Posted on 06/04/2002 2:31:06 PM PDT by elfman2
A local dive shop owner says FBI agents are wasting their time scouring Keys dive shops for information about suspicious people who took scuba classes.
On May 23, the FBI released a warning that some terrorists had been seeking "an offensive scuba diver capability." Concerned that future terrorist attacks might come by sea, the bureau apparently is compiling a database of all the country's certified scuba divers.
"Why spin your wheels interviewing the dive shops when they should be going right to PADI?" asked Capt. Bill Grosscup, owner of Captain's Corner on Greene Street.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors, based in Santa Ana, Calif., counts nearly 65 percent of the nation's dive shops as affiliates and has warned the shops that their lists of students could be subpoenaed.
Grosscup, whose business hasn't been paid a visit by the agents "so far," said dive instructors are required to keep meticulous records regarding students, which are then entered into the PADI database.
"Instructors are independent operators, who carry their insurance and keep their own records," he said. "In order for the FBI to get the information they want, they would have to personally interview every dive instructor we've had in the past 10 years." Grosscup estimated the worldwide PADI database includes millions of names and contains all the information the bureau would need to search for potential terrorists. "They could download all of it in about three days and it would have who was certified, by whom, when and where as well as a picture of the student," he said.
Subtropic Dive Center on North Roosevelt Boulevard said they were recently visited by the FBI and a member of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department asking for their cooperation if they receive suspicious e-mails.
"They asked us to let them know if we get any e-mails from people with Middle Eastern-sounding names, from places in the Far East, Asia, Pakistan, those countries," said Steve "Stinger" Contos, Subtropic's assistant manager.
Contos, who stressed the agents were not "profiling" students, said agents he spoke with were particularly interested about inquiries concerning navigational equipment.
"Things like navigation specialty items, or possibly people wanting to know about advanced navigational classes we offer, they said they'd like to know about it," he said.
Those interested in a diving excursion are required to show proof they have been certified in the sport from PADI or another certifying organization. However, sometimes Keys visitors have misplaced their cards. Grosscup said with a single phone call, dive shops have the ability to verify a diver's credentials.
"When you call PADI, there's a code you enter and can access the database and find out everything about a diver," he said. "With that, we don't have to deny someone who is certified the privilege of diving."
Delving into his memory, Grosscup said he could recall only two or three people of Middle Eastern-descent who were certified as divers.
"It was so long ago, I can't even remember their names," he said.
Agreeing that monitoring e-mails and searching for potential suspects could avert someone plotting a terrorist act, Contos suggested authorities monitor resorts outside U.S. boundaries that cater to a large cross section of the population.
"In those areas, there's less stringent record keeping and it's possible for someone to get certified in a single day," he said. "That's all it would take for someone to have the ability to do something really terrible."
Terror probe visits the Keys - FBI inquires about scuba students
By Kevin Wadlow Senior Staff Writer, kwadlow@keynoter.com
FBI agents brought the search for terrorists to the Florida Keys this week, asking local dive shops about "suspicious" scuba students.
Agents visited several Upper Keys dive shops to see if scuba instructors had security concerns about any particular students in the recent past.
The questions followed a May 23 warning from the National Infrastructure Protection Center, an FBI-affiliated group, saying, "Recent information has determined that various terrorist elements have sought to develop an offensive scuba-diver capability."
According to an Associated Press story, a U.S. law-enforcement official said the warning on terrorist divers came from interviews with detainees and documents recovered in terrorism investigations. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, declined to offer more details.
The brief May 23 warning concluded, "While there is no evidence of operational planning to utilize scuba divers to carry out attacks within the United States, there is a body of information showing the desire to obtain such capability."
Local dive operators said the FBI agents indicated the agency may return to request records of recent scuba-certification classes.
Gloria Teague, president of the Keys Association of Dive Operators, said the FBI faces a monumental task if it intends to inspect records from all the various dive-certification agencies.
"We’re talking millions of people," she said.
The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI), the best-known of several dive-training organizations, says on its Web site that PADI issues "nearly 946,000 certifications each year."
Unlike a pilot’s license or driver’s license, recreational dive certifications are not issued by a government agency. A standard dive course may last around 40 hours, but a non-diver can get an overview of the sport’s basics in a one-day introductory session.
"Asking about ‘suspicious’ divers shows the FBI doesn’t know divers very well," Teague laughed. "Divers overall are a pretty suspicious bunch."
With dozens of dive operations, the Keys are one of the busiest spots in the world for the sport.
At the same time the FBI raised concern about terrorists using dive gear to approach ships, nuclear plants or other waterfront facilities, authorities also said terrorists may be planning to use small planes to crash into buildings.
"The interest is reportedly in the use of small aircraft, as opposed to large, commercial aircraft, due to post-Sept. 11, 2001 enhancements in aviation security...," the FBI and the Transportation Security Administration said in an alert.
Other recent terrorism warnings, all with scant background, have raised the possibility of attacks on bridges, subways and railroads, apartment buildings and oil refineries.
I thought the same thing after posting this. Wonder if they rented a convertible in Miami and drove down like everyone else. Next they'll be hitting all the Caribbean resorts.
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