World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World #12 Security Watch

The overriding question is whether the U.S. is “ready” for a bioterror attack. The answer could well rely on the “other” question of what bio-agent and what’s the source? In 1991, 40,000 Russian scientists dispersed throughout the World, with knowledge of what the U.S.S.R. was doing in chemical and biological weapons. The question is to whom did they sell their knowledge? Some believe former Soviet scientists sold technology to countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea. Lurking is the spectre of al-Qaeda, a group that the Pentagon says continues to pursue biological weapons.

Another scenario is an outbreak of a pandemic. How would the U.S. deal with an infectious disease outbreak? The picture, despite reassurances, is not pretty. Until now, the U.S. has experienced two major biological attacks.

In 1984, the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and his followers attempted to take over the town of the Dalles, Oregon by contaminating salad bars in the town. In 2001, there was the as yet unsolved mystery of the anthrax letters that killed five people.

But the question of bioterrorism extends to potential threats against our food supply and our clean water resources. It also extends to the threat of outbreaks of diseases in our animals populations. Here, the concern are diseases that attack animals but that can jump to humans. These are referred to as zoonotic diseases. The World Health Organization defines zonnotic diseases as:

http://oklahomacity.fbi.gov/pressrel/2008/oc121108.htm

[photos on site]

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

3301 W. Memorial Road Oklahoma City, OK 73134 405-290-7770 Fax: 405-290-3885

IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Date: December 11, 2008

Contact: Gary R. Johnson, (405) 290-3678

OKLAHOMA CITY, OKLAHOMA - James E. Finch, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Oklahoma, and William Citty, Chief, Oklahoma City Police Department, announced a reward for information leading to the arrests of ten individuals related to an investigation by the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Gang Task Force.

Following a two year investigation by the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Gang Task Force, at approximately 7:00 a.m. this morning, nineteen individuals believed to be members or associates of the Shotgun Crips gang were arrested.

Approximately 200 law enforcement personnel were involved with the arrests including the Oklahoma City Police Department, Internal Revenue Service, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, United States Marshal’s Service, United States Marshal’s Service Fugitive Task Force, Ponca City Police Department, Del City Police Department and the FBI. All were arrested related to Federal Drug Trafficking.

Ten individuals who have been charged in the investigation remain at large. The FBI and Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers are offering a reward for any information leading to their arrest. Those wanted include:
Sherwood Adams Paul Jay Doyle LaTonya Ellison John Fletcher Keno Fletcher
Sherwood Adams, aka Thump, black male, 33 Paul Jay Doyle, aka Pimpin’ Paul, black male, 45 LaTonya Ellison, black female, 44 John Fletcher, aka Big Loc, black male, 38 Keno Fletcher, aka Pint, black male, 33
Marilyn Flecher Donald R. Hastings Kevin Lawrence Mumford Roshawn Thomas Lenora Wright
Marilyn Flecher, black female, 53 Donald R. Hastings, aka D-Dog, aka D-Loc, black male, 36 Kevin Lawrence Mumford, aka Playboy, black male, 35 Roshawn Thomas, black female, 29 Lenora Wright, aka Big Baby, black female, 41

The investigation was conducted by the Oklahoma City Metropolitan Gang Task Force and the Internal Revenue Service. The Oklahoma City Metropolitan Gang Task Force is comprised of the Oklahoma City Police Department, Oklahoma County Sheriff’s Office and the FBI.

If anyone has any information regarding the location of any of the ten fugitives, please contact the FBI at (405) 290-7770 (24 hour number) or the Oklahoma City Crime Stoppers at (405) 235-7300. The FBI and OKC Crime Stoppers are offering a reward for any information that leads to the arrest of any of the ten fugitives.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyfo121008.htm

United States Attorney Southern District of New York
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 10, 2008

CONTACT:
U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
JANICE OH
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLYMAN INDICTED FOR HONEST SERVICES MAIL FRAUD

LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that a federal grand jury in Manhattan returned an Indictment today charging ANTHONY SEMINERIO, a New York State Assemblyman, with one count of honest services mail fraud. SEMINERIO, who has served as a member of the Assembly representing New York’s 38th Assembly district in Queens since approximately 1978, was previously charged in a criminal Complaint filed in federal court on September 9, 2008. According to the Indictment filed today in Manhattan federal court:

From approximately April 2000 through September 2008, SEMINERIO defrauded the public of his honest services as a member of the Assembly by using an alleged consulting firm, Marc Consultants, to solicit and receive “consulting” payments from persons and entities having business before the State of New York.

SEMINERIO, however, did little or no consulting work. Instead, SEMINERIO received approximately $1 million from various entities with business before the State of New York, in connection with his position as a member of the Assembly and with the performance of his official duties, resulting in favorable treatment for those entities in New York State Government. The entities that made these payments included hospitals and related entities; a consulting firm associated with an educational institution; and a firm engaged in marketing supplemental insurance packages to public institutions.

SEMINERIO, 73, of Queens, New York, faces a maximum sentence of 20 years’ imprisonment on the charge set forth in the indictment.

This case is assigned to United States District Judge JOHN G. KOELTL.

Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s Public Corruption Unit. Assistant United States Attorneys DANIEL STEIN and WILLIAM HARRINGTON are in charge of the prosecution.

The charge contained in the Indictment is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyfo120908.htm

CONTACT:

United States Attorney
Southern District of New York

U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
JANICE OH
PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
(212) 637-2600

HEALTH OFFICIAL SENTENCED TO 87 MONTHS IN PRISON IN SCHEME TO STEAL HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FROM FEDERAL PROGRAM DESIGNED TO ASSIST LOW-INCOME MOTHERS AND CHILDREN

LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, today announced that CAROL PEIRCE, former Director of the federal Women, Infants, and Children (”WIC”) Program at the New York and Presbyterian Hospital (”New York-Presbyterian”), was sentenced today to 87 months in prison on charges arising out of a scheme to defraud the WIC Program out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In addition to the sentence, United States District Judge RICHARD J. SULLIVAN ordered PEIRCE to pay forfeiture of $100,000, and ordered restitution to be decided at a later date. PEIRCE’s sentencing comes after a Manhattan federal jury in February found her guilty on all five charges against her after a two-week trial before Judge SULLIVAN. According to the Indictment, evidence at trial, and documents filed in the case:

The WIC Program is designed to provide nutritious foods and nutritional counseling to low-income mothers, expectant mothers, infants, and young children. Among other things, the WIC Program provides participants with food vouchers for certain specified nutritious foods, such as milk, infant formula, and baby cereal. Mothers and expectant mothers also can participate in periodic nutrition education programs such as the New York- Presbyterian WIC’s “food demonstrations” where they learn such things as how to prepare nutritious meals. PEIRCE was formerly Director of the WIC Program at the New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City from 1990 through August 2005; after that, she became Nutrition Program Director for the Palm Beach County, Florida, Health Department.

One way PEIRCE defrauded the WIC Program was by using her WIC Program credit card to purchase tens of thousands of dollars’ of items and services for her personal benefit. PEIRCE purchased many of the items in the vicinity of her new second home in Port St. Lucie, Florida. These purchases included airfare from New York to Florida; car rentals; home improvement and building supplies; home decorations including a stained glass ceiling lamp, a bordeaux bench, and a wall sculpture; kitchenware including an ice cream maker, silver plates, a hostess set, and a Fortunoff tea kettle; and various electronics including a Sony Camcorder. PEIRCE had the WIC Program to pay her credit card bills by submitting false expense reports identifying the expenses as legitimate Program expenses.

PEIRCE also defrauded the Program by entering into a secret kickback agreement with ProGlow, a cleaning company she hired to clean the New York-Presbyterian WIC Program offices. ProGlow was owned and operated by PEIRCE’s secretary, MIRIAM COLGAN, a fact PEIRCE did not disclose. In exchange for hiring ProGlow, COLGAN had the company send an employee to clean PEIRCE’s home in Teaneck, New Jersey approximately two times per week. The woman who cleaned PEIRCE’s home did so for over three years, and was paid approximately $85 per day in WIC program money for her services. ProGlow inflated the costs of its cleaning services by tens of thousands of dollars each year to cover for this, ultimately billing the New York-Presbyterian WIC Program over $311,000 in connection with this part of the scheme.

PEIRCE and COLGAN also embezzled approximately $15,275 by having the WIC Program pay a number of fraudulent invoices submitted on behalf of a Queens bodega known as “Mejia Grocery” and “Joance Mini Market” (referred to herein as “Meija Grocery”).

PEIRCE directed COLGAN to falsely bill the New York-Presbyterian WIC Program for food and services that Mejia Grocery purportedly had provided for “food demonstrations” for WIC Program participants. In fact, Mejia Grocery had not provided any of the food or services listed on the invoices. Instead, after the New York-Presbyterian WIC Program had paid thousands of dollars to Mejia Grocery based on the phony invoices, COLGAN arranged with the owner of Mejia Grocery to have the fraudulently obtained money paid back to her.

PEIRCE also defrauded the WIC Program by submitting time sheets that falsely stated that she was working at the New York-Presbyterian WIC Program during a two-month period in August and September 2005, when she in fact already had left that job and moved to Florida, where she was working as the Nutrition Program Director for the Palm Beach County, Florida Health Department.

PEIRCE was found guilty of one count of conspiracy; two counts of mail fraud; and two counts of theft from a federally-funded program. The mail fraud counts stem from the scheme involving the payment of personal credit card charges, and the kickback scheme involving ProGlow. The theft charges stem from, respectively, the Mejia grocery and time sheet schemes, discussed above.

At the sentencing Judge SULLIVAN found, among other things, that PEIRCE had obstructed justice when she testified falsely during her trial. Judge SULLIVAN further remarked that PEIRCE’s crime, which involved stealing from a program designed to help the neediest persons in society, is “more than wrong—it’s despicable.”

PEIRCE, 53, resides in Port St. Lucie, Florida.

COLGAN, of Newark, New Jersey, previously pleaded guilty before United States District Judge LORETTA A. PRESKA to one count of conspiracy; one count of theft from a program receiving federal funds (pertaining to the Mejia Grocery scheme) and one count of mail fraud (pertaining to the ProGlow scheme).

Mr. DASSIN thanked the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the State of New York Department of Health Investigative Services Unit for their assistance in this investigation. Mr. DASSIN also thanked New York-Presbyterian Hospital for its cooperation in the investigation. Mr. DASSIN stated: “The federal WIC program is designed to assist some of the most vulnerable people in our community in times of great need. We will vigorously prosecute anyone who steals from such programs to satisfy their own greed.”

This prosecution is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorneys MARCUS A. ASNER and MARIA E. DOUVAS are in charge of the prosecution.

08-319

http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyfo121008a.htm

United States Attorney
Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 10, 2008

WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/NYS/

CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
(212) 637-2600

COUPLE ARRESTED FOR STEALING HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS FROM COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

LEV L. DASSIN, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced the arrest today of JOHN BZDIL, III, and his wife, HEATHER BROOKE RINEHART, on charges stemming from a scheme to defraud Columbia University by submitting phony invoices for expenses and purchases purportedly related to services provided by the Pediatric Neurosciences Department of the Neurological Institute at Columbia University.

According to the Complaint unsealed earlier today in federal court:

BZDIL, the former Manager of the Pediatric Neurosciences Department of the Neurological Institute at Columbia University, and his wife, RINEHART, among other things, submitted reimbursement requests for spinal muscular atrophy studies purportedly performed by a medical professional affiliated with Columbia University. BZDIL authorized payment of these reimbursement requests by Columbia University, which totaled approximately $112,500. The services detailed in the reimbursement requests submitted by the defendants were never performed.

As a further part of the fraudulent scheme, BZDIL and RINEHART submitted reimbursement requests for items, including personal cosmetics and other consumer products, purchased from Amazon.com for their personal use. BZDIL authorized these purchases as goods and services related to his employment at Columbia University. The defendants purchased, and Columbia University paid for, over $84,000 worth of such personal items, none of which related to services provided by Columbia University. BZDIL and RINEHART also submitted reimbursement requests of more than $25,000 for charges incurred at a luxury resort, the Skytop Lodge, in Skytop, Pennsylvania, in connection with the “Rinehart/Bzdil wedding.”

Through this fraudulent scheme, BZDIL and RINEHART caused Columbia University to make reimbursements payments totaling well over $200,000 for expenses and purchases wholly unrelated to services provided by its Pediatric Neurosciences Department.

BZDIL, 34, and RINEHART, 28, reside in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Both are charged with one count of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and wire fraud. BZDIL is also charged with one count of mail fraud and an additional count of wire fraud. Each count carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a fine of the greater of $250,000 or twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

BZDIL and RINEHART were arrested this morning in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and are expected to be presented Friday, December 12, 2008, before U.S. Magistrate Judge DOUGLAS F. EATON.

Mr. DASSIN praised the investigative work of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

This prosecution is being handled by the Major Crimes Unit of the United States Attorney’s Office. Assistant United States Attorney JULIAN J. MOORE is in charge of the prosecution.

The charges contained in the Complaint are merely accusations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/nyfo121108.htm

United States Attorney
Southern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DECEMBER 11, 2008

WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/NYS/

CONTACT: U.S. ATTORNEY’S OFFICE
YUSILL SCRIBNER
REBEKAH CARMICHAEL
(212) 637-2600

INVESTMENT ADVISER AND FORMER CHAIRMAN OF NASDAQ STOCK MARKET ARRESTED FOR MULTIBILLION DOLLAR PONZI SCHEME

NEW YORK - Bernard L. Madoff, the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC, a registered investment adviser, and former Chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market, was arrested today and charged with one count of securities fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Lev L. Dassin and Assistant Director-in-Charge of the FBI’s New York Office Mark J. Mershon announced.

According to the complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Bernard L. Madoff is the founder of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC (the Firm), a securities broker dealer with its principal office in New York City. According to the Firm’s website, the Firm: (a) “is a leading international market maker. The firm has been providing quality executions for broker-dealers, banks and financial institutions since its inception in 1960”; (b) “[w]ith more than $700 million in firm capital, Madoff currently ranks among the top 1% of U.S. Securities firms; and (c) “Clients know that Bernard Madoff has a personal interest in maintaining an unblemished record of value, fair-dealing, and high ethical standards that has always been the firm’s hallmark.”

According to two senior employees of the Firm (the Senior Employees), Madoff conducts certain investment advisory business for clients that is separate from the firm’s proprietary trading and market making activities. According to the Senior Employees, Madoff ran his investment adviser business from a separate floor in the New York City offices of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC. According to a Senior Employee, Madoff kept the financial statements for the firm under lock and key, and Madoff was “cryptic” about the firm’s investment advisory business.

According to a document filed by Madoff with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on Jan.7, 2008, Madoff’s investment advisory business served between 11 and 25 clients and had a total of approximately $17.1 billion in assets under management.

On Dec. 10, 2008, Madoff informed the Senior Employees, in substance, that his investment advisory business was a fraud. Madoff stated that he was “finished,” that he had “absolutely nothing,” that “it’s all just one big lie,” and that it was “basically, a giant Ponzi scheme. Madoff stated that the business was insolvent, and that it had been for years. Madoff also stated that he estimated the losses from this fraud to be at least approximately $50 billion. Madoff further informed the Senior Employees that, in approximately one week, he planned to surrender to authorities, but before he did that, he had approximately $200-300 million left, and he planned to use that money to make payments to certain selected employees, family and friends. Madoff, 70, currently resides in New York City.

The securities fraud charge in the complaint carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $5,000,000. Madoff is expected to be presented before U.S. Magistrate Judge Douglas F. Eaton today.

Mr. Dassin praised the investigative work of the FBI and thanked the SEC for its assistance. Assistant U.S. Attorney Marc Litt is in charge of the prosecution. The charges and allegations contained in the complaint are merely accusations and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

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http://albany.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/explosives120508.htm

U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
Northern District of New York
100 South Clinton Street
Room 900; P.O. Box 7198
Syracuse, New York 13261-7198
(315) 448-0672

December 5, 2008
NEWS RELEASE

Andrew T. Baxter, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John F. Pikus, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), confirmed today that AARON A. SCORSONE of Watervliet, New York and JONATHAN PLUNKETT of Troy, New York were arrested by members of the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force and were charged by criminal complaints alleging that they conspired to unlawfully engage in the business of manufacturing and dealing in explosive materials, without a license to do so, in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 2, 371, 842(a)(1) & 844(a). AARON A. SCORSONE and ADAM HANSEN of Troy , New York were separately charged in federal complaints alleging that they manufactured and distributed marijuana in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Sections 841(a) and 846, and used the telephone to facilitate these drug trafficking offenses in violation of Title 21, United States Code, Section 843.

This investigation was conducted by the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force, the New York Police Department Intelligence Division’s Operation Sentry, the Troy Police Department, the Watervliet Police Department, the North Greenbush Police Department, the New York State Police, the Schenectady Police Department, the Colonie Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office. The FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force is comprised of representatives from the Troy Police Department, the Albany Police Department, the New York State Police, the Vermont State Police, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Air Marshal Service.

The complaints alleging the offenses under Title 18 charge that since late September of 2008, AARON A. SCORSONE, PLUNKETT and others have agreed to manufacture and sell home-made explosive devices.

The complaints alleging offenses under Title 21 charge that in October and November of 2008 AARON A. SCORSONE and ADAM HANSEN, on at least two occasions, engaged in extensive telephonic conversations on how to maintain and improve their marijuana growing operations, took steps to facilitate those operations, and on several occasions sold or distributed marijuana.

FBI Special Agent In Charge John Pikus confirmed that search warrants were also executed by members of the JTTF at the residences of PLUNKETT, AARON A. SCORSONE and RYAN HANSEN.

Acting U.S. Attorney Baxter had high praise for the collaborative efforts of those agencies that participated in this case. Mr. Baxter noted that “various law enforcement agencies working together in a coordinated and cooperative fashion is essential for the effective investigation of criminal activities such as these.”

This prosecution will be handled in the United States Attorney’s Office by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss.

LOCAL CONTACT:
Rick Belliss
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Tel (518) 431-0247

http://albany.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/alfo121008a.htm

Acting United States Attorney Andrew T. Baxter
Northern District of New York

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, DECEMBER 10, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/NYN

THREE CHARGED WITH ILLEGALLY MANUFACTURING AND SELLING EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS

Andrew T. Baxter, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of New York, and John F. Pikus, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Albany Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, today announced that AARON SCORSONE, 18 of Watervliet, New York; Jonathan Plunkett, 22 of Troy, New York; and Scott Monroe, 26 of Watervliet, New York were indicted by a Federal Grand Jury in Albany, New York. The indictment charges all three defendants with conspiracy (agreeing) to unlawfully manufacture and sell explosive materials in violation of Title 18 United States Code, Sections 371, 842(a) and 844; as well as Title 26 United States C ode Sections 5811, 5812, 5861(b),(e) and 5871. If convicted, the defendants face up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

AARON SCORSONE and JONATHAN PLUNKETT were also charged with aiding and abetting one another in the unlawful possession, manufacture and sale of explosive and destructive devices on September 25, 2008 (Count 2 - an explosive device), on October 4, 2008 (Count 3 - destructive devices), October 27, 2008 (Count 4 - a destructive device), and on November 16, 2008 (Count 5 -explosive devices). If convicted of those counts charging the unlawful manufacture, possession and sale of an explosive device, each defendant faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted of the unlawful manufacture or sale of a destructive device, that is, an explosive device containing fragmentation, each defendant faces up to 10 years in jail and a $250,000 fine. In addition, AARON SCORSONE is charged with unlawfully dealing in explosive materials (Count 6 -15 explosive devices) on December 4,2008, as well as the unlawful possession of a fully automatic AR-15 assault rifle at the time of his arrest (Count 10). If convicted of the later charge, AARON SCORSONE faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Additionally, SCOTT MONROE is charged with unlawfully engaging in the business of manufacturing and dealing in explosive devices (Count 7) in violation of Title 18 United States Code Sections 842(a) and844(a). If convicted of these offenses, he too faces up to ten years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Counts 8 & 9 charge AARON SCORSONE with unlawfully manufacturing, and also, possessing with intent to distribute, marijuana in violation of Title 21 United States Code Section 841(a)(1). And finally, Count 11 charges AARON SCORSONE with being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm that has moved in interstate commerce in violation of Title 18, United States Code Sections 922(g) and 924(a)(2). If convicted of Counts 8, 9, and 11 respectively, AARON SCORSONE will face up to five years in prison (Counts 8 & 9), 10 years in prison (Count 11), and an additional fine of up to $250,000 per count.

The indictment alleges that the group’s unlawful activities had been underway since approximately June of 2008, several months before an informant working with the New York Police Department (NYPD) Intelligence Division - Operation Sentry made the first controlled buy on September 25, 2008, and that is when the case was initiated. Judicially authorized electronic surveillance was thereafter promptly commenced in an effort to identify other co-conspirators.

Several additional controlled buys were thereafter made, culminating in the arrest of AARON SCORSONE on December 4, 2008 as he exchanged 15 explosive devices as a down payment on a fully automatic AR-15 assault rifle. Scorsone’s arrest was followed by the arrest of JONATHAN PLUNKETT and SCOTT MONROE, as well as the execution of search warrants or consent searches at their homes.

During the course of the ten week investigation, the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF), with the assistance of the New York State Police (NYSP) Bomb Disposal Unit, seized nearly 80 homemade explosive devices, which were recovered during transactions between the NYPD Source and the subjects, or seized during seven searches that were conducted during a two day period on December 4th and 5th, 2008 in the Troy and Watervliet, New York, areas. At one of the search locations, investigators uncovered sufficient pre-cursor chemicals and materials to produce a significant number of additional homemade explosive devices. Investigators also seized seventeen weapons from the various search locations, including a .50 caliber rifle, along with other rifles, pistol grip shotguns, and tear gas guns.

The following agencies provided significant assistance to the FBI JTTF during the course of the investigation: The NYPD Intelligence Division - Operation Sentry, the United States Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the NYSP, the Troy Police Department, the Watervliet Police Department, the North Greenbush Police Department, the Schenectady County District Attorney’s Office, and the Colonie Police Department.

Acting U.S. Attorney Baxter had high praise for the unwavering support provided to the Joint Terrorism Task Force by the local law enforcement agencies despite budgetary constraints. “We greatly appreciate that our law enforcement partners at every level are willing to support the counterterrorism mission, understanding that national security and public safety at the local level are inextricably linked. The collaborative efforts of the agencies participating in this investigation provide a textbook example of what can be accomplished when local, state and federal law enforcement agencies work together. It is precisely what the public expects and deserves from law enforcement.”

This prosecution will handled in the United States Attorney’s Office by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard Belliss. .

CONTACT:

Rick Belliss
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Tel (518) 431-0247

http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel08/topten_121208.htm

For Immediate Release
December 12, 2008

Washington D.C.
FBI National Press Office
(202) 324-3691

FBI’s Top Ten News Stories for the Week Ending December 12, 2008

1. Chicago: Illinois Governor Arrested

Governor Rod R. Blagojevich and his Chief of Staff John Harris were arrested on federal corruption charges including conspiring to trade or sell the Illinois’ Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. Full Story

2. New York: Former Chairman of NASDAQ Arrested

Bernard L. Madoff, investment advisor and former Chairman of the NASDAQ stock market, was charged with securities fraud in a multi-billion Ponzi scheme. Full Story

3. San Diego: CEO Sentenced in $3 Billion Stock Manipulation Scheme

Stephen Parker Gardner, former Chief Executive Officer of Peregrine Systems, Inc. was sentenced on charges of conspiracy, securities fraud, and obstruction of justice. Full Story

4. Washington Field Office: Blackwater Employees Indicted on Manslaughter Charges

Five Blackwater employees were charged with killing 14 unarmed civilians and wounding 20 others at Nisur Square in Baghdad. Full Story

5. Boston: Former State Senator Indicted

Former Massachusetts State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and Boston City Councilor Chuck Turner were charged with multiple federal felony charges including extortion. Full Story

6. Albany: Former State Supreme Court Justice Indicted

Thomas J. Spargo, former Supreme Court Justice of the Third Judicial Circuit of the New York State was charged with attempted extortion. Full Story

7. Cleveland: City Council Member Charged with Bribery

Cleveland City Council Member Robert J. White, III was charged with accepting a bribe in exchange for the performance of his official duties. Full Story

8. Boston: Chinese Nationals Arrested

Zhen Zhou Wu, Yufeng Wei and Bo Li were charged with conspiring to violate U.S. export laws by falsely identifying the ultimate destination of U.S. goods. Full Story

9. Louisville: Deputy Jailers Sentenced for Civil Rights Violations

Wesley Lanham and Shawn Freeman, former deputy jailers at Grant County Detention Center, were sentenced for arranging the rape of a teenage traffic offender by inmates. Full Story

10. Kansas City: 110 Arrests in Violent Gang Crime Sweep

More than 160 federal, state and local investigators conducted a large-scale, two-day sweep to combat the city’s rising homicide rate. Full Story

http://boston.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/exportviolations120808.htm

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan

District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING

December 8, 2008 PHONE: (617)748-3356

WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA

E-MAIL: USAMA.MEDIA@USDOJ.GOV

THREE CHINESE NATIONALS CHARGED WITH CONSPIRING TO VIOLATE U.S. EXPORT LAWS

BOSTON, MA—Three nationals of the People’s Republic of China were arrested and charged Friday in U.S. District Court with conspiring to file, and causing others to file, false export control documents in violation of Executive Order 13222, Export Administration Regulations, and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. The Complaint charges that from not later than July 9, 2005 and continuing through in or about December 2008, three current officers and employees of Chitron Electronics, Inc. (“CHITRON-US”), a Massachusetts corporation, filed and caused the filing of Shipper’s Export Declarations with the U.S. government which falsely identified the end users and ultimate destination of U.S. origin goods that CHITRON-US shipped overseas.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, John McKenna, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Commerce - Office of Export Enforcement, Boston Field Office, Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement - Office of Investigations in Boston, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Division and Tyrone G. Barney, Special Agent in Charge of Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office announced today that ZHENZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU, YUFENG WEI a/k/a ANNIE WEI and BO LI a/k/a ERIC LEE were charged in a Complaint with willfully and knowingly violating Executive Order 13222 and the Export Administration Regulations in that they did unlawfully conspire, combine, confederate, and agree with each other and others to file, and cause the filing of, false export control documents, including Shipper’s Export Declarations. In addition, ZHEN ZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU is charged with filing false tax returns and making materially false statements in Chitron-US’ corporate income tax returns for tax years 2002-2007.

The Complaint alleges that Chitron-US was a wholly-owned and controlled subsidiary of Chitron Electronics Company Limited a/k/a Shenzhen Chi-Chuang Electronics, a Chinese company based in Shenzhen, China (“Chitron-CHINA”). The Complaint further alleges that Chitron-China had several offices in China, including one in Hong Kong. According to the Compliant, the Hong Kong office was merely a transshipment point or shipping office; it was set up to act as a freight forwarder—to receive shipments from Chitron-US and re-ship or transship them to Mainland China thereby circumventing U.S. export laws and license requirements. The Complaint alleges that Chitron-US filed hundreds of false Shipper’s Export Declarations and the defendants engaged in concerted and coordinated effort to file and cause the filing of these false documents. It is alleged that these Shipper’s Export Declarations falsely identified Hong Kong freight forwarders and Chitron’s Hong Kong office as the ultimate consignee or end-user and the country of ultimate destination as Hong Kong when in fact the ultimate end users of the U.S. origin products shipped by Chitron-US were located in Mainland China.

If convicted on these charges, each defendant faces up to 20 years’ imprisonment on the conspiracy charge, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release and a $1,000,000 fine. ZHEN ZHOU WU a/k/a ALEX WU faces an additional three years imprisonment and a $100,000 fine for filing tax returns and an additional five years imprisonment and $250,000 for making false statements.

The case is being investigated agents of the Department of Commerce - Office of Export Enforcement, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann and John Capin of Sullivan’s Anti-Terrorism and National Security Section.

The details contained in the Complaint are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

http://boston.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/publiccorruption120908.htm

The United States Attorney’s Office
District of Massachusetts

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2008
WWW.USDOJ.GOV/USAO/MA

CONTACT: CHRISTINA DiIORIO-STERLING
PHONE: (617) 748-3356
CHRISTINA.STERLING@USDOJ.GOV

FORMER SENATOR WILKERSON AND CITY COUNCILOR TURNER INDICTED IN PUBLIC CORRUPTION CONSPIRACY

BOSTON, MA—Former Massachusetts State Senator DIANNE WILKERSON and Boston City Councilor CHUCK TURNER were indicted this afternoon as co-conspirators on a federal public corruption charge.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan, Warren T. Bamford, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office and Police Commissioner Edward Davis of the Boston Police Department announced today that DIANNE WILKERSON, 53, of 74 Howland Street in Boston, Massachusetts, and CHARLES “CHUCK” TURNER, 68, of 63 Beech Glen Street, Boston, Massachusetts were charged by federal indictment this afternoon.

WILKERSON and TURNER were charged with conspiring to extort cash under color of official right. TURNER is also charged with one count of attempted extortion under color of official right in connection with his acceptance of $1,000 in cash to assist a Boston-area businessman obtain a liquor license, and three counts of false statements to FBI agents. In total, the indictment handed down today charges WILKERSON with nine federal felonies and TURNER with five federal felonies. The indictment also seeks forfeiture of the funds paid to WILKERSON and TURNER by undercover agents and a cooperating witness as part of an 18-month covert investigation into their alleged corrupt activities.

If convicted WILKERSON faces up to 20 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each of the nine charges. If convicted TURNER faces up to 20 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each of the two extortion charges. He faces up to 5 years imprisonment, 3 years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine on each of the three false statement charges

The case is being investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation - Boston Field Office, in conjunction with the Boston Police Department Anti-Corruption Unit and the Internal Revenue Service - Criminal Investigation - Boston Field Office. It is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney John T. McNeil in Sullivan’s Public Corruption and Special Prosecutions Unit.

The details contained in the indictment are allegations. The defendants are presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

[Why do I associate this name with the clintons?...granny]

http://www.google.com/search?q=Anthony+Pellicano&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

LOL, here it is:

http://www.google.com/search?q=Anthony+Pellicano+clinton&btnG=Search&hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&sa=2

http://washingtondc.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel08/wfo120808b.htm

U.S. Department of Justice

Jeffrey A. Taylor

United States Attorney

for the District of Columbia

Judiciary Center

555 4th Street, N.W.

Washington, D.C. 20530

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, December 8, 2008

For Information, Contact Public Affairs

Channing Phillips (202) 514-6933

PRESS RELEASE

Former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Supervisory
Special Agent Pleads Guilty to Criminally Accessing FBI Database

WASHINGTON - Mark T. Rossini, a former Supervisory Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (”FBI”), pled guilty today to five separate counts of criminally accessing a sensitive FBI database for personal purposes, U.S. Attorney Jeffrey A. Taylor and Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Glenn A. Fine announced today. The conviction was the result of investigative efforts that were initiated by a referral from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California to the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.

Rossini, a resident of New York, N.Y., pled guilty to five counts of Criminal Computer Access in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia before the Honorable Magistrate Judge John M. Facciola, and faces a maximum sentence of up to five years of incarceration and a $500,000 fine. According to the federal sentencing guidelines, Rossini would likely receive a sentence of between zero and 6 months. Rossini, an FBI Special Agent since 1991, has resigned from the FBI. Sentencing has been set for March 13, 2009.

According to the Statement of Offense to which Rossini pled guilty, between January 2007 and July 2007, Rossini made over 40 searches of the FBI’s Automated Case Support System (ACS), which contains confidential, law-enforcement sensitive information that relates to historic and on-going criminal investigations initiated by, and supported by, the FBI. Each of these searches exceeded the defendant’s authorized use of the ACS system, and was not part of any of his assigned work. Many of Rossini’s improper searches related to the criminal case of United States v. Anthony Pellicano (Pellicano case), an on-going criminal case that is being prosecuted in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Los Angeles). That case is pending sentencing. Rossini was never assigned to work on the Pellicano case, and he had no official reason to search the ACS for these records. By making these searches, and reviewing the result of these searches, Rossini obtained official and confidential information that he was not authorized to obtain. The five charges that Rossini pled guilty to today represent separate and independent criminal acts of criminal computer access of the ACS system.

As set forth in the Statement of Offense, on January 26, 2007, Rossini improperly downloaded a copy of a confidential informant’s FBI report the contained information relevant to the Pellicano matter. Rossini provided a copy of the report to X, a person with whom Rossini had a close personal relationship. X also had a previous relationship with Anthony Pellicano, and X provided a copy of the FBI report to an attorney for Anthony Pellicano in San Francisco, California. The FBI report was filed by Mr. Pellicano’s attorneys in the Pellicano case to the court that the United States was improperly withholding exculpatory information from the defense in that case. Unbeknownst to Mr. Pellicano’s attorneys, in November 2006, the judge in the Pellicano case had previously ruled, ex parte, that the 302 report was not exculpatory to
Mr. Pellicano’s defense.

Despite news coverage of Rossini’s possible connection the Pellicano case in July 2007, Rossini consistently informed his supervisors that those news stories were completely false. On February 25, 2008, Rossini was interviewed by agents from the DOJ Office of the Inspector General, and he intentionally lied to these agents. Among his false statements, Rossini falsely denied that he obtained FBI information without authorization, or that he provided any FBI information to persons outside of the FBI, or to X.
In announcing today’s guilty plea, U.S. Attorney Taylor and Inspector General Fine praised the hard work and persistence of the investigative agents who worked this matter on behalf of the Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General. In addition, they extended their thanks to the assistance provided by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California, particularly Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Ciaffa, and Investigators Timothy Fitzsimmons and Jeremy Crider. They also acknowledged the efforts of Legal Assistant Lisa Robinson, as well as Assistant U.S. Attorney Tejpal S. Chawla who is prosecuting this matter.

CWIHP News is a free newsletter available to anyone interested in the Cold War International History Project. It provides information on past and future CWIHP events, new publications, calls for papers, and conference news.

For more information about the Project, visit www.cwihp.org.

The above sent this information and it has all the links to the documents.
granny

http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?topic_id=1409&fuseaction=topics.item&news_id=494012

New Kuklinski Documents on Martial Law in Poland Released

December 11, 2008

The Central Intelligence Agency today released 83 documents relating to one of the most significant espionage cases of the Cold War, the case of Polish Army Col. Ryszard Kuklinski. Kuklinski, a senior officer on the Polish General Staff and aide to Polish prime minister and communist party chief (and later president) Wojciech Jaruzelski, had volunteered his services to the United States Army during a sailing trip to northern Germany in 1972. For over nine years, Kuklinski provided the CIA with more than 40,000 pages of documents regarding the innermost secrets of the Warsaw Pact, “the secrets of the kitchen” (Jaruzelski), including war plans—intelligence that was deemed of “truly great strategic significance” by Zbigniew Brzezinski, President Carter’s national security adviser. Much of the documentation photographed by Kuklinski at great personal risk (with the door to his office unlocked) was passed to the CIA through clandestine exchanges during boat trips, some 63 moving car exchanges and also through dead drops.

During the 1980-81 Polish Crisis he continued to provide information on Warsaw Pact planning, internal Polish developments and Soviet pressures. From the initial outbreak of labor unrest and the rise of the independent trade union “Solidarnosc” (Solidarity) to the declaration of Martial Law on 12/13 December 1981 Kuklinski provided period reporting and commentary on the chaotic progression of events. His reporting focused on the refinement of the plans for introducing martial law (with which, much to his frustration he was tasked), internal debates within the party and military leadership, and the constant pressure from Moscow on the Polish communist regime to contain and destroy the labor union.

The documents released today (see links below) include a 1977 document outlining governmental tasks in the event of a threat to national security; 18 reports by Kuklinski on information and impressions gained from his close contacts on the Polish General Staff and from contact with Soviet officers; 42 reports relaying Martial Law planning documents, 16 reports based on Kuklinski information disseminated after the declaration of Martial law on 13 December 1981, as well as one 1983 report prepared by Kuklinski after his (and his family’s) extraction to the United States.

Further study will be required to assess the significance of these newly released materials. They add to Kuklinski materials released earlier and reprinted (in part) in CWIHP Bulletin No. 11, and to CWIHP Special Working Paper No. 1, Soviet Deliberations During the Polish Crisis, 1980-1981, which provides other crucial internal Soviet documents on the Martial Law Crisis.

Additional Warsaw Pact materials will soon be published on the CWIHP website.

New Kuklinski Documents Released by the CIA
1972 Letter from Col. Kuklinski to U.S. Embassy in Berlin Offering to Spy for United States.
Download pdf

continued.

http://www.ready.gov/america/about/pressreleases/release_121208.html

NOW’S THE TIME: THE READY CAMPAIGN ENCOURAGES AMERICANS TO RESOLVE TO BE READY IN 2009

U.S. Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Press Secretary
Contact: 202-282-8010
For Immediate Release
December 12, 2008

With the new year approaching, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Ready Campaign is reminding Americans to Resolve to be Ready in 2009. Resolve to be Ready is a nationwide effort designed to encourage individuals, families, businesses and communities to take action and prepare for emergencies in the new year.

“Individual planning is the cornerstone of emergency preparedness,” said Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff. “Since establishing this department and Ready, we have come a long way in raising the baseline of preparedness in this country, but we still have a long way to go. As 2009 approaches, I urge all Americans to consider the importance – and real value – of being prepared for all hazards.”

Being Ready for emergencies can be an easy new year’s resolution to keep by following the Ready Campaign’s three simple steps: 1) Get an emergency supply kit; 2) Make a family emergency plan; and 3) Be informed about the types of emergencies that can happen in your area and their appropriate responses.

By taking these three steps – in particular having an emergency supply kit both at home and in the car – Americans will be prepared for winter mainstays like power outages and icy roads. Each of these kits should include basic necessities such as water, food and first aid supplies to help you survive if you are without power or become stranded in your vehicle. Complete checklists for each kit are available at www.ready.gov.

This year, the Ready Campaign is employing new media strategies to promote emergency preparedness. By using Twitter, a social networking tool, Ready hopes to not only reach new audiences, but also to open the lines of communication with the public, ensuring emergency preparedness is top of mind year-round. Twitter users can stay up-to-date on the latest Ready activities by following their username, “ReadydotGov,” on Twitter.

By making the decision to Resolve to be Ready in 2009 and following the simple preparedness steps in advance, Americans will minimize the impact of emergencies on themselves, their family and their businesses. By visiting www.ready.gov or calling 1-800-BE-READY, individuals can access free materials that will help them make and keep a new year’s resolution that will bring their families peace of mind.

February 2008 marked the Ready Campaign’s fifth year at the Department of Homeland Security. Launched in 2003 in partnership with The Advertising Council, Ready is designed to educate and empower Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies, including natural disasters and potential terrorist attacks. It has proven to be one of the most successful campaigns in Ad Council’s more than 65-year history. Since its launch, the campaign has generated more than $756.5 million in donated media support. Individuals interested in more information about family, business and community preparedness can visit www.ready.gov.

###

Hugo’s Hizballah

December 11, 2008

by Alan Levine

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has defied the United States unlike any other leader in the Western Hemisphere since Cuba ‘s Fidel Castro. Chavez has strong ties with state sponsors of terror, suppresses democracy at home, and has worked to destabilize his neighbors. Recently, Chavez has also helped the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah establish a base in the Western hemisphere.

For years, the U.S. State Department has stated its concern that Hezbollah raises funds ‘among the sizable Muslim communities’ the South America, and that weak rule of law could ‘tempt terrorist groups to seek to establish safe havens’ in the tri-border area between Brazil , Argentina , and Paraguay . Indeed, with the aid of Iranian embassies, the area was believed to be a staging ground for Hezbollah’s 1992 and 1994 bombings of Jewish and Israeli targets in Buenos Aires , Argentina .

It was the U.S. Treasury Department, however, that provided recent evidence that Hezbollah had found a safe haven in Venezuela . In January 2008, Treasury’s Office for Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) placed two Venezuelans—including one prominent diplomat—on its Specially Designated Nationals (SDN) list, for providing financial support to Hezbollah. Adam Szubin, director of OFAC, noted that the Venezuelan regime was ‘employing and providing safe harbor for Hezbollah facilitators and fundraisers.’

According to the Treasury, Ghazi Nasr al-Din, a former official of the Venezuelan embassies in both Lebanon and Syria, provided counsel on fundraising to Hezbollah supporters, and provided information on where to deposit money that would go directly to Hezbollah.

Fawzi Kanan, a businessman, was also designated by OFAC. The owner of two travel agencies, Kanan used his businesses in Venezuela to transfer funds to Hezbollah and to facilitate travel for Hezbollah operatives. He even met Hezbollah officials in Lebanon about possible kidnappings and terrorist attacks.

Instead of opening an investigation, Chavez said that the world was using the allegations to ‘make a move’ against him. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro lashed out at the United States : ‘If they want to search for terrorists, look for them in the White House.’

Venezuela’s support for Hezbollah doesn’t end there. It was reported a few months later that the Venezuelan minister of the interior, Tayek al-Ayssami, was working directly with al-Din to recruit young Venezuelans of Arab descent that were supportive of the Chavez regime to train in Lebanon with Hezbollah. Reportedly, the purpose was to prepare these youths for asymmetric warfare against the United States in the event of a confrontation. According to this report, Hezbollah also established training camps inside Venezuela , complete with ammunition and explosives, courtesy of al-Ayssami.

Reports also indicate that Hezbollah has been responsible for converting a number of indigenous tribes in Latin America to their radical version of Islam, including the Venezuela-based Wayuu tribe. These tribe members now make up much of the membership of ‘Hezbollah Venezuela ,’ a group tied to the attempted bombing of the U.S. embassy in Caracas in 2006.

Chavez, meanwhile, is perhaps the most open apologist for Hezbollah in the hemisphere. During the Israel-Hezbollah War in 2006, Chavez withdrew the Venezuelan ambassador to Israel . He later accused Israel of conducting its defensive war in ‘the fascist manner of Hitler.’ After making those comments on al-Jazeera television, Chavez returned home and continued to malign Israel on his weekly television broadcast, Aló Presidente, where he labeled the United States ‘a terrorist nation’ for supporting Israel.

Chavez’s rhetorical and material support for Hezbollah likely stems from his affinity for the group’s benefactor and ideological inspiration, the Islamic Republic of Iran. Chavez and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who refer to each other as ‘dear brother,’ are proud to share ‘revolutionary views.’ Chavez says the two countries are ‘united like a single fist.’ Despite their differing faiths, they joined hands and prayed for the peoples of the world ‘to destroy [ U.S. ] world hegemony.’

The U.S. Treasury should be commended for designating Venezuelan individuals and entities that support Hezbollah. Effective sanctions against the Venezuelan government, however, will be impossible to implement until the United States breaks its reliance on Venezuelan oil. Until that day comes, Washington should strengthen its alliances with Venezuela ’s neighbors in an effort to weaken Chavez’s power. Congress can assist by passing a free trade agreement with Colombia , a staunch anti-Chavez ally. Failure to take these and other important steps will only encourage Hezbollah to expand in America ’s backyard.

Alan Levine is an intern at the Jewish Policy Center, and a fourth year undergraduate at the University of California , Santa Barbara .

Source: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=DE00261D-D4E1-428C-A8AA-698495018B83

A Belgian Victory over al-Qaeda: More Lessons to be Learned

December 12, 2008

by Walid Phares

Agence France Presse and the Associated Press are reporting that Belgian authorities have arrested 14 suspected Al Qaeda terrorists including a jihadi who was allegedly planning a suicide attack. Sixteen raids were executed by 242 police officers in Brussels and in the eastern city of Liege . Security and judicial sources described the arrests as the ‘most important anti-terrorism operation in Belgium .’ Citing the Federal prosecutor’s office, AFP reported that the move was targeting ‘a Belgian Islamist group involved in training as well as fighting on the Pakistan-Afghan border in cooperation with important figures in Al Qaeda.’

Expanding on the arrests campaign, Le Parisien wrote that since 2007 four Belgians and individuals from other nationalities joined a middleman by the name ‘M.G’ in Pakistan (to undertake jihadist activities). A few months ago, two of the men came back to Belgium and were put under surveillance. A third man joined them on December 4. The initial investigation began last year based on information related to a plot to liberate Tunisian Nizar Trabulsi, an Al Qaeda cadre who is currentlly serving 10 years for preparing an attack against a Belgian base.

Sources added that a woman by the name of Malika al Aroud ‘has played an important role in the investigation.’ Al Aroud was married to the assassin of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the anti-Taliban commander in September 2001. Her second husband is a member of the arrested group.

The Nouvel Observateur wrote that the current investigation which was opened in December 2007 ‘may have prevented an attack in Brussels .’ Based on reports in France Info, Le Figaro and other specialized sources, the most likely target of the Al Qaeda network could have been European institutions in Brussels . It should be noted that the arrests were made on the eve of an important European economic summit scheduled to take place in Brussels .

What should we learn from this preemptive strike in Belgium aimed at Al Qaeda’s European network? Based on the scope of the operation, its precision and its timing and my own knowledge gleaned from four years of meetings with European counterterrorism officials as well Belgian national security officials, the short answer is we can learn a lot from this December 11 strike against terror:

1) Belgian authorities have demonstrated significant success by waging an all out investigation against Al Qaeda for over a year without being infiltrated. This accomplishment alone is a victory at a time when jihadists are trying to penetrate Western security systems. Knowing the enemy, its ideology and its tactics are paramount elements for gradual victories. In this case the Belgian security forces and judicial authorities got it right. For example, Glen Audenaert, the director of the Federal Belgian Police, as well as his counterterrorism deputies have educated themselves on the nature of the beast they are dealing with inside this small European democracy. They were aware of the ideological nature of the group and thus were equipped to pursue it. This is a lesson for other democracies in general and the U.S. in particular: Know your enemy, learn about its ideology and make sure your institutions aren’t penetrated.

2) The arrests and just released reports about them reveals the link between European-based cells and overseas Al Qaeda battlefields. The detained Al Qaeda members have traveled back and forth to Pakistan . One of their members was killed as he assassinated a major anti-Taliban leader in 2001. His wife was also involved with the group and remarried a member of the network. — Female jihadists have been indoctrinated in Belgium for suicide operations in the Middle East , including a convert married to a jihadist and the list goes on. There is a highway between the ‘jihad lands’ in the region and the ‘jihad bases’ in the West, including in Belgium . They also exist between the UK , France , Germany and Spain . This should only call for increased international cooperation against a ‘world jihadi network.’

3) The issue isn’t local. This is yet another example that demonstrates that while many assert that the root causes for terrorism are found in suburban disenfranchisement, in this case Brussels, revelations from the dismantled network prove otherwise. The jihadists’ ‘cause’ is not the socio-economic situation in Brussels . They most likely were aiming at the Place Luxembourg in order to crumble the political will of the European Parliament. Their aim was not to send a message on social security or healthcare. They were targeting Greens, socialists and liberals as well as conservatives; they had marked democracy as a whole, not one of democracy’s debates.

4) Last but not least, this episode should remind strategists that the campaign against jihadism is much bigger than the wars in Iraq or in Afghanistan . Like India , Belgium was opposed to the invasion of Iraq and isn’t a main partner in Afghanistan . Yet it was and remains a target for the combat Salafists. This is further evidence that the jihadi threat is truly global and that the response must also be global. Today the Belgians have scored a daring victory for the international community.

Source: http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/12/a_belgian_victory_over_al_ qaed.php

Jihad Made in the USA
December 11, 2008

by Patrick Poole

Incredibly, jihadist recruiting events in America have long been ignored by government and media.

The funeral for Shirwa Ahmed last week in Burnsville , Minnesota , punctuated a growing national security threat metastasizing inside the U.S. — one Homeland Security and law enforcement authorities have quickly taken note of. Ahmed, who killed himself in a suicide bombing attack in Somalia in October, is just one of up to 40 men from the Twin Cities area who have disappeared and are feared to have returned to their homeland for training with the al-Shabaab terrorist group to wage jihad.

The FBI is investigating similar disappearances in other major Somali communities in Columbus , OH , Atlanta , Boston , San Diego , and Seattle . There are even reports coming from Europe, recently from Denmark , of Somali men returning home to fight with al-Shabaab and other terrorist organizations.

ABC News also reports that a Somali from Boston, Tarek Mehenna, a U.S. citizen, was arrested last month on his way to Somalia to wage jihad after being in contact with Daniel Maldonado, a Muslim convert currently in federal prison after pleading guilty to training at a Somali terror training camp after being captured in Kenya with a Somali terrorist cell.

Predictably, Somali leaders in many of these cities are claiming surprise and shock that anyone from their communities and mosques would be leaving the U.S. for jihad. But as Daveed Gartenstein-Ross explained in a Fox News report, there exists an active recruiting and transportation network in the U.S. , including Minneapolis , for Somali-run terrorist training camps, many of which have recently reopened. In many instances, these same Somali leaders purporting ignorance and innocence for the local media are not only aware of these recruiting operations, but have actively participated in them.

A year ago I reported here at Pajamas Media (’Homeland Insecurity: Terrorist Fundraising in the Heartland’) on a November 2007 jihadist fundraising and recruiting event held at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Minneapolis, featuring two high-ranking representatives of the Eritrean-based Alliance for the Re-Liberation of Somalia (ARS). The event was sponsored by local organizations. Homeland Security officials were warned in advance of the attendance of the two ARS officials, but no effort was made to prevent their entry into the U.S. They later conducted another event in the Washington , DC , area at the Days Inn in Falls Church , VA , which was also sponsored by Somali organizations in Virginia , Minnesota , and Ohio .

One U.S. Somali leader, Abdurahman Warsame, executive director of the Terror Free Somalia Foundation, expressed his amazement that the ARS officials would even be allowed to enter the country, let alone be able to openly conduct fundraising and recruiting for jihad:

This event was definitely intended to organize and mobilize the extreme elements of the Somali community here to support the armed struggle against the internationally recognized Somali government and oppose U.S. foreign policy. [ARS deputy chairman Zakaria Mahmoud Haji] Abdi was openly calling for jihad and directing supporters to use the underground hawala networks to circumvent U.S. controls to prevent terrorism financing overseas. These funds will be used to support the insurgency that is killing civilians, civil servants, and anyone who works for or with the government, in order to further weaken the country and open the doors for foreign terrorists to take control of the country. Why would this man be allowed in the U.S. ?

A year later, however, the local media are scratching their heads in wonderment about what has been happening right under their noses. And the same Homeland Security and law enforcement officials who had taken a laissez faire approach to these fundraising and recruiting events are finally reexamining these activities. One Homeland Security official I spoke with last week even cited last year’s Minneapolis event as one of the tipping points in radicalizing certain segments of the local Somali community.

So why are authorities suddenly concerned?

In the past year developments within the Somali terrorist organizations have resulted in splits and fractionalization, with the most radical element, al-Shabaab, the former armed wing of the Islamic Courts Union movement, breaking away and forging closer alliances with al-Qaeda. As a result, Somalia is quickly becoming a new safe haven for al-Qaeda. Al-Shabaab and its leaders were designated a terrorist organization by the State Department back in March.

The most specific concern of Homeland Security officials about the departure of Somalis and other American Muslims for the terror training camps in Somalia is not that they will be killed, as was Minneapolis suicide bomber Shirwa Ahmed, but that they will get trained in the Somali terrorist camps and return home to wage jihad against the U.S. from within.

And al-Shabaab has made clear its intent to attack the U.S. and kill Americans.

MEMRI has translated a video that recently appeared on numerous Somali websites — many of them run from the U.S. — in which al-Shabaab called on Americans and Europeans to join the jihad in Somalia . The video directly threatens Americans with extermination:

I’m telling the kuffar [infidels], the English people, the American people. … We’re coming for you! We’re going to exterminate you all!

Fox News also reported recently on an al-Shabaab statement vowing to ‘throw the West into hell.’

Back here in the U.S. , many of these sentiments can be heard in many mosques preaching violence and hatred towards America , the country which gave hundreds of thousands of Somalis refuge. In Minneapolis , much of the focus is on the extremist Abubakar as-Saddique mosque, where many of the missing men appear to have been radicalized and recruited. So concerned are Homeland Security authorities about the potential radicalization from the mosque that its imam and youth coordinator were prevented from leaving the country last week to attend the hajj in Saudi Arabia .

In Columbus , several mosques openly preach against America and encourage jihad. One mosque, Masjid Omar Ibn el-Khattab, nearby the Ohio State University campus, was the center of the largest known al-Qaeda cell in the U.S. since 9/11. Three members of that cell have been convicted and are serving prison sentences for terrorism support, though at least 10 others known to be involved have not yet been charged. One of those al-Qaeda members, Nuradin Abdi, a Columbus Somali resident, was convicted and sentenced to 10 years after threatening to blow up a Columbus-area shopping mall.

Another U.S. citizen, Ruben Luis Shumpert, an ex-convict Seattle barber and Muslim convert, was killed in Somalia earlier this year while fighting with al-Shabaab. Shumpert fled the U.S. for Somalia in 2006 before being sentenced on gun and counterfeit convictions associated with terrorism. In a taunting phone call to FBI agents after he had fled, Shumpert vowed that he and his Somali terrorist associates ‘would destroy everything the United States stood for.’

Thus, as seen in these cases from Minneapolis , Boston , Columbus , and Seattle , fears by authorities of Somali terror spreading to the U.S. through the local Somali community are hardly unfounded. Why Homeland Security and FBI officials have been so slow to respond to this growing threat remains unanswered.

One area they are beginning to take action in is with the flow of funds from the U.S. to Somalia . As noted in a Somalitalk article on the Minneapolis event last year, the hundreds of attendees were instructed on how to illegally transfer funds through the virtually untraceable hawala money transfer networks based in the U.S. The Columbus Dispatch reported two weeks ago that banks in the Columbus area, which is home to the second largest Somali population in the U.S. behind Minneapolis, are closing accounts for these U.S.-based hawala operations concerned about their inability to track where exactly the money goes after the transfer overseas.

Amazingly, however, Columbus Mayor Michael Coleman and his Somali staff liaison, Abdirizak Farah, are pressuring the local banks to create alternatives to keep the money flowing back to Somalia .

For several years, the media and Homeland Security authorities have failed to take seriously the terrorist threat that has been growing in many communities. Now stunned by these disappearances in Minneapolis and other locations, they are finally beginning to take notice. Whether these very recent efforts will be able to dismantle the extensive terrorist support network here before the threat rebounds from the terrorist camps in Somalia back to the U.S. remains to be seen.

Patrick Poole is a regular contributor to Pajamas Media, and an anti-terrorism consultant to law enforcement and the military.

Source: http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/somalis-leaving-us-for-jihad/

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