthrax attacks, *** Amerithrax, *** Dr. Bruce Ivins, *** FBI anthrax investigation, Anwar Awlaki, Ayman Zawahiri. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
CASE CLOSED ... what really happened in the 2001 anthrax attacks?
DXer said
https://www.cnn.com/audio/podcasts/axe-files?episodeguid=d7515985-95ca-433b-a7d3-adf90028a467
PODCAST
The Axe Files with David Axelrod
David Axelrod, the founder and director of the University of Chicago Institute of Politics, brings you The Axe Files, a series of revealing interviews with key figures in the political world. Go beyond the soundbites and get to know some of the most interesting players in politics.
Ep. 470 — Gen. Stanley McChrystal
After more than three decades in the military, including overseeing joint special operations and leading the war in Afghanistan, retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal has learned a thing or two about risk. He recently wrote “Risk: A User’s Guide,” a manual on assessing and mitigating perilous situations. He joined David to talk about his latest book, the country’s 20 years in Afghanistan, how the US failed to successfully manage Covid-19, and the threat of disinformation.
DXer said
“VIA Rail terror plotters could get a new trial after key witness says judge called him a ‘hero’ during trial
Esseghaier and Jaser were arrested in 2013 in a high-profile terrorism investigation that was praised for averting mass casualties. The legal case against the pair has not been a smooth one
Author of the article:Adrian Humphreys
Publishing date:Mar 14, 2021 • March 14, 2021 •
“Two men who plotted a terror attack to derail a VIA Rail passenger train travelling between Toronto and New York could get a new trial because the judge hearing their case allegedly called the FBI’s undercover agent, who was the key witness against them, “a hero,” during the trial.””
Comment: Esseghaler was the fellow who worked in the infectious diseases field up in Canada. The plot was a plan to derail a train from New York crossing a bridge in Canada. There was another plan in the idea stage of having a cook at a military base poison the food. (For what it is worth, he says he heard from Zawahiri while visiting his contact on the border of Iran and Afghanistan and so you can think of Esseghaler as one of Zawahiri’s spies).
Putting the legal details and arguments aside, I would have to say that the FBI undercover certainly was a “hero.” Oh my gosh, yes. Every time he went into a basement with only one exit he was putting his life seriously at risk, whether it was a narcotics job or counterterrorism investigation. [ Fun fact: Amerithrax head Michael Mason got his start doing narcotics undercover work for the FBI here in Syracuse. ]
Shortly after Ivins committed suicide, I wrote some email correspondents and asked where all the undercovers were — given the size and importance of the investigation. Then about that same or next day, I went to a barbecue at a friend’s house while my wife was on a tour of Ireland with her Mom and some siblings. Suddenly before me at the grill was this handsome, athletic guy with a smile that seemed to say “You ordered an undercover?”
Things seemed to get off to a quick start when on our second meeting I asked him he was a federal undercover. In front of others, no less. He didn’t respond to that question but without missing a beat he asked if I knew what Pegasus was. And he asked if I knew a Maine MD, Meryl Nass (who I was emailing feverishly that week). I think neither of us were particularly interested in seeing if his “legend” stood up to my expensive background checks and phone calls — and we both wanted to cut to the chase.
After a very slow and confused start — where he says his handler was writing ridiculous scripts — he then spent the next few years doing graphics for this blog.
But I can tell you that the FBI agent who was writing the scripts that first year was very clueless. He very likely had a hand in developing the Ivins Theory.
Those of you who went to the DC conference would have seen the federal undercover there. It looked like his gym bag carried an Uzi but I believe it was just a large laptop.
When he and I left to do errands during a brief break — and USAMRIID’s John Ezzell was taken away by ambulance — no one at the conference was more surprised and saddened than us.
DXer said
Chiheb Esseghaler (the rail plotter) carried a note in his wallet he had been given by his trainer. It reportedly was from Ayman Zawahiri.
Chiheb’s orders from his trainer were to focus on his studies and don’t argue (so as to not draw attention to himself).
The Plan B that had been developed overseas was recruiting a cook to poison troops at a military base.
Dr. Zawahiri’s violation of hadiths relating to the use of poisons brought great shame to his sister Heba and to his Mother.
DXer said
‘The Hot Zone: Anthrax’ — Photos of the cast
https://hollywoodlife.com/pics/the-hot-zone-anthrax-photos/
DXer said
NatGeo’s latest series ‘The Hot Zone: Anthrax’ puts that period in American history at the forefront
By
Elaine Hegwood Bowen, M.S.J.
November 24, 2021
https://chicagocrusader.com/chicago/natgeos-latest-series-the-hot-zone-anthrax-puts-that-period-in-american-history-at-the-forefront/
DXer said
Only On 7: Inside DC’s bioterrorism lab 20 years after anthrax attacks
by Victoria SanchezWednesday, September 22nd 2021
https://wset.com/news/local/only-on-7-inside-dcs-bioterrorism-lab-20-years-after-anthrax-attacks
DXer said
“Rep. John Katko: Trump makes it difficult to stay in Republican Party, Syracuse.com”
Mark Weiner, 4h ago
Rep. Katko serves as the top Republican on the Homeland Security Committee and has said that he prioritizes efforts to thwart terrorism, bolster border security, and address the nation’s cybersecurity vulnerabilities.
I expect that Rep. Katko will win and Donald Trump will either lose or not run. Trump’s brand is seriously damaged. If Republicans want to win, they should learn something about the various possible Republican presidential candidates Katko mentions. I don’t follow politics closely enough to know much about any of them.
Personally, I think John Katko would be a great candidate for President.
DXer said
Bioterrorist Attacks: A Brief History
https://www.thegreatcoursesdaily.com/bioterrorist-attacks-a-brief-history/
DXer said
Twenty years after 9/11, terrorists could still go nuclear
By Matthew Bunn | September 16, 2021
https://thebulletin.org/2021/09/twenty-years-after-9-11-terrorists-could-still-go-nuclear/
Nuclear explosives are only one of the paths to mass slaughter that terrorists have pursued. Nuclear efforts must compete for terrorists’ attention with tried-and-true conventional weapons, biological weapons—whose dangers the pandemic has highlighted—chemical weapons, and more. Many of these other types of weapons would be easier for terrorists to acquire, and so their use may be more likely.
DXer said
Anthrax was the COVID-19 of 2001
BY STEVE ISRAEL, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR — 09/15/21 08:30 AM EDT 78THE VIEWS EXPRESSED BY CONTRIBUTORS ARE THEIR OWN AND NOT THE VIEW OF THE HILL
https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/572264-anthrax-was-the-covid-19-of-2001
DXer said
Al Qaeda Ayman Al Zawahiri Seen In Video After Death Rumors
https://nypost.com/2021/09/12/al-qaeda-leader-ayman-al-zawahiri-seen-in-video-after-death-rumors/
DXer said
Free Guy Trailer 2
DXer said
20 years after anthrax panic, America is still at risk for biological threats | Opinion
Congress should immediately defund BioWatch and move forward to find a technology that actually works.
by Tom Ridge and Tom Daschle, For The Inquirer
Published Apr 9, 2021
Nearly 20 years since letters laced with deadly anthrax spores caused a panic across the country, the United States finds itself with a national biodetection system that does not work. It’s alarming and unacceptable.
Although people died and became seriously ill during the anthrax events of 2001, the biological threat is obviously still with us. Today’s intelligence reports confirm that some nation-states and terrorist organizations are actively seeking to weaponize biological agents and attack the United States and its interests overseas. The biological threat is real. Despite this fact, the government has taken far too little meaningful action. Our mounting frustration over inaction in Washington on this issue is one of the reasons we serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
***
Tom Ridge, a former Republican governor of Pennsylvania and first U.S. secretary of Homeland Security, and former Democratic Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle serve on the Bipartisan Commission on Biodefense.
Comment: If there were a mass aerosol attack, what would happen to the economic system? What would happen to individual investments? How would one hedge against the risk as an investor?
DXer said
Do national and international terrorists use cryptocurrency to move funds? What about dissidents and their supporters fighting tyrannical regimes? What was the source of the transfer of cryptocurrency in advance of the Capitol riot?
Will countries develop a digital ruble, a digital yuan, a digital rupee — and a digital dollar?
Will Bitcoin be banned in order to seek transparency and avoid illicit enterprises and terrorist funding?
I don’t know. But I would be hard-pressed to think of a more qualified and experienced United States Attorney General.
DXer said
We can reasonably expect that very serious criminal charges — to include seditious conspiracy and other grave crimes — are going to be filed in connection with the attack on the Capitol.
Families should intervene with their loved ones — now refugee from Parler — and explain that there is a good chance that their correspondent on Telegram is either an informant or undercover. Telegram in any event is not encrypted end-to-end.
Otherwise, these losers can expect 8 FBI vehicles at 6 a.m.
The angry misguided folks might better find more responsible uses of their time. These losers, like the supporters of Al Qaeda and ISIS, are no match for the FBI.
DXer said
White House launches ‘comprehensive threat assessment’ on domestic extremism
The assessment comes on the heels of a deadly riot at the Capitol staged by right-wing extremists earlier this month.
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/22/white-house-assessment-domestic-extremism-461390
***
One person being brought on is Josh Geltzer, who was the senior director for counterterrorism at the National Security Council from 2015 to 2017. Geltzer, Homeland Security adviser Liz Sherwood-Randall and deputy Homeland Security adviser Russ Travers will oversee the joint threat assessment, which will “draw from analysis across the government and, as appropriate, nongovernmental organizations,” Psaki said.
“The key point here is that we want fact-based analysis on which we can shape policy,” she added. “This is really the first step in the process and we will rely on our appropriate law enforcement and intelligence officials to provide that analysis.”
DXer said
With John Katko, an experienced former prosecutor who is now the top Republican of the House Homeland Security Committee — and Chris Wray remaining head of the FBI — the Republic seems well-positioned to meet the domestic security threat revealed by the attack on the Capitol building.
Although not in Rep. Katko’s party, I am hoping he throws his hat in the ring and runs for US President.
Rep. John Katko: US Capitol attack was ‘much worse than people realized’
https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2021/01/rep-john-katko-us-capitol-attack-was-much-worse-than-people-realized.html
Updated Jan 19, 2021; Posted Jan 19, 2021
By Mark Weiner
Washington – Rep. John Katko says he has received intelligence briefings that suggest the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol was more than a spontaneous attack by an angry mob.
Katko, the top Republican on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the briefings raised serious questions about how much planning went into the attack and the security lapses that allowed rioters to reach the House and Senate chambers.
“I’ve had a lot of classified briefings on it, and it’s deeply troubling,” Katko told syracuse.com in an interview Tuesday. “I was left with a profound sense that it was much worse than people realized.”
Katko would not discuss any specific information he received. But he said the briefings from federal authorities were enough to convince him that Congress needs a 9/11-style commission to investigate and subpoena witnesses.
“There are a lot of unanswered questions here, from possible security lapses to who was involved and when they were involved,” Katko said. “We need to have a full stem to stern look back on this to see what happened, how it happened, the sequence of events, who contributed to it, and how we make sure it never happens again.” ***
DXer said
‘The Hot Zone: Anthrax’: Tony Goldwyn & Daniel Dae Kim To Star In Season 2 Of Nat Geo Series
By Denise Petski
Denise Petski
Senior Managing Editor
January 13, 2021 9:00am
https://deadline.com/2021/01/the-hot-zone-anthrax-tony-goldwyn-daniel-dae-kim-season-2-nat-geo-series-1234672759/
DXer said
Pair of treasure hunters find two gold coins and kick of descend on Catskills town in search of three-foot steel box filled with diamonds, gold coins and $1,000 bills belonging to 1930s mobster Dutch Schultz
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8950857/New-documentary-follows-treasure-hunters-hunting-gangsters-loot.html
Now, 85 years later, three groups of treasure hunters, are racing to find Schultz’s missing treasure in the documentary Secrets of the Dead: Gangster’s Gold
“According to the new documentary, Secrets of the Dead: Gangster’s Gold, Schultz died a day later, on October 24, 1935, without revealing the exact location of his treasure.
However, just two hours before he took his last breath, the gangster did leave a clue about the whereabouts of his fortune.
His last words were transcribed by a stenographer and were published in a book titled, The Last Words of Dutch Schultz.
‘Lulu, drive me back to Phoenicia,’ Schultz told his bodyguard. ‘Don’t be a dope, Lulu, we better get those Liberty Bonds out of the box and cash ’em.’”
It is hilarious that these searchers are relying on Burroughs “The Last Words of Dutch Schultz” when Burroughs took great liberties — literary license — in writing his screen play.
What they needed to do was to turn to the actual court reporter’s transcript.
I and others from here have done much racing — and loved every minute of it. But to places like 3-4 miles northwest of Corinth [NY], to Saratoga [NY], and Stony Creek. [NY]
Getman, “The Ongoing Search For Dutch Schultz’s Missing Millions”
https://www.treasuretracer.com/dutch-shultz/ongoing-search-for-dutch-schultzs-missing-millions/
DXer said
Wikipedia describes the reliability of the source that these searchers use for Schultz’s last words
The Last Words of Dutch Schultz
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“Burroughs creates his own dying words for Schultz to actually speak, and which reflect Burrough’s narrative; occasionally, these made-up snippets of speech include Schultz’s actual words.”
If people value their time, they should rely on reliable historical evidence and not fiction.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Words_of_Dutch_Schultz
DXer said
Advertisement:
Secrets of the Dead: “Gangster’s Gold”
PBS, 10pm
Join three groups of treasure hunters, armed with modern technology and newly uncovered clues, as they set out to find the lost treasure of notorious Prohibition-era gangster Dutch Schultz and solve an 85-year-old mystery.
DXer said
Gangster Dutch Schultz’s $150 million treasure is supposedly buried in New York
By Michael KaplanNovember 14, 2020
https://nypost.com/article/searching-for-gangster-dutch-schultzs-gold/
with
Getman, “The Ongoing Search For Dutch Schultz’s Missing Millions”
https://www.treasuretracer.com/dutch-shultz/ongoing-search-for-dutch-schultzs-missing-millions/
And I say: “Bring it.”
DXer said
Al-Qaeda leader Ayman Al-Zawahiri ‘died one month ago’, reports claim, November 14, 2020
Ayman Al-Zawahiri was reportedly ill [Getty]
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2020/11/14/al-qaeda-leader-died-one-month-ago-reports-claim
“Journalist and NYT Best Selling Author Hassan Hassan broke the news on Twitter after reportedly “corroborating” with sources close to Al-Qaeda.
“Ayman Zawahiri, al-Qaeda leader & Osama bin Laden successor, died a month ago of natural causes in his domicile. The news is making the rounds in close circles,” he said.
Rita Katz, director of SITE Intelligence Group also weighed in with a tweet saying the rumours are yet to be verified but noted it was typical of Al-Qaeda not to announce deaths.
“Unconfirmed reports circulating that Ayman al-Zawahiri, who has served as leader of al-Qaeda since Usamah bin Laden was killed in 2011, died of illness a month ago. Al-Qaeda has not yet confirmed these reports,” Katz said on Friday.
“If he is dead, it is unclear who would be the successor.”
DXer said
“Israeli operatives reportedly killed al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader in Iran in August,” Nov 14, 2020 [Reuters]
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/11/14/israeli-operatives-reportedly-killed-al-qaedas-no-2-leader-in-iran.html
• Al Qaeda’s second-in-command, accused of helping to mastermind the 1998 bombings of two U.S. embassies in Africa, was killed in Iran in August by Israeli operatives acting at the behest of the United States, the New York Times reported, citing intelligence officials.
• Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who went by the nom de guerre Abu Muhammad al-Masri, was gunned down by two men on a motorcycle in the streets of Tehran on Aug. 7, the Times reported on Friday.
DXer said
Iran mocks Al-Qaeda No. 2 killed in Tehran report, November 14, 2020
https://money.yahoo.com/iran-mocks-al-qaeda-no-104910212.html
Iran on Saturday dismissed a US newspaper report that Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command was killed in Tehran by Israeli agents as “made-up information” and denied the presence of any of the Sunni jihadist group’s members in the Islamic republic.
The New York Times said Abdullah Ahmad Abdullah, indicted in the United States for 1998 bombings of its embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, was secretly shot and killed in Tehran by Israeli operatives on a motorcycle at Washington’s behest.
American intelligence officials told the Times that Abdullah had been in Iran’s “custody” since 2003, but he had been living freely in the Pasdaran district of Tehran, an upscale suburb, since at least 2015.
On August 7, he was driving a white Renault L90 sedan with his daughter near his home when two gunmen on a motorbike shot five times at them with a pistol fitted with a silencer, it said.
Iran’s state news IRNA and Mehr news agency at the time reported a similar incident and identified the victims as Habib Dawoud, a 58-year-old Lebanese history teacher, and his daughter Maryam, 27, without giving further details.
DXer said
If the report that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri died last month at his domicile is true, was he living in Syria?
DXer said
Attorney General Barr,
I can prove that the DOJ has intentionally withheld emails to and from Bruce Ivins, in what was Robert Mueller’s biggest “whodunnit.” Mueller is no longer in a position to ensure DOJ’s compliance with FOIA. It is up to you have all of Ivins’ emails from September 2001 and October 2001 produced. Former FBI Agent R.Scott Decker — now book author planning a movie — worked with a comprehensive notebook containing them.
If the emails continue to be withheld, it will have occurred on your watch. If David Hardy’s FOIA needs additional staff or an improved system for handling the burdens of the FOIA program, by all means, that is something to address in your tenure. But in the meantime, have the right people contacted and sufficiently motivated.
Stand for the rule of law — because you are going to have some pretty motivated skeptics in just a month or two.
DXer said
Bill Weld said this?
“I know that anthrax is a huge problem, up in, for example, Harlem, where I’ve done some work with the Harlem children.”
What was the context? What did he mean?
http://www.quotehd.com/quotes/bill-weld-quote-i-know-that-anthrax-is-a-huge-problem-up-in-for-example-harlem-where-ive-done
Bill Weld expects to run against Donald Trump.
https://www.justice.gov/criminal/history/assistant-attorneys-general/william-f-weld
With it very possible that the President will decide not to run again — or will resign upon the unsealing of the next indictment — Bill Weld’s background and beliefs are worth learning about.
In 1973, the House Impeachment Committee hired him as counsel to research the legal grounds for impeachment in the midst of the Watergate scandal.
I first came to be interested in Mr. Weld’s background at DOJ when I learned of the calls made to Mr. Weld by Joe Murray’s wife to Mr. Weld about Whitey Bulger. (She did not reveal who she was).
(There was a time that I liked Joe Murray for paying $300k to the Merlino crew for some of the Isabella Gardner paintings.)
Bill Weld knows Bob Mueller well. Under all the circumstances, he will be a surprisingly formidable candidate to the extent he anchors himself in the rule of law.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
FBI and Intel Community Release Framework to Thwart Insider Threats
• By Charles S. Clark
• November 5, 2018
https://cdn.govexec.com/a/interstitial.html?v=8.19.1&rf=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.govexec.com%2Fmanagement%2F2018%2F11%2Ffbi-and-intel-community-release-framework-thwart-insider-threats%2F152591%2F
It’s also important to identify career paths and training programs to develop and promote expertise about insider threats. Among the skills needed are those in behavioral sciences and analytic methodologies, data analytics, security, privacy and civil liberties, and counter-intelligence.
DXer said
POLITICS
09/23/2018 01:39 am ET
FBI Group Rips Character ‘Attacks’ After Trump Slams Agency ‘Stench’
“Attacks on our character and demeaning comments about the FBI will not deter agents from continuing to protect the American people,” says association.
By Mary Papenfuss
The true story of the FBI cannot be reduced to partisan talking points,” the statement said at the time. “Special Agents are focused on the Constitution and protecting the public. Their work should be recognized, not denigrated.”
Comment: I agree.
Maybe it is inconsistent for me to defend the FBI and yet at the same time argue that the people responsible for withholding Ivins’ Sept-Oct 2001 emails from production under FOIA. The DOJ/FBI argue that they did not keep the emails that they quoted and relied upon in the Amerithrax Investigation Summary in closing the case.
But that is because I know the specific people who instructed USMRMC official John Peterson to cull the Sept-Oct 2001 emails — and I know why they did it. I am telling you that parts of the emails not quoted demonstrate the reason Bruce Ivins was in the B3 lab those night and weekends — for animal checks in the challenge of 52 rabbits. The Army, acting through FOIA Officer Sandra Rogers, vigorously sought that the emails be returned from the Army.
In any organization, there are people who sometimes commit fixable offenses by reason of violating organization policy. The culling was not the violation — that was justified at the time by a (b)(5) exemption due to the case still being open. But the FBI says that the case is closed now (and has been a half decade). Thus, that exception no longer applies. (
If the destruction of the emails has now led the FBI to not be able to produce them, then the people responsible for allowing the destruction of that evidence should be fired — because protecting the US public may require that Amerithrax have been correctly solved.
I doubt Rosenstein knows about the rabbit challenge — he may have too many responsibilities and it was before his time.
DXer said
White House sets ‘new direction’ in biodefense strategy
https://www.wcjb.com/content/news/White-House-sets-new-direction-in-biodefense-strategy-493630981.html
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration on Tuesday released a new biodefense strategy that it said takes a more comprehensive approach to preparing the nation for deliberate biological attacks and natural outbreaks of infectious disease.
The goal of the strategy, which was required by Congress, is to more effectively prevent, prepare for and respond to biological threats, which the document said are “among the most serious threats” facing the U.S. and the world.
“Biological threats emanate from many sources, and they know no borders,” Trump said in a written statement. “They have great potential to disrupt the economy, exact a toll on human life, and tear at the very fabric of society.”
***
At a White House briefing, John Bolton, the president’s national security adviser, told reporters there is “no particular immediate threat” of biological attack.
Alex Azar, the secretary of Health and Human Services, told reporters the threats are “very real and they’re growing.” He said the strategy is the first to include naturally occurring threats like the Ebola virus.
Previous approaches focused on the threat of terrorists unleashing deadly germs or a nation such as North Korea launching a biological attack.
Comment:
Although I stepped out from the scene, in “The Americans”, the Russian illegals were digging up the corpse of the lassa victim on the grounds of Ft. Detrick. (The victim was a Russian illegal named William who infected himself when surrounded by the FBI.) In digging up William’s corpse, their helper cut his hand — and they felt that they had to kill him.
In the real world, I’ve always done what I could to tell Ft. Detrick that someone was coming in their back gate but public relations is busy burying the issue.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Jihadist turned spy: ISIS unleashes “inner psychopath”
Amanpour
Former jihadist turned MI5 spy Aimen Dean talks to Christiane Amanpour about turning away from Al Qaeda and explains how ISIS lures westerners into terrorism.
https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/03/23/intv-amanpour-aimen-dean-former-jihadist-mi5.cnn
Nine Lives: My time as MI6’s top spy inside al-Qaeda
by Aimen Dean, Paul Cruickshank, Tim Lister
Pub. Date: 07/24/2018
Publisher: Oneworld Publications
Overview
Nine Lives: My time as MI6’s top spy inside al-Qaeda by Aimen Dean, Paul Cruickshank, Tim Lister
“A compelling and invaluable account of life inside al-Qaeda through the eyes of a first-rate spy. This unique narrative throws open the shutters of the secret worlds of terror.”
— Lawrence Wright, bestselling author of The Looming Tower
As one of al-Qaeda’s most respected scholars and bomb-makers, Aimen Dean rubbed shoulders with the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks and swore allegiance to Osama bin Laden himself. His job was already one of the most dangerous in the world. But what the others didn’t know was that he was working undercover for MI6.
This is the story of a young Muslim determined to defend his faith, even if it meant dying for the cause, the terrible disillusionment that followed when he realised he was fighting on the wrong side, and the fateful decision to work undercover with his sworn enemy. In a career spanning decades in some of the most lethal conflicts of the past fifty years, we discover what it’s like to be at the heart of the global jihad, and what it will take to stop it once and for all.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Upstate native first woman to head Albany FBI office
Janelle Miller takes over as acting special agent in charge
By Robert Gavi
Miller comes well prepared. She worked in New York City in the bureau’s al Qaeda squad following the 9/11 attacks and supervised the Al-Qaeda/Sunni Extremism squad in Los Angeles. In Philadelphia, she was the assistant special agent in charge.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Comment: Agent Miller, I stole all my best ideas about the Blind Sheikh and the motivation of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings from a hockey loving member of the bureau’s al Qaeda squad following the 9/11 attacks. I stumbled over a data dump and was persuaded. Then I merely built on it. I think Yazid Sufaat was the processor and Adnan El-Shukrijumah was the mailer.
Separately, on Isabella Gardner, I also think Earle Berghman — now within your jurisdiction — was part of a bona fide attempt to return the Isabella Gardner paintings shortly after Robert Guarente’s death. Through a Boston attorney arranged by his Providence-based son, they recruited Bobby Guarente’s biological daughter Jeanine. The FBI’s negative forensics of the paint chip submitted got things off the track, along with the fact that the Museum Board member Hiatt did not tell the security director Tony Amore (because he and the FBI did not realize that the lead was coming from Guarante).
Guarente was a member of Merlino’s crew who committed the heist. I think one or two of the main paintings are destroyed, having been in a tupperware under Robert Gentile’s CT garage. But maybe there someday can be closure upon recover of the other items through either Guarente’s daughter in Maine or lover in MA. Bobby’s wife Elene in 2004 was on the outs and did not have Bobby’s confidence. So a tap on Earle and Elene won’t be of much use.
Finally, going way back in history — but of FBI Director Hoover’s keen interest — I like Maple Ave in Troy for Dutch Schultz’s $50 million cache. Look for a cement safe room — maybe even a tunnel — under the residence leased to Dutch in Spring 1935 by the Tammany connected Public Works head.
I bet when that Agent came to your high school to speak, you never imagined that it was going to be this fun a job.
P.S. Public corruption seems a huge problem, perhaps the very most important problem for the FBI to address. Good luck.
DXer said
rossg2012 said
The True Story Behind John O’Neill On The Looming Tower Makes The Show Even More Sad
Elena Nicolaou
February 28, 2018,
https://www.refinery29.com/archives/2018/02/28
“codenamed Alex”
Comment:
Alec, not Alex. Trump made the same mistake in a tweet about Baldwin this week. Baldwin then called into his brother’s new radio talk show here in reply.
John O’Neill is an interesting subject because of what he knew about Al Qaeda’s anthrax program — and his anticipation of Zawahiri’s use of anthrax.
Most of my views on the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings — which I began posting in December 2001 — were cribbed from a hockey-loving friend of O’Neill from NYC.
With the upcoming indictments in the Russia investigation, it will be hard to focus on anything other than the indictments and their effect on the stock market.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
“The use of “winds” by Bin Laden after the anthrax attacks was also interesting in light of his use of “looming towers” prior to 9/11. See famous Looming Towers book.”
“DXer said
October 21, 2013 at 5:30 am
“Black Wind To America”: A Deadly Terrorist Bioweapon Program Agenda?
More recently there has been chatter of a “black wind to America”. After the attack in Spain, the Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri said, claiming to speak for al-Quaeda, “We announce the good news for the Moslems in the world that the strike of the black wind of death against America, is now at its final stage, 90 percent ready and it is coming soon, by God’s will.”
Some have interpreted this as a reference to a bio-attack. Again, we can’t be sure that’s what they are referring to, but it would be a mistake not to plan for every contingency.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrybell/2013/10/20/black-wind-to-america-a-deadly-terrorist-bioweapon-program-agenda/
Comment:
The use of “winds” by Bin Laden after the anthrax attacks was also interesting in light of his use of “looming towers” prior to 9/11. See famous Looming Towers book.
I’m working on buying myself a nice little island with electricity and am going to get myself a fan.
Reply”
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“All I’m going to tell you is investigations, whether it be this and others, where you have partial facts, analysts, agents are always trying to interpret what those facts mean, extrapolate from them what they mean.” — Robert Mueller
Comment: Yet it seems to only have been Tenet that encouraged a Red Cell approach to intelligence analysis. He encouraged analysis from an entirely different zip code.
Mueller took a top-down approach — and pushed a Hatfill Theory — after some lobbying at a Senator’s office by BHR and others.
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Now compare Scott Decker’s treatment of Al-Qaeda with the treatment by the federal undercover who did the graphics for the blog.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Scott addresses Al Qaeda 6-7, 13-14, 22-23, 28, 38, 43-44, 46, 64-66, 82, 119, 221 no. 9-11, 243 n. 2, cropdusting, 7, 14, 64, hijackers, 6-7, 14, 22, 25, 43, 57, 219 n. 1, 221 n. 11, in tabloids, 14.
If we are ever attacked in a mass aerosol anthrax attack as was urged by the late Falls Church imam Anwar Awlaki, ask yourself whether it might have been avoided had Agent Decker not been confused — and if he had understood that “7737” was the same as Flask 1029, and that it was registered in Building 1412 as “7737.”
At the end of the day, the anthrax mailings represented a failure of intelligence just like 9/11 did.
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When you’ve got a major case like this, everyone needs to know everything so people can connect the dots. (44.45)
—Former lead Amerithrax investigator in recent 2 hour interview
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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FBI posed as journalists to get evidence on Bundys. Now it could hurt their case
FBI agents posed as journalists and tricked the Bundy ranching family and their supporters into giving on-camera interviews that prosecutors may use in upcoming trials, according to defense attorneys and court records.
The FBI’s “fake film production company” and “wide-reaching deceptive undercover operation”, as lawyers described it in a court filing, is one of multiple controversies that some say could derail the government’s prosecution of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his four sons and a dozen of their followers.
***
Attorneys for Cliven and defendant Gregory Burleson have alleged that the FBI created a bogus film company called Longbow Productions, tricking many defendants into making “boastful, false and potentially incriminating statements” in interviews. Masquerading as journalists, agents paid defendants for their testimony, and in Burleson’s case, gave him alcohol with the intent of extracting incriminating admissions, according to defense attorneys.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/feb/07/cliven-bundy-bunkerville-standoff-trial
Comment:
A film production company, claiming to have money from History Channel, filmed me and a colleague looking for Dutch Schultz’s missing millions on an uninhabited island. They said they wanted to see the dynamic between me and an associate.. Fake or not, boy, that sure was fun!
Complete with filming us rowing into sight around the island and using a metal detector at a 1927 abandoned house on the island of my acquaintance.
Indeed, for that matter, someone helped me for years doing these and additional graphics — and I never did get to properly thank that wonderful masked man.
There are lots of graphics that have been uploaded to Lew’s blog since that are not at this link. (I’m lucky if I can find the on/off button on a computer.)
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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The wonderful graphics person moved here shortly and abruptly after Bruce Ivins committed suicide. One of the first things I asked him (in front of others) was “are you a federal undercover”? He didn’t answer me but instead asked if I knew Meryl Nass. (I had been privately and extensively emailing her building up opposition to an Ivins Theory). It turns out that he previously had travelled hours to meet with her — he even, he said, had books from her on anthrax that I encouraged him to return. We then shared fun and daily life for a few years. I always kidded him that my spies were better than his spies. (After a wasted first year, he reported that his handler wrote really lame cover material and he apologized; his superiors were evidently extremely confused).
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Vincent Viola appointed Secretary of the Army.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2016/12/19/army-veteran-vincent-viola-billionaire-owner-of-the-florida-panthers-named-trumps-army-secretary/?utm_term=.ea57fb05e9ba
Viola is a 1977 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and funded the creation of its highly regarded Combating Terrorism Center after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. A former infantry officer and Ranger School graduate, he has pressed for innovation in cyber warfare, saying at a conference five years ago that the Army of the future will be built on a “gestalt of geekdom.”
“We’ve got to find geeks who love their country,” Viola said, according to the military technology website Defense Systems. “At my company, I’ll gladly trade 10 pull-ups and five minutes on a run for 20 IQ points and heart.”
Bruce Hoffman, a senior fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center, said Trump’s nomination of Viola is an “inspired pick.” He was a driving force in both forming and funding the center, and was motivated by his experiences helping colleagues at the New York Mercantile Exchange evacuate from lower Manhattan after the Sept. 11 attacks, Hoffman said.
“He was always in the background there, but it was never about him,” Hoffman said of Viola’s influence on the West Point center. “He imparted his wisdom on a one-to-one basis, but he was not someone who was up that mic and or the dais. It was never about him.”
Comment:
Reporting for duty, Sir.
cc: Bruce Hoffman
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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‘The Chemist’ Is Kinda Fun But The Science Falls Short
Sam Lemonick ,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/samlemonick/2016/11/23/the-chemist-is-kinda-fun-but-the-science-falls-short/#3710f7d73306
“It’s a pulpy spy thriller with a twist. The protagonist isn’t an action hero; Alex (her current pseudonym) is the titular chemist, a molecular biologist recruited by government intelligence agencies to develop and administer chemical cocktails that can draw information out of terrorists and other bad guys. It’s torture, something the character is honest about.
The plot is thin but goes something like this. Deciding she was no longer useful, Alex’s bosses try unsuccessfully to have her killed. She’s been on the run for years when they lure her back in with the threat of a massive biological attack only she can stop. Things aren’t as they seem, and she ends up hunting down some wrongdoing bureaucrats with the help of a superspy, his school teacher brother and some very good dogs.”
Comment: Now with cats instead of dogs, the plot would be believable.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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A cross-language search engine enables English monolingual researchers to find relevant foreign-language documents
May 30, 2016 by Ariana Tantillo
http://phys.org/news/2016-05-cross-language-enables-english-monolingual-relevant.html
Comment:
This seems like it potentially may represent a big advance in law enforcement and intelligence analysis. It would be fascinating to see a report on Amerithrax that compared what insights can be gleaned from different language pools.
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Governments Turn to Commercial Spyware to Intimidate Dissidents
By NICOLE PERLROTHMAY 29, 2016
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Gloria Kavaya Ikra was a microbiology student.
Kenyatta University Student Arrested for Joining ISIS Terror Group
By Mary Kulundu on Tue, 10 May 2016 –
http://www.kenyans.co.ke/news/kenyatta-university-student-arrested-joining-isis-terror-group
A female student at Kenyatta University was on Monday arraigned in court after being arrested by the Anti Terror Police Unit for joining the Islamic State (ISIS), which is a terror group operating in Iraq and Syria.
Gloria Kavaya Ikra, a microbiology student, allegedly converted to Islam after her family neglected her and was promised a scholarship at the International University of Africa in Sudan by an unknown agency linked to the terror group.
She was then taken in by a Somali family in South B where she relocated without the knowledge of her family.
It was during her stay there that she was reportedly radicalized and even disappeared from school in February this year, before the Anti Terror detectives apprehended her last week
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Terror suspect wife arraigned in court .
http://www.mediamaxnetwork.co.ke/people-daily/219083/terror-suspect-wife-arraigned-in-court/
By Nancy Gitonga
Date: May 10, 2016
Mutuku also ordered Nuiseba to be detained at the Anti- Terror Police Unit until this morning when her lawyer, Kioko Kilukumi, will reply to the prosecution application for more time. The prosecution alleges that the suspects are accused of planning large-scale attacks using anthrax — a bacteria that can sicken or kill people.
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Kenya police ‘foil anthrax attack’ by ‘IS-linked group’
• 1 hour ago
Kenyan police say they have foiled a “large-scale” biological attack using anthrax, by a terror group with links to so-called Islamic State (IS).
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-36198561
Kenyan police say they have foiled a “large-scale” biological attack using anthrax, by a terror group with links to so-called Islamic State (IS).
A man, his wife and another woman have been arrested. Rewards have been offered for two other men.
Police did not name the network, but said it stretches across the country and outside its borders, including to Somalia, Libya and Syria.
There was no immediate independent confirmation.
In a statement, the police said Mohammed Abdi Ali, a medical intern at a Kenyan hospital, was in charge of a “terror network… planning large-scale attacks akin to the Westgate Mall attack” in which 67 people were killed.
They say he was also “engaged in the active radicalisation” of students and helped recruit Kenyans “to join terror groups in Libya and Syria”.
The statement says Mr Ali’s network included medical experts who could help organise a biological attack using anthrax.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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Al Qaeda releases 3 new messages from Ayman al Zawahiri
BY THOMAS JOSCELYN | January 14, 2016
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2016/01/al-qaeda-releases-3-new-messages-from-ayman-al-zawahiri.php
Zawahiri’s message is preceded by a clip of a talk given by Anwar al Awlaki, an al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula ideologue who was killed in a US drone strike in 2011. The clip is intended to emphasize the importance of martyrdom in the wake of the Saudi government’s executions.
“Martyrdom is like the tree,” Awlaki told his audience. “Fruits grow on it, and then ripen, and then comes the time for reaping those fruits. This happens in specific seasons. This is how Allah’s slaves pass through stages until they reach to a stage where it is time for them to be taken as martyrs.”
The clip ends with Awlaki saying: “Hence, the tree of martyrdom in the Arabian Peninsula has already got ripened fruits on it and the time for reaping them has come, so the Almighty Allah took from among those martyrs.” Although these words were spoken long before Saudi Arabia’s executions earlier this month, they are used in the new audio message to explain the supposed value of al Qaeda’s martyrs.
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Europe Must ‘Prepare For the Possibility’ of an ISIS Chemical Attack: Report
BY JACK MOORE 12/8/15 AT 6:25 AM
http://www.newsweek.com/eu-warned-prepare-isis-chemical-attack-illegal-materials-smuggled-past-blocs-401741
“Daesh (an Arabic acronym for ISIS) is working very seriously to reach production of chemical weapons, particularly nerve gas,” he said. “That would threaten not just Iraq but the whole world.”
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“That was a very baffling way to claim credit for what would be the most significant terrorist attack since 9/11,” CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. “But there may have been a method behind this and a reason behind this, and that may have been to protect an insider at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.”
Russian plane crash: U.S. intel suggests ISIS bomb brought down jet
http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/africa/russian-plane-crash-egypt-sinai/
By Barbara Starr and Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN
Updated 8:37 PM ET, Wed November 4, 2015
“Find your black boxes and analyze them, give us the results of your investigation and the depth of your expertise and prove we didn’t do it or how it was downed,” the message said. “Die with your rage. We are the ones with God’s blessing who brought it down. And God willing, one day we will reveal how, at the time we desire.”
Typically, ISIS is quick to trumpet how and who carried out any attacks for purposes of praise and propaganda. To some, the fact that ISIS hasn’t provided details in this case raises doubt about the group’s repeated claims of responsibility.
Officials in Egypt and Russia have said there’s no evidence to support ISIS’ claims.
“That was a very baffling way to claim credit for what would be the most significant terrorist attack since 9/11,” CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said. “But there may have been a method behind this and a reason behind this, and that may have been to protect an insider at Sharm el-Sheikh airport.”
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Bundesgesundheitsblatt Gesundheitsforschung Gesundheitsschutz. 2015 May 12. [Epub ahead of print]
[General procedures in response to suspected attacks with highly contagious and pathogenic agents].
[Article in German]
Richter M1, Herzog C.
Abstract
The discovery of undefined powders that are content of letters or parcels with or without threats in writing addressed to institutions, groups or persons, often raises the suspicion of an attack involving biological agents such as anthrax. Subsequent investigations and analyses by local authorities often aim at excluding anthrax or anthrax spores. Suspicion and actions are then mistakenly justified by referring to the 2001 anthrax letter attacks in the USA, which now lie more than 10 years in the past. In Germany to date there has never been a terrorist attack involving dangerous biological agents, neither in letters nor in any other possible form. In addition, it cannot be assumed that anthrax bacteria or spores will be used again in a bioterrorist event. In the case of a valid suspicion of a threatening letter, neither analyses to exclude only a certain group of substances (e.g. biological, chemical or radiological) nor analyses to exclude only one biological agent (e.g. anthrax) in particular would provide sufficient information for decision makers to conduct further actions in coping with the given situation. Moreover, a sequence of procedures such as consultation, exclusion, and analyses should be followed in order to systematically exclude all relevant threats. Therefore, and in respect to the current CBRNE threat assessment for Germany, the following article provides recommendations of actions to be taken for coping with a valid suspicion of an intentional release of biological agents utilizing powder letters as an example.
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I’ve persuaded my former graphic artist to get back in the saddle — so that his graphics can get people on the same page.
Ex-FBI Official: Agency Is Hiding Evidence in Anthrax Case
Apr 15, 2015, 4:58 PM ET
By DAVID DISHNEAU Associated Press
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/fbi-official-agency-hiding-evidence-anthrax-case-30343256
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A book is coming out about anthrax attacks in WW I in March titled “The Baltimore Sabotage Cell: German Agents, American Traitors, and the U-boat Deutschland During World War I.” Hardcover– March 15, 2015
by Dwight R. Messimer (Author)
“Since the German navy could not cut Britain’s supply line to America, another answer lay in sabotaging munitions factories, depots, and ships, as well as infecting horses and mules at the western end of the supply line. German agents, with American sympathizers, successfully carried out more than fifty attacks involving fires and explosions and spread anthrax and glanders on the East Coast.”
I’ve previously mentioned the learned article by Jamie Bisher who always had an enviable passion for the history of espionage.
Our CNY Reads featured book this year is a WW I novel, Speller’s “First of July.” I believe 500,000 Germans died at the Battle of Somme in France. 650,000 British and French soldiers.
People forget the scale that man’s inhumanity to man can take.
All the more reason not to suffer nincompoops gladly.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
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In his book, he writes: “These anthrax attacks marked the first time a sophisticated biological weapon was released in the United States.” Is he correct?
(Thank you Ed)
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Comment: FBI Director Comey has clarified that the FBI Agent actually impersonated an AP reporter when corresponding with the suspect and implanting the malware.
The FIrst Amendment issues presented appear to be fascinating and novel. I sorely miss Professor Archibald Cox who would parse through them in considering what to think.
Similar operations have been done in Amerithrax. For example, Immediately after Dr. Ivins’ suicide someone came into my social circle. I generally have no occasion to speak about Amerithrax with anyone I know in my social circle — anyone locally at all. One day in August 2008 I asked a new fellow in town who suddenly was in my social circle whether he was a federal undercover. Rather than responding to the question, my new acquaintance asked if I knew Meryl Nass and whether I had ever heard of Perseus. My new friend, from the very first week, knew I had privately been emailing Meryl Nass urging her that Dr. Ivins was innocent. (Indeed, earlier that year, he had travelled several hours to meet her under some lame pretext and borrowed some books on anthrax. ) For the first year and a half, our correspondence was awkward because his cover story and questions to me made no sense to me and it seemed that the FBI was majorly confused. He eventually told me that his handler had just been writing lousy scripts. Then when the investigation formally closed in February 2010, he said he was authorized to help me and began executing graphics that I loved. He faithfully executed on the substance I was giving him but I was always pleased with the result. (If any elements were lame artistically it would be because in the press of time I had urged a particular image upon him). Under First Amendment principles, I don’t think of myself as having any beef because I am solely responsible for the content. Any mistakes in analysis were truly of my own making. And, in any event, I’m a big fan of law enforcement and the correct solutions to mysteries threatening the nation’s security — and was glad for some help.
But I disclose all of this because I’m all about coming to an issue head-on without deception. I’m all about getting documents and asking respectful questions of the relevant people while trying to reconstruct what happened. (This was before I knew that Columbo once went undercover). I was telling the FBI in 2009 the same as I told the CIA in December 2001: Dr. Ayman Zawahiri and his recruits were responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. I first added Yazid Sufaat to the mix in February 2002. Adnan El-Shukrijumah and Ali Al-Timimi a year later. 100 agents came here the very minute Ali Al-Timimi’s townhouse was raided at dawn. Yazid Sufaat later agreed to be my Facebook Friend because he appreciated the honesty — as I appreciated his honesty. He pled the Fifth Amendment and didn’t tell me any lies.
I have been making this recurrent disclosure, though, because I don’t know anything about computers or computer security. My philosophy is that the only protection to the widespread invasion of privacy that technology makes possible is simply not to have any secrets. But because I don’t know anything about computers, upon clicking on any of the graphics or images on this website there may have been embedded electronic surveillance that, for example, revealed your location. Certainly my communications with you were monitored — and still are — and I know that because my spies are lot better than their spies. I lived in Arlington, VA for over 15 years. For example, I know what Prince Bandar ordered when he sat down that night at Beni Hana’s with Sarkis Soghanalian.
I could tell you things that happened in the Washington Field Office that led to the rash announcement of the Ivins Theory that would make you drop your stapler.
Put simply: There are no secrets.
For example, it is publicly known that Dr. Ayman Zawahiri and Adnan El-Shukrijumah want to attack New York City and Washington DC in a mass attack. And so I would think that the folks in New York and DC might want to see if greater disclosure was more effective in solving Amerithrax than their deceptions have been.
I applaud FBI Director Comey with forthrightly acknowledging and clarifying the impersonation in the AP case. In Amerithrax, let’s all move forward looking to get everyone on the same page, without any fingerpointing. I used to like ambiguity but now I’m not so sure. I would keep an open mind but my brains might fall out.
I think the public knows the high caliber of the DOJ investigators and prosecutors. Men like Robert Mueller, Michael Mason and FBI Director Comey are true standouts in terms of integrity and good intention. At the end of the day, we’re all on the FBI’s side and want Americans kept safe while constitutional protections are understood and preserved. Professor Archibald Cox would be the first to help people understand that figuring out the correct line to draw under the First Amendment is not such an easy task. So maybe we can cut the FBI some slack on these novel issues and move on.
FBI says agent impersonated AP reporter
AP5:49 a.m. EST November 7, 2014
SEATTLE (AP) — FBI Director James Comey says an agent impersonated an Associated Press reporter during a 2007 criminal investigation, a ruse the news organization says could undermine its credibility.
In a letter Thursday to The New York Times, Comey said the agent “portrayed himself as an employee of The Associated Press” to help catch a 15-year-old suspect accused of making bomb threats at a high school near Olympia, Washington. It was publicized last week that the FBI forged an AP story during its investigation, but Comey’s letter revealed the agency went further and had an agent actually pretend to be a reporter for the wire service.
Comey said the agent posing as an AP reporter asked the suspect to review a fake AP article about threats and cyberattacks directed at the school, “to be sure that the anonymous suspect was portrayed fairly.”
The bogus article contained a software tool that could verify Internet addresses. The suspect clicked on a link, revealing his computer’s location and Internet address, which helped agents confirm his identity.
“That technique was proper and appropriate under Justice Department and FBI guidelines at the time. Today, the use of such an unusual technique would probably require higher-level approvals than in 2007, but it would still be lawful and, in a rare case, appropriate,” Comey wrote.
Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of the AP, said the FBI’s actions were “unacceptable.”
“This latest revelation of how the FBI misappropriated the trusted name of The Associated Press doubles our concern and outrage, expressed earlier to Attorney General Eric Holder, about how the agency’s unacceptable tactics undermine AP and the vital distinction between the government and the press,” Carroll said in a statement.
In a letter to the Justice Department last week, the AP requested Holder’s word that the DOJ would never again misrepresent itself as the AP and asked for policies to ensure the DOJ does not further impersonate news organizations.
In a letter Thursday to Comey and Holder, the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press asked the agency for full disclosure about the incident.
“The utilization of news media as a cover for delivery of electronic surveillance software is unacceptable,” the letter said. “This practice endangers the media’s credibility and creates the appearance that it is not independent of the government. It undermines media organizations’ ability to independently report on law enforcement.”
In his letter to The New York Times, Comey said all undercover operations involve deception, “which has long been a critical tool in fighting crime.”
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http://www.pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/article_df16b8a8-9c40-5693-a56a-ba97c6d152e5.html
Former CIA analyst recognized al-Qaida threat early
Posted: Sunday, October 12, 2014 5:16 pm
By ASHLEIGH LIVINGSTON Press-Republican
Posted on Oct 12, 2014b y Ashleigh Livingston
PLATTSBURGH — Before the now-infamous terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Cynthia Storer had a difficult time convincing U.S. government officials just how dangerous al-Qaida was.
The former CIA analyst and some of her colleagues began tracking the group in the 1990s and had evidence that it had established terrorist training camps.
In addition, her team knew the group was tied to bombings in multiple countries, Storer said during her recent public talk at SUNY Plattsburgh.
But even after the World Trade Center was bombed in 1993, she noted, it was mostly just law-enforcement agencies that took an interest in learning more about the terrorist organization.
“Because the idea was these guys are just criminals,” said Storer, who left the CIA in 2007.
Comment:
I think being a CIA analyst would be a very cool job. Even just working for the State Department in open source analysis would be cool. Richard Clarke used to say that most intelligence open source. I think one of the 911 Commission Chairman, I think, said that he estimated that 70% was open source. But the job favors the person who likes to read a lot.
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Senator Bob Graham On Bush-Saudi-9/11 Coverup
http://live.huffingtonpost.com/r/segment/senator-bob-graham-on-bush-saudi-911-coverup/52a88eaa78c90a42b700023e
An Op-Ed in the NY Post is raising new suspicions about Saudi Arabia’s role in 9/11 and the Bush Administration’s role in covering it up. We discuss the cover up with former Senator and Chairman of the Select Intelligence Committee Bob Graham.
Originally aired on December 16, 2013
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Senator Graham, in an early interview with Frontline, discussed his view of the counterintelligence analysis failure that occurred leading up to the Fall of 2001.
INSIDE THE TERROR NETWORK
Interviewer:
What are the breakdowns that you see in our intelligence and law enforcement operation? …
Senator Graham:
When we’ve completed the diagnosis of Sept. 11, these are the things that I believe we’ll find to be the contributors to what happened: lack of coordination among critical agencies such as the CIA, the [INS], and the FBI; failure to analyze the information that we were collecting, such as a number of suspicious events and activities that were occurring in the spring and summer of 2001; the fact that we don’t have an adequate human intelligence capability within our intelligence service — we do not have someone who’s close enough to bin Laden to be able to understand what his capabilities and intentions are; and the fact that our technology — which works so well against the Soviet Union — is less capable of dealing with the small, distributed, highly flexible, extremely violent terrorist groups that we’re now trying to understand and control around the world.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/network/should/graham.html
Interviewer:
[T]hey’re walking in the public libraries, they’re going into the CyberZone Café in Las Vegas. They’re using cell phones by the dozen. What does it say about what’s changed? We’re almost muscle-bound [in] dealing with people that are this agile?
Senator Graham:
Well, yes, our intelligence communication has been developed for a Cold War application. We’re very good at listening on satellites or taking pictures from the sky of the former Soviet Union. Where we have fallen down is the agility to deal with these much smaller, more flexible and more violent terrorist groups that are now our enemy. … [O]ur inability to intercept the communications that they were doing is an indication of how out of sync our current intelligence capability is with the challenges that we are facing. …
In my judgment, the heart of our problem is that we’re muscle-bound. We are very good if our enemy is the Soviet Union. But we have not developed the flexibility, the alacrity, the imagination, creativity of how to get inside the minds of these terrorists to determine what their motivations are, what their likely forms of attack will be, and to use that information both to defend ourselves against them but, more importantly, use that information to go after them aggressively.
The only way, in my judgment, that we’re going to deal with terrorism is at the source, by an effective offensive effort to eliminate terrorism. We’re too open and vulnerable a society to be able to protect ourselves against all the potential threats and assaults that they might launch against us. …
Interviewer:
I’d like to get your assessment, looking back over the past decade, as to whether or not the CIA did a good enough job ferreting out the human intelligence that would have been necessary to tell us the specifics of Sept. 11.
Senator Graham:
There’s no question that, over the last 15 or more years, the CIA’s human intelligence has significantly degraded. It’s degraded both in the number of our agents … [and] in the lack of diversity of our agents. For most of the CIA’s experience, our agents were trained to speak Russian. They understood Russian culture. They were reasonably effective against that one big enemy. But we don’t have very many agents who speak Tajik or Pashtu or the kind of languages that are common in Central Asia. We don’t have agents who are from that cultural background and understand the motivations and the attitudes of the people. And we have had to rely excessively on other countries’ intelligence services in order to do what we should be doing for ourselves. …
Interviewer:
Are you saying that in a lot of ways, the intelligence failure here on the part of the CIA was that it was stuck in a Cold War mentality and a Cold War mode of operation, and it didn’t attach high enough priority to terrorism as the threat?
Senator Graham:
Yes. The CIA is a product of the Cold War. It’s still largely culturally oriented towards fighting the kind of intelligence war of the Cold War. It has not developed the alacrity, the flexibility, the smaller unit capability, the diversity of language and cultural understanding that’s going to be necessary to conduct an effective intelligence war against terrorists. …
Interviewer:
Now, let me ask you about bin Laden’s warnings. Bin Laden has made a number of statements about penetrating America. Interesting, that in the summer of 2001, he did say he wanted to create a sensational event, a holocaust in America. Now, I’m just wondering [whether you’re] aware of those warnings, what you make of them and whether or not our intelligence and law enforcement people missed something very important.
Senator Graham:
Bin Laden has been making increasingly hostile statements towards America for a number of years and including through until today. So the fact that he was making these statements raised the general sense that we were under a heightened threat risk, but without the specificity to determine just what that risk might be. Was he talking about attacking another embassy in a foreign country? Was he talking about attacking a railroad system or an American seaport or a nuclear plant? What was this great new event that he was celebrating with his statements in the summer? What we’ve got to do is to increase our intelligence capability, so that we can convert these general threat assessments into enough specificity to be able to respond. That means that you’ve got to have a human being who’s close enough to bin Laden to understand what his capability is, what his plans of intentions are, communicate that information back with enough time to interdict it. …
Interviewer:
What are the breakdowns that you see in our intelligence and law enforcement operation? …
Senator Graham:
When we’ve completed the diagnosis of Sept. 11, these are the things that I believe we’ll find to be the contributors to what happened: lack of coordination among critical agencies such as the CIA, the [INS], and the FBI; failure to analyze the information that we were collecting, such as a number of suspicious events and activities that were occurring in the spring and summer of 2001; the fact that we don’t have an adequate human intelligence capability within our intelligence service — we do not have someone who’s close enough to bin Laden to be able to understand what his capabilities and intentions are; and the fact that our technology — which works so well against the Soviet Union — is less capable of dealing with the small, distributed, highly flexible, extremely violent terrorist groups that we’re now trying to understand and control around the world.
DXer said
U.S. CDC lab inspectors may have risked public safety: documents
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-usa-healthcare-cdc-20140801-story.html
“We found that DSAT did not effectively monitor and enforce certain federal select agent regulations at the laboratories,” Daniel Levinson, inspector general for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said in a July 2011 report sent with a letter to CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden.
“These weaknesses may have contributed to the laboratories not being in full compliance with certain federal select agent regulations, which may have put public health and safety at increased risk.”
The inspector general found that in many cases, deadly pathogens wound up in the hands of people who had not been approved to handle them, increasing the risk that they could have been lost or stolen.
The inspector general found that in many cases, deadly pathogens wound up in the hands of people who had not been approved to handle them, increasing the risk that they could have been lost or stolen.
***
Outside experts who reviewed the documents provided by Reuters said they were alarmed by the inspector general’s findings on CDC’s DSAT inspectors.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Years ago when the FBI learned the People’s Republic of China knew the design of a U.S. nuclear warhead, their investigation focused on a scientist at Los Alamos National Laboratory and in 1999 Dr. Wen Ho Lee was indicted for stealing state secrets. Lee, who was born in Taiwan, was suspected of acting on behalf of Taiwan intelligence services. During the investigation, he was mistreated—his name was leaked to the press before formal charges were filed and he was jailed in solitary confinement without bail. In the end, charges could not be proven and Lee was convicted only of improper handling of restricted data. Exonerated, he received a presidential apology from Bill Clinton.
However, the fact remains the PRC had received classified information about nuclear weapons. Dangerous secrets had been traded by someone, if not the scientist fingered by the FBI.
This 15-year old incident highlights the ways in which nuclear science presents grave challenges for the U.S. government. It’s not just the dangers of making explosive bombs, it’s also the possibility of classified scientific data finding its way outside the lab. Similar if less obvious dangers also surround the seemingly benign biological sciences, particularly research conducted in the areas of infectious disease and toxins.
Could a theft of secrets (or substances) take place at one of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) federal laboratories handling select agents—the killer biological pathogens, such as anthrax and smallpox, used in biowarfare?
In June, the CDC revealed what it represented to be an accidental anthrax mishap. But in the investigation that followed, shocking conditions at federal laboratories were revealed. Long-forgotten smallpox samples had been discovered in a storage room at the National Institutes of Health’s Food Administration campus in Bethesda, Maryland, and cross-contamination of harmless samples with a potentially deadly flu virus had occurred in the CDC’s infectious disease lab. Scientists had been transferring dangerous materials in Ziploc bags and using expired disinfectants. There were accounts of torn gloves, duct tape repairs, keys left in storage locks, unauthorized employees wandering into off-limit areas, and exhaust hoods blowing fumes in the wrong direction.
***
In fact, at least one incident involved bringing in the FBI, which conducted an investigation and then determined the necessary CDC paperwork had not been filed and the missing select agent samples had actually been destroyed. Nevertheless, peppered by questions from the committee, Friedan stated, “The concern for theft is real.”
Comment: GAO, what did this incident involve?
DXer said
Two people in a coffee shop who claimed they had a SCI clearance, in casual conversation, said it was illegal to identify an undercover.
Having lived in Arlington, VA for 15 years, my understanding was that it was illegal to identify a CIA agent acting abroad. (In contrast, for example, you could introduce an intelligence analyst at a party.)
But still without having ever looked up the law — even to this day — my understanding that it would not apply to identifying a federal undercover working an FBI investigation.
Moreover, while the CIA has offices around the country in the US, it is still my understanding that it would be illegal for the CIA to act operationally in the US.
At the very least, they would have to work through a contractor such as Battelle, which handles counterintelligence for bio matters.
All I can say is that any mistakes in my analysis are my own — and that it represents my understanding based on my review of documents.
(I’ve pointed out some minor mistakes that have not been corrected — for example, Royer was not Anwar Awlaki’s driver when he came to visit Ali Al-Timimi; and once I mentioned Lab Notebook 4010 when it likely was a different lab notebook number).
The bottom-line, however, is the work done here exclusively represents my analysis. The take-home is that Al Qaeda had a wealth of potential opportunity to obtain virulent Ames. I can think of a half dozen involving a multitude of different known operatives and acquaintances (e.g., Rauf Ahmad, Aafia Siddiqui, Ali Al-Timimi etc.)
The weakness of the FBI’s theory was to not take into account the uncertainties involving the distribution of Ames — to not recognize that the party guilty of murder or having massive civil liability was being asked to voluntariiy send in the sample.
No one who was not supposed to have it would send it in.
While the graphics represent my analysis, I assure you that the IC knows way more than Vahid Majidi and Scott Decker appear to know.
That’s a real problem in terms of either the compartmentalization of information.– or the misleading spinning of the documentary evidence.
Remember who brought you to the party.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US BIodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
“Are you the next Chuck? Can you handle all the data from the intersect (season1)? Put your skills to test as hundreds of images strobe in-front of your very eyes. Can you handle all the Government secrets in your brain?
Song: Dragonforce – Heroes of our time”
RHE, the Snow White apple pie image is for you.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
NSA Spied On Five Politically Active American Citizens, The Intercept Reports
Posted: 07/09/2014 12:05 am EDT Updated: 07/09/2014 12:59 am EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/09/nsa-glenn-greenwald_n_5545686.html
Meet the Muslim-American Leaders the FBI and NSA Have Been Spying On
By Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain9 Jul 2014, 12:01 AM EDT67
https://firstlook.org/theintercept/article/2014/07/09/under-surveillance/
The spreadsheet shows 7,485 email addresses listed as monitored between 2002 and 2008. Many of the email addresses on the list appear to belong to foreigners whom the government believes are linked to Al Qaeda, Hamas, and Hezbollah. Among the Americans on the list are individuals long accused of terrorist activity, including Anwar al-Awlaki and Samir Khan, who were killed in a 2011 drone strike in Yemen.
But a three-month investigation by The Intercept—including interviews with more than a dozen current and former federal law enforcement officials involved in the FISA process—reveals that in practice, the system for authorizing NSA surveillance affords the government wide latitude in spying on U.S. citizens.
The five Americans whose email accounts were monitored by the NSA and FBI have all led highly public, outwardly exemplary lives. All five vehemently deny any involvement in terrorism or espionage, and none advocates violent jihad or is known to have been implicated in any crime, despite years of intense scrutiny by the government and the press. Some have even climbed the ranks of the U.S. national security and foreign policy establishments.
Glenn Greenwald Suggests There’s A Second NSA Leaker, July 7, 2014
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/07/07/glenn-greenwald-suggests-theres-a-second-nsa-leaker
Comment:
There are no secrets. Theorists thinking about the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings might best stick close to the documentary evidence and other information obtainable under FOIA or from other reliable sources.
If the information turns out to include illegally obtained intercepts, such as in the case of the leaked detainee reports, it still seems an important source of information for the serious researcher.
Those who do not bother to obtain and read the relevant information often are just pursuing a political or other personal agenda and are not engaged in truth-telling.
If a horse puts blinders on informed by their own limited experience, they won’t be able to see what is to the right or left.
The truth in Amerithrax, under any view, relates to reconstructing what happened — not through speculative inferences but through direct evidence.
The most important thing one could do in analysis of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings is to expand BHR’s wonderful list of 15 from 12/2001 to the 20 that the FBI said was known to have virulent Ames.
Under a true crime analysis, distribution of virulent Ames is the most important thing.
Under principles of transparency and government accountability (which include nonproliferation), that should be disclosed.
The task of expanding it accurately through inference rather than direct evidence would be very difficult, if not possible. The thing to do is to press on the point that it should be disclosed under principles of transparency and accountability.
We are talking about events dating back `14 years. I don’t see that any national security or even privacy principles are implicated. Individual names of course can be redacted under (b)(6) .
The FBI urge that their case rests on process of elimination — and so it is just really wrong for the list of 20 to not be disclosed.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Greenwald: Muslim-Americans Are Not the Only Targets of NSA SpyingIn an online discussion, the journalist promises that more leaks about who is targeted by the NSA’s surveillance programs are on the way.
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/greenwald-muslim-americans-are-not-the-only-targets-of-nsa-spying-20140709
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has made another pledge: He’s not done exposing the U.S. government’s spying secrets.
During an “Ask Me Anything” session on reddit, Greenwald and fellow journalist Murtaza Hussain said that Wednesday’s story revealing that the National Security Agency and FBI have targeted prominent Muslim-Americans is not the end of their reporting on Edward Snowden’s year-old leaks.
“I get in trouble every time I talk about our reporting before it’s ready, but suffice to say: Muslims, while the prime target of post-9/11 abuses, are not the only ones targeted by them, and there is definitely more big reporting to come from the Snowden archive,” the pair said in response to a question.
***
In response, the tOffice of the Director of National Intelligence and the Justice Department said in a joint statement that U.S. spy agencies do not “conduct electronic surveillance of political, religious, or activist figures solely because they disagree with public policies or criticize the government, or for exercising constitutional rights.”
DXer said
Report Says FBI, NSA Spied on American Muslims
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/07/09/330214841/report-says-fbi-nsa-spied-on-american-muslims
Reporters Glenn Greenwald and Murtaza Hussain say, in the online news website Intercept, that based on information provided by Edward Snowden they have evidence that the FBI and NSA used covert surveillance on the email accounts of 202 American Muslims.
The five men named in the story include a lawyer, Asim Ghafoor, a GOP operative named Faisal Gill, Rutgers University professor Hooshang Amirahmadi, activist Agha Saeed, and Nihad Awad, the executive director of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, a Muslim civil rights group.
Greenwald and Hussain quote the men as saying they were under NSA surveillance because they were Muslim Americans. The one document cited in the story doesn’t demonstrate that they were in fact being watched because they were Muslim.
Given the information provided so far, in fact one of three things could be going on. Greenwald and Hussain could be right, and the five men are in fact illegitimate targets. (The two authors interview the men and each says there is no reason he ought to be targeted.)
A second possibility is Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court-approved warrants to capture the communications of the five men based on solid evidence that we haven’t seen — so it is impossible to judge whether the surveillance is illegitimate.
Or finally, one or more of the five men they talked to on the list never were targets, but in fact may be on the list for other reasons — such as actually working to help the FBI in a case
The story also doesn’t say whether these were traditional FISA warrants approved by the FISA court or were instead regular Title III wiretaps issued in a criminal case that had some sort of foreign component that needed the FISA court to issue a warrant.
Several of the men had been involved with government investigations, and it is unclear whether those inquiries had anything to do with their inclusion on the list. Lawyer Ghafoor had done legal work for an Islamic charity that was targeted by the Treasury Department for possible terrorist ties. Gill worked for the Department of Homeland Security in the Bush administration, and his name turned up in a national security investigation in 2003. He was later cleared in an inspector general’s report.
Amirahmadi has run for president of Iran. Activist Saeed speculated he might have found himself on the list because he was a friend of a man in South Florida who pleaded guilty to aiding a Palestinian militant group. And finally, CAIR, the Muslim civil liberties organization that Awad directs, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the government’s prosecution of the Holy Land Foundation, once the biggest Islamic charity in the U.S.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration Of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Comment:
I have corresponded with the Al Qaeda anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat, asking him detailed questions about Al Qaeda’s anthrax lab. He didn’t deny responsibility for the anthrax mailings. Although I haven’t studied the statute or cases, if that doesn’t warrant NSA coverage under FISA, I don’t know what does. I would have given my blessing expressly to the NSA as early as December 2001, shortly before Christmas, when I first started following the matter more closely and wrote up my analysis relating to Ayman Zawahiri.
It seems, though, that in going around the go-kart racetrack, the FBI and some postal inspectors — more comfortable reading someone’s FOIA correspondence than their secret ham radio transmissions — got dizzy and pulled off and vomited on FBI Director Mueller’s shoes. Now the FBI WMD head has written an e-book saying that he is confident that his former boss, now the current FBI Director, will cover his back.
GAO, without unduly finding fault, and focusing only on reaching the correct “solve” of the whodunnit, the public needs a re-do where some intelligence analysts light on their feet go around the track without skidding on the twists and turns. We need to bring in the Yellow Streak.
It seems that NSA spying did not help the analysis of the postal inspectors — judging by its publicly stated conclusions — one bit. See August 8, 2008 press conference.
The problem is that Adnan El-Shukrijumah didn’t have to pick up the phone and talk about it to his mom.
Oh, wait. He did call.
DXer says: Adnan El-Shukrijumah is the anthrax mailer … on or about 9/13/2001, he phoned from KSM’s house to tell his mom he was coming to the US
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 6, 2014
DXer said
If the racial and religious profiling allegations prove true, the FBI would not only have broken the law, but it would be guilty of the worst intelligence abuses since the days of COINTELPRO, the covert and occasionally illegal spying programs that targeted American political activists, Vietnam War protesters, civil rights leaders, and even some U.S. government officials for their political associations and views. The ensuing scandal gave birth to the system of privacy laws that govern spying on Americans today.
But the article doesn’t provide that evidence. The spreadsheet came from the seemingly endless trove of classified government documents that Snowden, a former NSA contractor, has provided to reporters, including Greenwald. It apparently doesn’t include the individual applications for warrants that Justice Department attorneys may have submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court before collecting the men’s emails. “It is unclear whether the government obtained any legal permission to monitor the Americans on the list,” wrote Greenwald and his co-author, Murtaza Hussain. And given that any government justification for spying is presumably classified, “it is impossible to know why their emails were monitored, or the extent of the surveillance,” they wrote.
And there’s the rub. Absent the underlying presentations that FBI agents and Justice Department lawyers made to the court or to senior U.S. officials, it’s impossible to know what evidence the government believed justified reading the emails of five U.S. citizens. That doesn’t diminish the significance of the story in one respect: It’s practically unheard of for a target of intelligence surveillance to be publicly identified. Usually, the targets themselves never find out. But without clear evidence that the men were spied on because they’re of Muslim heritage, because they spoke out against government counterterrorism policies, or even because they represented individuals or groups accused of terrorism, as one lawyer did, the tale of the FBI spying is unlikely to provoke outrage on Capitol Hill or lead to any significant changes in U.S. surveillance law.
http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/198-press-releases-2014/1090-joint-statement-by-the-office-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence-and-the-department-of-justice-on-court-ordered-legal-surveillance-of-u-s-persons?highlight=YToxOntpOjA7czoxODoic3VwcHJlc3MgY3JpdGljaXNtIjt9
DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL INTELLIGENCE
WASHINGTON, DC 20511
July 9, 2014
Joint Statement by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the
Department of Justice on Court-ordered Legal Surveillance of U.S. Persons
It is entirely false that U.S. intelligence agencies conduct electronic surveillance of political, religious or activist figures solely because they disagree with public policies or criticize the government, or for exercising constitutional rights.
Unlike some other nations, the United States does not monitor anyone’s communications in order tosuppress criticism or to put people at a disadvantage based on their ethnicity, race, gender, sexual orientation or religion.
Our intelligence agencies help protect America by collecting communications when they have a legitimate foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purpose.
With limited exceptions (for example, in an emergency), our intelligence agencies must have a court order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to target any U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident for electronic surveillance.
These court orders are issued by an independent federal judge only if probable cause, based on specific facts, are established that the person is an agent of a foreign power, a terrorist, a spy, or someone who takes orders from a foreign power.
No U.S. person can be the subject of surveillance based solely on First Amendment activities, such as staging public rallies, organizing campaigns, writing critical essays, or expressing personal beliefs.
On the other hand, a person who the court finds is an agent of a foreign power under this rigorous standard is not exempted just because of his or her occupation.
The United States is as committed to protecting privacy rights and individual freedom as we are to defending our national security.
http://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/198-press-releases-2014/1090-joint-statement-by-the-office-of-the-director-of-national-intelligence-and-the-department-of-justice-on-court-ordered-legal-surveillance-of-u-s-persons?highlight=YToxOntpOjA7czoxODoic3VwcHJlc3MgY3JpdGljaXNtIjt9
There is an ice cream flavor idea contest at the local favorite ice cream parlor of the former NSA head. In his honor, I submitted a rasberry/lemon flavor.
It’s a winner.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Man convicted on terror charges files appeal
By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press
Updated 8:46 am, Sunday, July 6, 2014
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/crime/article/Man-convicted-on-terror-charges-files-appeal-5602620.php
Comment: It helps in understanding today’s news about this terror appeal the informant’s claim that Zawahiri visited in Lodi — a claim that is sharply disputed (though the same sources do not dispute he visited elsewhere on other occasions).
In his US travels, Dr. Ayman Zawahiri was accompanied by a US doctor, Dr. Zaki, a Cairo Medical alum, and Ali Mohammed, who trained Dahab, a Cairo Medical dropout, to make lethal letters. In December 2001, I had urged the CIA to consider where Dr. Ayman Zawahiri had visited in his travels.
Dahab had been recruited by Ali Mohammed while at Cairo Medical. Ali Mohammed variously worked for the CIA, FBI and US Army.
The district court has directed the government to respond 116-page brief filed by the legal team lead by Dennis Riordan.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
SACRAMENTO / Informant says al-Zawahiri visited Lodi in late ’90s / He testifies that al Qaeda’s No. 2 official went to community’s mosque several times, but doubts raised whether that could be true
Demian Bulwa, Chronicle Staff Writer
Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, March 14, 2006
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/SACRAMENTO-Informant-says-al-Zawahiri-visited-2502175.php
An FBI informant testified Monday in a federal terrorism trial that Osama bin Laden’s chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, spent time in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and frequented the community’s mosque, a claim that a defense attorney described as outlandish.
The Chronicle has reported that al-Zawahiri, who is suspected of involvement in a number of crimes including the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, appears to have visited Bay Area mosques in the late 1980s or 1990s, raising money while traveling under a fake name. But he has not been linked to Lodi or to such recent visits.
The FBI informant, Naseem Khan, 32, is the key witness against Hamid Hayat, a 23-year-old Lodi man accused of supporting terrorism by attending a training camp in Pakistan in 2003. Hayat is on trial in the U.S. District Court in Sacramento along with his father, who is charged with lying about his son’s alleged camp attendance.
Khan, a fast-food worker and a native of Pakistan, was approached by the FBI soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to investigate alleged terrorist activity in Lodi — where Khan lived in the late 1990s before moving to Oregon. After taking the paid job, Khan befriended Hayat in the summer of 2002 and began to secretly record their conversations.
Khan testified that he was initially approached at his Oregon home by FBI agents who asked about Osama bin Laden. Khan said that his television was on during the visit and he recognized al-Zawahiri in a broadcast about the World Trade Center attacks. He said he had not previously made the connection between al Qaeda’s second-in-command and the person he saw in Lodi.
Khan testified that he saw al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor, in Lodi but never had a conversation with him, according to the Sacramento Bee. “Every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahiri) would be coming or going,” Khan said, according to the Bee.
FBI Agent Karen Ernst, a spokeswoman for the agency in Sacramento, declined to comment Monday on the testimony.
Hayat’s attorney, Wazhma Mojaddidi, said Monday that al-Zawahiri was “definitely not in Lodi in 1998 or 1999.” She added, “We believe Naseem Khan told the story because he was interested in securing a job with the FBI.” She has portrayed Khan as an instigator who posed as a would-be holy warrior in an effort to elicit incriminating statements.
Ali Zaki, a Silicon Valley physician and civic leader, said Monday that he had been duped into accompanying al-Zawahiri when he visited the Bay Area between 1989 and 1991, raising money while hiding his true name and purpose. Zaki has said he thought he was aiding a charitable cause. Told of Khan’s testimony, Zaki said, “That’s not true. That’s impossible.”
The Chronicle, relying on accounts from a pair of confessed members of a Silicon Valley terrorist cell, reported in October 2001 that al-Zawahiri may have visited the United States on covert, coast-to-coast fundraising trips, visiting mosques in Santa Clara, Stockton and Sacramento while using a stolen passport.
One of the terrorist operatives, Ali Mohamed, testified in federal court in New York that he twice brought al-Zawahiri to the United States in the 1990s to raise money for Islamic Jihad. The second operative, Abu al-Dahab, reportedly told Egyptian authorities that he and Mohamed had brought al-Zawahiri to California in 1995 to raise money. Parts of the accounts, though, were murky.
The trials of Hamid Hayat and his father, which continue today, have revolved around videotaped confessions they gave to FBI agents last June after the younger man returned from a two-year visit to Pakistan. Hayat said he attended a training camp but provided conflicting details and some answers that were suggested by agents. His attorney said he did not go to camp but lied in a misguided attempt to be helpful.
His father, Umer Hayat, 48, said he visited the same training camp in late 2004 out of curiosity. However, he provided details that were at odds with his son’s account of a small camp in a field. The father said he witnessed more than a thousand men from around the world wearing ninja masks, firing machine guns, swinging swords and learning to pole vault in a giant basement.
The prosecution is relying on Khan to corroborate the confessions. Hamid Hayat told him he planned to go to a camp, though he never said he had gone.
Khan also taped conversations with two Lodi religious leaders from Pakistan who were detained in the probe. Both agreed to be deported rather than fight immigration charges. It remains unclear why the probe in Lodi was launched, or whether Khan’s revelation about al-Zawahiri had anything to do with it.
DXer said
Informant: Zawahiri Attended Lodi Mosque
Published March 14, 2006Associated PressFacebook0 Twitter0 livefyre0
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2006/03/14/informant-zawahiri-attended-lodi-mosque/
SACRAMENTO, Calif. – An FBI informant testified Monday that a top Al Qaeda official lived in California’s Central Valley in the years before the 2001 terrorist attacks, but the statements were attacked immediately as unreliable.
The testimony came during an ongoing terrorism-related trial involving a father and son from Lodi, an agricultural town about 35 miles south of Sacramento.
The government informant, Naseem Khan, testified that he often saw Ayman Al-Zawahiri, Usama bin Laden’s physician and top deputy, attending a mosque in Lodi in 1998 and 1999. Khan was living there at the time.
“Every time I would go to the mosque, (Al-Zawahiri) would be coming or going,” Khan testified, according to a story posted Monday on The Sacramento Bee’s Web site. “He would quietly come to the mosque and leave.”
Prosecutors offered the testimony to show why the FBI began investigating Lodi’s Islamic community. The agency recruited Khan in December 2001, and he initially focused his undercover efforts on two Muslim clerics.
***
Khan’s testimony was discounted immediately outside court by law enforcement officials, Lodi residents and defense attorneys representing the two men on trial.
“It’s outrageous,” said Wazhma Mojaddidi, Hamid Hayat’s attorney. “He (al-Zawahri) never lived in Lodi.”
Nasim Khan, no relation to the FBI informant, was the mosque’s president from 1998 to 2000 and said al-Zawahri never attended. He and Mojaddidi both noted that al-Zawahri, an Egyptian, would have been noticed in the largely Pakistani community.
Al-Zawahiri is known to have traveled to the United States in the years before the terrorist attacks, as did members of the Taliban. Federal officials and news accounts say he passed through northern California on fundraising missions during the late 1980s and early 1990s, travels that included visits to mosques in the San Francisco Bay area, Stockton and Sacramento.
He may have lived in the Sacramento area for an undetermined period in or around 1995 while visiting area mosques, according to an FBI agent in Washington, D.C., who spoke Monday on condition he not be named.
After August 1998, U.S. authorities were aggressively seeking al-Zawahiri and bin Laden in connection with the U.S. Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya that killed more than 200 people, including 12 Americans. Al-Zawahiri headed the Egyptian Islamic Jihad until it merged with bin Laden’s Al Qaeda in 1998.
Naseem Khan, 32, was working in a convenience store in Bend, Ore., when he was recruited by the FBI.
Zawahiri and Mohammed Islambouli (brother of Sadat’s assassin) personally visited Adnan El-Shukrijumah’s Brooklyn, NY mosque, Al-Farouq
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 7, 2013
DXer says: Adnan El-Shukrijumah is the anthrax mailer … on or about 9/13/2001, he phoned from KSM’s house to tell his mom he was coming to the US
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 6, 2014
DXer said
Alan Cullison’s amazing “Inside Al Qaeda’s Hard Drive” and the contents of Zawahiri’s computer can be a useful start in establishing Dr. Ayman Zawahiir’s whereabouts in the first quarter of 1999 — and attempting to establish through documentary evidence that he was not in Lodi.
Offhand, for example, I remember the April 15, 1999 memo he wrote on biological weapons.
I have never seen any corroboration that Dr. Zawahiri came to the US in late 1998 and 1999. I suspect that from the detailed contents of his computer in late 1998 and/or early 1999 there is documentary evidence establishing his presencei in Afghanistan on particular dates.
Instead, on a different subject, I have always been keenly interested in the identity of the representative from Saudi Arabia that the President in December 1998 told President Clinton was planning to come to the US to plan attacks on the US.
DXer: The Blind Sheik’s Lawyer Montasser Al-Zayat Announced In 1999 That Ayman Zawahiri Would Use Anthrax Against US Targets To Retaliate For Imprisonment Of Senior EIJ Leaders, Most Notably Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 3, 2013
from DXer … email from Ayman al-Zawahiri to Muhammed Atef … April 15, 1999
Posted by Lew Weinstein on March 8, 2010
see also
DXer: With Bin Laden’s death, it is important to understand Dr. Ayman Zawahiri
Posted by Lew Weinstein on May 2, 2011
Excerpt:
“In the mid-1990s, Al-Zawahiri sought to coordinate the activities of the various Islamic terrorist movements to carry out sabotage activities against the United States. A series of meetings included representatives of Hamas and Hezbollah. In a meeting held in Khartoum in April 1995, one direction Al-Zawahiri charted was to develop the effectiveness of the Islamic networks in London and New York, especially Brooklyn, where he visited the Blind Sheik’s Services Organization.
Zawahiri visited the US in 1995 and visited mosques with Ali Mohammed and San Jose physician Ali Zaki. Apparently, however, it was the planned visit by a representative from Saudi Arabia sent by Mohammed Islambouli several years later that more recently that may had lay groundwork for the planned attacks using aircraft and other means. The planned visit was the subject of the CIA’s December 4, 1998 Presidential Daily Brief to President Clinton.
Islambouli, brother of Sadat’s assassin, was in a cell with KSM, who upon Atef’s death assumed leadership of the cell planning to attack the US with weaponized anthrax. Islambouli was head of the blind sheik’s Services Organization in Peshawar. In addition to his numerous videotaped messages and his October 2001 book “Knights Under the Banner of the Prophet,” Zawahiri announced in 2007 that Islambouli was head of the Islamic Group members who had joined Al Qaeda. Islambouli may know the identity of the anthrax mailer even though KSM does not.
George Mason University microbiology grad student Al-Timimi years later would invoke both Sayyid Qutb and Ibn Taymiyah in an eloquent speech upon his indictment for sedition. Muhammad Qutb spoke alongside GMU microbiology graduate Al-Timimi at the 1993 conference along with the blind sheik’s son Mohammad Abdel-Rahman (from Afghanistan). Former EIJ member and current Cairo activist Gamal Sultan was also a speaker. Al-Hawali was Al-Timimi’s religious mentor at university.
A Dr. “Tawfik” Hamid advises me that while at Cairo Medical School he was recruited by Dr. Ayman. The first name “Tawfik” is an alias used for security reasons — but this man has the courage to state the truth and urge nonviolence.
Dr. Hamid met Zawahiri, “Dr. Ayman” as he was known, at an afternoon prayer session. He was one of the fiercest speakers he had ever heard. Ayman fervently condemned the West for the freedom of its women. Dr. Ayman, Dr. Hamid explains, was exceptionally bright, one of the top postgraduate students in the medical school. When they met him, Zawahiri greeted him warmly through his coke bottle glasses.
Dr. Hamid explains that one of Ayman’s achievements was to personalize jihad—that is, to have transformed it from a responsibility of the Umma, the Islamic collective, to an individual duty of Muslims. Within several months of meeting Dr. Ayman, he was invited to travel to Afghanistan to join other young Muslims in training for jihad. It was fairly common, he said, to be recruited after the end of Friday prayers. Dr. Hamid explains: “We viewed both the Soviets and the Americans as enemies.” “The Soviets were considered infidels because they did not believe in the existence of God, while the Americans did not follow Islam. Although we planned to fight the Soviets first, our ultimate objective was to destroy the United States—the greatest symbol of the infidel’s freedom. ” Dr. Hamid told me that his brother, CAIR-St. Louis — who had lived in Ann Arbor in 2001 — will not talk to him given his consultation with US government intelligence agencies.
A childhood friend of the Hamid brothers, Dr. Tarek Hamouda, had been supplied virulent Ames by Bruce Ivins. I had called Dr. Hamid because I was curious if Dr. Hamouda knew Dr. Ayman or had been taught by his sister, microbiology professor Heba Zawahiri.
Dr. “Tawfik” Hamid told me that when he called Dr. Hamouda once from abroad to ask him about patents (before 911), Dr. Hamouda said it was all in the marketing.”
DXer said
In the DC area, there used to be a book store that sold only spy books. It was great fun. You needed to be buzzed in.
The story not yet written in Amerithrax is that the top DIA biothreat person, Ames researcher Charles Bailey, shared a suite with the leading Salafist end-of-times preacher in the U.S., Ali Al-Timimi. The former top Russian bio person, inventor of the Alibekov formula, was also in the same suite. Bailey and Alibek had the largest DARPA bio grant in history.
In its investigation, the FBI settled on the fellow who had panties stained with semen in his garbage.
A key source of information supporting an “Ivins Theory” was the counselor who thought she was controlled by an alien (of the Mars kind). The counselor says she received her instructions each night from her alien controller who she thought had implanted a microchip in her butt (see her 2009 book). The counselor thought murderous astral entities attached to her clients in her new part-time counseling gig (like Bruce Ivins) were trying to murder her. In her 2009 book, the former part-time addictions counselor says she was protected from a diagnosis of being psychotic by her husband, who was in military personnel.
Amerithrax represents the greatest failure in counterintelligence analysis in the history of the United States.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US BIodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
It would take a counterintelligence analyst well-read into the history of spying to solve Amerithrax.
True Believer: Inside the Investigation and Capture of Ana Montes, Cuba’s Master Spy Hardcover – March 3, 2007
by Scott W. Carmichael
Spy Who Got Away Hardcover – May 12, 1988
by David Wise (Author)
The Main Enemy: The Inside Story of the CIA’s Final Showdown with the KGB Mass Market Paperback – August 31, 2004
by Milton Bearden (Author), James Risen
Thwarting Enemies at Home and Abroad…
William R. Johnson, William Hood
Traitors Among Us: Inside the Spy…
Stuart A. Herrington
DXer said
Jim Popkin was one of my favorite reporters covering Amerithrax. At the time of the William Berry search, for example, he immediately knew that the FBI didn’t believe the theory and was just winnowing the possibilities.
Over a year ago, he wrote on the Ana Montes case.
Some day it will be a Barton Gellman or Jim Popkin type that unravels Amerithrax.
But just as a nub of the Montes case was finding the Toshiba laptop, the mystery of Amerithrax awaits a similar breakthrough.
For now, there are only unanswered questions:
What did Al Qaeda anthrax lab head Yazid Sufaat discuss at the meeting in Kandahar with Adnan El-Shukrijumah and KSM before Adnan set off to return to the United States shortly after 9/11?
Posted by Lew Weinstein on June 7, 2013
Anthrax, Al Qaeda and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US BIodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
“Ana Montes did much harm spying for Cuba. Chances are, you haven’t heard of her,” Washington Post, April 18, 2013
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/feature/wp/2013/04/18/ana-montes-did-much-harm-spying-for-cuba-chances-are-you-havent-heard-of-her/
“Montes excelled at the DOJ’s Office of Privacy and Information Appeals. Less than a year later, after an FBI background check, the Department of Justice granted Montes top-secret security clearance. She could now review some of the DOJ’s most sensitive files.”
***
“Montes must have seemed a godsend. She was a leftist with a soft spot for bullied nations. She was bilingual and had dazzled her DOJ supervisors with her ambition and smarts. But most important, she had top-secret security clearance and was on the inside. “I hadn’t thought about actually doing anything until I was propositioned,” Montes would later admit to investigators. The Cubans, she revealed, “tried to appeal to my conviction that what I was doing was right.”
“CIA analysts interpret the recruitment a bit more darkly. Montes was manipulated into believing that Cuba desperately needed her help, “empowering her and stroking her narcissism,” the CIA wrote. The Cubans started slowly, asking for translations and bits of harmless intel that might assist the Sandinistas, her pet cause. “Her handlers, with her unwitting assistance, assessed her vulnerabilities and exploited her psychological needs, ideology, and personality pathology to recruit her and keep her motivated to work for Havana,” the CIA concluded.”
“Montes secretly visited Cuba in 1985 and then, as instructed, began applying for government positions that would grant her greater access to classified information. She accepted a job at the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Pentagon’s major producer of foreign military intelligence.”
***
“For the next 16 years, Ana Montes excelled — in both Washington and Havana. Hired by the DIA as an entry-level research specialist, she was promoted again and again. Montes quickly became DIA’s principal analyst for El Salvador and Nicaragua, and later was named the DIA’s top political and military analyst for Cuba. In the intelligence community and at DIA headquarters, Montes became known as “the Queen of Cuba.” Not only was she one of the U.S. government’s shrewdest interpreters of Cuban military affairs — hardly surprising, given her inside knowledge — but she also proved adept at shaping (and often softening) U.S. policy toward the island nation.”
“She became a model of efficiency, a warrior monk embedded deep within the bureaucracy. From cubicle C6-146A at DIA headquarters at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, she gained access to hundreds of thousands of classified documents, typically taking lunch at her desk absorbed in quiet memorization of page after page of the latest briefings. Colleagues recall that she could be playful and charming, especially with bosses or when trying to talk her way into a classified briefing.”
***
“Her tradecraft was classic. In Havana, agents with the Cuban intelligence service taught Montes how to slip packages to agents innocuously, how to communicate safely in code and how to disappear if needed. They even taught Montes how to fake her way through a polygraph test. She later told investigators it involves the strategic tensing of the sphincter muscles. It’s unknown if the ploy worked, but Montes did pass a DIA-administered polygraph in 1994, after a decade of spying.”
***
“Montes got most of her orders the same way spies have since the Cold War: through numeric messages transmitted anonymously over shortwave radio. She would tune a Sony radio to AM frequency 7887 kHz, then wait for the “numbers station” broadcast to begin. A female voice would cut through the otherworldly static, declaring, “Atención! Atención!” then spew out 150 numbers into the night. “Tres-cero-uno-cero-siete, dos-cuatro-seis-dos-cuatro,” the voice would drone. Montes would key the digits into her computer, and a Cuban-installed decryption program would convert the numbers into Spanish-language text.”
“Montes’s pager codes and shortwave-radio notes, for example, were written on specially treated paper. “The frequencies and the cheat sheet for the numbers, that was all on water-soluble paper,” explained the FBI’s Pete Lapp, one of two top agents on the case. “You throw it in the toilet, and it evaporates.””
***
“Round-faced and often stuffed uncomfortably in size 44 suits from Macy’s, Carmichael defies the stereotype of the sophisticated, Georgetown-trained mole hunter. He laughingly describes himself as “a Kmart security guard,” but for the past quarter-century the former cop from Wisconsin’s dairy belt has hunted spies for the DIA.
In September 2000, Carmichael got a hot lead. Veteran DIA counterintelligence analyst Chris Simmons had been approached by a female intelligence officer. She had risked her career to inform Simmons that the FBI had spent two years fruitlessly trying to identify a U.S. government employee who appeared to be spying for the Cubans. It was an “UNSUB” case, meaning a search for an unidentified subject. The FBI knew that the UNSUB had high-level access to U.S. intelligence on Cuba, had purchased a Toshiba laptop to communicate with Havana and a few other tidbits. But with so few details, the FBI investigation had stalled.
Carmichael got to work. ”
***
“After nine weeks, Carmichael’s relentless campaign paid off. McCoy was sold and persuaded headquarters to open a full investigation. “The bureau got really lucky when the DIA came to us with Montes as a suspect,” said Pete Lapp, McCoy’s partner on the case. Despite their differences, McCoy says Carmichael deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his tenacity: “He broke the case. He gave us our subject,” and “from that point on, the FBI made the case.”
Once the FBI was fully engaged, it assigned more than 50 people to work the investigation and won permission from a skeptical Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge to conduct surreptitious searches of Montes’s apartment, car and office. FBI operatives tailed Montes and filmed her making suspicious calls on pay phones. Lapp used a national security letter, a form of administrative subpoena, to gain unfettered access to Montes’s credit records. Montes, he learned, had applied for a line of credit in 1996 at a CompUSA store in Alexandria. Her purchase? The same model of Toshiba laptop that the FBI had learned about from its original source when it began its UNSUB investigation. “It was awesome, it was awesome,” Lapp recalls. “This was regular old detective work.” ”
***
“On May 25, 2001, Lapp and a small team of black-bag specialists slipped inside Apartment 20. Montes was out of town with Corneretto, and the FBI searched her closets and laundry bins, paged through shelves of neatly stacked books and photographed personal papers. They spotted a cardboard box in the bedroom and carefully opened it. Inside was a Sony shortwave radio. Good start, Lapp thought. Next, techs found a Toshiba laptop. They copied the hard drive, shut down the computer and were gone.
Several days later, a secure fax machine at the Washington field office began churning out the translated contents of the hard drive. “That was kind of our eureka moment,” Lapp said.
The documents, which Montes had tried to delete, included instructions on how to translate numbers-station broadcasts and other Spy 101 tips. One file mentioned the true last name of a U.S. intelligence officer who had been operating undercover in Cuba. Montes had revealed the agent’s identity to the Cubans, and her Cuban intelligence officer thanked her by noting, “We were waiting here for him with open arms.””
“But the FBI needed more. It wanted the crypto codes that it was certain Montes carried in her purse. It fell to Carmichael to design a plan so Montes would abandon her pocketbook in her office. As described in Carmichael’s 2007 book, “True Believer,” the elaborate stunt included a bogus software glitch and a phony invitation to speak at a meeting just one floor away. The conference-room location was close enough Montes might not bring her pocketbook, and the meeting was kept short enough that she wouldn’t need her purse to buy lunch afterward.”
***
“Without any eyes-on evidence of a dead drop of classified documents, though, the FBI worried that Montes would be able to plea-bargain her way out of trouble. But they were out of time. Hijacked planes had just slammed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, and overnight the DIA was on a war footing. Montes was named an acting division chief, based on her seniority. Making matters worse, DIA supervisors who were ignorant of the investigation had selected Montes as a team leader to process target lists for Afghanistan. Wilson, the DIA director, had demanded strict operational security regarding Montes. But now he wanted her out of the way. Cuba had a long history of selling secrets to the United States’ enemies. If Montes obtained the Pentagon’s war plan for Afghanistan, DIA officials worried, the Cubans would eagerly pass the information to the Taliban.”
DXer said
DXer said
(cont).
-sition to know. “Could be four or five people like in the World Trade Center.” He continued: “I’ll tell you something. When the World Trade Center occurred here, the American government released a list. 173 names. And they called them coconspirators of people who were living in this country, and people living abroad. 173 names. So, let’s not just jump to conclusions because the American government, you know, released a name that he must be a part of it. 173.”
Sattar also put another islamist lawyer in touch with Islamic Group leader Taha. Attorney Saad Hasaballah announced a proposed cease-fire by some members of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, following the example of Egyptian Islamic Group two years earlier. The attorney, like Montasser Al-Zayat, had represented defendants in the Albanian Returnees trial resulting in the sentences in March 1999. The attorney for imprisoned EIJ leaders made the announcement along with an EIJ leader Osma Ayoub Sidiq, who was living in Germany.
Before 2000, Mr. Sattar seemed to stay aloof from the group’s internal feuds, simply connecting phone calls among its members after finishing his work at the post office. But he began to change in June of that year after Mr. Abdel Rahman issued a statement, announced by Attorney Stewart in a press release in defiance of formal prison restrictions on communication. The Blind Sheik withdrew his support for the cease-fire. Sattar rushed the news of the cleric’s new view in calls to Islamic Group members overseas. Islamic Group military leader Hamza, who was in Afghanistan at the time as was Taha, protested the sheik’s change and pleaded with Mr. Sattar not to release it to the press.
The federal prosecutor explained in his opening argument before the jury: “[A]ll the secret messages back and forth between Abdel Rahman and his terrorist network culminate in the spring of 2000, when a public announcement is made by Abdel Rahman, courtesy of these defendants, saying that Abdel Rahman no longer supported a cease fire by this terrorist organization, the cessation of terrorist violence between his organization and the Egyptian government. In essence, these defendants helped Abdel Rahman break out of jail to inspire his terrorist group to return to terrorism. They allowed Abdel Rahman to tell his followers, ‘Fire.'”
After the press release by Attorney Stewart announcing the blind sheik’s new position, Mr. Sattar set up conference calls and then remained on the line while Mr. Hashim spoke from Egypt and Mr. Taha spoke from Afghanistan argued angrily. Mr. Taha said the Egyptian government of President Hosni Mubarak “must be removed, and will not be removed except by using armed force.” “We are in a difficult stage; we can’t use force at all,” Mr. Hashim insisted. Many hundreds of IG members were still in jail and negotiations were underway with the government for their release.
At the time of these exchanges, Taha appeared with Bin Laden on a videotape that was broadcast on September 21, 2000, by Al Jazeera. They called for violent worldwide jihad to free Mr. Abdel Rahman from jail. A couple days later Mr. Taha called Mr. Sattar to get his reaction. “The words caused such an impact,” Mr. Sattar exclaimed.
In late September 2000, during an upsurge of violence between Israelis and Palestinians, Sattar came home from the post office each day, immediately going to monitor Arab news Web sites and television. The images all look to him like Israeli attacks on innocent Palestinian civilians, according to the transcripts. “Animals, animals, I swear by God the Almighty,” Mr. Sattar said, referring to the Israelis. When Mr. Taha called, Mr. Sattar urged him to compose a religious decree that they could attribute to the sheik. Later he edited Mr. Taha’s draft. “Kill the Jews wherever they are found,” it says. On the day after the fatwah was published Sattar read a newspaper article to Taha. That article identified a man named Atia as the leader of the Islamic Group military wing in Egypt. Taha commented to Sattar that the writer of the article had really good information. Three days later, Taha called Sattar and told Sattar that he should contact Atia and tell them about the fatwah they had issued, the one demanding the murder of the Jews. Sattar agreed to do so and called Atia in early October 2000.
In his opening argument, the federal prosecutor explained: “Using the pretext of attorney-client visits and telephone calls, these defendants were able to break Abdel Rahman’s message of terror out of jail and deliver it to the very people who never should have heard it, other terrorists who still walk the streets and were still able to follow his instructions.” Separately, Taha wrote a legal justification for killing innocents and Sattar had a copy of the book.
Sattar helped Islamic Group leader Taha, who was in Afghanistan with the IG military commander Mustafa Hamza, compose a religious edict and release it under the sheik Abdel-Rahman’s name. He arranged for it to be uploaded to the internet and released to the press. He coordinated with Vanguards of Conquest spokesman Yasir Al-Sirri, based in London. Sattar says he was moved to order the killing of jews after the visit of Ariel Sharon to the site of the Al Aqsa mosque in September 2000. At trial, he lamented Mr. Sharon’s visit as a “violation of that holy place.” His fatwa urged young Muslims to fight Jews “by all possible means of jihad, either by killing them as individuals or by targeting their interests and their advocates, as much as they can.” The blind sheik did not see the fatwa issued in his name until the next week but approved it after the fact. The sheik had signed a power of attorney for Mr. Sattar and trusted his judgment completely.
There were about 90,000 intercepted conversations from Sattar’s home phone made between March 1995 and March 2002, as part of a federal foreign intelligence investigation. The Assistant United States Attorney explained at trial that the “criminal investigation and any consideration of charges were put on hold due to a fear that the criminal investigation could possibly blow the intelligence investigation.” The coincidence that anthrax would be delivered by a postal worker, however, likely did not go unnoticed by those pursuing the theory that US-based supporters of Al Qaeda were responsible for the anthrax mailings. Sattar put Taha in direct contact with the head of the Islamic Group in Egypt, Atia, who was hiding in southern Egypt. On October 11, 2000 Sattar told Taha that he had spoken with Atia. He told Taha that he believed that Atia was eager ready and able “to do things,” and that he had to warn Atia repeatedly during their telephone call that his telephone was “not safe.” Atia then was killed in a raid a week later. In early November, Taha gave Sattar the news that Atia had been killed. Taha in the calls set up by Sattar was urging Atia to conduct operations. Then Atia was caught and killed. Sattar said at the time: “I feel guilty, guilty. I am telling you I suspect it is 90 percent my phone.” The expert on functionalized polymers, Magdy al-Nashar, was connected to the people who did Luxor, according to the biochemist’s brother. Al-Nashar arranged for the London flat used by the 7/7 bombers is represented by Mamdouh Ismail (allegedly Zawahiri’s chief conduit to jihadis). Sattar said at the time
The Washington Post reported in May 2002 that investigators had heard a summer 2001 conversation about a letter of introduction from Al-Sirri relied upon by the two who concealed a bomb in a camera that purportedly was going to film Northern Alliance leader. Massoud was killed two days before 9/11. A draft of the letter was found on Ayman’s computer in Kabul. Perhaps Taha wrote the letter on the computer in Ayman’s office after a conference call with Sattar and Al-Sirri. Britain has a very lengthy and inefficient extradition process — the original request has been withdrawn and the US now renewed its request Al-Sirri be transferred to the US under the new treaty.
On October 25, 2000, Taha told Sattar that an Egyptian male was involved in the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole and that Sattar should help in delivering a message to the US government suggesting that similar attacks would occur unless Abdel Rahman were freed.
If we do not learn from history, we are bound to repeat it. If the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Central Intelligence Agency and Postal Inspectors failed to catch the Amerithrax killer(s), then the Defense Intelligence Agency should succeed where the other agencies failed. Our troops depend on the DIA to keep them safe. If the DIA isn’t up to the challenge of dealing with the conclusion of bureaucrats at a Department of Justice where some in the investigation were overtaken by a CYA mode, then how will they prove themselves a match for Zawahiri?
If DIA in turn fails, then it is up to NCIS, whose mission is to protect the men and women serving on our ships. The slogan of the good ship Accoceek was “Nothing’s impossible. Just difficult.”
Of course, if Gibbs turns out to be a fiction, then call Abby and McGeek. Call on the GAO.
DXer said
DXer said
(cont.)
webmaster once said that the FBI allowed it to remain up (while it moved from server to server) for another year hoping to get leads on supporters.
Even Zarqawi invoked the imagery in a 60-minute audio message:
“The martyrs rejoice in the bounty provided by God. Their souls are inside the bodies of green birds that fly in heaven.”
Bin Laden was using “Green Birds” in the same way he used the repeated phrase “Looming Tower” to hint of what was to come with the planes attack on the World Trade Center. He would say:
“Wherever you are, death will find you,
even in the looming tower.”
In a prerecorded tape aired October 7, 2001, at the time of the anthrax mailing to the Senators, Bin Laden said “The winds of faith have come.”
An advertisement for “In The Hearts of Green Birds” sold by Al Qaeda’s website read: “In the Summer of 1996, Azzam Recordings released the first audio tape of its kind to be produced in English. The name of this tape was: ‘In the Hearts of Green Birds.’ It outlined some of the stories of these men. This tape was so successful, that it spread, by the Will of Allah, throughout many Muslim homes in the UK, North America and Australia. Due to popular demand, in the Summer of 1997, Azzam Recordings produced the sequel to this tape: ‘Under the Shades of Swords.’ We ask Allah to accept the Shuhadaa’ and shower His Mercy upon them.” (It appeared in the 21st issue of Nida’ul Islam magazine (http://www.islam.org.au), December-January 1997- 1998). The Virginia Paintball defendants really liked videos like “In the Hearts of Green Birds” and “Russian Hell” and found them inspirational.
In July 2002, the President of the Help The Needy (a medical technologist who was president in name only) posted a story titled: “Raising Mujaahideen” on an Islamway bulletin board (noted to be an IANA subsidiary) which invoked the “green bird” imagery. On 9/11, under the screen name islam_1981, she had posted an IANA announcement deploring the unfair suspicion fundamentalists might come over. Soon afterward, she posted an explanation that killing civilians was absolutely forbidden by the koran and that upon acceptance of a visa (and accepted in the country as a guest) a person is forbidden from attacking his host. In July 2002, however, she posted a story titled “Raising Mujaahideen” that (apparently consistent with the earlier posts) celebrated raising children to be martyrs — in the story the martyr’s “soul gently leaves his body to reside in the heart of a green bird in Jannah.” These positions were the same as Al-Timimi’s position. She was President and the Vice-President was Idris Palmer of Northern Virginia, who had co-founded the Society for the Adherence of the Sunnah with Ali Al-Timimi.
“Greendale School”
”Greendale School” is the return address of the anthrax letters to Senators Daschle and Leahy. In December 2002, the Arabic paper London Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that correspondence on Zawahiri’s computer (which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal) shows Zawahiri uses “school” as code for Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The letter was found on Al Zawahiri’s computer. The letter was designed to look innocent. It was dated 3 May 2001 and signed “Dr. Nour, Chairman of the Company.” Nour is one of Zawahiri’s aliases. In this context, it was Egyptian Islamic Jihad, not Al Qaeda, of which he was Chairman.
“We have been trying to go back to our main, previous activities. The most important step was the opening of the school. We have made it possible for the teachers to find openings for profitable trade.”
The letter read:
“To: Unknown
From: Ayman al-Zawahiri
Folder: Letters
Date: May 3, 2001
The following is a summary of our situation: We are trying to return to our previous main activity. The most important step was starting the school, the programs of which have been started. We also provided the teachers with means of conducting profitable trade as much as we could. Matters are all promising, except for the unfriendliness of two teachers, despite what we have provided for them. We are patient. [This refers to an internal dispute with two senior London Egyptian islamists].
As you know, the situation below in the village [Egypt] has become bad for traders [jihadis]. Our Upper Egyptian relatives have left the market, and we are suffering from international monopolies. Conflicts take place between us for trivial reasons, due to the scarcity of resources. We are also dispersed over various cities. However, God had mercy on us when the Omar Brothers Company [the Taliban] here opened the market for traders and provided them with an opportunity to reorganize, may God reward them. Among the benefits of residence here is that traders from all over gather in one place under one company, which increases familiarity and cooperation among them, particularly between us and the Abdullah Contracting Company [bin Laden and his associates]. The latest result of this cooperation is the offer they gave. Following is a summary of the offer: Encourage commercial activities [jihad] in the village to face foreign investors; stimulate publicity; then agree on joint work to unify trade in our area. Close relations allowed for an open dialogue to solve our problems. Colleagues here believe that this is an excellent opportunity to encourage sales in general, and in the village in particular. They are keen on the success of the project. They are also hopeful that this may be a way out of the bottleneck to transfer our activities to the stage of multinationals and joint profit. We are negotiating the details with both sides.”
The full message, decoded, is thought to say:
“We have been trying to go back to our military activities. The most important step was the declaration of unity with al-Qaeda. We have made it possible for the mujahideen to find an opening for martyrdom. As you know, the situation down in Egypt has become bad for the mujahideen: our members in Upper Egypt have abandoned military action, and we are suffering from international harassment.”
“But Allah enlightened us with His mercy when Taliban came to power. It has opened doors of military action for our mujahideen and provided them with an opportunity to rearrange their forces. One benefit of performing jihad here is the congregation in one place of all mujahideen who came from everywhere and began working with the Islamic Jihad Organization. Acquaintance and cooperation have grown, especially between us and al-Qaeda.”
In December 2002, the Arabic paper London Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported that correspondence on Zawahiri’s computer (which was obtained by the Wall Street Journal) shows Zawahiri uses “school” as code for “Al Qaeda.”
Dr. Jean Rosenfeld, a researcher associated with the UCLA Center for the Study of Religion, and an expert on the symbolism of religious extremist movements, wrote me: “Greendale’ to me signified a conscious choice to use the symbolic color of Islam.” She continued: “The franked eagle on the envelope of the anthrax letters was identical to the one I caught on a documentary that showed a one-second shot of the site where Sadat was assassinated –- the huge eagle above the podium where he was when he died. That assassination was of great significance to Egyptian Jihad and produced the pamphlet by Faraj that justifies “fard ‘ayn”/individual duty as the basis of jihadist doctrine.” She explained that Al Qaeda “is rooted in Egypt and Salafism, not Saudi Arabia and Wahhabism. Al-Zawahiri, I believe, is intensely nostalgic for the Nile Valley.”
The CIA factbook explains that the color green — such as used by anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat in naming his lab “Green Laboratory Medicine,” and by the mailer who used the return address “Greendale School” – is the traditional color of islam. Green symbolizes islam, Mohammed and the holy war. In its section on Saudi Arabia, and the “Flag Description,” the CIA “Factbook” explains that the flag is “green with large white Arabic script (that may be translated as There is no God but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God) above a white horizontal saber (the tip points to the hoist side); green is the traditional color of Islam.”
An intelligence document first released in 2007 involves an operation by EIJ members headed by Atef and including Saif Adel in which the group headed to Somalia to work at developing a new base of operations. The group was called The Green Team. “Greendale School” was used as the return address in the letters and likely is code referring to the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The stamp on the prestamped envelopes was of a green bird. For a video depicting the Green Bird’s point of view and invoking Allah’s guidance to “the straight path,” see this video “The 3D Kabah – A green birds eye view.” The koranic “Green Birds” reference is from the sentence relating to being set on “The Straight Path.” Timimi, the graduate student who had access to the Alibek/Bailey patent about concentration using hydrophobic silica, advised the EIJ founder Kamal Habib in writing for the publication called Assirat Al-Mustaqeem (“The Straight Path”).
Likely for the same reason, Al Qaeda anthrax lab technician Yazid Sufaat and Zacarias Moussaoui used the name Green Laboratory Medicine as the name of the company that he used, for example, to buy 4 tons of ammonium nitrate, and that he used to cover his anthrax production program. Green dale refers to green “river valley” — Egypt, Cairo, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and/or Egyptian Islamic Group. Put it all together and you have their new official name (though the American press does not use it) — Qaeda al Jihad. At the Darunta complex where jihadis trained, recruits would wear green uniforms, except for Friday when they would be washed.
Given that using the same address helps the second recipient receiving the letter to identify it and avoid opening it, the perp would have no reason to use the same address unless he was communicating something and wanted to draw attention to it.
Adham Hassoun and Kassem Daher used “school” as code. Canadian businessman Daher is an associate of EIJ member Jaballah, who was detained in Canada and had maintained regular contact with Ayman by satellite telephone after coming to Canada in 1996. “Is there a school over there to teach football?” Hassoun asked, using what the FBI says is code for jihad.
The Amerithrax Task Force explanation of Greendale is as follows:
“The investigation into the fictitious return address on envelopes used for the second round of anthrax mailings, “4th GRADE,” “GREENDALE SCHOOL,” has established a possible link to the American Family Association (AFA) headquartered in Tupelo, Mississippi. In October 1999, AFA, a Christian organization, published an article entitled “AFA takes Wisconsin to court.” The article describes a lawsuit filed in federal court, by the AFA Center for law and Policy (CLP), on behalf of the parents of the students at Greendale Baptist Academy. The articles focuses on an incident that occurred on December 16, 1998, in which case workers of the Wisconsin Department of Human Services went to the Greendale Baptist Academy. The article focuses on an incident that occurred on December 1, 1998, in which case workers of the Wisconsin Department of Human Services went to the Greendale Baptist Academy in order to interview a fourth grade student. The case workers, acting on an anonymous tip that Greendale Baptist Academy administered corporal punishment as part of its discipline policy, did not disclose to the staff why wanted to interview the student. The case workers interviewed the student in the absence of the student’s parents and informed the school staff that the parents were not to be contacted. The AFA CLP filed suit against the Wisconsin Department of Human Services, citing a violation of the parents’ Fourth Amendment rights.”
____________ donations were made to the AFA in the name of “Mr. and Mrs. Bruce Ivins” on eleven separate occasions beginning on December 31, 1993. After an approximate two year break in donations, the next donation occurred on November 11, 1999, one month after the initial article referencing Greendale Baptist Academy was published in the AFA Journal. It was also discovered that the subscription to the AFA Journal, in the name of ‘Mr. & Mrs. Bruce Ivins,’ … was active until March 2005.”
The logical fallacy is Ivins would have had no reason to use the same address unless he was sending a message he wanted to be received. There was no audience that reasonably would have perceived the message being sent. He had no reason to send such a message. The theory was fine for an affidavit in support of a search of a residence — but not on which to close a case.
“Franklin Park”
On the return address, Greendale School purported to be in Franklin Park. Padilla, the former Broward man suspected of plotting to explode a ‘’dirty bomb’’ to spread radiation in the United States, worshipped at a Broward County mosque, Masjid Al-Iman, in Fort Lauderdale. That mosque was across the street from Franklin Park. It’s address was 2542 Franklin Park Drive. Padilla was a former gang member who converted to islam while in South Florida and became an extremist while in Egypt beginning in 1998. He attended al Azhar University in Egypt and started a family there after leaving his American wife. In 1999, Padilla left for Pakistan. Authorities detained him May 8, 2002 when he got off a plane at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport. The FBI has found no ties between Padilla and the September 11 hijackers, even though several of them had lived in Broward County.
While in Pakistan, Padilla had reported to KSM, the al Qaeda’s No. 3 leader who had anthrax production documents on his laptop when he was arrested. It appears that in April 2002, Khalid Mohammed dispatched Padilla to the United States, with several thousand dollars for a mission to disperse a radiological device that was still in the thinking stage. He was placed in a military brig in North Carolina and was held incommunicado for years, forbidden from contacting his family or attorney.
A Padilla acquaintance, Adham Hassoun, was detained in June 2002 in Sunrise by federal agents. His home had been searched in November 2001 but authorities laid back, not arresting him and hoping surveillance would lead to insights. Hassoun once served as distributor of a magazine published in Australia advocating Muslim holy war and was associated with one or more charities accused by the Bush administration of funding terrorists. Padilla reportedly had contacted Hassoun from overseas and was apparently en route to meet Hassoun when he was arrested. Investigators monitored the communication between Padilla and Hassoun and arrested Hassoun after he was called by a reporter from Miami about his acquaintanceship with Padilla. State records indicate that he was the Florida registered agent of the Chicago-based Benevolence International Foundation. The leader of the mosque across from Franklin Park was Awad, the Florida representative of Holy Land Foundation.
Hassoun had established Benevolence International Foundation in Plantation, Florida in 1992. In 1993, the headquarters was moved to Chicago area. A man named Mohammed Loay Bayazid was its president in 1993 and 1994. He was arrested while visiting Northern California in December 1994 along with Osama Bin Laden’s brother-in-law. Bayazid, according to authorities, had been looking to purchase enriched uranium for Bin Laden. On his driver’s license, his listed address was BIF headquarters. Thus, things had quickly come full circle for BIF to once again be involved in an investigation relating to Al Qaeda’s attempt to obtain weapons of mass destruction.
In late 2002, it was announced that authorities were urgently seeking a Florida pilot El Shukrijumah, who worshipped at this same Fort Lauderdale mosque across from Franklin Park and had possible ties to Adham Hassoun. The pilot El Shukrijumah is said to be at the level of Mohammed Atta. He called his mother on or immediately after September 11 and told his mother he was returning to the United States.
Mohammed Atta lived 11 miles away from this mosque across from Franklin Park, where these members of the Egyptian Islamic Group worshipped. Holy Cross hospital –where Dr. Tsonas treated Flight 93 hijacker Ahmad al-Haznawi for a suspicious leg lesion that he and other experts think was due to cutaneous anthrax — is only 7 miles from the mosque. Is it all a coincidence? Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today is a gift.
Remember: Given that using the same address helps the second recipient receiving the letter to identify it and avoid opening it, the mailer would have no reason to use the same address unless he was communicating something and wanted to draw attention to it.
There was a detailed description at a June 1, 2004 press conference of Padilla’s plot and his relationship with Jafar the Pilot by a senior DOJ official. The official also described Padilla’s relationship with Atef, Zubaydah, KSM, and Ramzi Binalshibh. He emphasized that there is an urgent need to find Adnan (Jafar). Ali Al-Timimi’s mentor, Bilal Philips, was a good friend of Jafar the Pilot’s father.
Allusion to Both Atta and Genomic Sequencing of Ames Strain
The writing of the text of the letter is also interesting in that the “As” and “Ts” are double-lined — to suggest ATTA, the lead hijacker.
When the US Centers for Disease Control first identified that the Ames strain had been used in the mailing to Florida in October 2001, Keim and his colleagues at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) had nearly finished a project to sequence Bacillus anthracis— specifically, the chromosome of an anthrax isolate from a laboratory in Porton Down, U.K. Ayman had a microbiologist attending Porton Down-sponsored conferences at which presentations were made about the sequencing of Ames. The letter writer appears to have even double-lined A’s and T’s in the letters accompanying the anthrax possibly to simultaneously allude to Atta and the genomic sequence.
For an enlarged image of the letter with the A’s and T’s underlined, click here.
As explained at the Porton Down conferences attended by Ayman’s operative Rauf Ahmad, Keim’s research team eventually discovered 60 new ‘markers’ in the Bacillus anthracis genome—DNA sequences that may vary from one isolate to another. These include insertions or deletions of DNA, and short sequences that are repeated at different lengths in the genome known as VNTRs (variable-number tandem repeats). A decade earlier, it had been determined that one of three proteins comprising anthrax toxin, and the first nucleotide sequence to be reported from B. anthracis (by USAMRIID authors no less), had a consensus TATAAT sequence located at the putative -10 promoter site. It is greek to us but apparently something with meaning to the person who drafted the letter. Perhaps the sender was saying that the bacteria was pathogenic unlike what had been sent to the Canadian immigration minister six months earlier.
You can just imagine the same fictional CIA or FBI agents, or Postal Inspectors, plugging the underlined letter from the anthrax letters and wondering whether it pointed to the 1988 article “Sequence and analysis of the DNA encoding protective antigen of Bacillus anthracis” in the journal Gene by USAMRIID authors. The authors were from the Bacteriology Division at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases. The abstract reads: “The nucleotide sequence of the protective antigen (PA) gene from Bacillus anthracis and the 5’ and 3’ flanking sequences were determined. PA is one of three proteins comprising anthrax toxin; and its nucleotide sequence is the first to be reported from B. anthracis. A consensus TATAAT sequence was located at the putative -10 promoter site.”
When authorities determined that the anthrax had not been genetically modified so as to be resistant to antibiotics, Condi Rice told the President: “That’s the best news you’ve had as president.” Years later, at trial for sedition, GMU microbiology grad student Ali Al-Timimi read “Genome Technology.”
***
The coded e-mail Faris wrote back to KSM suggesting that the idea of removing bolts from the span of the Brooklyn Bridge was not a viable idea was but one of many examples of the simple codes used by Al Qaeda operatives. Sometimes the code might be as simple as Adham Hassoun’s “stuff” for the local soccer team in places like Bosnia or his references to a young man who wanted to go out and get some “fresh air” [go join the jihad]. Sometimes it might be Iyman Faris’ reference to the weather or Ramzi Binalshibh’s “shirts” for Sally. Sometimes it might be a reference to Greendale School or a marriage proposal to Jenny such apparently in the case of the anthrax mailings. The CIA reports that wedding is Al-Qaeda-speak for an event. That, according to New York Times journalists, is why the CIA got so anxious to have the Buffalo boys arrested. Apart from an email about a “big feast,” the young men from Buffalo had started talking about a planned wedding. Interpreting such code is not without risk. The CIA kicked down the door in Bahrain and dragged him away from the altar to the horror of his bride-to-be.
But putting aside this question of nuptials, impending or annulled, the fact remains that the sender of the anthrax letters would have had no reason to use the same address on the second letter unless he was communicating something. That identical return address, in fact, helped authorities locate and intercept the letter to a Senator. All of the coding together may have served to tell the world, for example, that Mohammed Atta and the others were going to fly to paradise in a green bird and that the anthrax was courtesy of the Vanguards of Conquest. If you mistreat our prisoners or continue appropriations to Israel and Egyptian regimes, we may attack Washington, D.C. and New York City with aerosolized anthrax. You act at your peril. Zawahiri simultaneously framed the US Army by using the “Ames strain” while telling them who did it.
i. Summer 2001 Inquiries About Cropdusters and Helicopters
Expert Kohlmann reports that “The LeT [Lashkar-e-Taiba] has also displayed persistent efforts at aimed at obtaining remote control drone aircraft, presumably in order to gather reconnaissance on enemy positions. Kohlman quotes a November 2000 Taiba Bulletin that quotes a LeT representative boasting “Lashkar-e-Taiba also made a remote control aeroplane that was caught in Occupied Kashmir. We are developing the modern technology.” Evan Kohlman reports that “one of the best accounts of the jihad in Kashmar is the book Army of Madinah in Kashmir written by “Esa al-Hindi”. He quotes Al-Hindi: “Running … straight into the enemy ranks on a well-worn battlefield is a noble and admirable action, but it needs to be complemented by all other fields of the battle arena for a successful operation… [including] Physical warfare, Drug warfare, Germ warfare, Chemical warfare, [and] Sabotage warfare.’ ”
Authors Schwartz and University of Minnesota Professor Osterholm explained in December 2000:
“Dozens of Websites offer information on new and used crop-dusting planes and equipment that can be fitted to almost any plane or even trucks. Most of the equipment can be found on those sites produce a highly controlled mist spray, with nozzles that can set the droplet size precisely.”
“A quick call to the toll-free number for a state university’s agricultural service (listed, naturally on its Website) revealed that powder dispersal systems, while less popular than wet systems, are still available. One Website even provides a handy guide to the area one would expect to cover using various particle sizes, wet and dry — from thousand micron particles to half-micron particles capable of drifting almost four hundred miles.”
It was no small irony that by the time the paperback version came out in September 2001 just a few miles away Zacarias Moussaoui had in fact downloaded such materials onto his laptop.
Attorney General Ashcroft, on October 1, 2001 explained:
“I think shortly after the September 11 events, we developed information about crop dusters and noted that there had been an interest expressed in the dispersal of chemical agents by some of the individuals who had relationships with the hijackers and were the hijackers, and we asked those who were associated with the agriculture, chemical industry, and crop dusting to begin to be more careful, to lock their airplanes, to be aware of anyone seeking to adjust the kind of way in which the nozzles would be, which would maybe require a different approach.”
President Bush, at a press conference on October 11, 2001 said:
“We received knowledge that perhaps an al-Qaeda operative was prepared to use a crop-duster to spray a biological weapon or a chemical weapon on American people, and so we responded. We contacted every crop dust location, airports from which crop-dusters leave. We notified crop-duster manufacturers to a potential threat. We knew full well that in order for a crop-duster to become a weapon of mass destruction would require a retrofitting, and so we talked to machine shops around where crop-dusters are located.”
Mohammed Atta and Zacarias Moussaoui reportedly made inquiries about cropdusters and a cropdusting manual was found among Moussaoui’s belongings. Ahmad Ressam, an Al Qaeda terrorist caught in the United States, revealed that Bin Laden was personally interested in using low flying aircraft to disperse biological agents. In early June 3, 2003, a CIA report concluded that the reason for Atta’s and Zacarias Moussaoui’s inquiries into cropdusters was in fact for the contemplated use in dispersing biological agents such as anthrax. Moussaoui, however, has confessed only to a plot to fly a 747 into the White House if the United States government refused to free the blind sheikh. On August 13 and 15, 2001, Moussaoui was getting practice on a 747 simulator in Minneapolis and thus the evidence has always remained ambiguous.
In an interview with ABC News, Johnelle Bryant, a USDA employee, provided this very dramatic account of a meeting with Atta in connection with a loan he wanted for $650,000 to start a cropdusting business. Anthrax likely can be delivered using the nozzle setup that some USDA official says Atta imagined (as explained by Secretary Cohen some years ago). Secretary Cohen’s remarks were found in the Kabul home with papers relating to the aerial delivery of anthrax.
Some investigators on the team prosecuting Zacarias Moussaoui thought he wasn’t expected to take part in the 9/11 plan as such or fly into the White House as prosecutors would allege in January 2003, but was expected instead to use a cropduster. In an e-mail dated July 31, 2001, after receiving $14,000 from Ramzi Binalshibh, Moussaoui inquired of a Minnesota school concerning a 6 month or year long cropdusting course. Although French intelligence suggests instead that there was a separate hijacking plot (of an international airline) to occur later, in light of the e-mail, use of a cropdusting plane may have been an alternative plan at least as of the end of July 2001. Khalid Mohammed reportedly has told his interrogators that Moussaoui was to be part of a second wave of attacks. He said that Moussaoui’s interest in cropdusters may have related to Yazid Sufaat’s work on anthrax.
In a coded communication in the summer of 2001, KSM told Ramzi Binalhibh to send the “skirts” to “Sally”, apparently referring to sending funds to Zacarias Moussaoui. Moussaoui may have been considered as a substitute if one of the pilots, who had developed a strained relationship with Atta, dropped out. They were referred to as the “unhappy couple” and it was said that a divorce would be expensive. Was Moussaoui really slated for a “second wave” of similar attacks on California targets that merely involved the same modus operandi? In an email dated July 31, 2001, he was inquiring about a cropdusting course. Was this just a means of avoiding the need for “muscle hijackers?” (After the first “wave”, it likely would be more difficult for such muscle to get into the country.)
Relatedly, it’s unknown what role Atta’s roommate, pilot Ramzi Binalshibh, would have played if he had succeeded on one of his four attempts to get into the country. Ramzi Binalshibh was Atta’s former roommate in Germany and was captured in Karachi, Pakistan on September 11, 2002. The government deleted the two allegations regarding cropduster inquiries from the indictment of Moussaoui. Although the move was never explained, it was likely because in his defense he was relying on a July 31, 2001 e-mail seeking to sign up for a cropdusting course that would take 6 months to a year. Moussaoui was attempting to use the e-mail to argue that it demonstrated that he was not part of the 9/11 conspiracy.
On September 19, 2001, an FBI agent asked a federal judge in Colorado for permission to search an e-mail account named “greenlab@usa.net” that Sufaat had given Moussaoui to use.
Perhaps the cropdusters related to a chemical or nerve agent. Based on the interrogation of Ramzi Binalshibh, it now appears that the 9/11 planners lost confidence in Moussaoui’s discretion, and intended to use him only as a fallback. Whatever the reason for any inquiries, perhaps they ran out of pilots (due to Zacarias Moussaoui’s arrest and Ramzi Binalshibh’s inability to get into the country). The prosecution team in the Moussaoui case at one point, in January 2003, argued there was to be a fifth plane targeting the White House. Bin Laden wanted the White House to be targeted. Atta thought it would be too difficult. Or perhaps cropdusters will be used in the future. The FBI is currently looking for a diminutive Saudi Arabian, Adnan Shukrijumah, who, at least according to some reports, was trained as a pilot and was last known to have been in Miami in late 2001. The Saudi Arabian from Florida is said to be at the level of Atta. Jdey, also hotly sought by the FBI, was one of two other pilots who for unknown reasons were not still candidates for the first wave.
A Somali college student who knew Moussaoui, Mohammed Warsame from Canada, was detained. In recent years, before being detained, he lived in Minneapolis. Initially, he was arrested as a material witness. Like Moussaoui, Warsame attended Khalden Camp at the Darunta complex the same time as Ahmed Ressam. He reportedly roomed with Moussaoui at one point. U.S. Attorney in Minneapolis declined to comment on the case and said he would seek to prosecute any federal law enforcement officials who provided information to the media. Warsame’s wife said that FBI agents had entered their apartment, given him $100 and had money for her too. The agents wanted her husband’s cooperation, told him to tell his wife not to worry and said they would bring him back in two days. Warsame was indicted in the end. A superseding indictment in June 2005 alleges that Mohammed Warsame provided false statements to the FBI when he claimed that since 1995 he had traveled only to Saudi Arabia and Somalia. The indictment alleges that from 2000 through 2001, Warsame traveled to Pakistan and Afghanistan to attend military training camps and participate in combat. Relatedly, the indictment alleges he also made false statements about his frequent contact with associates he met while attending Afghanistan military training camps. Those associates, according to the indictment, have since relocated to Canada, Pakistan and elsewhere throughout the world.
As part of “Operation Tripwire,” the FBI has asked crop-dusting companies to make sure they alert the bureau if they detect suspicious activity. The FBI has reached out to various industries and institutions, such as prisons and crop-dusting companies, to alert the FBI of suspicious activity. “We are not looking at just the obviously dangerous activity but looking at terrorist fund raising, terrorist recruiting efforts, training efforts, maybe logistical support efforts, and .. signatures,” FBI official Larry Mefford said. Might Al Qaeda plan on coming in under the FBI’s radar — under the tripwire — by using ultra lights? KSM had Ohio truck driver Faris researching ultra lights at an internet cafe. There was a suggestion that leaders would use them for escape. Variations of the threat that should be encompassed within the FBI’s “Operation Tripwire” include ultra lights, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (“UAV”) of all types including small planes and helicopters, balloons, and gliders. What the FBI was being told by other detainees and learning from arrests in the US did nothing to assuage the concern that an attack was being planned to disperse anthrax aerially.
For example, Moazzam Begg, a man from Great Britain arrested in Islamabad in February 2002, allegedly confessed to being involved in a plot to use weaponized anthrax using a remote controlled drone over the London parliament. A Pakistani court had ordered his release. Before the order was executed, however, he had already been transferred to Afghanistan. He was then flown to Guantanamo Bay in February 2003. The 35-year-old father of four from Birmingham had gone to Afghanistan via Iran in the summer of 2001 and then in November or December went to Pakistan. In Afghanistan, he had been outside of Kabul. He told his father that he hoped to open two small schools to promote literacy — one for girls taught by his wife and one for boys he would teach. MI5 and MI6 had known of him. Three years earlier in Birmingham there was a raid on his book shop but no arrests. The Maktabah al Ansar book shop in Birmingham, England sold al-Hindi’s autobiographical account of fighting in Kashmir, Army of Madinah in Kashmir.
In addition to books, Begg sold items such prayer beads and clothing. Begg may have come to be of interest to MI5 after Yemen jailed a friend of his in 1999 for plotting terrorism with the son of Abu Hamza, the extremist cleric based at the Finsbury Park mosque. Then authorities raided again in the summer of 2001. In the last raid, a computer, five floppy disks and two CD-roms were taken. Neither raid resulted in any charges. Begg was arrested in 1994 for alleged benefit fraud, but the charges were dropped. Night vision goggles and a flak jacket were found at the time. The authorities say that his name appeared on documents of the Taliban and on a photocopy of a payment transfer at an Afghanistan camp. The money transfer directed the London branch of Pakistan’s Habib Bank AG Zurich to credit the account of an individual identified as Moazzam Begg in Karachi for an unspecified sum of money. It was found in Abu Khabab’s chemical bunker. His family says it must be a case of mistaken identity.
The British MP’s had joined together to insist that Begg and other British citizens be returned from Guantanamo, where he had been after his first year at Bagram. He reportedly confessed to a plot to use a drone dispersing anthrax to kill those same MPs. He and others apparently were given the choice of choosing between a 20 year sentence in a plea or risk receiving a death penalty in a military tribunal. His lawyer says the confession was not admissible as it was coerced. MI5 officers interviewed him at Camp X-Ray five times. Gareth Peirce, who has acted for Moazzam Begg, said: “Anything that any human being says or admits under threat of brutality is regarded internationally and nationally as worthless. It makes the process an abuse. Moazzam Begg had a year in Bagram airbase and then six months in Guantanamo Bay. If this treatment happened for an hour in a British police station, no evidence gathered would be admissible,” she said. After being released, Mr. Begg contemplated a run for MP himself.
The interest in ultra lights is not new and dates back to the hang glider purchased in 1995 or so when one was purchased and shipped to Afghanistan by a US doctor named Zaki. The doctor was a friend of Bin Laden’s chief of security in Sudan, former US Army sergeant Ali Mohammed. Dr. Ali Zaki (along with his brother, a NYC/NJ pharmacist) traveled with Ayman but claimed not to know the real identity of his fellow alum from Cairo Medical school. Dr. Zaki graduated from Cairo Medical School in 1971. Zawahiri would speak at the room established at the Cairo University Medical School for the Egyptian Islamic Group, which had not yet been banned. The group during this time was extremely influential with the student body. Dr. Zaki is a gynecologist and prominent civic leader in San Jose, CA. He disputes the date of Zawahiri’s visit, claiming it was years earlier, when the jihadists were our friends. A used car salesman from Silicon Valley was going to train on the hang glider and train others. The plan was to break imprisoned islamist leaders out of an Egyptian prison, according to the US doctor. Other official intelligence reporting, in contrast, suggests the plan was to assassinate Mubarak at one of his palaces.
When a friend of the respected Dr. Dhafir, the leader of an Albany mosque, Aref, who had arrived in the states in 1999, was convicted in 2006 of supporting terrorism, the jury never heard about his 14 phone calls to a Syrian number the FBI linked to Osama bin Laden. An FBI informant claimed that only weeks after the 9/11 attacks, a messenger from al-Qaeda approached him delivering a message: Bin Laden was looking for information about flight schools and “how close the individual could get to an (redacted) aircraft.” The messenger gave the informant two fax numbers in Damascus, Syria, one of which Aref contacted 14 times between November 1999 and October 2001. Prosecutors argued that a senior IMK leader, Mullah Krekar, formed Ansar-al-Islam in 2001. Subsequently, when Aref was convicted, the 30 guilty counts included lying to FBI agents about knowing Krekar. In targeting Aref, the government also had evidence showing that his name, address and telephone number were found in a notebook when U.S. forces raided a suspected Ansar-al-Islam facilities in Iraq in the spring and early summer. An Iraqi Kurd, Aref’s grandfather had been a well-known imam. What word, beginning with a vowel apparently, might be redacted in this alleged message shortly before 9/11 to an Albany, NY imam : “how close the individual could get to an (redacted) aircraft.”
In 2002, a man named Singh tried to purchase over the internet a wireless video module and a control module for use in an unmanned aerial vehicle (“UAV”). He chose an airborne video system with a camera and transmitter able to transmit video images from a UAV back to a receiver from as far as 15 miles away. The video camera could be used in military reconnaissance and in helping aim artillery and other weaponry across enemy lines. Singh placed his order from England, but the company was unable to confirm Singh’s overseas credit card. Two young men from Northern Virginia, among the group later known as the “Virginia Paintball Defendants,” assisted him in completing the purchases. In the summer of 2002, Singh visited Virginia, staying first with one of them and then with another.
In December 2003, it was announced that a suburban Chicago woman had been pled guilty to lying about her involvement with an attempt to export remote-controlled aircraft to Pakistan. The shipment of radios, modems and auto pilot systems to a company in Pakistan apparently was confiscated. The relative whom she was doing a favor fled the country. Such a plane reportedly cost $12,000 and could carry a 220 lb. payload.
In late May 2004, Great Britain’s Tony Blair got hit by purple powder thrown from the balcony from area where guests sit. The bioshield covered only where members of the public sit. Blair now may be skittish about pigeons flying overhead, particularly given MI5 once considered the feasibility of dropping small anthrax bombs using pigeons during WW II. It was not until August 2004 that we learned about casing of helicopters in the Spring of 2001 by Jafar the Pilot, Al Hindi, and Al-Marri — who had been sent by anthrax plotters KSM and Hambali.
Condoleezza Rice says no one ever imagined (at least she didn’t imagine) that Al Qaeda would fly planes — first into the World Trade Center and then into Pentagon. Let’s hope it is within her imagination of future national security advisors that Al Qaeda may be planning to disperse weaponized anthrax aerially — for example, by a remote controlled airplane, a cropduster, or even a hang glider. Or, yes, maybe even by carrier pigeons.
jk. Target Acquired: Al Qaeda’s Spymaster on Amerithrax
As explained by author Peter Lance in Triple Cross, after the 1998 embassy bombings, a ten-member federal team secretly entered the California residence of Ali Mohamed, Zawahiri’s former head of intelligence.’ They copied Mohamed’s hard drives and removed a series of CD-ROM and floppy disks. A memo titled “Cocktail” appeared to be a draft manual on sleeper cell structure.
The file on cell structure read in part:
“Every member knows how to do everything.
Every member has a legal job as a cover (Student, worker, trade).
Safety is the main concern, so the contingency plan is very important. Before working on the target you have (to) specify a rally point to meet in case of separation for any reason.
The communications between the different groups are conducted through the dead drop only.
Each group does not know anything about the other group, even Majmouat (the word means “the collected” or “the collection”). Al-qeyada does not know how many group(s) under its leadership. Only the group know each other because the members of one group only working with each other.”
Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim took on Ali Mohammed’s role. His alias is easier to remember — Abu Jihad al-Masri. Al Masri means the Egyptian. Also known as Al-Hukaymah, he was the author of the description of the Amerithrax investigation in 2002. Born in 1961, Abu Jihad al-Masri joined the Egyptian Islamic Group in 1979. He was arrested in 1981 after Sadat’s assassination. He once was arrested alongside the blind sheik Abdel-Rahman. Hukaymah is reportedly connected to the blind sheikh’s successor Taha, the Islamic Group head who was in close touch in 1999 and 2000 with the NY-based US postal employee Sattar, the blind sheik’s “surrogate.”. Al-Hukaymah dedicated the treatise “[t]o the pious and the hidden who are not known when they come and who are not missed when they disappear — To those whom their God will answer when they pray to Him. To all the eyes that are vigilant late at night to bring victory to this religion.”
The introduction of the 152-page book starts:
“The Manhattan raid led to a radical change in the perception of American Security. After the northern half of the continent had been isolated from the rest of the world and its threats by two oceans, it now came from inside. The surprise hit the symbols of American power in its economic and security dimensions.”
Published at al-Maqreze Center for Historical Studies website (www.almaqreze.com) by the one-time EIJ shura member al-Sibai, the section on the anthrax investigation appears to have been written in 2002.
“The Anthrax Scandal:
Over many months, there was an excited search for the person responsible for the worst biological terror attack on American soil. Six letters sent by mail to Leahy, Daschle, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, The New York Post and the offices of the National Enquirer in Florida, led to the sickening of 18 people and five deaths. The crime was especially scary because anthrax, which is a complex powder that scatters in the atmosphere, had spilled from the envelopes and spread through parts of the mail system and contaminated a Senate building. One year later, the main post office in Washington had not yet opened.
The FBI is under great pressure to close this case, and the anthrax criminal is supposed to be alive and free. Two members of the Senate have asked to receive regular reports about this investigation from the FBI, and they have become increasingly impatient.”
After a lengthy discussion of the focus on Hatfill, the author explains,
“Until the investigators find material evidence that connects a person to the crime, they are forced to speculate about the motives and methods of the criminal. They are still casting a wide net. Law enforcement sources say they have issued hundreds of subpoenas and they are analyzing thousands of documents in search of new evidence.
The evidence may be small and unseen – sweat or an odor on an envelope – but that is all that they need in order to attract the dogs.”
Al-Hukaymah pointed to the Aldrich Ames incident and the FBI’s inability to find the perpetrator of the anthrax mailings as evidence that U.S intelligence can be defeated. Aldrich Ames, head of counterintelligence relating to the Russians, had a different rolex for different days of the week. He drove a new jaguar to work. Aldrich told the CIA that his money came from his wife’s foreign inheritance, and the CIA never required meaningful corroboration. So we should not be that surprised when someone known, to borrow Dr. Alibek’s description to me, as an “Islamic hardliner,” is given access to Center for Biodefense and ATCC facilities, to include a program funded by DARPA’s $13 million during the relevant period. Perhaps the focus should not be on more money for biodefense but on doing a better job at maintaining security. Perhaps focus should be on avoiding proliferation of know-how.
Al-Hukaymah reportedly was Ayman’s connection to Mamdouh Ismail, an Egyptian defense attorney and a former member of “the Jihad group” who since the 1980’s has represented various Egyptians accused of terrorism offenses in Egypt. Mamdouh Ismail represented al-Nashar, the biochemist who was an expert on polymerization and had a key to the 7/7 bomber’s flat. Ismail was one of several hundred rounded up following the assassination of Anwar al-Sadat in 1981. He served three years. Ismail was arrested on March 29, 2007. In 1999, Ismail was refused permission to establish an Islamist political party with the help of fellow lawyer attorney al-Zayyat. After the blind sheik said in March 1999 that an attempt through a political party should not be attempted, Al-Zayat and Mamdouh Ismail deferred and Attorney Ismail has publicly objected to a reconciliation between Cairo and Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The two had worked with EIJ shura member al-Sibai before he took refuge in the UK. Mamdouh Ismail now is accused of complicity in an “Egyptian project” of al-Qaeda, taking his orders from Ayman al-Zawahiri via al-Qaeda propaganda chief al-Hukaymah and the UK-based EIJ publicist Hani al-Sibai. Both al-Hukaymah and Al-Sibai deny the charge. Al Sibai considers himself historian of the movement and published his diaries in Al Hayat in 2004. He is at al-Maqreze Center for Historical Studies website that published the treatise that included the discussion of Amerithrax.
Al-Hukaymah was apparently killed at the end of last month in a missile strike in late October 2008. Cairo-based IANA writer Kamal Habib says that the man was a member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad that had assassinated Sadat but was part of a second generation, not part of the first generation responsible for the assassination. Abu Jihad al-Masri was said by US authorities to operate in Iran as the head of media and propaganda for al-Qaeda, and “may also be the Chief of External Operations for al Qaeda”. The name Abu Jihad assumed name meaning roughly “father of the holy war.”
Al-Hukaymah appeared in an August 2006 as-Sahab (al-Qaeda) video to announce the merger of al-Qaeda with part of the Egyptian Islamic Group. Ayman al-Zawahiri introduces him.. The video claims that al-Hukaymah joined al-Gama’a al-Islamiyya in 1979 and was arrested in connection with the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Al Sadat in 1981, and subsequently rearrested several times in various countries. Zawahiri claims in that video that Muhammad al-Islambouli (brother of assassin Khalid al-Islambouli) had joined al-Qaeda with al-Hukaymah.
In addition to the analysis of the American intelligence community, the next month he wrote a short piece entitled Towards A New Strategy in Resisting the Occupier that appeared on a jihadist website. Abu Jihad Al-Masri emphasized the need to consider public opinion in planning operations. He discouraged beheadings or operations that can cause large scale casualties to innocent Muslims.
k. Zawahiri’s Booklet On “Covert Operations”
Mark A. Gabriel, PhD, once taught at Al-Azhar in Egypt. He wrote a very lucid book Journey Into The Mind Of An Islamist Terrorist.He discusses a booklet Zawahiri wrote titled COVERT OPERATIONS which is available online in Arabic. If you want to know how Zawahiri views deceit on such issues as battle plans and spying, read his own words online. Gabriel explains:
“Ayman al-Zawahiri leads a busy terrorist organization, and he must solve practical problems. For example, he may want some Al-Qaeda members to blend in and live in the United States. If these men wore full beards and went to ultraconservative mosques to pray, they they would arouse suspicion and get put on a watch list. Instead, al-Zawahiri would want these operatives to go undercover and blend into society. However, these devout Muslims will not go undercover unless they believe they have permission to do so from the teachings of Islam. As a result, al-Zawahiri wrote a booklet titled COVERT OPERATIONS, which goes deep into Islamic teaching and history to describe how deceit can be a tool in Muslim life.”
The entire book by al-Zawahiri is posted in the Arabic language website for al-Tawheed Jihad (The Pulpit of Monotheism and Jihad). Zawahiri concluded that “hiding one’s faith and being secretive was allowed especially in time of fear from prosecution of the infidels.” Indeed, his student group in Cairo in the 1970s was known as the “shaven beards.” The founder of one of the cells merged with Ayman’s to form the Egyptian Islamic Jihad then wrote for Al-Timimi’s charity IANA.
Al-Zawahiri discussed two specific ways Muhammad used deceit in battle: (1) keeping battle plans secret, and (2) spying. The author writes: “Al-Zawahiri specifically gave radicals permission not to pray in the mosque or attend Friday sermons if it would compromise their position.” He noted that Al-Zawahiri sealed his argument with a very important quote from Ibn Taymiyyah (who was quoted by Al-Timimi upon his his indictment). Ever the practical man, Muhammad approved lying in three circumstances (1) during war, (2) to reconcile between two feuding parties, and (3) to a spouse in order to please her. Many Salafist Jihadis have more than one wife and so lying to your spouse — not telling you have another wife — might come in handy.
DXer said
I have interviewed Al Qaeda anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat about the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings. In written exchanges, he does not deny responsibility for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings.
My understanding is that Dr. Zawahiri accomplished the attack on the US “structure” he intended. With the planes, Al Qaeda struck the US trade dominance (World Trade Center) and its military might (Pentagon). With the anthrax, some US-based and schooled supporter(s) of the goals of Zawahiri rounded out the field that they imagine provides support to Israel — the legislative branch and media. Most notably, promptly after 9/11, Adnan El-Shukrijumah left KSM’s house in Kandahar to come to the US. Kandahar was where Sacramento State-trained Yazid Sufaat’s lab was located. At KSM’s direction, Shukrijumah had previously cased NYC and DC targets with a biochem operative named Al-Marri who was working with KSM and Hawsawi. (Hawsawi had the anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop).
Analogous letter bombs were sent in connection with the earlier attack on the World Trade Center and the imprisonment of the Blind Sheikh and militant islamists responsible for that attack and a related plot. Thus, relying on the postal service to send its deadly missives in connection with an earlier attack of the World Trade Center is not only Al Qaeda’s modus operandi, it is its signature.
Given that the two FBI investigative squads were compartmentalized and not even aware what the other investigative squad was doing, how was there seamless cooperation between the CIA and FBI? How can the investigators on the one squad judge the quality of their analysis? How can the scientists on the third forensics squad know how they are being used in putting out the spin (even to this day)?
Like Ken Alibek said, it’s not rocket science. Ayman’s plan established by the documentary evidence seized in Afghanistan was to use the cover of charities and universities. Al Qaeda’s Mohammed Abdel-Rahman had fellow IANA speaker Ali Al-Timimi availalable to recruit. A December 1998 PDB had said that Mohammed Islambouli was going to send someone to make contact with people in the US to carry out attacks. For example, in mid-2000, KSM and Islambouli sent bio-chem operative Al-Marri from Saudi Arabia, where his family had moved from Doha, Qatar. Al-Marri had been with both KSM and Islambouli. After Al-Marri was done casing New York City targets with UK operative Dhiren Barot and alleged (by me) anthrax mailer Adnan El-Shukrijumah, he had his computer sent from Macomb, Illinois to Washington. In the summer of 2001 Al-Marri went to UAE to receive $13,000 from Al-Hawsawi whose laptop had the anthrax spraydrying documents. Upon returning to the United States from Pakistan the next year on September 10, 2001, Al-Marri maintained contact with Al-Hawsawi. Al-Hawsawi also handled financial logistics relating to the 9/11 hijackers. Like Tenet said, anthrax planning was in parallel with the 9/11 planes operation. An example of a question left unresolved by the closing of Amerithrax case is (and that should be answered by GAO): where in Washington did Al-Marri have his computer sent?
In the Washington, D.C. area, Taliban supporter Ali Al-Timimi worked in the same building as famed Russian bioweaponeer Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID Deputy Commander and Acting Commander Charles Bailey, who had co-invented a process using silica to lead to greater concentration of a biological agent. Dr. Bailey has been a prolific Ames anthrax strain researcher. Dr. Alibek and Dr. Bailey had multimillion dollar grants from DARPA funding a contract with USAMRIID with Delta Ames supplied by NIH. The work with virulent Ames was done at SRI in downtown Frederick under a subcontract. (Ivins’ assistant Pat Fellows, whose deposition was shredded, came to head the B3 lab there; she had genetically matching virulent Ames in Building 1412). NSA intercepts showed that Ali Al-Timimi was working with Bin Laden’s sheik al-Hawali, who had been the subject of Bin Laden’s 1996 Declaration of War and his 1998 claim of responsibility for the embassy bombings. Timimi has been sentenced to life plus 70 years before his conviction was reversed and remanded. Bilal Philips had been Ali’s mentor and the father of Adnan El-Shukrijumah had been Bilal Philips’ mentor. Ali Al-Timimi shared a fax machine with famed Russian anthrax bioweaponeer Ken Alibek and former USAMRIID deputy commander Charles Bailey, who is listed as an author on various articles reporting biodefense research using virulent Ames strain of anthrax. Dr. Bailey had worked with the Defense Intelligence Agency (”DIA”) for years on threat assessment of biological weapons. Both he and Dr. Alibek had consulted for Battelle, world renown for its expertise on anthrax aerosols. They had co-authored the patent filed in mid-March 2001 on concentrating biological agents using silica in the growth medium that was still confidential as of Fall 2001. Both Dr. Bailey and Ali Al-Timimi had a high security clearance while working at SRA in 1999. Al-Timimi was doing work on a Navy contract.
CIA Director Tenet, in a May 2007 book, notes that the CIA was startled to learn that the anthrax planning had been done in parallel with the 9/11 planning. Indeed, it was the laptop of Hawsawi, who was KSM’s assistant who sent and received money from the hijackers, that had the anthrax spraydrying documents on it. In fact, according to one Pakistan police source, KSM was not really captured on March 1, 2003, when the laptop was seized, as the Pakistanis claim. By this account, he instead was captured on or about February 13, 2003 at the time the blind sheik’s son was grabbed, based on the report Zahid Hussain sourced to a police official. Intelligence officials just wanted the two weeks to get leads on those planning attacks. (The family members of the bacteriologist who owned the home where Hawsawi and the laptop were taken have always stridently claimed that KSM was not captured there.) Two weeks later, on February 26, 2003, authorities raided Al-Timimi along with drying and processing experts. At the same time, and part of the same operation, 100 agents came here to Syracuse, NY and simultaneously interviewed 150 people. In June 2003, a UN report explained that Al-Qaeda “WMD Committee” — Mohammed Abdel-Rahman was one of its three members — “is known to have approached a number of Muslim scientists to assist the terrorist network with the creation and procurement of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear weapons.” Al-Timimi apparently was one such scientist but there were others to include men like Rauf Ahmad, who infiltrated the annual anthrax conferences attended by the USAMRIID scientists.
Information permitting a different resolution of the Amerithrax matter — the identify of the processor(s) and mailer — likely would have to come from the numerous individuals, now arrested, who may have played a role or known something. It likely will stem from those with a personal knowledge of Al Qaeda, and not those with an ideological or political axe to grind, whether militant islamists, in favor of establishing a Palestinian state, or against the US biodefense establishment or whatever the current federal Administration. The perps likely at some point have expressed upset at the detention of the Blind Sheik or been personally affected by the detention of friends or family. If that was the motivation of the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings, the threat remains unresolved — the motive unaddressed. Adnan El-Shukrijumah was the son of the Blind Sheik’s translator.
Although the analysis by the Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) in Rockville, Md. did not pinpoint the exact origin of the Florida isolate — merely narrowing the field from 700-1000 to several hundred — the study showed how whole-genome sequencing technology and computational methods can be a useful tool for analyzing anthrax and other bacterial outbreaks. Similarly, while the anthrax perpetrator(s) may never be caught, the Amerithrax investigation was hard fought by investigators who realized that the next 9/11 might be at issue. As they heard Ayman Zawahiri’s recurring threats of attack, the Amerithrax investigators likely remained haunted by coincidences that they tirelessly pursued while repeating the mantra that they would leave no stone unturned. The investigators were under intense pressure to solve the case. In the end, as described in the Wired article by Noah Schactman, the concern is that they closed ranks to avoid criticism that an innocent man’s suicide had been caused by the agency’s missteps. In particular, the documentary evidence finally produced (which I’ve uploaded) established that Bruce Ivins DID have reason to be in the lab those nights and weekends. Thus, the key premise of the DOJ’s Ivins Theory was a total crock.
In 2003, anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat’s assistants were captured. “Extremely virulent” anthrax reportedly was found in Afghanistan after Hambali was harshly interrogated in Jordan. Ron Suskind in One Percent Solution reports that it was unweaponized but authorities knew it could be readily weaponized and had predated 9/11. It was highly concentrated. After these and other developments, conspicuous surveillance was called off on US scientist Dr. Steve Hatfill in late 2003. In the Summer 2006, the “911 Imam” Awlaki (Aulaqi) from Falls Church, Virginia was arrested in Yemen and held for 18 months. Awlaki met both in San Diego and in Falls Church with hijacker Nawaf who had been at the planning meeting in January 2000 at the condo of anthrax lab director Yazid Sufaat. 911 planner Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh had the telephone number of Awlaki’s mosque. CIA Director Tenet in his 2007 book says authorities were startled to find that the anthrax planning had been done in parallel with the 9/11 planning. Tenet says that Ramzi Bin-al-Shibh had a CBRN role. The Falls Church “911 Iman” Awlaki would speak alongside fellow Falls Church imam Ali Al-Timimi and Bilal Philips about the signs of the coming day of judgment — for example, in August 2001, Anwar Awlaki spoke with Ali Al-Timimi in London along with unindicted WTC 1993 conspirator Philips.
Mohammed Islambouli, the brother of Sadat’s assassin, had been in a cell with KSM in connection with the planned attacks on the US using aircraft and other means. Islambouli’s role and his planned visit to the US in preparation for the attacks was the subject of the December 4, 1998 Presidential Daily Brief by the CIA to President Clinton. . The job of journalists, however, is news, not analysis. So journalists understandably need to wait until they are told these things by the government. But sometimes the government’s interest in the fruits of intelligence activity causes them to forego explaining what is really going on or in seeking a criminal prosecution.
If we don’t learn from history, we are doomed to repeat it. The lives of thousands of children may hinge in the balance and depend on the correctness of the GAO’s assessment of the facts by the men at the podium at the early August 2008 press conference. Their central premises of an Ivins Theory have long since been demolished. .Bruce Ivins never got his day in court but history may be an unforgiving judge My view is that these folks standing at the podium that day were the first line of defense and, despite their experience and responsibility,t they failed in their role as spycatchers.
Dr. Ayman Zawahiri at least would know when he had been penetrated — and he wouldn’t like it.
Anthrax, Al Qaeda, and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
HOW THE F.B.I. CRACKED A CHINESE SPY RING
POSTED BY YUDHIJIT BHATTACHARJEE
http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2014/05/how-the-fbi-cracked-a-chinese-spy-ring.html
DXer said
Top 10 FBI Behavioral Unit Techniques for Building Rapport With Anyone
• Eric Barker
http://time.com/98473/top-10-fbi-behavioral-unit-techniques-for-building-rapport-with-anyone/
Comment:
The 10 Tips for dealing with people sent by FBI Behavioral Unit people — and $3,000 vacuum salesmen.
1. Ask for help — for example, ask them to demonstrate the vacuum on all your carpets.
2. Talk fast. Make them think you are a crazy guy who can be sold. Give them reason to justify to their boss why they are spending so much time vacuuming your carpets.
3. Be very complimentary. People always believe compliments directed to them.
4. Be sure to end up with the free product offered when it turns out their product sucks rather than sweeps.
5. Say things like “There are no secrets.” It makes them wonder whether you are reading their emails as frequently as they read yours.
…
Anthrax, Ayman Zawahiri and Ayman Zawahiri: The Infiltration of US Biodefense
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
This inspiring woman, Mary, is an extremely powerful witness of Abu Hamza in New York City this week.
“The woman who took revenge on Abu Hamza after Yemen kidnapping,” Daily Mirror.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/world-news/mary-quin-abu-hamza-trial-3433666#ixzz2zQPpx8rR
• Apr 19, 2014 20:00
• By Annette Witheridge, Keir Mudie
I have always followed the 1998 kidnapping because there was a threat to use anthrax if all foreigners did not leave Yemen by February 26 (or 27) 1999. At a news conference on January 20, 1999, Abu Hamza, who was the leader of the London-based Supporters of Sharia (Islamic law), had warned that westerners should leave Yemen. Both his son and stepson were being held by authorities. The next month, a vitriolic message, signed by “Army of Suicidals Group 66, Bin Laden Militant Wing,” threatened anthrax attacks against Westerners if they stayed in Yemen beyond a 11-day ultimatum ending February 27, 1999. Egyptians, Algerians and Tunisians, all veterans of the Afghan war, were part of a group calling itself the Islamic Army of Aden and Abyan. Investigators considered a possible connection to the attempted extradition to Yemen of the London-based Egyptian islamic preacher Abu Hamza al-Masri. The anthrax threat, however, was a bluff. Ayman was still researching the subject and recruiting scientists.
DXer said
A Game of Pawns
Based on a true story
FBI Counterintelligence Division
With the FBI Washington Field Office
Full movie
http://www.syracuse.com/news/index.ssf/2014/04/fbi_warns_students_abroad_foreign_spies_may_try_to_recruit_you.html#incart_river_default
Trailer
DXer said
Cool short movie about recruitment of young people studying abroad. At a Scrabble group meeting on Saturday, I met a woman whose granddaughter knew Spanish, French and Arabic and now is in Rabat. I’m so impressed by people who operate in foreign languages. I’ve labored for years just trying to learn short weird 4-letter words for Scrabble.
Being head of the DC FBI Field Office is like drinking from a fire hydrant. It’s a wonder that folks like Michael Mason could follow Amerithrax on top of his many other many responsibilities, to include all DC-related counterespionage. Some things come easier than others — and there was nothing easy about figuring out who mailed the anthrax letters.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
I am uncomfortable in a discussion of the most “effective attack vector” that a terrorist like Dr. Ayman might use.
“Weaponization and Delivery Systems That Terrorists Use for Biological and Chemical Agents,” in Technological Dimensions of Defence against Terrorism, by Lukosi and Prelas. (2013)
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=lgZ7AgAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA29&dq=anthracis++Ivins+suspect&ots=ZmE3op5z1R&sig=vfjTfc4YVDbuNq1A8RoJOsLNi1k#v=onepage&q=anthracis%20%20Ivins%20suspect&f=false
***
“In addition, the availability, simplicity, relatively cheap production and cost and effectiveness of conventional modes of attack act as a natural deterrent for the use of CBW. However, there is the inevitable incrase in the availability of both chemical and biological weapons technology as time goes on, especially when one takes into account the dual use nature of many CBA production methods, such as vaccine and pharmaceutical manufacturing.”
***
For poisoning water, the authors note that “arsenic would be a good choice.” (As I’ve previously noted, testing at my local independent lab showed it was over the legal limit in a very major water brand sold by a very major soft drinks company). Some big companies are just damn hard to embarrass — the company’s NYC refused to recall the product or even do a second test because they had one test to show it just under the legal limit. (I had two tests by an independent lab showing it was two or three times over the limit). NYC counsel said it was against his client’s interest to do a second test. The FDA did nothing. So good luck with that idea of having the government keep you safe.
In the same disconcerting (to me) tone, the authors continue “Infecting food stuffs could prove useful…”
The authors assume that Dr. Ayman would use the most lethal means of delivery as possible. And I appreciate that is the CIA’s view.
In contrast, I think both Yazid Sufaat and Dr. Ayman Zawahiri would follow the rules governing the use of biological weapons in the hadiths. Bernard Lewis recognized this in his famous discussion of the subject.
These guys play by the book as they interpret it on any given day. Adnan El-Shukrijumah was the son of an imam.
Poisoning foodstuffs or livestock, for example, would violate the hadiths.
So instead of outlining the most effective tactics and suggesting Zawahiri would use the most lethal, I think authors should be explaining to Dr. Ayman that he is going to hell (under any belief system) for killing the elderly Ottilie Lundgren. That is, of course, I am right that he did.
I realize the article above serves an important purpose and is well-intended and thoughtful — addressing the full range of possible actors.
But I never want to miss an opportunity to nag Dr. Ayman (and Yazid Sufaat via his wife Chomel and daughter Soraya) that the harshest judgment awaits Dr. Ayman and Yazid in the afterlife (under any belief system) — but especially under the hadiths that he thinks govern the conduct of warfare.
Both Dr. Ayman and Yazid Sufaat consider themselves good students and governed by the hadiths. On the use of a biological weapon, I think they flunked the test.
There are no do-overs when your soul is at stake.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Al Qaeda chief Zawahiri’s brother to stand trial in Egypt
Last Updated: Monday, April 07, 2014, 02:51
Cairo: Al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri’s brother is to stand trial with 67 others for forming a “terrorist group” and plotting attacks after Islamist president Mohammed Morsi’s ouster, Egyptian state media reported on Sunday.
http://zeenews.india.com/news/world/al-qaeda-chief-zawahiri-s-brother-to-stand-trial-in-egypt_922702.html
Egypt Arrests Islamist Close to Qaida’s Zawahiri
by Naharnet Newsdesk 07 April 2014
http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/125557-egypt-arrests-islamist-close-to-qaida-s-zawahiri
Shehata is believed to have been a deputy to Zawahiri when he ran the Egyptian Islamic Jihad before joining forces with former Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden, killed by U.S. special forces in 2011.
Shehata was reportedly detained in Iran following the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks in 2001, which routed Al-Qaida and forced its leaders into hiding.
The Egyptian officials said he had been in Libya and then Turkey before returning to his homeland.
DXer said
Born in 1960, Shehata briefly took over for Ayman as head of EIJ. He, in another life, was Montasser al Zayat’s law partner. Al-Zayat, you may recall, was the Cairo lawyer who announced Zawahiri’s plan to use anthrax against US targets.
As I previously have explained, according to the information posted by the Egyptian government years ago, Thirwat Shehata went to Afghanistan in 1995 with Zawahiri and Bin Laden, where he was put in charge of EIJ’s “security committee which provides logistics to the military wing, the special operations, and the individuals involved in terror attacks. He is a key figure in Bin Laden’s organization.” Thirwat Shehata had been one of the ones to go to Russia and get Ayman and Mabruk out of jail. And Mabruk, shortly thereafter, was arrested whereupon he told his interrogators that Dr. Zawahiri intended to use anthrax to retaliate for the rendering and imprisonment of senior EIJ leaders.
Shehata was a member of the 9-member shura council of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service notes that within the ruling council, he was “head of the Security Committee and in charge of collecting intelligence on Egypt’s leading civilian and military figures and on Egyptian interests abroad.” The CSIS has noted that he “also oversaw counter-espionage and organized logistical support for [EIJ] militants and sympathizers in Egypt.” Shehata maintained regular contact with Mahmoud Jaballah in Canada. His wife is Jaballah’s sister. The CSIS alleges that “Jaballah provided Shehata with regular updates on his activities in Canada, as well as financial support.” In December 1997 and throughout 1997, Al Sibai in London relayed information between Shehata and Jaballah. The London islamist al-Sibai assisted in coordinating financial collection efforts to help get Mabruk out of jail in Dagestan. Al Sibai, according to reports, like Shehata, was an EIJ shura member. The Canadian Security Intelligence Service alleges that Shehata left Azerbaijan on or about August 8, 1998. According to some reports, he has been in Iran in recent years. Today it was reported that he then was in Libya and Turkey before returning to Egypt.
Thomas Joscelyn once described Mr. Shehata’s background here:
Ayman al Zawahiri’s deputy releases statement in support of Egyptian opposition
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/02/ayman_al_zawahiris_d.php
By Thomas JoscelynFebruary 5, 2011
I expect Dr. Zawahiri is going to be very upset about the arrest of his brother Mohammed.
DXer said
Carol Kuntz, Reynolds Salerno, Eli Jacobs of the Center for Strategic & International Studies, in May 2013 published a google eBook titled “A Biological Threat Prevention Strategy: Complicating Adversary Acquisition and Misuse of Biological Agents.”
DXer said
Reynolds Salerno was at Sandia when he probed vulnerabilities at USAMRIID in 2002.
Leading journalists described the Sandia Final Report (2002) when it was first disclosed 9 years after it was completed.
“Before posthumously declaring Ivins the killer, the Justice Department said, the
FBI eliminated as suspects as many as 419 people. Those individuals would have
had access to Ivins’ flask, which was stored in an airtight “hot suite” at Fort
Detrick, or to spores he had shared with colleagues or outside researchers,
including scientists at the Battelle Memorial Institute in West Jefferson, Ohio.”
***
“Fort Detrick’s personnel database failed to list 213 of USAMRIID’s employees but
did include 80 who had left their jobs, the Sandia report said. A separate human
resources roster listed 56 people who had left but not 12 who worked there.”
Pittsburgh Tribune Review
October 25, 2011 Tuesday
Anthrax lab too accessible, reports claim
BYLINE: McClatchy Newspapers and ProPublica
WASHINGTON — The Army laboratory identified by prosecutors as the source of the
anthrax that killed five people in the fall of 2001 was so rife with security
gaps that the deadly spores could easily have been smuggled out of the facility,
outside investigators found.
The security procedures — described in two long-secret reports — were so lax,
they would have allowed any researcher, aide or temporary worker to walk out of
the Army bio-weapons lab in Fort Detrick, Md., with a few drops of anthrax —
starter germs that could grow the trillions of spores used to fill anthrax-laced
letters sent to Congress and the media.
The two reports, which have not been made public for more than nine years,
describe a haphazard system in which personnel lists included dozens of former
employees, where new hires were allowed to work with deadly germs before
background checks were done and where stocks of anthrax and other pathogens
weren’t adequately controlled.
Fort Detrick since has adopted more biosecurity measures. But the security
reports by independent government specialists suggest that deadly anthrax stocks
may have been more accessible than investigators assumed in declaring Army
scientist Bruce Ivins the perpetrator.
The letters, mailed to two senators and at least three media outlets, panicked
the nation in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The Justice
Department said the letter spores derived from a flask controlled by Ivins at
Fort Detrick.
Marked “for official use only,” the two reports were completed in 2002. One was
conducted by a seven-member team from Sandia National Laboratories in
Albuquerque, N.M. The other was by auditors for the Army’s inspector general’s
office.
The teams evaluated security at the Army Medical Research Institute of
Infectious Diseases, or USAMRIID, then the lead federal lab for developing
vaccines and other medical defenses against biological weapons.
McClatchy Newspapers, the online investigative newsroom ProPublica and PBS’
“Frontline,” which have collaborated in an examination of the Justice
Department’s case against Ivins, obtained copies of the reports.
The reports are expected to be made public later this week in a $50 million
lawsuit filed in federal court in West Palm Beach, Fla., by family members of
Robert Stevens, a photo editor for American Media Inc., who was the first person
to die from the anthrax attacks.
“It’s about time,” said Richard Schuler, a lawyer for the family. “The public
should know about the way security for deadly pathogens was being handled — or
mishandled — by the Department of the Army and the government in the period
leading up to the 2001 anthrax attacks.” …
Ivins died of an overdose soon after learning that prosecutors were seeking
approval to charge him with five counts of murder. The FBI case was largely
circumstantial, although prosecutors said their most direct evidence was the
genetic link between anthrax in the letter powder and spores in Ivins’ flask of
liquid anthrax.
Before posthumously declaring Ivins the killer, the Justice Department said, the
FBI eliminated as suspects as many as 419 people. Those individuals would have
had access to Ivins’ flask, which was stored in an airtight “hot suite” at Fort
Detrick, or to spores he had shared with colleagues or outside researchers,
including scientists at the Battelle Memorial Institute in West Jefferson, Ohio.
The Sandia report emphasized that terrorists had obtained germs from research
labs before. It cited a February 2001 National Defense University study that
found 11 cases in which terrorists or other “non-state operatives” had acquired
biological agents from “legitimate culture collections,” including three
research or medical laboratories.
Despite USAMRIID’s sobering mission, the Sandia report said, the western
Maryland lab developed a work environment in which employees failed to make the
same “indisputable commitment to security” as they did to research.
“The current biosecurity system at USAMRIID does not adequately protect HCPTs
(high-consequence pathogens and toxins) and related information,” wrote the
Sandia team, headed by security expert Reynolds Salerno.
The report said no rules governed movement of germ specimens from one building
to another, for example, and that a test tube containing some of Ivins’ spores
was left for weeks in a refrigerator in a second building.
Fort Detrick’s personnel database failed to list 213 of USAMRIID’s employees but
did include 80 who had left their jobs, the Sandia report said. A separate human
resources roster listed 56 people who had left but not 12 who worked there.
Conflicting rosters didn’t necessarily signal a security weakness, the Sandia
team wrote, but they contributed to “perceived chaos in the personnel system” at
the facility.
Even if all those things had been perfect, the examiners said, there was little
way to detect diversions from flasks of germs, because a “malevolent” worker
could grow more of the pathogen or find other ways to conceal the removal of a
small amount.
DXer said
The truth is more interesting.
Eliot Ness and Al Capone: The men, the myths and the Bad Man in the Dark, Wash Po, Feb. 18
http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/eliot-ness-and-al-capone-the-men-the-myths-and-the-bad-man-in-the-dark/2014/02/18/8223c47a-95aa-11e3-afce-3e7c922ef31e_story.html?hpid=z5
DXer said
DOJ Civil produced an email dated October 30, 2001 from Ms. Wendy M. Webster to Bruce Ivins, Anthony Bassett and Kristie Friend. The Subject is “US Secret Weapon.”
Wendy Webster wrote:
“thought you guys would like this one
another funny one from my friend over in Saudi — they are actually working there??!”
Note that USAMRIID did not produce this pursuant to the request for Dr. Ivins’ emails by Scott Shane, which as I recall he made in September 2001.
I don’t know what it is about. Studying a related mail dated November 5, 2001 in which Dr. Ivins forwarded it to Gerry Andrews, Jeffrey Adamovicz and Marcia Baker may shed light.
Meanwhile, USAMRIID should ask itself why it was not produced with Dr. Ivins emails. A forensic examination of the emails should be undertaken by GAO so as to identify gaps where missing emails should appear.
The emails are all sequentially ordered when in a specific format. USAMRIID did not produce the emails even when specifically tasked this month.
DXer said
The FBI’s “Ivins Theory” was based on some markedly inconclusive evidence and science. The theory that Ivins was the processor and mailer was largely speculative and based on factual premises that have been proved untrue. It’s hard to resist concluding that the FBI’s starting conclusion is a case of bureaucratic overreach.
Speaking up for Bruce Ivins — like speaking up for a mute swan — does no good unless legislators and other agencies avoid their own bureaucratic inertia and inefficiency.
The Opinion Pages |OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR]
Speaking Up for the Mute Swan
By HUGH RAFFLES FEB. 17, 2014
“The state’s management plan is based on a D.E.C. study that produced some markedly inconclusive science. The threat from New York’s swans appears largely speculative: The study’s authors base their assumptions on programs to control growing numbers of mute swans in Michigan and theChesapeake Bay, yet as the report itself shows, the birds’ populations in New York State are relatively small and currently either steady or in decline. It’s hard to resist concluding that the startling plan to eliminate the swans statewide is a case of bureaucratic overreach.”
DXer said
In ‘American Anthrax’ Alleges Attacks as Inside Job,” the documentary maker, for example, dismisses the reason that the White House was on Cipro, he says (and I’ll credit), a week before the mailings.
Given that Ayman Zawahiri’s colleagues had publicly announced he intended to use anthrax to retaliated for the rendering and imprisonment of senior EIJ leaders, it would have been negligent if the Secret Service had NOT made such a preparation.
Folks are entitled to the theory but to not acknowledge the previous announcements — which were available in the international press — causes their analysis to rest on a faulty premise.
Folks are entitled to their theory but not to their own facts.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
‘American Anthrax’ Alleges Attacks as Inside Job | Interview wi
DXer said
“Organizational versus Individual Attribution: A Case Study of Jemaah Islamiyah and the Anthrax Plot
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/1057610X.2014.872022?journalCode=uter20#.UtEq5M0VdkI
Published online: 18 Dec 2013
DXer said
Organizational versus Individual Attribution: A Case Study of Jemaah Islamiyah and the Anthrax Plot
Paper (on Panel)
Participants
• Joosse, Alexandra (Author)
• Milward, H. Brinton (Author)
On Item:
Narratives of Insurgency, Conflict, and Security in Times of Transition
Several recent studies have taken an important first step in examining which terrorist groups, based on their organizational characteristics, are more likely to pursue chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) weapons. This group-centered approach can be classified as an organizational approach because it assumes that individuals who perpetrate events act on behalf of the organization to which they primarily belong. The main purpose of this paper is to open this assumption to questioning. To what degree do individual-level characteristics need to be taken into account when constructing narratives as well as quantitative models of CBRN pursuit? In this paper, we report a case study that exemplifies the complexity of this issue. In 2001, a plot to weaponize anthrax was traced back to two Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) members, who likely acted without the expressed approval of the organization as a whole. We show that while organizational characteristics are important in explaining CBRN pursuit, there is need for a broader conceptualization of what organizational involvement means in order to capture organizational as well as crucial individual influences on CBRN activities. Future models would benefit from fitting together both types of influences.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
http://sgpp.arizona.edu/milward
H. Brinton Milward
“In addition, since 9/11 he has studied illegal and covert networks that pursue grievances or greed. His articles on “Dark Networks,” have been widely cited for their application of network analysis and management theory to terrorist networks, human trafficking, drug smuggling, and other illegal activities. His particular foci have been the governance of dark networks, their trajectories, and accounting for their relative degrees of effectiveness and resilience.”
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Excerpt:
“After casing the office for months, the group broke in on the night of the Muhammad Ali-Joe Frazier fight and emptied the filing cabinets into suitcases. They reconvened a a farmhouse an hour away, and began sifting through the documents. After sending the evidence to several newspaper reporters, the group never met again.
The documents revealed plans for increased surveillance of various left-wing groups, and efforts by the FBI to sow paranoia among leftists by encouraging the idea that “there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.” Years later, the leak led to the discovery of a blackmail letter from FBI agents to Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., threatening to expose his extramarital affairs if he didn’t commit suicide.”
Article on the same subject:
After 43 years, activists admit theft at FBI office that exposed domestic spying
http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/06/22205443-after-43-years-activists-admit-theft-at-fbi-office-that-exposed-domestic-spying?lite
Comment:
Attorney Stanley Cohen, now THAT is an example of truth-telling. What you are doing is not truth-telling. You are representing lying murderers of innocents — and reportedly taking in a lot of money from “activists” doing so.
We wouldn’t have drones in our life, for example, if it weren’t for Al Qaeda’s murder of thousands of innocents.
Peace activists are good. War and violence is bad.
Murderers of innocents and civilians are bad.
Murderers of innocents and civilians merely confuse the issue while trying to maintain the cover of peace and justice activists.
Stanley, if your defendants cannot tell the truth about what they did, then they shouldn’t have done it. Stop the lies.
In Amerithrax, Attorney Kemp apparently didn’t realize that the FBI already had Bruce Ivins’ DNA from a cup. Moreover, the reason they were swabbing him was to test against the semen on the panties. They told Dr. Ivins that they were going to call his family to ask them why he was spending so much time at the lab. He then committed suicide. All the while, the prosecutors withheld the contemporaneous documents confirming that he had an experiment with the 52 rabbits that first week in October 2001.
The FBI is still withholding massive documents from GAO to this day. The GAO would know that if it obtained the annotated copy of the index of the paralegal’s database — which serves as a roadmap of what the FBI has withheld.
No one has a monopoly on righteousness — or on missteps. The outrageous undercover operations run in Amerithrax make anything done in COINTELPRO pale in comparison.
What the CIA and FBI don’t realize is that history keeps no secrets.
These graphics were done by a federal undercover.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
And that’s the truth.
Unless the CIA is just trying to create the false impression that there is an FBI agent behind every mailbox.
DXer said
Intelligence Analysis and the Bureau: The Evolution of Analysis and the Analyst Position in the FBI, 1908-2013
http://scholarcommons.usf.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1307&context=jss&sei-redir=1&referer=http%3A%2F%2Fscholar.google.com%2Fscholar%3Fas_ylo%3D2013%26q%3DFBI%26hl%3Den%26as_sdt%3D0%2C33#search=%22FBI%22
DXer said
A blogger named Ed, the fellow who has argued for over a decade that a First Grader wrote anthrax letters. has collected some of the questions I’ve asked on Lew’s blog.
He has gathered the questions #1-25 and I’ll notate the reason why it would be worth hearing what the person thinks.
Question #1: Who does former lead Amerithrax prosecutor Daniel Seikaly and his daughter, Ali Al-Timimi’s former defense counsel, think is responsible for the anthrax mailings of Fall 2001?
Daniel Seikaly had a high security clearance and led the Amerithrax investigation. He was represented by Plato Cacheris, a top flight criminal defense attorney, in connection with his leaking the story about the anthrax smelling dogs that led to a continued focus on Stephen Hatfill for years.
Mr. Seikaly comes from a family active in advocating on the Palestine issue and his daughter represented “anthrax weapons suspect” pro bono. His daughter has co-authored with the former NSA General Counsel at the same firm and NSA was secretly wiretapping Al-Timimi and his network to include Fowzia Siddiqui, who was at Johns-Hopkins. I think Attorney Seikaly’s views, if he ever chooses to share them, would be fascinating.
His brother and sister-in-law argued 2001-2002 that there was not reason to think Bin Laden was responsible for 9/11. Daniel came over from the CIA in September 2001 after 911.
Daniel was in charge of extraditions, as I recall, at the DOJ when the FBI in the 1990s attempted to send a blackened out Lear jet to pick up KSM in Qatar. Someone tipped KSM off — perhaps the Qatari religious minister if he somehow knew. KSM was in a cell at the time with Mohammed Islambouli planning attacks on the US.
Question #2: Who does Saif Adel suggest is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mallings?
Saif Adel thinks of himself as a heavyweight. I believe he was EIJ/ AQ military commander after Atef’s death in November 2001. Saif Adel denied responsibility for the mailings to the newspapers in NYC and DC and people in symbolic positions known as the Al Hayat letters — for which there is an outstanding $5 million reward. Ali Mohammed’s protege Dahab, a Cairo Medical school drop-out, looks good for that mailing IMO. Both were associated with the Blind Sheik’s Brooklyn operation and Ali Mohammed taught Dahab to make lethal letters. Abu Ghaith knew Saif Adel in Iran. So maybe Abu Ghaith has shared what he knows about Saif Adel.
Question #3: Who does Marwan Hadid think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Marwan Hadid is both an alias Yazid Sufaat uses and apparently was the name of a hematology technician helping Yazid at Omar Hospital in May 2001. Al Qaeda operatives tend to borrow the name of one of the Prophet’s companions or the like. I am relying on an interrogation report in understanding him to be an assistant helping Yazid rather than Yazid himself. I believe that is the name Yazid was using on his twitter account before he was thrown in jail last year.
Question #4: Who does “Waly Samar” think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Waly Samar was a fellow, a subtilis expert, who called the WTC 1993 bomber apartment repeatedly up until the Blind Sheik was arrested. He has partnered with a fellow from Afghanistan in a video educational project that will teach people in Afghanistan microbiological techniques. Ramzi Youssef was staying at the apartment that telephone records show the subtilis expert “Waly Samar” kept calling. Ramzi Youssef was KSM’s nephew. A reporting call to a charity where KSM was thought to be waiting was made from Waly Samar’s dorm room. His full name is Walied Al-Samarrai. I emailed Professor Al-Samarrai many years ago to ask his opinion about why silica was detected but he didn’t get back to me. I glean from Vahid Majidi’s September 2013 book that they didn’t swab the subtilis expert’s lab for genetically matching subtilis. Given the off-the-charts connection to the WTC 1993 bombing, I definitely would have exhausted a lead about a subtilis contaminant.
Question #5: Who is Tahar Butt Kashmeri? Who does Tahar say is responsible?
Tahar Butt Kashmeri was the person who Omar Hadrami, the AQ man in Lahore, said knew who the anthrax mailer was. I believe Tahar Butt Kashmeri was Al-Hindi, who cased targets in NYC and DC in May 2001 or so with Adnan El-Shukrijumah. It is El-Shukrijumah who I have long ventured as the anthrax mailer.
But given there are others born in that region (and focused on the dispute with India) — including a NY pharmacist said to have connection to the Al Qaeda anthrax program — I am uncertain as to what Dr. Batarfi was saying.
I once visited New Delhi in June 1987 or so as a tourist and I overheard at the hotel that CIA personnel were forbade from going to Kashmir. I then was walking by a Bank of America (maybe at Connaught circle) when a bomb went off. So I’ve always been fascinated by whodunnits. Right after the bombing I was bought into the backroom of a temple and the bearded man was being very friendly and giving literature to bring to the US to tell everyone how friendly they were. I’m still very ignorant about international relations but I still love whodunnits. I spent the rest of the week hanging out at the pool drinking up white Russians.
Question #6: Dr. Bruce Ivins hosted one Egyptian visitor in the B3 who was the lifelong friend of a former Egyptian Islamic Jihad member, a schoolmate, recruited by Ayman Zawahiri. Who does he think is responsible?
This refers to Tarek Hamouda. I emailed Dr. Hamouda to ask — starting with a question (as I best recall it) relating to who in the Vanguards of Conquest/Egyptian Islamic Jihad we knew in common. But he didn’t respond. His lifelong childhood friend and medical school classmate “Tawfik” Hamid tells me that they would go to the comic store when Tarek came back from Khartoum, Sudan, where he lived. His mother was an accounting professor at the university there. That’s where Bin Laden and Ayman Zawahiri came to be based and so I would have gotten around to asking Tarek if he knew Ayman from his days Ayman would come to the medical school to recruit the aspiring doctors to jihad.
Tarek’s former co-principal in NanoBio then became head of international vaccines at Merck. If you ever wanted to follow the money rather than Ayman Zawahiri, there’s plenty of money to follow.
An article explaining the research was the only peer-reviewed article provided by the FBI. Ann Arbor is where the IANA charity was based. There was lots of very heavy duty law enforcement investigation there early on but the FBI appears to have first been faxed documents about the Ames supplied by Bruce Ivins to Tarek in 1998 in spring of 2005. I believe Art Friedlander had obtained them from Bruce. University of Michigan totally stiffed me on FOIA. Shame on them and their Regents. Tarek also tested his decontaminant in aerosol tests at Dugway and also did research at the BL-3 at LSU. Dr. Hamouda thanked FBI genetics expert Kimothy for providing the BL-3 and thanked Ivins accuser Pat Fellows for providing technical assistance for the research involving virulent Ames. So Tarek would be a fascinating interview.
Question #7: Ali Mohammed, the head of intelligence for Egyptian Islamic Jihad who worked variously for the US Army, FBI and CIA, had a document on his computer seized by the FBI that outlined principles of cell security that would be followed, trained Dahab, a Cairo medical drop-out, to make deadly letters. Who does Ali think is responsible?
What can I say — Ali taught Dahab how to make lethal letters. The anthrax letters tracked the modus operandi of the Al Hayat letters. If you don’t understand the important of Ali Mohammed and the pattern he set for infiltration of the US government, then you aren’t very well-read. His computer when raided by a swarm of FBI agents had a document titled “Cocktail” that explained the principles of infiltration that should be followed. The AQ home office would not know the identity of cell members.
Question #8: Who does Al-Marabh think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
Nabil Al-Marabh was an operative seen with Atta up in Canada and then was the focus of very intense investigative activity early on that included a researcher researching anthrax at a small library in the Midwest. I was pursuing the great secrecy surrounding the Jaballah and another fellow named Mahjoub — both associated with the Vanguards of Conquest. The anthrax letters were sent to the US Senators right after it was announced that Mahjoub’s bail was denied. When his bail hearing was first announced in January, letters threatening anthrax was sent. A Canadian study was done to explore the threat and it found that the anthrax made by a Wisconsin daily processor and then tweaked by the military immediately spread across the room upon the letter being opened. The top DARPA-funded Ames anthrax researchers associated with Ali-Al-Timimi may have been briefed in Spring 2001 along with about 15 others. Those researchers shared a suite with Ali Al-Timimi, who was coordinating with 911 imam Anwar Awlaki.
Question #9: Who does Mohammed Zawahiri think was responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Mohammed Zawahiri is Ayman’s brother. Ayman really picked up the pace on his anthrax program after Mohammed was rendered in early 1999. The anthrax letters were in retaliation for the rendering of senior EIJ leaders, including Blind Sheik Abdel-Rahman. Or least that is why the Blind Sheik’s lawyer and other EIJ shura members said in public reports that Dr. Ayman was going to use anthrax.
Question #10: Who does [Dr. Assaad] think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
Dr. Aassad, a Coptic Egyptian who was a friend of Bruce, says that Dr. Ivins was the victim of a “vicious plot.” I don’t know what he means exactly. He would have to explain. I did email but he didn’t write back.
Question #11: Who does Aafia [Siddiqui] think is responsible?
Aafia Siddiqui was tasked by KSM’s nephew, who she married after 911, to research anthrax weapons. Aafia isn’t talking — not even about her “missing years.” She would be a fount of information about the lab in Karachi.
Her sister-in-law had an office down from Teresa Koehler. The Koehler lab was unlocked and upgraded to BL-3 in about March 2001. They grew anthrax in sand (silica) and had CIA grant in 2001.
I emailed Melissa Drydale about the work she did rendering avirulent anthrax into virulent anthrax but she didn’t respond. I was curious because in the mailed anthrax one of the plasmids was inverted or upside down.
The lab in Houston (it coincidentally was a school Aafia had once attended years earlier) was wiped out in June 2001 when millions of gallons flooded the basement. When Aafia finally got to speak to her brother Mohammed, an architect (who I think she visited after she visited her PhD that spring) she broke down crying. His sister-in-law, Dr. Khawaja, did not respond when I wrote her to ask about this background and whether Aafia had access to Koehler’s unlocked anthrax lab. Aafia’s family’s first attorney, Annette from ACLU, was very helpful — albeit unconvincing in her protrayal of Aafia as a volvo-driving soccer mom.
Question #12: Who does [Omar] Bakri [Mohammed] think was responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
In early September 1999, the London Sunday Times reported that London Sheik Omar Bakri Muhammad, a friend of Abu Hamza, the mullah with metal claws for hands, in an open letter read out in mosques across Britain and published on the internet, called on Osama Bin Laden to use biological weapons against America and its allies. Sheik Omar Bakri posted his open letter to Bin Laden on his own website and read in mosques in Sheffield, Bradford, Leicester and London. When US officials complained, the letter was taken off the internet. “Using any biological weapons in self-defence is, in Islam, permissible, and I believe that we are currently operating under a defensive jihad. Obviously, we regret what could happen to innocent people, but there are always people who are war casualties or, if you like, victims of war.” He recommends that biological weapons be used against the “occupiers” of holy lands.
Youssef Bodansky, the director of the Congressional United States Task Force on Terrorism, said: “Bakri knows that his letter will be acted upon and that is why he has written it.” He told the Sunday Times Bin Laden had taken encouragement from Bakri’s message and had issued a reply that was read out in mosques in Pakistan and Britain.
Bakri would make a fascinating interview on the subject.
Question #13: Who does [Ali Saleh Kahlah Al-Marri] think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
It is my understanding that Al-Marri cased targets with Adnan El-Shukrijumah and Al-Hindi in May 2001. I think they stayed with Al-Hindi’s relatives in New Jersey. He was handled by Hawsawi who had anthrax spraydrying documents on his laptop. They used a code in communicating. Al-Marri was a known biochem operative but wasn’t the mailer for sure. He is in jail.
Question #14: Who does [Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed} think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Saeed Mohammed was rendered by Lear Jet in October 2001 to Jordan. He assisted Yazid Sufaat by purchasing some equipment for him in Karachi. In the lab, Saeed Mohammed said Yazid’s lab technique wasn’t very good but Yazid assures me that he can perform magic. I believe a fellow passenger on that trip was an earlier head of the Vanguards of Conquest, a doctor.
Question #15: Who does Dr. Batarfi think was responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Dr. Batarfi told Yazid he would arrangement payment from the Karachi WAFA office given that it would be hard to get funds across the border. It is unclear whether his help for Yazid began in May 2001 rather than August 2001 — he says August.
He offered to help the USG but didn’t like being thought of as a “spy.” Authorities released him to Yemen in 2009. After criticism from those who had seen classified report about his help with the anthrax lab, the CIA publicly reported that it was all done pursuant to a secret agreement with Yemen. Now as for whether Dr. Batarfi was sent as a spy to get Anwar Awlaki, I have no idea. I pretty much know only what I read in the papers. I do know though that his mentor was a fellow named Dr. Aziz and it was when the Khawaja compound was raided and Dr. Aziz was detained that I first picked up the scent of Abdur Rauf, the fellow attending the anthrax conferences with the Porton Down and USAMRIID scientists.
Question #16: Who does Mr. Chehazah think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
Chehazah was an associate of Awlaki and some of the hijackers. Awlaki was the 911 imam who has urged that the US be attacked with anthrax.
The Interrogating FBI Agent Bob Bukowski Thought It Suspicious That That Alrababah “Ran Into” Hijackers After His Meeting with 911 Imam Aulaqi And That He Stayed With Hijackers In Bridgeport, CT Hotel When He Had Apartment Nearby
Posted by Lew Weinstein on February 4, 2012
When Chehazeh finally did emerge shortly after 8a ET, we rushed up to him and immediately began our questioning. “How did you know Anwar Awlaki?” “Don’t you think it’s strange that you knew two of the 9/11 hijackers?” At first he seemed shocked that a camera crew would be waiting for him as he left for work. But he quickly regained his composure and began to slowly answer our questions, claiming that he had no idea of the hijackers’ plot and was only trying to help them situate themselves in this country. He claimed to have no knowledge of Awlaki’s terror plots and said he only traveled down to the mosque in Virginia because he was seeking work.
Question #17: Who does US pharmacist Najmut Tariq think is behind the anthrax mailings?
Najmut Tariq was a NYC-city pharmacist based associated in some fashion with Al Qaeda’s anthrax program. One store was very near Lenox HIll in Manhattan. Another was in Brooklyn where the Blind Sheik’s supporters were. Najmut’s brother has a telephone number for Najmut but I don’t know if he is giving interviews. If someone has his email, I can ask him why his name was listed on the calendar of some heavy duty bad guy interested in bioweapons.
Question #18: Who does GBK was responsible for the anthrax mailings of Fall 2001?
Without checking middle initials or googling, I don’t know who GBK is. If it is Gordon Kromberg, he is the prosecutor of “anthrax weapons suspect” Ali Al-Timimi who has been very helpful in sending me an occasional court-filed, unsealed filing. I had contacted him to avoid copying costs because the blogging budget is zero. AUSA Lieber was reprimanded when she visited a jihadi who she had been told was off-limits because a deal had been cut. I’m still trying to gain confidence in judging who that jihadi was. My initial guess had been that it was Ali Timimi but now I’m not sure — given that Al-TImimi’s still complaining about his life plus 70 years. It seems that a jihad supporter cutting a deal would have received a reduced sentence. I’ve never spoken to GK (that I recall) but if I had he wouldn’t do more than be polite and refer me to public filed pleadings. All the good stuff is classified.
Question #19: Who does Arif Qasmani think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
I believe he was the person in touch with the NYC anthrax operative. So he clearly would be a good person to ask about the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings.
LeT trying to acquire weapons of mass destruction with help from Qaida
Sachin Parashar May 11, 2011
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2011-05-11/india/29531592_1_qaida-al-qaida-arif-qasmani
NEW DELHI: One of LeT’s most important leaders who was indicted by the US treasury department for the July 2006 Mumbai train bombings, Arif Qasmani, is helping the India-centric terror group acquire biological weapons and anthrax through his al-Qaida links.
The interrogation report of a Pakistani businessman and Guantanamo Bay detainee, Saifullah Paracha, has revealed that LeT was in touch with a US-based “al-Qaida anthrax operative” as it tried to acquire weapons of mass destruction.
Question #20: Who does [Hassan Faraj] think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings.
He was a fake doctor at the hospital treating Kathy Nguyen. He lived next to Ali Al-Timimi in 1999 when he was pretending to be abroad tending to his medical education. Abroad, he was helping jihadists get to camp. There were WMD connections that were discovered by NATO raids. Hassan is represented by the recently indicted Stanley Cohen, who represented the Blind Sheik Abdel Rahman and now represents the Al Qaeda spokesman Abu Ghayth. Abu Ghayth was the fellow who said AL Qaeda had the moral right to kill 4 million civilians, including 1 million children. At the moral level, Abu Ghayth was confused in 2002. As for his recent book on “Twenty Guidelines” for jihad, I haven’t been able to locate a copy. My thought was that he wrote it to motivate Iran to let him go to Saudi Arabia. For example, I think he says you mustn’t attack your host country. OTOH, maybe he has had time to think through the moral issues. Certainly Al Qaeda is getting more sophisticated with PR — nowadays they apologize when they behead the wrong guy or a jihadi attacks a hospital.
Question #21: Who does Dr. [Jane A.] Alexander think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
Before 911, she explained that Al Qaeda might choose to use anthrax on a small scale — which would be very disruptive. She is an expert. The folks saying that Al Qaeda would only use a “big bang” didn’t know what they were talking about. Heck, just look at Abu Ghayth’s express words in the indictment updated last week. He explained that the means of attack would be of their own choosing.
Question #22: Who does Assem Abdel Maged, media official at Jama’a al-Islamiya, think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
That’s the name for the Egyptian Islamic Group. If you don’t understand the Egyptian connection to Dr. Ayman Zawahrii’s anthrax program you need to read more.
Question #23: Who does [Professor W. Samarrai] think is responsible for the anthrax mailings?
This is a repeat. This is the subtilis expert connected to the WTC bombers who lived in North Brunswick in 2001, about 20 miles from the mailbox where the letters were mailed. The FBI did not swab all the suspect labs for the subtilis contaminant that was found in the mailed anthrax. That was incredible lapse. I’ve emailed Professor Samarrai a couple of times over the years but didn’t hear back. He would be a fascinating interview — both as to his connections with the WTC 1993 bombers, KSM’s nephew Ramzi Yousef, subtilis and contact with the FBI. His WTC 1993 friend from Baghdad is still a fugitive. I think there probably is a $5 million reward still. He was questioned by police and then let go. He then hopped a flight.
Question #24: Who does Michael Scheuer think was responsible for the anthrax mailings?
Michael Scheuer wrote a 2002 book about Zawahiri and standing in the shoes — understanding your adversary. He says it is 100% that they were experiment in northern Iraq with anthrax where Dr. Ayman had sent 4 senior EIJ leaders in 2001. Mr. Scheuer protested to Bush that the US needed to get Bin Laden at Tora Bora and was very stressed at the resources diverted to invasion of Iraq. He did important work for the Zawahiri Task Force prior to 9/11. The doctor from here who got 22 years for funding Ansar Al-Islam. It’s one of his strong supporters who makes the basbusa I love so much.
Question #25: Who does Dr. Heba think was responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings intended to free senior EIJ leaders that had been rendered?
Heba Zawahiri was Dr. Ayman’s sister, a microbiology professor, who I have claimed taught Tarek Hamouda microbiology at Cairo Medical. They were in the same department — she a professor and he a PhD student. She cried herself to sleep each night in 1999 after her brother Mohammed Zawahiri was rendered. It was especially upsetting because they had no word from him and did not know if he was alive.
Even when people are detained, I think we should treat them humanely and keep their families apprised that they are okay. Otherwise, Dr. Ayman Zawahiri might retaliate with anthrax just like it was announced that he would do by the senior detained EIJ leaders. The EIJ officials explained what was going to happen upon interrogation in 1998 but then it was publicly reported in 1999.
******************
The founder of the CIA once explained that asking people questions is still one of the best ways to find out information. At the very least, whenever it is possible, it is a necessary journalistic duty to get their side of the story.
Richard Clarke once noted that most intelligence is open source. One way to increase the amount of information that is open source — leading to better intelligence analysis — is to respectfully ask the questions and then post the answer. And if some reporter from a major media outlet is better positioned to get an answer, then suggesting the question is one way to get the question asked and answered.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
How Tarek Mehanna Went to Prison for a Thought Crime
As the government embraces a “counter-radicalization” approach to counter-terrorism, prosecutors are turning radical beliefs into criminal acts.
Amna Akbar December 31, 2013
http://www.thenation.com/article/177750/how-tarek-mehanna-went-prison-thought-crime
Comment:
In the THE COMPANY YOU KEEP (2012), Robert Redford gave the newspaper reporter from Albany a powerful speech at the cabin as the FBI descended. It turned out that Redford was correct that Mimi would prove a truth-teller after all.
DXer said
NY judge orders ‘compassionate release’ of terror lawyer Lynne Stewart
Published December 31, 2013FoxNews.com
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/31/ny-judge-orders-compassionate-release-terror-lawyer-lynne-stewart/
Who does Lynne Stewart think is responsible for the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings?
DXer said
Declassified documents show NSA spying started under Bush, grew under Obama
Posted on: 7:57 pm, December 21, 2013, by CNN Wire
The 10 documents show deep concern within the U.S. government over the possibility that other terrorist cells were operating in the United States, plotting a domestic attack like the ones that struck New York, Washington and Pennsylvania on September 11, 2001.
One such document, from 2007, explains the government’s concern: “We have numerous reasons to believe al-Qaeda is still plotting another attack on U.S. soil,” then-DNI Michael McConnell says in a newly declassified declaration as part of an ongoing lawsuit over the telephone records. “Besides Bin Laden’s own statements, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, issued threats against the United States and its interests and enjoined Muslims worldwide to take up violent jihad in more than a dozen audio or video taped statements in 2006 and at least four thus far in 2007.”
McConnell adds, “The (U.S.) Intelligence Community assesses al Qaeda is most likely employing a diversified operational planning model, involving multiple, probably autonomous concurrent efforts.”
DXer said
FBI says 2003 tip from Grand Rapids man on Osama bin Laden’s location was ‘not actionable’
By Jim Harger
http://www.mlive.com/business/west-michigan/index.ssf/2013/12/fbi_says_2003_tip_from_grand_r.html
Lee maintains he told agents at the FBI’s Grand Rapids office where they could find bin Laden in 2003, after the son of a longtime business associate in Pakistan told him that government’s intelligence agency was preparing to move bin Laden to Bilal, a suburb in Abbottabad.
“Bilal is about five streets long and I gave them the street,” Lee said.
Lee said he doesn’t believe the FBI’s claim that his information was “not actionable.” He claims the CIA knew about bin Laden’s whereabouts a result of his information and monitored his cell phone until the May 2011 raid in which a Navy SEAL team killed bin Laden.
There is some dispute about when bin Laden moved into the residence. Although U.S. intelligence sources have been quoted as saying the house was built for bin Laden in 2004, Lee points to a Times of India article that claims the house was built in 2003, about the time he received his information.
Lee said his informant in Pakistan no longer lives in the country nor is involved in the Pakistani intelligence organization.
DXer said
http://gizmodo.com/fbi-can-secretly-activate-laptop-cameras-without-the-in-1478371370?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+gizmodo%2Ffull+(Gizmodo)
The Washington Post reports that the FBI has had the ability to secretly activate a computer’s camera “without triggering the light that lets users know it is recording” for years now. What in the hell is going on? What kind of world do we live in?
Marcus Thomas, the former assistant director of the FBI’s Operational Technology Division,told the Post that that sort of creepy spy laptop recording is “mainly” used in terrorism cases or the “most serious” of criminal investigations. That doesn’t really make it less crazy (or any better) since the very idea of the FBI being able to watch you through your computer is absolutely disturbing.
The whole Post piece about the FBI’s search for a bomb threat suspect is worth reading. It shows how far the FBI will go with its use of malware to spy on people and reveals the occasional brain dead mistakes the FBI makes to screw themselves over (like a typo of an e-mail address that the FBI wanted to keep tabs on). Good to know these completely competent folks are watching over us by any means necessary. [Washington Post]
Comment:
This Fall the red light on a laptop I use went on briefly (and I made the mistake of looking up at is, tipping off that it had gone on). It is a common hack used by horny 17 year -old boys and dirty old men who hope to spy on a cheerleader.
In the case of a national security investigation, it serves the purpose, for example, of confirming who is using a shared laptop. As a rule of thumb, I am always the one googling “anthrax,” “Qaeda,” “Qaida,” Aulaqi, Awlaki, FBI, “Abu Ghaith,” “Yazid Sufaat,” Hawsawi, “Samer Al-Barq,” Zawahiri. Less often I may google Morsi, Islambouli, Al-Timimi etc. I google “Soraya Yazid” a lot only as a means of relocating her Twitter feed — and I try to remain current to learn of developments in Yazid’s court case. I haven’t bookmarked because it seems unseemly to pay so much attention to such a beautiful sweet woman. (My wife knows how much I love Southeast Asia.).
I have very few relatives or friends who take an interest in or even know about my blogging. Most just think of me as an independently wealthy play boy. Fewer still who are foolish enough to send me videos of bunnies like I received this morning. But it is a testament to the great likability of those who do. And I have an over-the-top great, huge family on both sides. I am truly blessed.
Having an Al Qaeda member from Syracuse was great fun — finding that he was talking about “A.Q.U.S.A.” is an even cooler unresolved mystery. The fact that I went in to that Somalia restaurant twice under the thin pretext of learning a new scrabble word — while secretly seeking to break up an Al Qaeda terror cell is the stuff of an an always entertaining imagination. I had told my relative that we had needed to use the “Passport from Syracuse” game as a cover to break up a terror cell — seconds after we had walked in on four young men in earnest discussion with the owner while Al-Jazeera played above us. Sometimes a guy just wants to win more than a T-shirt. But at the end of the day it is all about being entertained.
I have had dozens of email accounts for years but only use a couple. (I am not counting the woman’s name used to register on Lew’s blog). The password for almost all of them is the same “Edisanidiot.” In any given week I may use up to 50 different computers. At Fayetteville library, there are about 30 between the computer lab and the Fab Lab that I use for 3D printing.
I once told the FBI when they asked I had lots and lots of computers here — it might be about a dozen.
But I post every thing I know and think and so there would be no purpose served by surveillance. Heck, if I am not careful, the federal undercover will put me on his spam filter I send him so many unwanted photos and chatty observations about this and that. He commonly thinks I’m speaking in code but that usually leads to confusion because I never am. There was one entire wasted year-and-a-half prior to the Feb 2010 closing when he was first authorized to help me and the FBI’s thinking was obviously extremely confused. (Yes, a lot of people knew Rachel was confused and in trouble even before she did). The undercover excused himself on the grounds that his handler was writing him lousy scripts. (They still don’t know why I know what I know — the red light never goes on for me.)
I tape (and videorecord) a lot — it comes from training at The Farm.
Remember: If you think the FBI hired the smartest guy in the room, Vahid Majidi tells you quite forthrightly and disarmingly in his 2013 book that they didn’t.
The minute I can get Yazid’s daughter to pass on word from her father what strain he was using I’ll post it. Ziyana, Ali Al-TImimi’s wife, also told me that she was sure that some day we would be speaking — but that for now she was not authorized by counsel to speak. (This was years ago).
But using the camera on a computer is not different than being able to turn on a cell phone and listen in — and the FBI has been able to turn on a cell phone even when it is off for many years now.
So while government surveillance is unfortunate and annoying at times, there will be less need for government when there is less religiously motivated violence and less crime.
It greatly pleased me when two girls were identified for stealing a bunch of electronic equipment from backpacks in the locker room of a local high school they had once attended. (Having had my canoe stolen I take theft very seriously). I also had a bike stolen but the guy I suspected promptly dropped dead of aneurysm or something so I couldn’t ask if he was involved.
The local girls, twins, were caught by a security camera. So are we going to rue the technology of the surveillance camera? I don’t think we should. I think we need more, not fewer, cameras. Ones with greater analytic capability — that can zoom upon motion.
So long as we press to enforce that government comply with the rule of law — and we make sure to work for good laws to be passed — it’s all good. The author of the Patriot Act wants Clapper fired and indicted — but that issue involves lying to Congress about surveillance rather than surveillance itself.
It is especially convenient when a target of surveillance is sitting in front of his own camera.
Certainly, it seems that the targets are far better at infiltrating government than the other way around — so at least they should step up their game to match the typical horny 17 year-old or dirty old man.
When playing against Ayman Zawahiri, losing is not an option. Failure in analysis is not an option.
Amerithrax represents the greatest failure in intelligence in the history of United States –it is bigger than 911 because it is ongoing.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
FBI’s search for ‘Mo,’ suspect in bomb threats, highlights use of malware for surveillance
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/fbis-search-for-mo-suspect-in-bomb-threats-highlights-use-of-malware-for-surveillance/2013/12/06/352ba174-5397-11e3-9e2c-e1d01116fd98_story_1.html
By Craig Timberg and Ellen Nakashima, Published: December 6 E-mail the writers
The man who called himself “Mo” had dark hair, a foreign accent and — if the pictures he e-mailed to federal investigators could be believed — an Iranian military uniform. When he made a series of threats to detonate bombs at universities and airports across a wide swath of the United States last year, police had to scramble every time.
Mo remained elusive for months, communicating via e-mail, video chat and an Internet-based phone service without revealing his true identity or location, court documents show. So with no house to search or telephone to tap, investigators turned to a new kind of surveillance tool delivered over the Internet.
The FBI’s elite hacker team designed a piece of malicious software that was to be delivered secretly when Mo signed on to his Yahoo e-mail account, from any computer anywhere in the world, according to the documents. The goal of the software was to gather a range of information — Web sites he had visited and indicators of the location of the computer — that would allow investigators to find Mo and tie him to the bomb threats.
Such high-tech search tools, which the FBI calls “network investigative techniques,” have been used when authorities struggle to track suspects who are adept at covering their tracks online. The most powerful FBI surveillance software can covertly download files, photographs and stored e-mails, or even gather real-time images by activating cameras connected to computers, say court documents and people familiar with this technology.
ing surveillance software to Mo’s computer last year. Not all such requests are welcomed by the courts: An FBI plan to send surveillance software to a suspect in a different case — one that involved activating a suspect’s built-in computer camera — was rejected by a federal magistrate in Houston, who ruled that it was “extremely intrusive” and could violate the Fourth Amendment.
“You can’t just go on a fishing expedition,” said Laura K. Donohue, a Georgetown University law professor who reviewed three recent court rulings on FBI surveillance software, including one involving Mo. “There needs to be a nexus between the crime being alleged and the material to be seized. What they are doing here, though, is collecting everything.”
The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment on the case or the surveillance techniques used in pursuit of Mo.
…
“The suspect could be down the street or on the other side of the planet,” said Jason M. Weinstein, a former deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s criminal division who is now a partner at Steptoe & Johnson. He said he had no direct knowledge of the investigation of Mo. The case, however, “raises the broader question of whether the rules that exist now are adequate to address the problem.”
Mystery caller
The first known call from Mo came in July 2012, two days after a troubled man with dyed orange hair had gunned down 12 people in a movie theater in the Denver suburb of Aurora, Colo., court documents show. Mo told the county sheriff’s office there that he was a friend of the alleged killer and wanted him freed. If the sheriff refused, Mo said, he would blow up a building full of potential victims.
Mo and a deputy sheriff ended up speaking by phone for three hours while also communicating for much of that time through e-mail. That left investigators with several leads, including a phone number and a working address on Gmail, the Web-based e-mail service from Google.
Over several months, Mo allegedly threatened to detonate bombs at a county jail, a DoubleTree hotel, the University of Denver, the University of Texas, San Antonio International Airport, Washington-Dulles International Airport, Virginia Commonwealth University and other heavily used public facilities across the country, court documents show.
Though no bombs were ever found, during his rash of threats Mo began using an ominous new e-mail address: “texan.slayer@ yahoo.com.” He also gave investigators a plausible full name for himself — Mohammed Arian Far — whose initials roughly fit a name he had used when registering his Google account: “mmmmaaaaffff.
***
“We have transitioned into a world where law enforcement is hacking into people’s computers, and we have never had public debate,” said Christopher Soghoian, principal technologist for the American Civil Liberties Union. “Judges are having to make up these powers as they go along.”
Former U.S. officials say the FBI uses the technique sparingly, in part to keep public references to its online surveillance tools to a minimum.
***
Smith also said that a magistrate’s court based in Texas lacked jurisdiction to approve a search of a computer whose location was unknown. He wrote that such surveillance software may violate the Fourth Amendment’s limits on unwarranted searches and seizures.
Yet another federal magistrate judge, in Austin, approved the FBI’s request to conduct a “one-time limited search” — not involving the computer’s camera — by sending surveillance software to the e-mail account of a federal fugitive in December 2012.
Comment:
What an odd but fascinating case involving Mo.
On a minor point, why would “Mo” list their correct birthday in signing up for a Yahoo account? An email server has no need to know your birthdate. To lessen the risk of identity theft you shouldn’t be giving out such information to people who have no need to know. I almost always use the birthday of my friend Danny (from elementary school). Consistency helps me avoid forgetting it in case I forget my “Edisanidiot” password. Signing up for newspaper accounts (like the Wash Po) I am a 105 year-old elderly woman. (Newspapers collect demographics based partly on age).
As to the thrust of the story generally, note that Gibbs of NCIS would use hacking whenever it suited him — it is not like it needed to be admissible in court. Rules only need to be followed when admissible evidence is sought.
In the real world, Senator Leahy should know that the well-founded rumor was that rogue Vermont state troopers would use wiretapping whenever they wanted even though there was no state statute authorizing wiretaps. (Any tap needed to be cleared by the US Attorney to be lawful given the absence of a state authorizing statute). It was just understood that it the interception was done off the books and would not be admissible. Somehow the same homicide detective doing the wiretapping never made arrests or solved the murders resulting from trafficking across the Canadian border there.
There is no reason to think that law enforcement has adequate auditing of intercepts. Nowadays it can be just done from a laptop and no one needs to climb a pole.
Heck, the FBI couldn’t even locate the Apple laptop in Bruce Ivins’ B3. And then USAMRIID didn’t keep the emails from 2001 even though USAMRIID was where the Ames was stored. Was Ivins surfing porn on the laptop? It would be a firing offense. The laptop was installed in the summer of 2001 when his late night hours increased.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
In an interview with a Frederick news station after he left USAMRIID for Upstate New York, Dr. Heine says he has privately shared his theory of who did it with the FBI.
Dr. Henry Heine gave 4 interviews to Morning News Express Bobcast.
In this interview, after the 9 minute mark, Dr. Heine explained that he had samples from RMR 1029 that were sitting in his refrigerator.
[audio src="http://media.ccomrcdn.com/media/station_content/1142/Dr_Henry_Heine_Anthrax_Front_line_1318433831_10847.mp3" /]
He was in Building 1412, not Building 1425.
They were all “negative” for the 4 morphs. Under the FBI’s theory, they should have been positive. It is what I believe would be called a “false negative.”
The central underpinning of the 4 morphs relied upon by the FBI is thus cast into serious doubt — rather than narrowing things to 100 it narrowed things only to 200-300… and that is just at USAMRIID. Given this dramatic false negative, the 4 morphs doesn’t eliminate access at Battelle or Dugway at all.
The interviewer and Dr. Heine emphasize that this fact was never shared by the FBI with the public.
Other samples that he submitted were positive. Given that the samples were stored in Building 1412, AUSA Taylor’s claim about how the genetically matching stock was stored only in Building 1425 was garbage from the very start. If you read Vahid Majidi’s book, you see he relies on Dr. Ivins late night hours, the 4 morphs, and the (false claim) that the FBI interviewed all of Atta’s associates and was able to exclude them. (To the contrary, they did not interview Adnan El-Shukrijumah — on 911, he was already staying with 911 mastermind KSM in Kandahar where Al Qaeda anthrax lab tech Yazid Sufaat also stayed.
I admire these USAMRIID scientists that have addressed the issue these issues so much. We should all be blessed to have people of such moral fiber in our lives.
And we should all understand the reporting by Frontline, ProPublica and McClatchy to have been an example of journalism at its finest.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
You can hear “Stephen Engelberg on the FBI’s Anthrax” on this podcast.
http://www.propublica.org/podcast/item/stephen-engelberg-on-the-fbis-anthrax-case/
Stephen was co-author of GERMS which was published in September 2001. He discusses the Stevens litigation. I expect to be uploading some civil depositions from that matter not previously produced.
For example, Mr. Little’s deposition was not subject to a protection order.
DXer said
* Dr. Henry Heine, former colleague of Dr. Bruce Ivins, freed of the gag order, interviewed on his last day at USAMRIID
Posted by Lew Weinstein on April 7, 2010
The FBI’s case against Dr. Bruce Ivins has been demonstrated to be bogus. So what really happened? And why? I offer one “fictional” scenario in my novel CASE CLOSED, judged by many readers, including a highly respected official in the U.S. Intelligence Community, as “quite plausible.”
Dr. Henry Heine was former colleague of Dr. Ivins, freed of the gag order, on February 25, 2010 gave WFMD an exclusive, lengthy in-depth interview on his last day at USAMRIID.
DXer notes some highlights of this important three-part interview. The entire interview has great material but given its length, if you needed to prioritize, you might listen to the 3 segments in reverse order.
– He says there are things that he can’t talk about — unless he wants the FBI to show up and take him away in handcuffs.
Any witness can talk about his grand jury testimony — is he referring to matters that are classified?
– It was clear that they were focused on a small group of us at USAMRIID, one of which was Bruce. Of the 4 or 5 of us they were focused on, one of them was Bruce.
– In the third segment, Dr. Heine’s says we couldn’t talk about what we were questioned on. Prior to November 1, 2007 raid on his house, several days prior, he had just returned from a cruise and talking about what a great time he had on the cruise. He was talking about these two great women on the cruise — and Henry told him “Bruce, they are FBI agents.” ”Look, we can google can figure this out.”
– Very conspicuous surveillance. Black suburbans parked on the ridge all weekend. Things taken out of glove compartment and left. Bruce was told that Dr. Heine had turned him in (which, he explains, was not true). Dr. Ivins was thereby removed from his support structure and isolated. He was not allowed to go near him (per instruction to Ivins by Dr. Ivins’ lawyer). Faced with the FBI’s pressure and isolation (and incurring over $50,000 in legal fees), Bruce killed himself.
– He says that under condition Delta, in the days after 9/11, not only would Dr. Ivins likely been checking on everyone’s animals, but he would have been on the internet.
(Note: He raises the question, indirectly, why the FBI hasn’t produced evidence of how he spent his time on the internet on those nights. (Note: no records from the Apple Computer from the hot suite have been produced.)
– He discusses how the government took things out of context of emails. Dr. H says a lot of the psychological stuff dates to the last couple of years and the tremendous pressure put on him. Dr. H says he was being questioned every couple of weeks. He somehow has an agreement with the FBI relating to confidentiality.
– His theory as to the silicon signature is that the spores were “grown in a situation where probably antifoam was present.” He says in a series of experiments with a colleague he would use an antifoam in creating an aerosol. They use a small amount and bubble air through and would have foam develop so they introduced antifoam. The FBI was very keen on why they did that and what happened to that material. Now the FBI says “oh, that’s just an anomaly” but back then there was keen interest in what was done as to the use of antifoam.
– Dr. Heine says all the USAMRIID scientists were interviewed in mid-October 2001 and where they were on the dates of mailing. (Comment: What did Dr. Ivins say when asked within 2 weeks of the mailing? Why wasn’t his response at the time provided?)
– Dr. Heine says that the drying equipment that would be needed was not available — and not protected — in Dr. Ivins’ workspace.
– He says Dr. Ivins did not have the knowledge or expertise to grow up large amounts of bacteria — it would have been impossible for Bruce to do.
– Dr. Heine says a lot of his own work with his animals was done with material from Flask 1029 and his office was in 1412.
(Note: from the unredacted version HH took out 50 ml, 50 ml, 10 ml, 8 ml.)
– In Building 1425, it was kept in the cold room freezer. With access to the suite, anyone could walk in and take it. (Note: this is why the FBI estimates that up to 377 had access required elimination (allowing for some duplication who had access in both 1425 and 1412) Dr. H says Dr. Hatfill would have had access in 1412 but does not think he could have made it, noting that Dr. H is a virologist.
– Dr. Heine had some of the good stuff to grow up for antibiotic work. He says even just opening up that zip lock bag… like when you open up a talcum powder and twist the top, it was like that. They were working around the clock. His task was to identify the antibiotic that should be used — and to consider whether it was resistant to antibiotics.
– He says the mailed anthrax was 1, 000, 000, 000, 000 per gram. (He posits an 8 rather than 7 letters; suggests the possibility of one shredded in the machinery at Brentwood explaining the contamination). He says “We still need to get 4 more powers of ten beyond what Dr. Ivins could do.” It would take a fermenter run. Problem with a fermenter run you still need to get rid of the liquid. None of these things were available at USAMRIID, he says.
– He says lyophilizer was in non-containment area and could not have been used.
– His theory as to the silicon signature is that the spores were “grown in a situation where probably antifoam was present.” He says in a series of experiments with a colleague he would use a silicone-based antifoam in creating an aerosol. They use a small amount and bubble air through and would have foam develop so they introduced antifoam. The FBI was very keen on why they did that and what happened to that material. Now the FBI says “oh, that’s just an anomaly” but back then there was keen interest in what was done as to the use of antifoam.
– On the government having it all rely on Flask 1029, he analogizes it to the situation of the guy at the Walmart and blaming him for a shooting in town because he had control of the bullets at one point under the counter. He says that’s all they have — and implies that is ridiculous.
DXer said
Here is a 2000 CIA handbook for intelligence analysts.
Analytic Thinking and Presentation for Intelligence Producers: Analysis Training Handbook
Click to access cia-ath.pdf
DXer said
CIA turned some Guantanamo Bay prisoners into double agents against al-Qaeda, AP reports
By Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, Updated: Tuesday, November 26, 11:23 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/cia-turned-some-guantanamo-bay-prisoners-into-double-agents-against-al-qaeda-ap-reports/2013/11/26/e98163b2-56ac-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html
Comment:
Now that’s just cool. (Not surprising but cool).
Dr. Batarfi was released to Yemen. He had helped Yazid Sufaat with procurement. An MD, Dr. Amer Aziz, who treated OBL after 9/11, had been his mentor.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Jail’s too rough for hook-handed Al Qaeda suspect Abu Hamza, lawyers say
The accused terrorist wants to be moved to a special prison in Massachusetts that houses inmates with long-term medical problems. His complaints have been ongoing; currently incarcerated in New York, the Islamic preacher once asked for a bidet in his cell.
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/jail-rough-hook-handed-al-queda-suspect-lawyers-article-1.1529089
Comment:
His lawyers should get in touch with the people making prothetic hands using a 3D printer.
It’s addictive. I’m leaving in minutes to make a back scratcher and personalized moustache comb for my neighbor who suddenly has bad back pain.
The library also has a new Full Spectrum Laser Cutter. I just totally love making my huge family customized Christmas gifts.
http://www.techadvisor.co.uk/news/printing/3d-printing-community-creates-3-hand-for-12-year-old-boy/
DXer said
FBI Names New National Security Chief
By Evan Perez
The FBI on Wednesday named Andrew McCabe, a long time terrorism investigator, to its top national security post.
Agency Director James Comey promoted McCabe, the assistant director of the National Security Branch, which oversees the bureau’s terrorism, intelligence, counterintelligence and weapons of mass destruction investigations.
McCabe was the first director of the FBI-led High-Value Interrogation Group in 2009, set up by the Obama administration to handle intelligence questioning of terrorism suspects after the President Barack Obama dismantled the Central Intelligence Agency’s controversial interrogation program.
He began his career in 1996 with the FBI’s organized crime squad in New York.
DXer said
Vahid Majidi, in his new book on Amerithrax, writes:
“Once the information is collected, the ‘raw information’ is distributed among the IC components, and intelligence analysts start to work on the finished products. Using different sources of information, analysts are responsible for painting the “big picture” which is much larger than any single piece of reporting.
I call this website “The Big Picture.”
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
In a new manuscript, Dr. Vahid Majidi writes:
“Most of these projects involve our Department of Defense (DOD) or the Intelligence Community (IC). We jokingly refer to these agencies are our secret squirrel sponsors who do not initially divulge their affiliation until they are sure the project could be done at LANL or other National Laboratories. This is an essential part of the compartmentalization process to ensure everyone, who is familiar with the project and the sponsoring agency, has an absolute need-to-know for the information.”
I can appreciate that. The graphics for this blog were similarly done by a federal undercover and you don’t have a need to know. But I don’t believe in keeping secrets because compartmentalization leads to faulty analysis as it demonstrably did in Amerithrax.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Tom Clancy, age 66, has passed away. In an interview in the December 2001 issue of The Washingtonian, he discussed the Fall 2001 anthrax mailings:
“We have to figure out who’s behind this anthrax stuff. I don’t think it’s Osama bin Laden, at least not entirely. I’ve never heard of a University of Kabul Medical School with people with the biochemical knowledge to execute this anthrax campaign. Whether it’s some lunatic American local or some foreign national living in the United States who is similarly crazy or some overseas operation, you just don’t know yet. I’ll leave that to the FBI; I don’t know.
[Question] How bad can the anthrax threat get?
When I was doing Executive Orders, I talked about Ebola to people who know about infectious diseases and their use as weapons of war, and guys told me that these weapons are more psychological than physical.
We are seeing that. We’ve had people die. We probably had more people die from lightning strikes in the same period of time. But we don’t care about them, although they are just as dead.
So more than anything else, you have a psychological weapon that’s achieving its objective of frightening the American population, certainly the American media.
[Question] Are the media overreacting?
The media usually do. They say America is in a panic. Well, they are talking about themselves because this time they have been targeted. Maybe they will recognize that they are indeed citizens of America, not part of some international elite and immune from the normal vicissitudes of life. If so, maybe it will be a useful lesson for them.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
Al Qaeda tried to infiltrate US intelligence agencies: Report
Tag: Al Qaeda, US, US intelligence agency, Spying
Last Updated: Monday, September 02, 2013, 12:56
Washington: Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and other hostile groups have repeatedly tried to infiltrate American intelligence agencies, forcing US authorities to reinvestigate thousands of employees every year to counter the threat, according to a classified budget document.
“The CIA found that among a subset of job seekers whose backgrounds raised questions, roughly one out of every five had significant terrorist and/or hostile intelligence connections,” The Washington Post said, citing a classified budget document provided by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
The groups cited most often were Hamas, Hezbollah, and al-Qaeda and its affiliates, but the nature of the connections was not described in the document, the paper said.
“So sharp is the fear of threats from within that last year the NSA planned to launch at least 4,000 probes of potentially suspicious or abnormal staff activity after scrutinising trillions of employee keystrokes at work.
“The anomalous behaviour that sent up red flags could include staffers downloading multiple documents or accessing classified databases they do not normally use for their work, said two people familiar with the software used to monitor employee activity,” the Post said.
“This shrouded, multimillion-dollar hunt for insider threats has suffered from critical delays in recent years and uneven implementation across agencies, the budget records show. And the spy agencies’ detection systems never noticed that Snowden was copying highly classified documents from different parts of the NSA’s networks,” the paper said.
Contractors like Snowden, who leaked some of America’s most closely guarded secrets, were not included in the plans to reinvestigate 4,000 security clearances, the paper said.
Snowden subsequently fled to Hong Kong and then Moscow, where he remains after being granted temporary asylum.
CIA officials said the number of applicants ultimately tied to terrorist networks or hostile foreign governments was ‘small’ but declined to provide an exact number or the
The intelligence community’s dramatic emphasis on insider threats came in the wake of disclosures by WikiLeaks in 2010. The anti-secrecy group received hundreds of thousands of military and diplomatic documents from convicted American soldier Bradley Manning, the paper said.
PTI
DXer said
Upates: FBI director testifies
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/06/13/live-updates-fbi-director-testifies/
Mueller: Snowden has caused significant ‘harm’
In his introductory remarks, FBI director Robert Mueller said that former contractor Edward Snowden’s disclosure of sweeping surveillance programs has caused “significant harm to our nation and our safety.”
He added that the leak is being fully investigated and said that the programs have been conducted in accordance with “the constitution and U.S. laws.”
In listing the FBI’s most important challenges, Mueller said that the “terrorist threat remains our top priority,” making specific mention of the continuing threat from “homegrown terrorism.”
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
An August 2010 AP item on Adnan El-Shukrijumah:
“The FBI is still hoping to bring charges in South Florida against Shukrijumah, but key information about him was provided by Guantanamo Bay detainees such as Mohammed, whose use as a witness would be difficult.
“For us, it’s never been a dry hole. It’s always been an active investigation and it’s global in nature,” LeBlanc said. “We have never stopped working it.”
___
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/06/ap-exclusive-new-al-qaida-leader-knows-us-well/#ixzz2SntteXpI
DXer said
The reason KSM says he was so talkative in interrogation — for example, about Yazid Sufaat — was that he assumed the government knew about it given he was reading about his anthrax planning all over the internet. :0) Yazid in turn was bummed when some friend told Malaysian questioners that he had worked in the former Malaysian biological weapons program. Yazid says he refused to cooperate with his Malaysian questioners because he felt betrayed by his country — but truth be told, he felt betrayed by KSM.
PETER JENNINGS (CONTINUED)
(Off Camera) …. Pierre, the FBI put out a be on the look out order for a man
named Adnan El Shukrijumah. El Shukrijumah. I think I pronounced it correctly.
We don’t know an awful lot about him, except that he carries a variety of
passports. Can you bring us up to date on why they are interested in him?
PIERRE THOMAS, ABC NEWS
(Off Camera) Peter, they’re extremely concerned because they think he was a
pilot, they also think that he, that he trained in Afghanistan. And he’s
associated, according to the FBI, with two men that they have been concerned
about for a long time, Ramsey Bin Al Sheeb and Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. Two key
planners in the 9/11 attacks.
PETER JENNINGS
(Off Camera) And I understand that he, he may be Guyanese, he may have been born
in Guyana, but carries among others a Saudi Arabian passport and even possibly a
Canadian passport?
PIERRE THOMAS
(Off Camera) Peter, this man is thought to carry a variety of passports as you
say. They think that he used to live in south Florida near where some of the
9/11 hijackers lived, but right now they simply have no idea where he is.
PETER JENNINGS
(Voice Over) And, and do you know how they arrived at the connection between him
and Mohammed Atta?
PIERRE THOMAS
(Off Camera) Well, I’m told that they developed some overseas intelligence, but
also that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed identified him as a field commander in
al-Qaeda.
DXer said
The DOJ/FBI tried to keep El-Shukrijumah’s participation in the NYC bombing plot low-key while they tried to catch him.
July 1, 2010 Thursday
US officials link al-Qaeda figure Shukrijumah to NY subway bomb plot
BYLINE: ANI
LENGTH: 97 words
Washington, July 1 (ANI): US officials have indicated that Adnan Shukrijumah, a
top al-Qaeda figure, helped plot last year’s attempted bombing of the New York
subway system.
According to the Fox News, the Justice Department has named him in a draft
indictment saying that Shukrijumah met with one of the would-be suicide bombers,
but not yet filed it, fearing that the extra attention would hinder efforts to
capture him.
“Shukrijumah is among the top candidates to be Al Qaeda’s next head of external
operations, the man in charge of planning attacks worldwide,” the report stated.
(ANI)
______________
This is the law:
The purpose of fighting is to win.
There is no possible victory in defense.
The sword is more important than the shield and skill is more important than
either.
The final weapon is the brain. All else is supplemental.
— John Steinbeck
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
In today’s websites is mention of a phony website set up by the FBI.
Tounisi, 18, was arrested at Chicago O’Hare airport on April 19. According to the Chicago Tribune:
“Prosecutors allege that Tounisi posted messages on a phony website set up by the FBI agreeing to travel to Syria to fight with the Al-Nusra Front militant group. According to authorities, Tounisi has links to a second Chicago-area terrorism suspect, Adel Daoud, who was arrested in September after he tried to set off what he thought was a bomb outside a downtown bar. The two were close friends and plotted the bomb attack together, prosecutors allege, but Tounisi backed out when he suspected law enforcement was on to them.”
The FBI and CIA are far cleverer, creative and skilled than their second-guessing critics give them credit. They just often are not in a position to publicly take credit. Moreover, they often find themselves making arguments they privately recognize very likely are untrue — such as the FBI agent testifying in the hearing against Curtis in the ricin case that first day.
These are the graphics done summarizing my analysis in Amerithrax.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Yazid Sufaat was a member of a secret (long since abandoned) Malaysian biological weapons program.
A half dozen or affidavits were provided his defense counsel this past week.
His court hearing is scheduled for Monday.
It’s time to follow the evidence — leaving your decades-long preconceptions about Amerithrax behind.
You need to understand the importance of focusing on the virulent strain that Yazid Sufaat confirms he was using.
Yazid told KSM that he and his assistants were vaccinated against anthrax. They were vaccinated against anthrax because they were using a virulent strain.
DXer said
The FBI has taken down the fake website. It was just weeks ago that the young man found it.
http://web.archive.org/web/*/nusrat-syria.com
The FBI knows what you are looking for (if paying attention to you) and it is a simple matter for them to arrange for you to find it next time you look. Even if they have to post it. (It does not require spyware — what you search for and your web history has been available from the major telecommunications carriers by subpoena even absent probable cause).
So, for example, if you are a made member of the mafia with a stolen $200 million painting and you google about it — the FBI has the IP address you used in accessing the site.
Personally, given how many armed robberies go unsolved, I prefer prioritizing old school methods. Last week, quick-thinking officers ran down a young man with a fake pipe bomb robbing a bank behind the trees in my backyard. We need more aggressive sharing of photos of armed robbers using social media websites — and not just in the local area, but 100-200 miles away. So I think a priority should be better cameras with analytical capabilities (zoom, high resolution, motion detection etc.) The money saved from fewer ill-conceived undercover operations and payments to criminals could go to federal grants to local communities for better cameras.
But returning to snaring these angry young men and other supporters of jihadists, everything you ever searched to reach this website (or any website) has been trackable by the FBI, going back years.
It is all in your file (if they care to keep one).
But if you were an Eagle Boy Scout, click on this and stop being so lazy in your research about Al Qaeda’s anthrax planning:
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Finally, I think it is foolish to use cryptography, whether email, video or chat. Why have secrets at all? Nothing is foolproof and so it is foolhardy to trust that NSA is not one algorithm ahead of you.
DXer said
Here is a message from Rep. Rush Holt that he titles “Anthrax, Now Ricin.” Rep. Holt served as Chairman of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence from its start in 2007 until it was disbanded in 2010. The Panel was charged with strengthening oversight of the intelligence community by ensuring that policymakers receive accurate assessments, civil liberties are safeguarded, and the intelligence community is protecting Americans at home and abroad.
“Anthrax, Now Ricin”
http://holt.congressnewsletter.net/common/mailings/index.cfm?id=97
Dear Friend,
You no doubt remember the atmosphere of fear and even panic in mid-September 2001 as 22 people contracted anthrax from letters mailed to news outlets and to Congress. People died then – two postal employees and three other innocent citizens. Those troubling days returned to my mind last week when we learned that the deadly poison ricin had been found in letters mailed to the Senate and to President Obama. Fortunately, no one has died this time.
The manner in which these letters were discovered shows that our nation has, at least, learned one lesson from the anthrax attacks: Both letters were opened and tested in off-site mail facilities set up after the anthrax attacks. Yet I am troubled that other lessons remain unlearned.
How could the FBI have responded more appropriately in the immediate aftermath of the anthrax attacks? Did the FBI truly build a sound scientific and criminal case against Bruce Ivins, the suspect held responsible for the attacks? Is the government’s current response to the ricin attacks repeating errors of the past?
I have previously offered legislation that would create a special commission, modeled after the 9/11 Commission, to investigate the anthrax attacks and determine what lessons we can learn still. As last week’s poisoned mailings demonstrate, the need for answers remains. …
Congressman Holt beat IBM’s computer “Watson” at Jeopardy.
MARCH 7, 2011
Watson vs. Humans: Score One for Congress
By STEVE LOHR
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/07/watson-vs-humans-score-one-for-congress/
I.B.M.’s Watson may have pummeled Jeopardy! champions Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter last month, but last week, a New Jersey Congressman beat the question-and-answer supercomputer.
To be sure, it was no ordinary politician. Representative Rush D. Holt Jr., a New Jersey Democrat, is a physicist who spent the nine years before he won his first congressional race in 1998 as the assistant director of the plasma physics laboratory at Princeton University.
Back in the 1970s, Mr. Holt recalled in an interview last Thursday, he tried his hand at Jeopardy!, and came away a five-time winner. He said he participated in the event in Washington, organized by I.B.M., to underscore the importance of government research funding and science education — and for the sheer cerebral sport of taking on Watson.
DXer said
FBI Criticized For Failing To ‘Connect Dots’ In Boston Case
by TOM GJELTEN
April 26, 2013 3:00 PM
http://www.npr.org/2013/04/26/179297741/fbi-criticized-for-failing-to-connect-dots-in-boston-case
Comment: The FBI is damned if they do and damned if they don’t. Hindsight is 20/20. The FBI only have to be wrong once. There is no indication critics could do better. We all need to pull our oars in the same direction. The “integrity” in the FBI’s motto relates partly to reassessing the evidence based on new information without regard to CYA considerations. Let’s not give FBI officials reason to be defensive and engage in CYA.
DXer said
Letter sent to Obama tests positive for ricin, officials say
DXer said
USA Today in describing the earlier letter to Senator Wicker notes:
“The envelope, which was intercepted at an off-site Capitol mail facility, was found to contain a “white granular substance” and was quarantined …”
DC said
Has someone asked Krzysztof Wasik about the 2003 ricin mailings?
WASHINTON, D.C. — Police believe a man from Luzerne County is responsible for a bomb threat that shut down traffic around The White House Wednesday morning.
Police in the nation’s capital say a man walked up to the White House gates around 5 a.m. Wednesday and told a Secret Service agent a bomb was about to go off in a truck parked nearby.
Investigators say it was a hoax, and arrested the man.
Krzysztof Wasik, 44, of Hazle Township is the man who made the threat at the White House, according to police.
According to the Washington Post newspaper, Wasik is now in police custody and faces criminal charges.
The threats prompted an investigation by the Secret Service and D.C. police, when a Secret Service agent said the man from Hazle Township said the truck was, “set to blow up.”
Police closed several streets near the White House for two hours.
Police located the truck and determined the threat was false and the streets were re-opened.
Wasik was taken into custody, and according to several news reports is expected to be charged with making false threats though no court appearance has been scheduled so far.
DXer said
Here is what I posted last week on ricin and the White House last week. I called the 800 tip line and suggested that they compare WK’s handwriting to the handwriting of the “Fallen Angel.”
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 2:59 pm
According to the woman who recently separated from him, Mr. Wasik is a nice guy and is not anti-government. He however has mental issues, is into the bible and religion and may be off his medication. At his home or business, are there any instructions on making ricin?
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:01 pm
The dba is Gromnik is based on grom. A picturesque village in southern Poland, “grom” means “thunderbolts” and also refers to Polish special forces.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:07 pm
Mr. Wisak started Gromnik in 2003. He may have found the regulations, if they applied to him, upsetting after investment in his rig. Does he ever use the construct “Fallen Angel” in his religious discussions?
2007 update – Ricin Letters Still A Mystery.
.
Despite the ongoing mystery into why someone sent two ominous letters with the deadly poison ricin to Capitol Hill, the Russell Senate Office Building was to reopen Thursday. The Hart building was scheduled to open Friday, and Dirksen on Monday.
CBS News Correspondent Bob Orr reports Marines in haz-mat suits were methodically scouring Capitol Hill buildings, collecting unopened mail and sorting through trash, in a wide-ranging search for clues.
However, investigators say they have found nothing to explain how the potentially deadly powder wound up in the offices of the Senate Majority Leader.
“There has been no smoking letter information that helps tie this thing together,” said Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer.
The investigation is focusing on a mysterious “Fallen Angel” who threatens to use ricin as a weapon unless new trucking regulations are rolled back.
Three senior federal law enforcement officials, speaking on condition of anonymity Wednesday, said the FBI and Capitol Police Department were investigating the possibility that the same person or persons who made those earlier threats sent ricin-laced mail to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
The typewritten letters, addressed to the White House and Transportation Department and signed by “Fallen Angel,” warned that more ricin would be used unless some trucking regulations that went into effect Jan. 4 were scrapped.
Hazardous materials teams from the FBI and Capitol police continued the search Wednesday night for a letter or parcel that might have carried the ricin powder found Monday in a mail-sorting room in Frist’s personal office suite. No such parcel was immediately found.
Gainer said investigators have found “no obvious direct connection” between the Frist case and the letters signed by “Fallen Angel.” Those letters were discovered in mail facilities that serve the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport in South Carolina and the White House.
They were found Oct. 15 and Nov. 6, respectively, but the existence of the White House letter was not disclosed by the Bush administration until Tuesday.
The letters, described as nearly identical, claimed that the author owned a tanker truck fleet company and demanded that rules governing the numbers of hours truckers can drive remain unchanged, according to the FBI.
The FBI said the South Carolina letter was in an envelope with a typewritten warning “Caution RICIN POISON.” The letter included claims that the author could make much more ricin and would “start dumping” if the new regulations weren’t abolished. There was no delivery address and no postmark.
No one has fallen ill in any of the incidents.
There is no known antidote for ricin, a strong toxin which is relatively easy to make from castor beans. Ricin is considered a less effective weapon for causing mass casualties than anthrax, which was mailed to Senate offices in late 2001, because it is more difficult to make airborne and requires inhalation of large quantities to be fatal.
The FBI focused on ricin in its weekly intelligence bulletin to 18,000 state and local law enforcement agencies. The confidential bulletin, obtained by The Associated Press, said no threat of any kind had been received in the Frist case. It concentrated mostly on the dangers of ricin and how police should respond to potential contamination.
The trucking industry has been working with the FBI and Transportation Department inspector general’s office on the investigation. The American Trucking Association has sent bulletins to its members urging them to be aware of people “displaying aggressive behavior” or engaging in suspicious activity.
One association bulletin asked that members “be alert for either a potential disgruntled trucking company, trucking company employee or person purporting to be from the trucking industry” who has made threats in the past against government agencies.
The regulations at the heart of the “Fallen Angel” letters were four years in the making and drew some 53,000 comments when first proposed, trucking association spokesman Mike Russell said. Many truckers and companies worried about lost pay and productivity because of stricter rest requirements.
“It was controversial,” Russell said.
While the South Carolina letter’s existence was made public shortly after it was found, the Bush administration delayed acknowledgment of the White House letter by nearly three months. It was intercepted Nov. 6 by the Secret Service at an offsite mail facility.
Secret Service spokeswoman Ann Roman said the FBI and other agencies were notified after the letter tested probable for ricin on Nov. 12. White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Homeland Security officials held a Nov. 13 conference call with the FBI, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Postal Service and other agencies to discuss what to do.
Ultimately, the ricin in that letter was deemed to be of a low grade and not a threat to public health, so no announcement was made. President Bush was not immediately informed, McClellan said.
“We share information appropriately, if there is a public health risk,” McClellan told reporters.
The al Qaeda terror group has threatened to use ricin, but officials have found no indication that the two “Fallen Angel” letters or the Frist incident are connected to international terrorism.
The FBI has offered a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the “Fallen Angel” case.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:10 pm
You can compare Mr. Wisak’s handwriting to this handwriting.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:14 pm
He transported foodstuffs. Did the foodstuff items he transported include castor pulp or did he otherwise have easy access at the food company whose goods he shipped?
A letter stated:
“To the department of transportation: I’m a fleet owner of a tanker company. I have easy access to castor pulp. If my demand is dismissed I’m capable of making Ricin. My demand is simple, January 4, 2004 starts the new hours of service for trucks which include a ridiculous ten hours in the sleeper berth. Keep at eight or I will start dumping.You have been warned this is the only letter that will be sent by me.
Fallen Angel[“
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:21 pm
SAFER Layout
Entity Type: Carrier
Operating Status: AUTHORIZED FOR Property
Legal Name: KRZYSZTOF WASIK
DBA Name: GROMNIK
Physical Address: 370 GOSHEN AVE
HAZLE TOWNSHIP, PA 18202
Phone: (570) 455-2892
Mailing Address: 370 GOSHEN AVE
HAZLE TOWNSHIP, PA 18202
USDOT Number: 1467318 State Carrier ID Number:
MC/MX/FF Number(s): MC-554269
DUNS Number: —
Power Units: 1 Drivers: 1
MCS-150 Form Date: 08/06/2011 MCS-150 Mileage (Year): 125,000 (2010)
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:32 pm
There used to be a tattoo parlor 30 miles from Hazle Township in Pottsville. Did Mr. Wisak get his tattoo there? Its advertisement would feature the Joker (from Batman).
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 3:38 pm
Fallen Angels is open today until 8 p.m.
https://www.facebook.com/fallenangelstattoospottsville
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 6:37 pm
There will be an article about Mr. Wasik in the Hazleton newspaper tomorrow morning.
FWIW, he had $5,000 in cargo insurance through United Financial Casualty Company that was effective 3/29/2013 with a termination date of 4/15/2013.*
http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_activeinsurance?pv_apcant_id=468599&pv_legal_name=KRZYSZTOF%5EWASIK&pv_pref_docket=MC554269&pv_usdot_no=1467318&pv_vpath=LIVIEW
If a carrier is in compliance, the amount of coverage will always be shown as the required Federal minimum ($5,000 per vehicle, $10,000 per occurrence for cargo insurance. The carrier may actually have higher levels of coverage.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 6:44 pm
In the early years, in successive years, the listed agent support for his policy through Canal Insurance was in Greenville, South Carolina which is where the ricin was left.
Stupid question: When a trucker gets this insurance policy would he actually have travelled to Greenville, SC?
The information for the different insurance companies over the years and associated contact information is here.
http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/LIVIEW/pkg_carrquery.prc_insurancehistory?pv_apcant_id=468599&pv_legal_name=KRZYSZTOFWASIK&pv_pref_docket=MC554269&pv_usdot_no=1467318&pv_vpath=LIVIEW
Attn: AGENT SUPPORT
Address: P O BOX 7
GREENVILLE, SC US 29602
Telephone: (864) 527 – 6700
Fax: (864) 679 – 2557
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 6:55 pm
The ricin mailer who called himself “Fallen Angel” was in Greenville, SC in October 2003.
Then he was in Chattanooga, TN in November 2003, as indicated by a postmark of a letter with ricin sent to the White House.
Ewa or Teresa, did Mr. Wasik travel that route in Fall 2003?
Without knowing anything about trucking, I believe DOT and the insurance file would have ample documentation of states travelled.
Background:
http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=96785&page=1#.UWX6hs1cr5M
As federal investigators try to trace the origin of suspected ricin found Monday in the office of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, ABCNEWS has learned of an earlier, undisclosed incident in which a ricin-laced letter was intercepted on its way to the White House.
In November, a letter postmarked Chattanooga, Tenn., and addressed to the White House was intercepted at an off-site mail sorting facility in the Washington area, sources told ABCNEWS.
The powdery substance in the letter tested positive for ricin. However, the tests indicated that the poison was in a low-potency, granular form that posed no health risk, the sources said.
According to two law enforcement sources, the intercepted letter addressed to the White House was signed “Fallen Angel.”
That sign-off was also used in a letter that was part of a package containing ricin that was left at a post office in Greenville, S.C., in October 2003.
That letter complained about new federal trucking regulations requiring more rest for drivers. The letter described the author as “a fleet owner of a tanker company” and contained this threat: “If my demand is dismissed I’m capable of making Ricin … I will start dumping.”
The Greenville package contained a small metal vial packed with ricin. The FBI has offered a reward of up to $100,000 for information leading to an arrest in the incident. No illnesses were reported in the Greenville case and an FBI spokesman in Columbia, S.C., said the sender’s motivation may not have been to kill.
“When you use a poison like ricin you obviously have to be concerned that it could kill, but if you look at the language in the letter, it seems that this individual was more concerned with seeking a repeal of the new legislation,” said the spokesman, Tom O’Neal.
Late on Monday, authorities discovered a suspicious powder in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
A number of tests have identified the substance as ricin, a potentially deadly poison derived from castor beans, although final confirmation is still under way. Government health officials hope to have those results Wednesday.
Federal investigators are trying to establish whether the Senate incident is connected to the two earlier packages.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 7:14 pm
You ask:
What was the motivation of the fellow threatening a bomb? Well, he was mad about regulations on semi-trailers.
What was the motivation of the truck company owner threatening ricin? Well, he was mad about regulations on semi-trailers.
(You can be pretty sure that the FBI profiler pictured an independent trucker and not the owner of a fleet of trucks).
The FBI needs to search his residence and business for instructions on making ricin and also consider his location in October and November 2003.
As with the anthrax mailers, sometimes if it walks like a duck and talks like a duck, it’s a duck.
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
Form 34 filed at DOT in 2003 may be illuminating to include the date and location it was signed.
But most illuminating would be a sample of Mr. Wasik’s handwriting.
http://li-public.fmcsa.dot.gov/reports/rwservlet?hidden_run_parameters=lirpt&report=%2Fu01%2Foracle%2Flirpts%2Fli_carrier.rdf&p_apcant=468599&p_user=WEBLIVIEW
Man angry about regulations threatens to bomb White House
April 10, 2013
By TheCountyPressEditor
By Julian Hattem – 04/10/13 03:43 PM ET
A man arrested on Wednesday morning for making bomb threats near the White House was angry about regulations, according to published reports.
Around 5 a.m. Wednesday, Krzysztof Wasik, 44, approached a guard office near the White House and claimed to have a bomb in a nearby truck, according to reports.
The Secret Service and police closed down nearby streets for two hours, investigated the truck and found no cause for concern. Police arrested Wasik on charges of making felony threats.
According to the Washington City Paper, the bomb threat was a way for the man to complain about regulations on semitrailer trucks.
“He was upset about the rules and regulations concerning semi-trucks and was angry about fines that he had to pay,” wrote a Secret Service officer in an affidavit, according to the City PaperThe newspaper reports Wasik hoped the threat would allow him to speak with President Obama.
Wasik reportedly made two attempts to speak with the president. On his first try, moments previous, Secret Service told the man to send his complaint to the relevant government agency. He returned shortly afterwards and threatened to explode a bomb.
“I know what it takes to get things done around here,” he reportedly told the Secret Service agent. “I have a bomb in my truck parked 500 feet from here.”
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 7:19 pm
Without knowing DOT regulations, did Mr. Wasik get fined for violating the 10 hour rule that was the subject of the ricin mailer’s anger?
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 7:38 pm
Truck Driver Arrested For D.C. Threats
Posted on: 5:55 pm, April 10, 2013, by Bill Wadell
http://wnep.com/2013/04/10/truck-driver-arrested-for-d-c-threats/
WASHINGTON, D.C. —
***
A woman who answered the front door said she is married to Wasik and claims they recently separated. She believes he likely stopped taking medications for a mental illness.
“Yesterday, actually he looked a lot worse. I never actually saw him like that, in that kind of a mood. Usually he`s quiet. Yesterday he was actually walking around grabbing things for no reason, papers, napkins,” said Adam Swieciaszek of Scranton
Swieciaszek works with Wasik as a contractor for Kane Trucking in Scranton. He says he and Wasik were both assigned to the same route for a delivery to Virginia Tuesday night but Wasik refused to follow him.
Swieciaszek didn’t hear about the bomb threat until another trucker for Kane told him to turn on the TV this morning.
“I actually thought the truck broke down. He`s at work every day, he works really hard, he`s actually a really nice guy if you get to know him. So, very surprised.”
Neighbors who say they’ve known Wasik for years in the Chapel Hill Estates development say he’s a religious man and a good father of two teenagers.
“Nothing out of the ordinary at all. No warning at all,” said Leonna Seginak of Hazle Township.
A federal criminal complaint says Wasik was upset over trucking regulations and told an agent he had explosives in the cab of his truck. According to the Secret Service, wasik said, “don`t touch the keys in the ignition or else something bad will happen. I don`t care if children or veterans are harmed by the bomb. I only care about speaking to the President.”
No explosives were found in the tractor trailer cab and no one was hurt during the scare.
Comment: Did he just recently get notice of a DOT fine for violating the 10 hour rule? Abby at NCIS should test the key for ricin.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 7:45 pm
http://wnep.com/2013/04/10/man-accused-of-dc-bomb-threat-left-from-lackawanna-county-according-to-co-worker/
Krzysztof Wasik and Adam Swieciaszek are both natives of Poland, and both are contractors for Kane Trucking in Lackawanna County.
Both drive loads of wine to Virginia a few times a week. And that’s where they were headed Tuesday night. Adam asked Wasik to ride together.
“He seemed really tipsy, he said ‘no’ kind of in a rude way. And he said ‘No, I’m leaving at midnight,’” Swieciaszek said.
..
Then, Adam thought about the way Wasik was acting before they headed out on the road. He seemed irritable, dazed, and distracted. …
Wasik just wasn’t himself. And even more boggling, Adam says, is that Wasik never talked politics.
But a federal criminal complaint says Wasik was upset over trucking regulations and that’s why he wanted to talk to the President.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 7:50 pm
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/blogs/citydesk/2013/04/10/secret-service-white-house-threatener-was-angry-about-regulations/
The first time he complained about regulations to a Secret Service officer by the White House fence, Wasik agreed to send his concerns about regulations to another government agency instead, according to the statement.
Comment: That would be DOT. Recall that in addition to mailing to the White House, the ricin mailer wrote the DOT.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 8:05 pm
By Kane Trucking I believe published reports mean Kane is Able, Inc. According to Wikipedia, Kane Is Able, Inc. has a network of 18 distribution center locations in multiple states employing more than 1200 associates. KANE possesses a tractor fleet of more than 200 power units and is supported by 925 trailers. In addition to the business campus in Scranton, KANE has facilities in all U.S. major markets including Mechanicsburg, PA, Hagerstown, MD, Chicago, IL, Kansas City, KS, Atlanta, GA, and Southern California.
Did Mr. Wasik make runs to Kane’s Atlanta, GA warehouse in October/November 2003 period? Greenville, I think, is about half-way between Charlotte, NC and Atlanta GA.
Kane, I think is partly owned by the husband of the Penn. State Attorney General. Perhaps the company could expedite learning on the subject based on records from 2003, if he was contracting with them then.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 8:15 pm
Ricin and the Robertus Laboratory webpage says that castor pulp is used in making envelopes.
The DOT form linked above, as I recall it, says that Mr. Wasik carries, in addition to food and beverage supplies, paper items.
Kane Trucking: Did Mr. Wasik have access to castor pulp used in making envelopes?
https://webspace.utexas.edu/robertus/ricin/interview.htm
… castor pulp, used in making the envelopes …
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 8:24 pm
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/police-activity-blocks-mcpherson-square-area/2013/04/10/aa7e0f24-a1c3-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html
When asked by the courtroom clerk to swear to tell the truth, Wasik responded after a long pause, “I don’t know the truth.”
Sam Sanguedolce, first assistant district attorney in Luzerne County, Pa., said that Wasik has no criminal record in his jurisdiction.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 8:40 pm
Truckers Look in Their Ranks For ‘Fallen Angel’ Writer
By ANDREW JACOBS
Published: February 05, 2004
The letter was brief and to the point.
”I’m a fleet owner of a tanker company,” it said. ”I have access to castor pulp,” a reference to the raw material to make the deadly compound ricin. ”If my demand is dismissed, I am capable of making Ricin.”
The note, attached to a metal vial containing the powder and addressed to the Transportation Department, was dropped off in October at a mail-sorting office at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport. A similar letter appeared in November at a mail-processing center that serves the White House. Both notes were signed ”Fallen Angel,” law enforcement officials said.
As investigators explore possible links between the parcels and the presence of ricin in a Senate mailroom, trucking executives and the drivers who haul the nation’s goods wondered whether one of their own might have used bioterrorism to publicize opposition to trucking rules that took effect last month. The regulations, which aim to reduce accidents by reducing how long drivers can stay on the road, have roiled the industry, which is already reeling from a recessionary drop in freight and higher fuel costs.
The president of the South Carolina Trucking Association, Rick Todd, said if the person responsible for the ricin contamination was a trucker ”it is certainly awful for the image of our industry, especially for the millions of hard-working truck drivers across America.”
”It’s hard to imagine anyone could be this upset about these changes,” Mr. Todd said.
Among the road-rattled drivers who were filling their fuel tanks at a truck stop near here, passions ran high, especially among independents, drivers who own their rigs and who say the regulations lead to longer hours and less money.
”This guy must be a kook, but at least folks are going to listen to what he’s saying,” said Joe Thompson, who has been driving his 18-wheeler for 10 years. ”The feds are killing us with their bureaucracy.”
After the letter was found here, Daniel Somerson, an advocate for owner-operators whose homemade Web site criticizes the rules, said F.B.I. agents had interviewed him and his wife. A spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Columbia, Tom O’Neill, would not comment on the investigation but said agents were looking into the possibility that a disgruntled trucker was responsible for the parcels.
Federal transportation officials say the rules, which took effect on Jan. 4 and have a 60-day grace period, would save 75 lives and prevent 1,300 fatigue-related accidents a year by establishing a routine for truck drivers that they say more closely mirrors natural work and sleep rhythms.
Officials say the changes are the most far-reaching for the industry in 65 years, reducing daily driving time, to 10 hours from 11.
The most contentious change involves calculating workdays. Drivers can be on duty only for 14 hours a day, meaning that if a driver spends 6 hours awaiting goods at a factory, a delay that truckers say is not uncommon, the driver can stay on the road for just 8 more hours.
Time spent stopped for fueling, napping or eating is not counted as rest time. Some drivers say that keeps them behind the wheel for longer uninterrupted periods. In some cases, drivers say, the rules make them drive faster.
”We’ve got to get the same work done in less time, and that makes the job more stressful,” said Bob Williams, a ”tanker yanker,” a hauler of hazardous chemicals. ”Listen, we’re adults, and we know when it’s time to rest. If we didn’t, we’d be in a graveyard already.”
Coming on the tail of higher fuel costs and a three-year recession in the industry, trucking companies and owner-operators say the rules will lead to higher costs, which will ultimately be passed on to consumers.
***
Not everyone is displeased over the new rules, especially those that mandate a 10-hour break after every 14 hours. Fleet drivers who receive steady salaries or hourly wages are the biggest winners. But for owner-operators who are paid by the mile, less driving time means less money and more time away from home.
”These new regs are going to put us under,” said Rodney Snyder, a driver for 14 years. ”I’m thinking of getting out of the business.”
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 8:59 pm
Castor pulp is used in making envelopes, for example.
The cargo he shipped included “Paper Products”.
Do paperboard mills use castor pulp? Does Progressive Converting in Hazle Township?
He lived 6 miles away.
What about Freedom Corrugated? Did he truck their goods?
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 10:44 pm
http://about.usps.com/publications/pub166/pub166fm_024.htm
Castor beans are used to make castor oil and other beneficial products used for many purposes. In fact, castor oil is often used in the manufacture of paper, including paper used as envelopes.
Comment: What paper products did Mr. Wasik deliver? Did that company or companies use castor pulp? There is a $100,000 reward. Go find out.
DXer said
April 10, 2013 at 10:50 pm
http://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/ricin-letter
A second letter, addressed to the White House and processed through a postal facility in Chattanooga, Tennessee on October 17, 2003, contained similar threatening language and was directed at the United States Department of Transportation. This second letter threatened to turn “D.C. into a ghost town” if these new “hours of service” regulations went into effect and was signed “Fallen Angel”. The author(s) of this letter claimed that the powder on the letter was ricin. The substance contained in the letter has been identified as containing ricin.
Attached to this release is a photograph of the exterior of the envelope processed by the postal facility in Chattanooga, TN on October 17, 2003, as well as, a photograph of the threat letter contained in that envelope. Additionally, attached is a copy of the reward flyer released on January 7, 2004.
Comment: Upload the exemplars you have of Mr. Wasik’s printing.
Absent the $2.5 million reward, the reward in Amerithrax is up to $5 million under the Rewards For Justice program
http://www.amerithrax.wordpress.com
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 4:55 am
http://psdispatch.com/news/local-news/423488/Mans-wife-describes-mental-issues
By EDWARD LEWIS
By SHEENA DELAZIO
Krzystof Wasik, Hazle Township, arrested Wednesday after bomb threat outside White House.
April 10. 2013 11:18PM
•
***
HAZLE TWP. — Visibly shaking and crying, Teresa Wasik said she was awakened early Wednesday morning by the U.S. Secret Service calling to inform her that her husband, Krzystof Wasik, was arrested after he allegedly made a bomb threat outside the White House. …
Later Wednesday, Teresa Wasik filed a protection-from-abuse petition in Luzerne County Court for herself and their 16-year-old daughter, describing a downward spiral that began when her husband stopped taking medication for mental illnesses.
***
Teresa Wasik said she spoke with her husband on Tuesday and he seemed fine. He said he was going to Virginia for work. That evening, she was unable to get in touch with him. Wednesday morning, the Secret Service called Teresa Wasik and notified her of the incident at the White House.
Teresa Wasik previously filed a PFA against her husband. In her court petition, she said she was working at the Walmart in Pittston Township on Monday evening when she was told she had a visitor.
“It was my husband waiting for me. He said that he has our daughter in his truck and she was sick and needed to see me immediately,” she wrote in the petition. When she got to the truck, their daughter wasn’t there. That’s when, she said, her husband grabbed her and tried to push her into the truck, according to the petition.
“I wrestled to break free of his grasp,” she wrote.
Teresa Wasik said she asked her husband what he was doing, and he replied that he wanted to take her away for a few days to show her “we can … live without food.”
“I need to mention at this point that he was going through mental problems … (for) some time he is not taking his medications. He refuses to do so,” she wrote.
She then described calling the police and she was advised to change the locks of their home and file for a PFA. The PFA states Wasik drives a 2010 Dodge Caravan and had moved out of the couple’s home and was living out of the vehicle.
A hearing has been scheduled for April 18 at the Luzerne County Courthouse for a judge to consider the PFA. A temporary PFA has been put in place.
“He’s a great guy,” a sobbing Teresa Wasik told a reporter earlier Wednesday from inside the couple’s home on Goshen Avenue. “He just needs help.
“He is very well-liked by everybody. He just has issues when he stops taking his medication,” she said. “He is into the Bible and God. He’s a good citizen.”
Teresa Wasik said her husband has no anti-government tendencies and did not know why he was in Washington, D.C., which is about a four-hour drive from their home. She said they separated about two weeks ago but had stayed in touch.
***
“My only thought is he did not take his medication,” Seginak said. ‘“I have nothing but good to say about their family. They have a wonderful family.”
Teresa Wasik said her home was not searched by authorities.
***
A check for court records only returned a traffic citation filed against Wasik by the Frackville Police Department in November 2011. He pleaded guilty to the citation and paid a $110 fine.
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 5:05 am
The Hazleton newspaper, The Standard Speaker, today states in part:
“Thomas Kopeskie of the Greater Hazleton Polonaise Society said the Wasiks attended Masses conducted in Polish at Stanislaus R.C. Church before the church closed.
Last year, the Wasik’s son won a scholarship given in honor of the late Rev. Louis Garbacik, a former priest at St. Stanislaus.
Scholarship winners wrote essays about why they were proud of their Polish heritage, and a news article about the scholarship said the Wasik’s son was the first generation of the family born in America.
“He wasn’t one that was known in the neighborhood,” she said.
Seven other residents of Goshen Avenue and Appian Way, a connecting street, said they didn’t know Wasik.
…
Kingston Attorney John Pike said he hadn’t heard from Wasik since representing him for a reckless driving charge in 1997. The charge was dropped when prosecutors failed to attend the hearing.
Wasik also paid a fine for failing to obey a traffic signal in Frackville two years ago.
Marguerite Benderavich remembers Wasik stopping by her office in Hazle Township to pay his garbage bill.
“He’s a nice person,” she said.
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 6:00 am
The logbook requiring record-keeping of time spent, to include in the sleeper berth.
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/hos-logbook-examples.htm
There are four lines on a DOT log book:
• Off Duty
• Sleeper Berth
• Driving
• On Duty (Not Driving)
If you are living out of your truck, upon being separated from your wife, what entry gets made in the logbook required by DOT?
http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/rules-regulations/topics/hos/hos-logbook-examples.htm#_Toc201555007
http://www.truck-drivers-money-saving-tips.com/falsifying.html
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 7:17 am
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1697&dat=20040205&id=jikqAAAAIBAJ&sjid=REgEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6861,576155
“The trucking industry has been working with the FBI and Transportation Department inspector general’s office on the investigation. The American Trucking Association has sent bulletins to its members urging them to be aware of people “displaying aggressive behavior” or engaging in suspicious activity.
One association bulletin asked that members “be alert for either a potential disgruntled trucking company, trucking company employee or person purporting to be from the trucking industry” who has made threats in the past against government agencies.
The regulations at the heart of the “Fallen Angel” letters were four years in the making and drew some 53,000 comments when first proposed, trucking association spokesman Mike Russell said. Many truckers and companies worried about lost pay and productivity because of stricter test requirements.”
Comment: The 53,000 comments are public record. Did Mr. Wasik dba Gromnik, formed in 2003, submit a comment?
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 7:26 am
White House Bomb Threat – City Desk
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/…/secret-service-white-house-threate…
17 hours ago – A new affidavit from a Secret Service agent reveals the motivations of the … the rules and regulations concerning semi- trucks and was angry about fines
Background:
Revisiting Hours of Service History, Part 4: The History since April 2003
by DAVID K SCHNEIDER on APRIL 2, 2013
http://wearethepractitioners.com/2013/04/02/revisiting-hours-of-service-history-part-4-the-history-since-april-2003/
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 7:36 am
His log book was in his cab and was taken by authorities. Thus there is an entire notebook of pages of handwriting to compare to the writing of the ricin mailer on the envelope.
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 8:07 am
In United States of America v. Krzysztof Wasik, the COMPLAINT in Violation of: 18:844(e) states in part:
STATEMENT OF FACTS IN SUPPORT OF A COMPLAINT
On April 10, 2013, at approximately 4:35 a.m., a man who was later identified as KRZYSZTOF WASIK (hereinafter referred to as “WASIK”) approached United States Secret Service (“USSS”) Officer Kara Klupacs at the north fence line of the White House at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W. in Washington, D.C. WASIK told Officer Klupacs that he wanted to speak to the “President.” WASIK stated that he was upset about the rules and regulations concerning semi- trucks and was angry about fines that he had to pay. Officer Klupacs advised WASIK that he would not be able to speak to the President of the United States, but that he could contact an agency that regulates traffic. WASIK indicated that he agreed with her and walked away.
At approximately 4:46 a.m., WASIK returned to the north fence line of the White House. At that time, WASIK stated to Officer Klupacs, “I know what it takes to get things done around here. I have a bomb in my truck parked 500 feet from here.” Officer Klupacs requested that WASIK provide the location of the truck, and for a description of the bomb. WASIK replied that he would not give any information about the bomb, or its location, until he spoke with the “President.” At that time, WASIK was arrested.
At 4:48 a.m., a semi-cab tractor bearing Pennsylvania plates was located at the corner of Vermont and H Streets, N.W., parked directly in front of the Veterans Affairs Building, which is located approximately one block away from the White House and 200 feet away from the entry barrier to the White House complex. When the USSS Officer found the vehicle, he observed that the keys were still in the ignition. The Officer broadcast that information over the radio. Upon over-hearing that radio broadcast while in custody, WASIK stated, “Don’t touch the keys in the ignition or else something bad will happen.” WASIK further stated, “I don’t care if children or veterans are harmed by the bomb. I only care about speaking to the President.”
***
Based on the foregoing, Your Affiant believes that there is probable cause to believe that on April 10, 2013, within the District of Columbia and elsewhere, KRZYSZTOF WASIK, in or affecting interstate commerce, willfully made a threat, and maliciously conveyed false information knowing the same to be false concerning an attempt or alleged attempt being made to injure any individual or destroy any building, vehicle or other real or personal property by means of an explosive, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 844(e).
KARA KLUPACS Officer, United States Secret Service
DXer said
April 11, 2013 at 8:24 am
At some point, the reward was increased to $120,000. Note in particular the vial that was used.
A reward payment will be made in accordance with the conditions of U.S. Postal Service Poster 296, Notice of Reward, dated June 2004.
Click to access reward.pdf
to the department of transportation: I’m a fleet owner of a tanker company.
I have easy access to castor pulp. If my demand is dismissed I’m capable of making Ricin.
My demand is simple, January 4 2004 starts the new hours of service for trucks which include a ridiculous ten hours in the sleeper berth. Keep at eight or I will start dumping.
You have been warned this is the only letter that will be sent by me.
Fallen Angel
DXer said
April 12, 2013 at 7:04 am
Wasik worked for Kane is Able referred to in media reports as Kane Trucking. (Coincidentally, based on reports during last year’s campaign, I believe it may be owned by the husband of the Pennsylvania state Attorney General).
Wikipedia explains that :
Cain and Abel were according to the Book of Genesis, two sons of Adam and Eve. … Cain was the first human born and the first murderer, and Abel was the first human to die. Cain committed the first murder by killing his brother. … A millennia-old explanation for Cain being capable of murder is that he may have been the offspring of a fallen angel or Satan himself, rather than being from Adam.[
DXer said
April 12, 2013 at 7:23 am
The ricin in Mr. Frist’s office was described by the FBI as “trace amounts mixed in with paper dust.”
Reward in ricin inquiry increased
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2004/dec/22/20041222-113121-9881r/#ixzz2QFc5AKr4
Many might argue that the ricin detected in Senator’s Frist’s mail — for which no letter was found — should not be considered given the possibility it was a false positive. (But see Michael Mason’s firm opinion otherwise).
But assuming for the sake of argument that it was from the same sender as the one left in Greenville and the one sent to the White House by “Fallen Angel,” then it is worth noting that trace amounts were mixed in with paper dust.
That paper dust is available for comparison to other paper dust at locations from which the castor pulp might have been obtained.
DXer said
April 12, 2013 at 7:43 am
Scientists who helped with Amerithrax on stable isotope ratios have also worked on determining the origin of the ricin.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23130759
J Forensic Sci. 2013 Jan;58 Suppl 1:S43-51. doi: 10.1111/1556-4029.12000. Epub 2012 Nov 6.
Forensic applications of light-element stable isotope ratios of Ricinus communis seeds and ricin preparations.
Kreuzer HW, West JB, Ehleringer JR.
Source
Department of Biology, University of Utah, 257 South 1400 East, Salt Lake City, UT 84112, USA. Helen.Kreuzer@pnnl.gov
Abstract
Seeds of the castor plant Ricinus communis are of forensic interest because they are the source of the poison ricin. We tested whether stable isotope ratios of castor seeds and ricin preparations can be used as a forensic signature. We collected over 300 castor seed samples worldwide and measured the C, N, O, and H isotope ratios of the whole seeds and oil. We prepared ricin by three different procedures, acetone extraction, salt precipitation, and affinity chromatography, and compared their isotope ratios to those of the source seeds. The N isotope ratios of the ricin samples and source seeds were virtually identical. Therefore, N isotope ratios can be used to correlate ricin prepared by any of these methods to source seeds. Further, stable isotope ratios distinguished >99% of crude and purified ricin protein samples in pairwise comparison tests. Stable isotope ratios therefore constitute a valuable forensic signature for ricin preparations.
DXer said
http://blogs.palmbeachpost.com/opinionzone/2013/04/16/will-the-government-catch-whoever-is-behind-the-terrorist-attack-in-boston/
Will the government catch whoever is behind the terrorist attack in Boston?
by Opinion Staff
On Monday, President Barack Obama said of the explosions in Boston: “But make no mistake — we will get to the bottom of this. And we will find out who did this; we’ll find out why they did this. Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups will feel the full weight of justice.”
A Boston Marathon official assists Bill Iffrig, 78, of Lake Stevens, Wash., who was knocked down by the first blast on April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh)
As South Florida knows, those behind a terrorist attack aren’t always caught.
In 2001, just three weeks after 9/11, there was an anthrax attack in Boca Raton. Robert Stevens, a photo editor at American Media, Inc., opened a letter that contained the toxin. He was diagnosed at JFK Medical Center in Lantana, and died. Panic hit Palm Beach County, where several of the 9/11 hijackers had lived. The Post reported that Mohamed Atta and others had rented planes at the airport in Belle Glade. Callers worried that the planes had been used to spread anthrax.
Fortunately, those rumors were false. But other anthrax attacks took place at the U.S. Senate, in New York City and in Connecticut. Four other people died from exposure to weaponized anthrax. And we still don’t know who did it. The FBI identified a government scientist, then cleared him. The FBI then identified a second scientist, who killed himself before he could be questioned. His suicide is compelling, but not evidence.
DXer said
By JEFF ZELENY and SUNLEN MILLER (@sunlenmiller)
April 16, 2013
A suspicious letter potentially laced with a poison, ricin, and postmarked from Memphis, was sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker of Mississippi, ABC News has learned.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid told ABC News that Capitol offices were on high alert. He referred questions to Capitol Police.
Comment:
Was this just a false positive? As I have discussed this week, castor pulp is also used to make papers, which prompted the suggestion by some that the 2004 letter to Senator Frist had just been a false positive. The letter sent to the White House was recovered and that definitely contained crude ricin, as did a vial left at Greenville, SC.
Republican Senator Receives Potentially Ricin-Poisoned Letter
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/republican-senator-receives-potentially-poisoned-letter/story?id=18972883#.UW3tQs1cr5M
DXer said
“But the official said ricin tests were often unreliable, so the authorities had the letter taken to the F.B.I.’s laboratories in Quantico, Va., for more analysis.”
Toxic Ricin Detected on Mail Sent to Senator
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT
Published: April 16, 2013
DXer said
Made from castor beans, the poison ricin causes far more scares than deaths
Published April 16, 2013
Associated Press
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/16/made-from-castor-beans-poison-ricin-causes-far-more-scares-than-deaths/#ixzz2Qg1WkQZK
Leitenberg said he was hard pressed to remember any case when an initial chemical test that showed the presence of ricin actually turned out to be ricin. Nearly every time it is a false alarm.
anonymous said
Not a false positive this time – CNN just reported that it tested positive when it got to the lab. Dont know know how pure the protein product is, however. It could be crud scraped off castor beans or it could be the highly purified crystals.
CNN also reported that, contrary to earlier reports, there is nobody in custody and no suspect.
DXer said
Castor pulp is used to make paper. Until Quantico at the FBI confirms the finding, suspend judgment. With Mr. Wasik, I noted that his DOT forms say he trucked paper supplies. There are paper manufacturers in Hazle Township. The Fallen Angel — the ricin mailer who sent ricin to the White House in 2003 out of anger over the semi-trailer regulations — said he had ready access to castor pulp. Did those companies use castor pulp? DId he have access? I would be especially alert as to mail received by transportation committee members.
DXer said
http://www.cnn.com/2013/04/16/us/tainted-letter-intercepted/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
A laboratory in Maryland confirmed the presence of ricin after an initial field tests indicated the poison was present, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer said.
Comment:
Let’s wait until we hear from the lab in Virginia.
DXer said
The number re ricin $120,000 reward I called a few days ago when I saw that the FBI was not searching Mr. Wasik’s business and residence in Hazle Township was the one listed on this flyer.
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/22783291/SPECIAL-REWARD
The call was referred to a voice mail. I didn’t catch the name and just left a long message. I noted, for example, that the logbook taken from Mr. Wasik’s cab could be compared to the handwritten envelope sent by the Fallen Angel. As for the typed letter, it was on blue lined school paper such as a student would use.
Both the Fallen Angel and Mr. Wasik were very angry about the regulations relating to semi-trailers. The Tennessee Senator is on the transportation committee.
DXer said
ricin matter –
The letter inside included an implied threat to effect of: “You haven’t listen to me before. Now you will, even if people have to die,” Politico also reported.
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/17/envelope-containing-ricin-sent-to-sen-wicker-lawmakers-say/#ixzz2QhtXKWnG
United States v. Wasif matter –
Truck regulations spurred White House bomb threat
Fleet Owner-Apr 15, 2013
Wasik insisted that he wanted the bomb to go off, even after he was in custody. “I don’t care if children or veterans are harmed by the bomb,” …Mr. Wasik was irrationally insisting that he be heard by the President, that he speak to the President. His loving wife, who recently separated from him, says he is mentally ill. He has been living in his vehicle for the past two weeks. (Thus she likely would not be able to alibi him).
Comment: I believe where Mr. Wasik dropped the wine in Virginia is a long way from Memphis. But given that I think the states border and he is a truck driver used to driving long distances regularly, his whereabouts need to be established.
Given both the 2003 ricin mailer and Mr. Wasik were very angry at the White House and other lawmakers over the semi-trailer regulations (relating to how long truckers could drive (be in the sleeper cab), there is probable cause to search his business and home and Hazle Township (and of course he threatened the President with a bomb which serves to establish probable cause for a search. The 2003 ricin mailer said he had ready access to castor pulp and there are a number of paper manufacturers in Hazle Township area. Mr. Wasik, according to DOT records, delivered paper supplies. He didn’t get his liquor license until 2006. Castor pulp is used to make paper.
In particular, they should look for matches ot the blue lined school paper used by “Fallen Angel” in the old school and church scholarship essays that were savedFor example. the church saved an essay his son wrote. But the 2003 mailer’s handprinting could be compared to the logbook that DC Police, Secret Service and/or FBI took from his truck cab from where it was parked at Vermont and H in front of the Veteran’s office building. The reporter who might know the most about the Wasik matter is Ed Lewis (elewis) at the paper Times-Leader perhaps. He was the first to interview Mrs. Wasik who is commended, at a time of great upset, to forthrightly address these issues. The government did not oppose his federal defender’s request for a competency evaluation.
DXer said
Note that a day or two he was at the White House, Mr. Wasik attempted to kidnap his estranged wife from the Walmart she worked. He told her daughter was in the truck ill. She came out. He tried to force her in the cab and said that they could see what it was like to go without food for a couple of days. She broke free. She then sought a restraining order in state court.
DXer said
errata – I mean the Mississippi Senator (Wicker) is on the transportation committee. He has not sponsored trucking regulation that would anger the Fallen Angel of late that I’ve seen.
In the case of Mr. Wasik, he was angry over fines he had received. He has had a couple minor traffic tickets in PA over the last couple decades. The two local PA papers concentrated on those fines — but it is his DOT fine history that should be checked. (I think his last traffic ticket was the inconsequential failure to comply with a traffic device).
The fines for violating the rules relating to how long you can spend in your truck — which I posted on in detail last week — are very substantial. If he was living in his truck in addition to his 2010 Chevy Impala (I think) that immediately would totally mess up his compliance with the DOT regulations. To the nice Secret Service Agent Kara, he was complaining about the regulations governing semi-trailers.
He is an independent operator having started his company in 2003. Kane is Able, Inc. has a facility in Atlanta — as well as warehouses around the country. Memphis, though, is pretty far west — not en route from Atlanta.
His company dba is Gromnik. Grom means thunderbolts in Polish. Gromnik is a place in Southern Poland. He came from Poland. Grom also refers to a special forces unit there. His friend who often also delivers wine to VA along with Mr. Wasik says that Mr. Wasik is neither political nor anti-government. He was in a very upset mood though the day before he showed up at the White House saying he didn’t care if the bomb detonated — all he wanted was to speak to the President. He went to church at St. Francis whose late pastor focused on preserving Polish culture.
DXer said
Wall Street Journal article, which in the body notes that field testing produced inconsistent results, in a correction and amplication says that it was sent to a lab for conclusive testing. It says its report it was sent to an FBI lab was mistaken. So Anonymous, my emphasis that we wait to hear of the results from Quantico (the FBI lab) may be misguided. You may be correct that the “conclusive testing” has already resulted from testing at a lab in Maryland. Without knowing the science, you could always see if a mouse dies.
Corrections & Amplifications
The letter sent to Sen. Roger Wicker (R., Miss.) that tested positive for ricin was later sent to a lab for conclusive testing. An earlier version of this article incorrectly said it was sent to an FBI lab.
DXer said
Ricin Found in Envelope Addressed to Senator at US Capitol Mail …
The Hollywood Gossip-2 minutes ago
A Maryland lab confirmed the presence of ricin after initial field tests indicated the poison was present, according to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms …
The FBI cautioned that more comprehensive testing is still necessary.
“Only a full analysis performed at an accredited laboratory can determine the presence of a biological agent such as ricin,” according to the bureau.
“Those tests are being conducted and generally take from 24-48 hours.”
In a statement Tuesday, the U.S. Capitol Police said more tests would be conducted at the Army’s biomedical research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland.
– See more at: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/ricin-found-in-envelope-at-us-capitol-mail-facility/#sthash.se2lZa8M.dpuf
DXer said
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/editorials/poisonous_powder_qeGrdI6cPyzTjW3H49saAL
Poisonous powder
• Last Updated: 12:08 AM, April 17, 2013
• Posted: April 17, 2013
We’re probably not the only ones getting that déjà vu feeling.
For many New Yorkers, the images of innocent Americans bloodied by two bombs at the Boston Marathon evoked unpleasant memories of 9/11. That it was followed by yesterday’s late-breaking news that an envelope that tested positive for ricin had been addressed to a United States senator will only add to the unease.
If we have a special sympathy for what those in the Senate are now going through, it’s because we’ve been there ourselves. An anthrax-laced letter postmarked Sept. 18, 2001, was mailed to this newspaper some 12 years ago. Ultimately, three Post employees would show signs of poisoning.
The office of Roger Wicker
Our people lived, though others who received such envelopes were not as lucky. After a tortuous, seven-year investigation, the FBI concluded that the envelopes were sent by a disturbed scientist at a US Army research facility, who committed suicide after being told he would be prosecuted.
Not everyone was satisfied with that. Cut to today, as investigators are now dealing with a more deadly poison with no antidote that was mailed to the Capitol Hill office of Mississippi Republican Roger Wicker.
We will not go beyond the facts. We don’t yet know who planted those bombs in Boston or who sent the ricin to Sen. Wicker. What we do know is that America has enemies determined to harm the innocent. What matters is not whether they are foreign or domestic but that we give those whose job it is to defend America the tools they need to do so.
Anonymous said
New letter to Obama this time.
Washington (CNN) — [Breaking news update at 11:15 a.m. Wednesday: A letter addressed to President Barack Obama that contained a “suspicious substance” has been intercepted at the White House’s off-site mail facility, a Secret Service spokesman said Wednesday. The letter arrived Tuesday, the same day as an envelope addressed to a U.S. senator that initially tested positive for the deadly poison ricin.]
Further testing took place Wednesday on an envelope addressed to a U.S. senator’s office that initially tested positive for the deadly poison ricin, the FBI said.
The envelope was intercepted Tuesday at the U.S. Capitol’s off-site mail facility in Washington, congressional and law enforcement sources tell CNN.
Coming on the day after the Boston Marathon bombings, the envelope further heightened security concerns at a time when Congress is considering politically volatile legislation to tough gun laws and reform the immigration system.
“Monday’s attack in Boston reminded us that terrorism can still strike anywhere at any time,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday. “And as yesterday’s news of an attempt to send ricin to the Capitol reminds us, it is as important as ever to take the steps necessary to protect Americans from those who would do us harm.”
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said he was told the envelope was addressed to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker, a conservative Republican from Mississippi.
A laboratory in Maryland confirmed the presence of ricin after initial field tests also indicated the poison was present, according to Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Terrance Gainer.
However, the FBI said additional testing was needed because field and preliminary tests produce inconsistent results.
DXer said
Authorities have intercepted a letter addressed to President Obama that contained a “suspicious substance,” a Secret Service spokesman said, after lawmakers said another letter — thought to contain ricin — was sent to the Capitol Hill office of Sen. Roger Wicker.
Both letters were apparently intercepted on Tuesday. They never reached the Hill or the White House.
An FBI bulletin obtained by Fox News said the letter sent to Obama is still being screened.
The bulletin said both letters included the phrase: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”
Both were signed, “I am KC and I approve this message.”
Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2013/04/17/envelope-containing-ricin-sent-to-sen-wicker-lawmakers-say/#ixzz2QjkRxV4Z
DXer said
The mailer is quoting a famous quote:
“To see a wrong and not to expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.”
Dr. John Raymond Baker
DXer said
It’s worth noting that Inspire Magazine’s recipe for pressure-cooker bombs was promoted by the white supremacist website Stormfront.
Read more: http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/16/whos-behind-the-boston-bombings-some-initial-clues/#ixzz2Qfc7VNHn
DXer said
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323346304578425412446732622.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
April 15, 2013, 10:36 p.m. ET
Other Major Plots in the U.S.
Fall 2001: Mailings containing anthrax kill five people and sicken 17 others. U.S. authorities later conclude that government scientist Bruce Ivins, who committed suicide in 2008, was the culprit. Ivins’s defenders question the conclusion.
Comment: In an interview yesterday with Wolf Blitzer, Ari Fleischer compared the Boston marathon Patriots Day bombing to the Fall 2001 anthrax attacks.
DXer said
From the publisher on Edward Jay Epstein’s book on some famous unsolved crimes.
http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/the-annals-of-unsolved-crime/
“His method is simple: outline what is known and unknown, and show the plausible theories of the case. Where more than one theory exists, he shows the evidence for and against each. And when something remains to be proved, he says as much.”