13 May 2013
AP Story on Yemen IED Behind DoJ Records Grab
(below)
US: CIA thwarts new al-Qaida underwear bomb plot
Associated PressBy ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO | Associated Press
Mon, May 7, 2012
WASHINGTON (AP) The CIA thwarted an ambitious plot by al-Qaida's affiliate
in Yemen to destroy a U.S.-bound airliner using a bomb with a sophisticated
new design around the one-year anniversary of the killing of Osama bin Laden,
The Associated Press has learned.
The plot involved an upgrade of the underwear bomb that failed to detonate
aboard a jetliner over Detroit on Christmas 2009. This new bomb was also
designed to be used in a passenger's underwear, but this time al-Qaida developed
a more refined detonation system, U.S. officials said.
The FBI is examining the latest bomb to see whether it could have passed
through airport security and brought down an airplane, officials said. They
said the device did not contain metal, meaning it probably could have passed
through an airport metal detector. But it was not clear whether new body
scanners used in many airports would have detected it.
There were no immediate plans to change security procedures at U.S. airports.
The would-be suicide bomber, based in Yemen, had not yet picked a target
or bought a plane ticket when the CIA stepped in and seized the bomb, officials
said. It's not immediately clear what happened to the alleged bomber.
White House spokeswoman Caitlin Hayden said President Barack Obama learned
about the plot in April and was assured the device posed no threat to the
public.
"The president thanks all intelligence and counterterrorism professionals
involved for their outstanding work and for serving with the extraordinary
skill and commitment that their enormous responsibilities demand," Hayden
said.
The operation unfolded even as the White House and Department of Homeland
Security assured the American public that they knew of no al-Qaida plots
against the U.S. around the anniversary of bin Laden's death. The operation
was carried out over the past few weeks, officials said.
"We have no credible information that terrorist organizations, including
al-Qaida, are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the anniversary
of bin Laden's death," White House press secretary Jay Carney said on April
26.
On May 1, the Department of Homeland Security said, "We have no indication
of any specific, credible threats or plots against the U.S. tied to the one-year
anniversary of bin Laden's death."
The White House did not explain those statements Monday.
The AP learned about the thwarted plot last week but agreed to White House
and CIA requests not to publish it immediately because the sensitive intelligence
operation was still under way. Once officials said those concerns were allayed,
the AP decided to disclose the plot Monday despite requests from the Obama
administration to wait for an official announcement Tuesday.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security acknowledged the existence of
the bomb late Monday, but there were no immediate plans to adjust security
procedures at airports. Other officials, who were briefed on the operation,
insisted on anonymity to discuss details of the plot, many of which the U.S.
has not officially acknowledged.
"The device never presented a threat to public safety, and the U.S. government
is working closely with international partners to address associated concerns
with the device," the FBI said in a statement.
It's not clear who built the bomb, but, because of its sophistication and
its similarity to the Christmas bomb, counterterrorism officials suspected
it was the work of master bomb maker Ibrahim Hassan al-Asiri or one of his
protégées. Al-Asiri constructed the first underwear bomb and
two others that al-Qaida built into printer cartridges and shipped to the
U.S. on cargo planes in 2010.
Both of those bombs used a powerful industrial explosive. Both were nearly
successful.
The operation is an intelligence victory for the United States and a reminder
of al-Qaida's ambitions, despite the death of bin Laden and other senior
leaders. Because of instability in the Yemeni government, the terrorist group's
branch there has gained territory and strength. It has set up terrorist camps
and, in some areas, even operates as a de facto government.
But along with the gains there also have been losses. The group has suffered
significant setbacks as the CIA and the U.S. military focus more on Yemen.
On Sunday, Fahd al-Quso, a senior al-Qaida leader, was hit by a missile as
he stepped out of his vehicle along with another operative in the southern
Shabwa province of Yemen.
Al-Quso, 37, was on the FBI's most wanted list, with a $5 million reward
for information leading to his capture. He was indicted in the U.S. for his
role in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in the harbor of Aden, Yemen, in
which 17 American sailors were killed and 39 injured.
Al-Quso was believed to have replaced Anwar al-Awlaki as the group's head
of external operations. Al-Awlaki was killed in a U.S. airstrike last year.
Contact the Washington investigative team at DCinvestigations(at)ap.org
Follow Goldman and Apuzzo at http://twitter.com/goldmandc [dead] and
http://twitter.com/mattapuzzo
Associated Press writers Kimberly Dozier and Eileen Sullivan contributed
to this report.
Govt obtains wide AP phone records in probe
By MARK SHERMAN
May. 13 4:47 PM EDT
WASHINGTON (AP) The Justice Department secretly obtained two months
of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in
what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented
intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.
The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing
calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers
of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington
and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of
Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.
In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone
lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact
number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown
but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were
targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters.
In a letter of protest sent to Attorney General Eric Holder on Monday, AP
President and Chief Executive Officer Gary Pruitt said the government sought
and obtained information far beyond anything that could be justified by any
specific investigation. He demanded the return of the phone records and
destruction of all copies.
"There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection
of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters.
These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources
across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a
two-month period, provide a road map to AP's newsgathering operations, and
disclose information about AP's activities and operations that the government
has no conceivable right to know," Pruitt said.
The government would not say why it sought the records. U.S. officials have
previously said in public testimony that the U.S. attorney in Washington
is conducting a criminal investigation into who may have leaked information
contained in a May 7, 2012, AP story about a foiled terror plot. The story
disclosed details of a CIA operation in Yemen that stopped an al-Qaida plot
in the spring of 2012 to detonate a bomb on an airplane bound for the United
States.
In testimony in February, CIA Director John Brennan noted that the FBI had
questioned him about whether he was AP's source, which he denied. He called
the release of the information to the media about the terror plot an
"unauthorized and dangerous disclosure of classified information."
Prosecutors have sought phone records from reporters before, but the seizure
of records from such a wide array of AP offices, including general AP
switchboards numbers and an office-wide shared fax line, is unusual and largely
unprecedented.
In the letter notifying the AP received Friday, the Justice Department offered
no explanation for the seizure, according to Pruitt's letter and attorneys
for the AP. The records were presumably obtained from phone companies earlier
this year although the government letter did not explain that. None of the
information provided by the government to the AP suggested the actual phone
conversations were monitored.
Among those whose phone numbers were obtained were five reporters and an
editor who were involved in the May 7, 2012 story.
The Obama administration has aggressively investigated disclosures of classified
information to the media and has brought six cases against people suspected
of leaking classified information, more than under all previous presidents
combined.
Justice Department published rules require that subpoenas of records from
news organizations must be personally approved by the attorney general but
it was not known if that happened in this case. The letter notifying AP that
its phone records had been obtained though subpoenas was sent Friday by Ronald
Machen, the U.S. attorney in Washington.
Spokesmen in Machen's office and at the Justice Department had no immediate
comment on Monday.
The Justice Department lays out strict rules for efforts to get phone records
from news organizations. A subpoena can only be considered after "all reasonable
attempts" have been made to get the same information from other sources,
the rules say. It was unclear what other steps, in total, the Justice Department
has taken to get information in the case.
A subpoena to the media must be "as narrowly drawn as possible" and "should
be directed at relevant information regarding a limited subject matter and
should cover a reasonably limited time period," according to the rules.
The reason for these constraints, the department says, is to avoid actions
that "might impair the news gathering function" because the government recognizes
that "freedom of the press can be no broader than the freedom of reporters
to investigate and report the news."
News organizations normally are notified in advance that the government wants
phone records and enter into negotiations over the desired information. In
this case, however, the government, in its letter to the AP, cited an exemption
to those rules that holds that prior notification can be waived if such notice,
in the exemption's wording, might "pose a substantial threat to the integrity
of the investigation."
It is unknown whether a judge or a grand jury signed off on the subpoenas.
The May 7, 2012, AP story that disclosed details of the CIA operation in
Yemen to stop an airliner bomb plot occurred around the one-year anniversary
of the May 2, 2011, killing of Osama bin Laden.
The plot was significant because the White House had told the public it had
"no credible information that terrorist organizations, including al-Qaida,
are plotting attacks in the U.S. to coincide with the (May 2) anniversary
of bin Laden's death."
The AP delayed reporting the story at the request of government officials
who said it would jeopardize national security. Once government officials
said those concerns were allayed, the AP disclosed the plot because officials
said it no longer endangered national security. The Obama administration,
however, continued to request that the story be held until the administration
could make an official announcement.
The May 7 story was written by reporters Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman with
contributions from reporters Kimberly Dozier, Eileen Sullivan and Alan Fram.
They and their editor, Ted Bridis, were among the journalists whose April-May
2012 phone records were seized by the government.
Brennan talked about the AP story and leaks investigation in written testimony
to the Senate. "The irresponsible and damaging leak of classified information
was made ... when someone informed the Associated Press that the U.S. Government
had intercepted an IED (improvised explosive device) that was supposed to
be used in an attack and that the U.S. Government currently had that IED
in its possession and was analyzing it," he said.
He also defended the White House's plan to discuss the plot immediately
afterward. "Once someone leaked information about interdiction of the IED
and that the IED was actually in our possession, it was imperative to inform
the American people consistent with Government policy that there was never
any danger to the American people associated with this al-Qa'ida plot," Brennan
told senators.
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