Posted on 09/08/2002 2:03:43 PM PDT by TLBSHOW
Top Secret Gaffe Terror Suspect Moussaoui Given Sensitive Information
W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 6 — The government mistakenly gave alleged terrorist Zacarias Moussaoui classified documents related to al Qaeda, ABCNEWS has learned.
The material — both on disk and as hard copy documents — was sent to Moussaoui as part of discovery for his legal defense, said several legal sources, including one at the Justice Department. Moussaoui is awaiting trial in federal court in Virginia on six charges of conspiracy in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks.
Sent In Connection With Court Case
Officials "are not 100 percent certain, but there is no evidence that Zacarias Moussaoui had read" the classified material, the Justice Department official said.
The sensitive material apparently was sent over among items the government is required to turn over to Moussaoui for his legal defense before it was "scrubbed" of secret material, and prosecutors then had to play catch up when they realized the mistake.
After the foul-up was discovered, U.S. marshals, with the permission of U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema, who is hearing Moussaoui's case, searched Moussaoui's Alexandria, Va., jail cell at least three times, sources said.
It is not clear if all the classified material has been retrieved.
Authorities are "still looking into it, in terms of making sure we did get everything back," the Justice Department source said.
‘Cannonballs Are Rolling’
Another source said, "Cannonballs are rolling around at the Department of Justice and the FBI," because there is considerable anger at high levels about how something like this could have happened.
However, the Justice Department source noted that even if Moussaoui had seen something, "He is unable to communicate with the outside world," so the information could not go beyond him.
The source added the likelihood Moussaoui ferreted out the classified material would be like "finding a needle in a very large haystack."
The Justice Department source could not shed any light on how the mix-up happened, how many trips the U.S. marshals made into the jail cell or if they are returning.
He also refused to further characterize the kind of information Moussaoui received.
IMHO the only defense he deserves is a plastic knife to cut the rope when we drop him throught the trapdoor on the gallows.
- Gin
1) Terrorists are not criminals deserving of a court trial. They are sworn military enemies of the US and for that matter, civilization.
2) Given enough time and resources, we are our own worst enemies in the war on terrorism. The more we wait before we act, the more likely we will compromise our plans (and sacrifice our troops).
3) There is such a thing as need to know. In my wildest dreams I can't imagine a terrorist having the need to know anything remotely classified.
4) Between the INS approving the visas of the dead terrorists and this fiasco, we need to identify and remove all Clintoon apointees ASAP before they can do even greater harm.
Sigh..........Professionals should not be in this situation. Cmon guys, this kind of security should not be difficult.
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