Free Republic

The current chief of security of Verizon, a company embroiled in controversy over the recent revelation of a secret government domestic spy program, is a former high level official in the FBI.

A federal judge denied bail yesterday for an American student charged in an alleged conspiracy to kill President Bush after an FBI agent testified that the man had admitted plotting with al Qaeda to conduct a Sept. 11-style terror attack in the United States. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, of Falls Church, told FBI agents that he and other members of an al Qaeda cell in Saudi Arabia planned to hijack airplanes overseas and crash them into targets on the East Coast, according to testimony. They also discussed plans to kill members of Congress, blow up ships in U.S. ports...

The new director of the FBI's Washington field office said yesterday it was unfortunate that former military scientist Steven J. Hatfill was named a "person of interest" in the investigation of the 2001 anthrax attacks, adding that he generally finds the phrase to be vague and unhelpful. Michael A. Mason, an 18-year FBI veteran who took over the 700-agent office this month, said he regretted that the investigation had been "beset by leaks" about Hatfill being under the FBI's scrutiny. He said Attorney General John D. Ashcroft was responding to such leaks when he told reporters that Hatfill was a...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The deadly 2001 U.S. anthrax attacks may have been carried out by someone who did not intend to cause any harm, a top FBI official said on Monday. Of the possibility that a scientist wanted to issue a wake-up call about the bioterrorism threat and it went out of control, FBI Assistant Director Michael Mason told a news conference, "That's a possible theory, but it's all conjecture." Asked why their had been no other attacks, Mason said, "I suppose the leading thought might be the person didn't intend to cause harm, and did." The FBI has been...