Posted on 12/06/2002 5:33:38 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Dec. 6 — Federal agents have raided a Boston-area computer software firm looking for evidence that the company, which does business with key government agencies including the FBI, might have links to Osama bin Laden's terror network.
The Quincy, Mass., firm, Ptech, makes software and is allegedly secretly owned by Qassin al-Kadi, one of 12 Saudi businessmen accused of funneling millions of dollars to al Qaeda. U.S. government investigators told ABCNEWS' chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross that there are fears al Qaeda may have had access to some of the government's most closely held secrets through the company, which provided computer software for the FBI, the Navy, the Air Force and the agency that handles nuclear weapons security.
Just before midnight Thursday, in a driving snowstorm that blanketed the East Coast, a team of U.S. Customs agents raided the firm's Quincy offices.
The raid was the culmination of a top-secret investigation coordinated with the White House amid concerns that the company was secretly owned and controlled by al Qaeda activists or sympathizers.
The agents brought their own computers with them to download files from the firm's computers.
Agents could be seen inside the Ptech headquarters, searching the offices and going through the company's computers.
The company's Web site reveals a list of customers that is a who's-who of sensitive government agencies, including the Naval Air Systems Command, NATO, the House of Representatives and the Department of Energy, which handles security for nuclear weapons and material.
Looking for a ‘Back Door’
Officials believe Ptech is linked to one of bin Laden's alleged money men, a Saudi multi-millionaire named Qassin al-Kadi.
Al-Kadi has repeatedly denied any connection to bin Laden, but he is on the U.S. government's so-called "dirty dozen" list of leading terror financiers who are being investigated by the CIA, and his accounts have been frozen by the United States.
In an interview last year with ABCNEWS' John Miller, al-Kadi denied sending any money to bin Laden. "To hear such an accusation had been put on myself, this is a complete mistake, a big one," he said.
American officials say al-Kadi and the other businessmen on the CIA list all have business and personal connections to the Saudi royal family.
The Customs investigation has been given the highest priority inside the goverment and for the last few weeks, government agencies have quietly been searching their computer software to see if there are any hidden bugs or "back doors" that would make it easy for terrorist hackers to break in.
Oh sh-t.
Officials believe Ptech is linked to one of bin Laden's alleged money men, a Saudi multi-millionaire named Qassin al-Kadi.
Why hasn't this guy committed suicide with three shots to the head?
Would anyone care to explain why our government would even consider giving a software contract to a Saudi-allied computer firm ??
Ptech's customer base spans the globe across the communications, distribution, energy, financial services, and government market segments. It includes:
AAA Michigan, ABN AMRO, Aetna, Allegheny Energy Supply, Applied Materials, Booz Allen Hamilton, Edward Jones, FAA, FBI, Fleet Securities, IBM Global Services, IRS, Meijer, The MITRE Corporation, MetLife, Motorola, NATO, NAVAIR, OneBeacon Insurance Group, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Southern California Edison, Sprint, SYSCO, WSIB, US Air Force, US Department of Energy, US Department of Education, US Department of Veteran Affairs, US House of Representatives, USDA Forest Service, US Postal Service, and Weyerhaeuser.
Many things like this make me wonder. There are many Americans, some now in prominent positions or formerly in prominents positions, who receive renumerations from Saudi. How this effects the govts ability to protect the country we can only guess. However, if during the cold war someone received payments from the Soviets like this we would call them a traitor and give them the Jonanthan Pollard/John Walker suite at club fed.
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