Posted on 10/10/2009 11:05:17 AM PDT by 444Flyer
A suspected “high level” al-Qaeda collaborator who provided data on terrorism targets in France and expressed a “desire to carry out an attack” was on Friday revealed to work at the world’s largest nuclear research facility.
Security sources in Paris said the suspect, who was arrested with his brother on Thursday in Vienne near Lyons, worked on projects for the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (Cern) on the Franco-Swiss border near Geneva.
The 32-year old Frenchman of Algerian origin and his 25-year old brother were being held last night at the Central Directorate of Interior Intelligence, France’s equivalent to MI5, near Paris.
Investigators described the older man as “very high level” and said that he had been in contact with individuals linked to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim) — the North African wing of the terrorist network — about potential targets in France.
Intelligence sources said he had expressed a “wish, a desire” to carry out a terrorist attack but had “not committed material preparatory acts”.
Brice Hortefeux, the interior minister, said both men posed a sufficient threat to halt an 18-month surveillance operation and bring them in.
The older man is a physicist who has been working on analysis projects with Cern’s Large Hadron Collider — the world’s largest atom collider designed to explore what happened after the Big Bang that allowed matter to survive and to create the universe 14 billion years ago.
In other news Nobel Piece Prize winner...
Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock......
This is the sort of breakthrough that wouldn’t have been possible without multiculturalism.
Not to down-play anything, but the ‘nuclear research’ at CERN, specifically at the LHC, has nothing at all to do with nuclear weapons technology. I doubt any of the researchers involved in the projects there would be able to provide any useful insight to terrorists. But of course the term ‘nuclear’ always makes for a good headline to the uninitiated.
Do you work at CERN?
No, but I did my PhD thesis work in experimental physics (since have left the field to seek greener pastures - not sure if I’ve found those yet, LOL) at the Institute of Nuclear and Atomic Physics at Göttingen University (Germany), and I’ve had the opportunity to spend a few months as a fellow at AMOLF in Amsterdam and at Orsay/Paris, and some of my former colleagues still work in labs like the GSF Darmstadt, ILL Grenoble, and the like.
Long story short, basic nuclear research is far removed from nuclear engineering as regards ‘the sensitive stuff’. Google ‘nuclear high spin physics’ to get an idea of what our group did (be prepared to yawn a lot). Never mind the ‘high energy particle physics’ stuff the guys and gals at CERN do.
“...Google ‘nuclear high spin physics’ to get an idea of what our group did (be prepared to yawn a lot)...”
LOL. I’m going to remember that next time I have insomnia.;-)
I’m just thinking out loud here.
So, they wouldn’t have any access to ‘the sensitive stuff’ at CERN? Could any of the team the Algerian was working with have had a background or experience in nuclear engineering? Would he have access to other nuclear information that would be in connection with CERN? The CERN people aren’t going to divulge information this early in the investigation anyway. I just think it’s more than a hobby, job or coincidence that he was working at CERN. Could it be there was any planned attack at CERN itself in the works with all the high level publicity its been getting?
It’ll be interesting to see how this unwinds. IF it gets continued coverage. How’s that immigration working for you France?
It did bring this story to memory:
4/21/07
“Former Nuclear Power Plant Engineer Arrested for Giving Access Codes to Iran”
“Charges have been brought against a former nuclear plant engineer for allegedly taking computer access codes and software to Iran it was reported today. According to a report on www.foxnews.com, the computer was used to download details of plant control rooms and reactors.
According to the FBI, there is no reason to believe there were any terrorist connections in the incident.
Former Nuclear Power Plant Engineer Arrested for Giving Access Codes to Iran
Mohammed Alavi was arrested after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport after arriving on a flight from Iran according to authorities. He had worked for the triple- reactor Palo Verde Power Plant west of Phoenix, Arizona.
Alavi denies any wrongdoing, according to his attorney, Milagros Cisneros, of the Federal Defender’s Office. Alavi is a United States citizen.
Alavi, 49, is charged with a single count of violating a trade embargo against Iran. Under the embargo, Americans are not allowed to export goods or services to the country. Alavi could face up to 21 months in prison, if convicted.
The computer software is used only for training plant employees, according to court records. Nevertheless, it does allow users to access details on the plant control rooms and the plant layout. Authorities also claim that in October the software was used to download training manuals from Tehran, Iran. Allegedly, a Palo Verde user identification card was used...”
To the best of my knowledge, there is no 'sensitive stuff' at CERN. High energy physics is all about looking at the substructure of elementary particles. There is neither the material nor the equipment at CERN to do nuclear mischief.
The only thing I can think of is that someone with the scientific training to work at CERN would also be able to understand the finer theoretical points of nuclear weaponry.
Just found this article today on my search.
“Terrorist suspect linked to ‘big bang’ facility”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7eefa362-b50f-11de-8b17-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1
“...The suspect’s role at Cern will raise concerns that suspected Islamist militants are seeking to acquire advanced technological expertise, or that the laboratory at Cern, which stands for European Organisation for Nuclear Research, could have been targeted for a potential attack...”
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