FBI Suspects Terrorists Are Exploring Cyber Attacks

According to a WSJ report today, The FBI is looking at groups suspected of having links to al Qaeda who have shown an interest in mounting an attack on computer systems that control critical U.S. infrastructure.

While there is no evidence that terrorist groups have developed sophisticated cyber-attack capabilities yet, a lack of security protections in U.S. computer software increases the likelihood that terrorists could execute attacks in the future, an official warned.

If terrorists were to amass such capabilities, they would be wielded with “destructive and deadly intent,” Steven Chabinsky, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, told the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday.

“The FBI is aware of and investigating individuals who are affiliated with or sympathetic to al Qaeda who have recognized and discussed the vulnerabilities of the U.S. infrastructure to cyber-attack,” Mr. Chabinsky told the committee, without providing details.

Such infrastructure could include power grids and transportation systems.

The control systems of U.S. infrastructure as well as money transfers are now connected directly or indirectly to the Internet. Hackers have been able to penetrate computer systems running components of the U.S. electric grid as well as divert bank transfers.

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Is American The Missing Link In Mumbai Terror Attack?

With the passport of David Headley now apparently confirming his nine visits to India, investigators are now focusing on whether he is the missing answer to last year’s Mumbai terror attacks. Headley was placed under arrest in Chicago last week by the FBI for allegedly conspiring with Lashkar-e-Toiba to launch terrorist attacks in India. Lashkar-e-Toiba is the group blamed for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year.

News sources reported on Sunday that Headley was a guest at several of the hotels targeted in the the Mumbai attack and also reportedly pretended to be Jewish, staying at the Chabad center prior to the deadly attack. These reports have not yet been confirmed by U.S. authorities.

The American and Indian authorities are questioning an American citizen of Pakistani descent on suspicion of involvement in last year’s Mumbai terror attacks. Indian media reported on Sunday that the suspect pretended to be Jewish, stayed at the Chabad center and prepared the ground for the lethal attack.

David Coleman Headly (49) was arrested last month at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport while on his way to Philadelphia, and from there to Pakistan. The American Federal Bureau of Investigations suspected he was involved in a plot to carry out an attack in Denmark following the publication of the controversial Prophet Muhammad caricatures.

A deeper look, however, revealed that he was also involved in the Mumbai attacks in November 2008, in which at least 173 people were killed.

Since Headley’s arrest, the US has been investigating his actions along with the Indian authorities. Over the weekend Headley’s role became clear: Indian security sources reported that he was the one who scanned the Chabad center for the Pakistani terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is believed to be responsible for the attacks.

Source

From IBN

CNN-IBN has learnt this after accessing Headley’s passport, which he acquired in March 2006 after allegedly joining the Lashkar-e-Toiba, the group blamed for the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last year.

The passport shows that Headley visited New Delhi, Mumbai, Kochi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Lucknow and Agra between 2006-2009–trips investigators suspect were recces for terrorist attack conspiracies.

Headley, while visiting Mumbai in March 2006, listed Hotel Trident as a place of residence. He stayed at guesthouse near the CST Railway Terminus and he booked a room at the Taj Hotel. The Trident, the Taj, and the CST terminus were three main targets of terrorists during the November 2008 attacks.

Headley visited New Delhi in March 2009 and stayed in two hotels in Paharganj, close to the railway station in the national capital’s historic area. Records show he stayed at Anand Hotel and De Holiday International for three days.

via Source.

India Warns of Possible Terror Attacks In 5 Cities

News sources in India report of an alarming terror threat possibly being planned to take place simultaneously in 5 cities.

Intelligence sources have warned that there could be multiple and simultaneous attacks in five cities that American terror suspect, David Headley, visited. Headley is believed to have had links with the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Part of the latest assessment is based on FBI leads. The rest is based on human intelligence and electronic surveillance by Indian agencies. Security authorities suggest that there could be perhaps 50 to 60 attackers involved.

The government had last week issued a nationwide alert that another Mumbai-type attack was imminent. The Home Ministry had said there were fresh inputs warning of a similar terror attack. So what is the government doing about it?

For starters, it is retracing Headley’s movements. It is clear now that he visited Delhi during April-May last year. Police in Mumbai have already begun tracking down all the places he went to and the people he met.

In addition, authorities are trying to track down sleeper cells in several cities.

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FBI To Investigate Alleged Threat Against Congressman

UPDATE: The FBI said Tuesday it has closed its investigation of an alleged death threat against U.S. Rep. Brian Baird after concluding that the message left on Baird’s Washington, D.C., office phone in August did not constitute a serious threat.

“The information I received from our agents was that upon investigation, our special agents did not feel that the caller posed any threat and did not intend to conduct any act of terrorism,” said Lindsay Godwin, spokeswoman for the FBI’s Washington, D.C., field office. “The investigation is now closed.”

Godwin offered no details on how the caller was tracked down except to say, “We’re very good at what we do. We’re able to work with law enforcement entities here and around the country. We’re a force multiplier.”

Original Post

The Columbian is reporting that the FBI is investigating an alleged death threat made against U.S. Rep. Brian Baird last summer during the height of the Tea Parties and Townhalls.

U.S. Capitol Police spokeswoman Sgt. Kimberly Schneider confirmed Monday that the FBI has taken over the investigation, which does not happen in every case. “Not every case do they jump in,” she said.

Schneider said cases can remain open for years, so a three-month investigation by Capitol Police is not unusual.

Lindsay Godwin, a spokeswoman for the FBI’s field office in Washington, D.C., declined to confirm or deny that the matter was under investigation. “If so, I can’t share anything,” she said.

She added, “We share information through our task force officers on a regular basis with the local police. We work hand-in-hand with local law enforcement.”

Baird’s office declined comment.

“Capitol Police told our office that they wouldn’t be making any comment related to the death threat and nor should we,” said Kelly Love, Baird’s district manager in Vancouver. “We will follow that advice.”

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Soldier Arrested After C4 Military Explosives Found At Home

An Army Special Forces soldier was arrested in Tennessee on Monday following the discovery of 100 pounds of C4 explosives outside his home. Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agent Eric Kehn said he expects the man will face more charges related to the discovery of the explosives according to news reports on News Channel 5. Authorities say the explosives have no known link to terrorism. Video Link

The explosives were found in crates. The material was sealed in watertight containers and partially buried.

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From The Leaf Chronicle

Timothy Ryan Richards of the 5th Special Forces Group, has been charged with knowingly receiving and possessing firearms not registered to him in the National Firearms Registration and Transfer Record, according to a criminal complaint filed by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

Federal and military officials searched Richards’ home early Monday morning after a pair of hunters found the C-4 plastic explosives in a field by the house, at 1880 Johnson Road, on Sunday at about 4:30 p.m.

Maj. April Olsen, 5th Group spokeswoman, said Richards was taken to the county jail and was transferred to federal custody. He was cooperating with authorities in the investigation, Olsen said.

Eric Kehn, special agent and public information officer with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said the investigation is ongoing.

“Our explosive recovery effort investigation continues,” Kehn said. “He is appearing in court on some different charges, and that outlines what he’s currently being charged with.”

Those charges included Richards’ having a Saber, 5.56mm-caliber rifle with a barrel less than 16 inches long and a Swedish K .45-caliber machine gun, according to the criminal complaint filed by ATF Special Agent Jamie Smith.

The complaint was filed in U.S. District Court, Middle District of Tennessee, in Nashville.

Olsen said the search was conducted by agents from the ATF, the FBI and U.S. Army Criminal Investigations

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WRTAC Warns Of Reprisals After Radical’s Islamic Leaders Death

The Washington Times reports Federal officials have issued a warning that the shooting death of a radical Sunni Islamic leader in Michigan last week may engender retaliatory violence against law enforcement officers there as well as in the Washington area, though law enforcement officials played it down as a routine measure.

Gunfire erupted during the arrest of Ummah leader Luqman Abdullah and members of his group after Abdullah pulled a gun and shot and killed an FBI canine, according to a document obtained by The Washington Times from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center (WRTAC).
FBI agents returned fire at the warehouse in Dearborn, Mich., and killed Abdullah, who was charged with selling stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms.

“Abdullah’s death and associated arrests may foster resentment, violent rhetoric, and threats from Ummah adherents,” said the raw intelligence document issued by the WRTAC.

“Because of the group’s anti-law enforcement sentiments, law enforcement officers should be particularly mindful of this change in the threat environment and the possibility for retaliation,” the WRTAC said.

As for implications in the D.C. area, the WRTAC said that “Ummah sympathizers or other similar groups may be operating in the National Capital Region. Officers should be alert for possible retaliatory actions as a result of the FBI Detroit raid.”

Supervisory Special Agent Katherine W. Schweit of the FBI’s Washington office declined to comment or even confirm the contents of the document.

But, speaking in general terms, she said, “Any time an incident occurs elsewhere in the country, information is provided to all state, federal and local offices to provide them with the status, and urging them to be cautious regarding similar incidents.”

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1,600 Are Suggested Daily For Watch List

The Washington Post reported that during a 12-month period ending in March of this year, 1,600 people were recommended daily by the U.S. intelligence community to be put on the list due to ‘reasonable suspicion.’  It’s important to know,  each nomination does not necessarily represent a new individual, but may instead involve an alias or name variant for a previously named to the watchlist.

Newly released FBI data offer evidence of the broad scope and complexity of the nation’s terrorist watch list, documenting a daily flood of names nominated for inclusion to the controversial list.

During a 12-month period ended in March this year, for example, the U.S. intelligence community suggested on a daily basis that 1,600 people qualified for the list because they presented a “reasonable suspicion,” according to data provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by the FBI in September and made public last week.

FBI officials cautioned that each nomination “does not necessarily represent a new individual, but may instead involve an alias or name variant for a previously watchlisted person.”

The ever-churning list is said to contain more than 400,000 unique names and over 1 million entries. The committee was told that over that same period, officials asked each day that 600 names be removed and 4,800 records be modified. Fewer than 5 percent of the people on the list are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. Nine percent of those on the terrorism list, the FBI said, are also on the government’s “no fly” list.

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Detroit Imam Killed During FBI Raid

According to several new reports, the leader of a Detroit mosque, Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53 years old, who had previously been known as Christopher Thomas,was fatally shot Wednesday during a Federal Bureau of Investigation raid on what authorities called a criminal gang run by U.S. converts to Islam.

An FBI spokeswoman said six men were arrested in the raid on a suburban warehouse and two Detroit homes. The men were arrested on suspicion of a variety of offenses, including illegal possession of firearms, trafficking in stolen goods and altering vehicle identification numbers.

Three suspects remain at large.Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53 years old, who had previously been known as Christopher Thomas, refused to surrender. He shot a police dog before he was fatally shot by authorities, the U.S. attorney’s office in Detroit said in a statement.

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This news release was issued today by Gina Balaya of the United States Attorney’s Office and Sandra Berchtold of the FBI:

11 Members/Associates of Ummah Charged with Federal Violations One Subject Fatally Shot During Arrest

United States Attorney Terrence Berg, Eastern District of Michigan, Andrew G. Arena, Special Agent in Charge (SAC), Federal Bureau of Investigation, (FBI), Detroit, Michigan, and Police Chief Warren Evans, Detroit Police Department (DPD), Detroit, Michigan announced a federal complaint was unsealed today charging Luqman Ameen Abdullah, a.k.a.Christopher Thomas, and 10 others with conspiracy to commit several federal crimes, including theft from interstate shipments, mail fraud to obtain the proceeds of arson, illegal possession and sale of firearms, and tampering with motor vehicle identification numbers.

The eleven defendants are members of a group that is alleged to have engaged in violent activity over a period of many years, and known to be armed.

In light of the information that the charged individuals were believed to be armed and dangerous, special safeguards were employed by law enforcement to secure the arrests without confrontation.

During the arrests today, the suspects were ordered to surrender. At one location, four suspects surrendered and were arrested without incident. Luqman Ameen Abdullah did not surrender and fired his weapon. An exchange of gunfire followed and Abdullah was killed. An FBI canine was also killed during the exchange.

Abdullah was the leader of part of a group which calls themselves Ummah (“the brotherhood”), a group of mostly African-American converts to Islam, which seeks to establish a separate Sharia-law governed state within the United States.

The Ummah is ruled by Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, formerly known as H. Rapp Brown, who is serving a state sentence in USP Florence, CO, ADMAX, for the murder of two police officers in Georgia. As detailed in the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint that was unsealed today, Abdullah has espoused the use of violence against law enforcement, and has trained members of his group in use of firearms and martial arts in anticipation of some type of action against the government.

Abdullah and other members of this group were known to carry firearms and other weapons.

Additionally, two federal search warrants were executed at 4467 Tireman Avenue, Detroit Michigan, and 9278 Genessee Street, Detroit, Michigan. The affidavits for these search warrants are sealed.

This case was jointly worked by the FBI, DPD, JTTF, and the United States Attorney’s Office – Eastern District of Michigan. We would like to express our appreciation to the Detroit Public Schools, Dearborn Police Department, Madison Heights Police and Fire Departments, and the members of JTTF for their assistance in this matter.

At the time of this release, Mujahid Carswell, Mohammad Alsahi and Yassir Ali Khan were still at large. Anyone with information regarding the location of these individuals should contact the FBI at (313) 965-2323

A complaint is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A trial cannot be held on felony charges in a complaint. When the investigation is completed a determination will be made whether to seek a felony indictment.

Source

Tags: abdullah, christopher thomas, detroit mosque, fbi, fbi raid, homeland security, imam, terror, terrorism

FBI Lacks Translators For Terror Intelligence

October 27, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News  
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AFP cites a Justice Department audit in a report that states the FBI currently does not have enough translators to review as much as one third of the foreign-language material it collects in counter-terrorism operations.

About one third of electronic documents and one quarter of audio files collected in anti-terror probes have not been translated and reviewed, said the report by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, seen by AFP Tuesday.

“Not reviewing such material increases the risk that the FBI will not detect information in its possession that may be important to its counterterrorism and counterintelligence efforts,” it said.

According to Fine, Federal Bureau of Investigations agents translate and read all of the 4.8 million pages of text in foreign languages.

However, 14.2 million e-mail messages, or 31 percent of the total during the auditing period, have not been reviewed. Neither have 1.2 million hours of audio, or 25 percent of the 4.8 million hours collected.

Despite the demand for translators, the FBI has also seen the number of their linguists drop, going from 1,338 in March 2005 to 1,298 in September 2008.

“We found that the FBI failed to achieve its linguist hiring goals for critical languages,” the report read.

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Tags: Counter-terrorism, fbi, fbi translators, Federal Bureau of Investigation, fni intelligence, homeland security, Language, Linguistics, terror, terrorism, United States Department of Justice

2nd Chicago Man Tied To Terror Plot

October 27, 2009 by Homeland Security NTARC News  
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The Chicago Tribune reports that the FBI has arrested a second Chicago man allegedly involved in an international terrorist plot with Western European targets.

The man was taken into custody Oct. 3 before he boarded a flight at O’Hare International Airport to Philadelphia, the first stop on a trip to Pakistan, where he planned to meet people with known ties to terrorist organizations that have carried out fatal attacks that resulted in the deaths of U.S. citizens, a source said. He has not been charged.

After that arrest, dozens of FBI agents from the Joint Terrorism Task Force and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Oct. 18 raided a Grundy County meat-processing plant that specializes in Islamic foods.

The owner of the plant, Tahawar Hussain Rana, also of Chicago, was arrested at his North Side home the same day as the raid on First World Management Services in Kinsman, northwest of Dwight. Agents seized records from the plant, as well as a related North Side business also raided the same day, said the source, who is familiar with the investigation.

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Tags: accomplices, chicago, fbi, Federal Bureau of Investigation, homeland security, joint terrorism task force, meat plant, O'Hare International Airport, ohare, slaughterhouse, terror accomplices, terror attack, terror plot, terrorism

Shopping Mall Terror Plot Alleged In Boston Area Arrest

October 21, 2009 by national  
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An alleged shopping mall terror plot on U.S. shopping malls has resulted in the arrest of A 27-year-old Massachusetts man according to early reports this morning. The man has been charged with conspiring with others to support and plan terror attacks in and outside the United States according to the reports.

From the Boston Herald

A 27-year-old man from Sudbury has been arrested on charges he planned terrorism attacks inside and outside the United States, including a plot to use automatic weapons to open fire at shoppers and emergency responders in shopping mall attacks, federal prosecutors said today.

Tarek Mehanna, is accused of conspiring with Ahmad Abousamra and others to obtain the automatic weapons needed to carry out a mall ambush in which they planned to open fire at random, said Acting U.S. Attorney Michael K. Loucks.

The plot included plans to fire at emergency responders, but was abandoned because the men could not obtain the weapons, authorities said.

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If this story and the names involved sound familiar …. This may be why.

From The Boston Globe 2008

Statements that Tarek Mehanna allegedly made to the FBI two years ago in the midst of a terrorism investigation came back to haunt him last weekend, when the Massachusetts College of Pharmacy graduate was arrested as he was about to board a Boston flight to start a new job overseas.

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Additional details are available at My Pet Jawa, who also covered the story here.

Tags: Boston, boston terror, boston terrorism, dhs, fbi, Greater Boston, homeland security, justice department, Massachusetts, sudbury, terror attack, terror case boston, terror plot, terrorism, U.S. Justice Department, United States Justice Department

Terror-Related Arrest Began in Las Vegas

October 20, 2009 by national  
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Last week we linked to a story on Fox News about a a Somali man on the U.S. government’s terrorist watch list who was stopped  outside Las Vegas along with four other men. The man was released because the officer had no legal authority to detain him. As we stated in the post, the story didn’t end there.Two days after the vehicle was pulled over outside Las Vegas, two of the passengers appeared at the U.S.-Mexico border crossing in San Ysidro, Calif.

So is that the end of the story?  Apparently not.

The Channel 8 I-Team in Las Vegas has additional details as well as pdfs of a Criminal Complaint and Criminal Indictment

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Tags: fbi, Federal government of the United States, homeland security, las vegas, Las Vegas Nevada, nevada, San Ysidro San Diego California, somali, Somalia, terror, terror watch list, terrorism

FBI Raids Slaughterhouse In Ongoing Investigation

October 20, 2009 by national  
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Several news reports are circulating in regards to an FBI raid on a Illinois slaughterhouse. Although details are sketchy, there is no indication the raids are in any way connected to terrorism.

We’ve included links to a few of the reports.

Authorities Confirm Raid, No One Taken Into Custody

Federal agents conducted a raid Sunday afternoon at a goat meat processing plant near Morris, Illinois. The secretive operation was led by the Chicago FBI office. CBS 2’s Mike Puccinelli reports that on Monday, the Feds are being very tight-lipped on what they found and why they were even there.

Spokesman Ross Rice confirms agents were at 6260 Kinsman Road, in Kinsman, Illinois. The business is called First World Management. Rice would not say why agents were there but said nobody was taken into custody.

The FBI said the raid began Sunday morning and ended in the late afternoon. They were at the plant about nine hours total.

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From WBBM 780

Federal agents conducted a raid Sunday afternoon at a goat meat processing plant near Morris, Illinois.

The operation was led by the Chicago FBI office.  An agent confirmed for Newsradio 780 they were executing a search warrant at the First World Management plant in Kinsman, Illinois.

Why is a mystery.  A call to the plant was met largely with silence.  We did get confirmation that some items — possibly computers — were seized and that there were no arrests.

Neighbors who saw the raid tell CBS 2 News it was a huge operation, involving more than 100 agents, police officers and even what one believed to be National Guard troops.

One witness said she saw troops carrying M-16 rifles that were trained on a group of men sitting on the ground outside the facility.

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From the Chicago Tribune

Federal agents investigating possible Immigration irregularities conducted raids at a Grundy County meatpacking business and several Chicago locations over the weekend, sources familiar with the probe said Monday.

The FBI’s Chicago office confirmed agents took part in the execution of a search warrant Sunday at a First World Management Services plant in Kinsman, northwest of Dwight. FBI spokesman Ross Rice said no arrests were made there.

But a source said the owner of the plant, which processes lamb and goat, was taken into custody at his home in Chicago.

Documents and records were taken from the plant and from a Chicago travel agency on West Devon Avenue, also owned by the same person, the source said.

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Tags: chicago, fbi, fbi raid, Federal Bureau of Investigation, kinsman, morris, Search warrant, slaughterhouse

Federal Agents Seize Property of Nuclear Critic

October 20, 2009 by national  
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The New York times is reporting that Federal agents have seized six computers, two cameras, two cellphones and hundreds of files from a Los Alamos, N.M., physicist.

In the report, an FBI spokesman in Albuquerque, states that the action on Monday was part of “an ongoing federal investigation” and that he could provide no details.

The physicist, P. Leonardo Mascheroni, said he was told that the seizures were part of a criminal investigation into possible nuclear espionage. Dr. Mascheroni also declared his innocence.

“If I were a real spy,” he said Tuesday in a telephone interview, “I would have left the country a long time ago.”

Dr. Mascheroni was laid off from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1988 and has ever since championed an innovative type of laser fusion, which seeks to harness the energy that powers the sun, the stars and hydrogen bombs.

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Tags: espionage, fbi, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Los Alamos National Laboratory, nuclear physicist, Nuclear weapon

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