Najibullah Zazi Indictment, Detention Document

9/23/2009: Najibullah Zazi indictment

This is an indictment for planned use of Weapons of Mass Destruction (in this case, bombs).

9/24/2009: Affidavit in support of detention of Najibullah Zazi

This is a much more informative document detailing why Zazi is a flight risk.

An interesting note: Zazi rented a hotel room with a stove specifically so he could cook up TATP, a fairly powerful improvised explosive.

Ramzi Yousef, working in a Manila apartment in 1995, also used a stove to prepare explosives, and TATP was found in his apartment after it was exposed.

Yousef's footprint has loomed large for years after his incarceration.

* September 11 was at least inspired by Yousef, if not wholly concocted by him.

* The 2006 London airliner bomb plot -- the reason you can't take shampoo on a plane -- involved smuggling TATP or its components onto a plane or planes. In addition to the chemical explosive coming up again, the method of smuggling and the number of targets were both extremely similar to Yousef's Bojinka plot, which would have deployed lquid explosives against a dozen U.S.-bound airliners).

* The "shoe bomb" concept used by Richard Reid is reminiscent of some of Yousef's plan for smuggling bomb components onto airplanes in the heels of his shoes. That bomb also used TATP.

* Yousef's chemical recipes and specific bomb designs continue to be distributed online through jihadi forums and at terrorist training camps.

Labels: INTELFILES, Najibullah-Zazi

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Najibullah Zazi, Queens Suspect, Criminal Complaint and FBI Affidavit

Criminal complaint for Najibullah Zazi, an Afghan-American suspected of ties to Al Qaeda, and his father, Mohammed Wali Zazi. According to the complaint:

[T]he defendant NAJIBULLAH ZAZI traveled to Peshawar, Pakistan from Newark International Airport via Geneva, Switzerland and Dohha, Qatar. ...

On or about September 11, 2009, FBI agents conducted a legally-authorized search of the defendant ZAZI's rental car, which was parked near the Queens Residence. During the search of the car, a laptop computer was found containing a jpeg image of nine-pages of handwritten notes (the "handwritten notes"). The handwritten notes contain formulations and instructions regarding the manufacture and handling of initiating explosives, main explosives charges, explosives detonators and components of a fuzing [sic] system.

According to the complaint, the FBI obtained the passwords to three of Zazi's email accounts, through unspecified means. One of the accounts was "known to law enforcement" prior to the FBI's search of Zazi's laptop. Media reports have said Zazi traveled to an Al Qaeda-linked training camp in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area, but the complaint does not contain this allegation.

The complaint also says Zazi's father and an individual referred to as "the imam" from New York both warned Zazi that he was under investigation.

"The imam" was an "individual known to law enforcement, whom the NYPD has utilized as a source for information in the past," the complaints state. "The imam" said in a phone call to Zazi:

"I want to speak with you about something . . . I want a meeting with you [and others]. You probably know why I'm calling you for this meeting . . . I was exposed to something yesterday from the authorities. And they came to ask me about your characters. They asked me about you guys....

"I'm not sure if somebody complained about you. I'm not sure what happened. And I don't want to know. They [the authorities] said, 'Please, we need to
know who they are ... what they're all about.' I told them that they are innocent, law abiding. ...

"They [the police] came to the masjid to ask for help. That is a good sign. Trust me that is a good sign. The bad sign is for them coming to you guys and picking you up automatically."

Complaint against Najibullah Zazi

Complaint against Mohammed Wali Zazi

Labels: INTELFILES, Najibullah-Zazi

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Oklahoma City Bombing Witness Linked To CIA, FOIA Suit Filing Says

A potential witness in the Oklahoma City bombing case had contact with the CIA.

That is just one of dozens of revelations in a document released by the CIA, in response to a lawsuit by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

Trentadue has been seeking government documents related to Oklahoma City through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), as part of an investigation into the death of his brother while federal custody (story).

Trentadue sought documents from the CIA under FOIA. Although the Agency released some documents (story, documents), it withheld many more. In response to Trentadue's lawsuit, the CIA filed what is known as a Vaughn Index, describing the withheld material in detail. While much of the material was classified, the CIA also refused to disclose several unclassified documents.

Among the documents described in the index:

A document written by a CIA attorney to the Justice Department that "responds to request for information as to whether a potential witness in the Oklahoma City Bombing trial was at any time associated with the CIA." The document describes "contacts between the CIA and the potential witness," which also contains information on "the location of a covert CIA facility."

A letter to an FBI agent describing CIA records searches related to Timothy McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

A 10-page fax describing a name trace search conducted by the CIA on Terry Nichols.

A one-page cable dated April 19, 1995, with the subject line "Bombing in Oklahoma City," which contains information about "the location of a covert CIA facility, a CIA cryptogram, and CIA intelligence limitations and capabilities."

A two cable dated April 19, 1995, and titled "Identity of US Citizens Who Attended the PAIC [Popular Arab Islamic Conference]." The annual Sudan-based conference was known as a nexus for Islamic terrorist leaders including Al Qaeda members. The document also contains information about "CIA intelligence collection requests, the location of a CIA covert facility, and cryptonyms."

A one-page cable dated April 19, 1995, and titled "Call From Foreign Liason Contact," which describes "the identity of a foreign government that provided information to the CIA in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing, the location of a covert CIA facility, and information regarding another agency's sources, information sharing, and analysis of source information. Release of the classified information reasonably would be expected to result in serious damage to the national security of the United States."

A three-page cable dated April 20, 1995, and titled "Planned Correspondence With Foreign Government Liaison Partners," which describes contact between the CIA and "an asset regarding the Oklahoma City bombing."

A two-page cable dated April 20, 1995, and titled "Explosion at Federal Building in Oklahoma" which describes "the location of a covert CIA field station, the identity of a human source, information sharing, and information credited to a representative of a foreign government."

Multiple documents dated April 20, 1995, describing claims of responsibility for the Oklahoma City bombing. As previously reported on INTELWIRE, there were several such claims in the aftermath of the bombing (story, story).

A two-page cable dated April 20, 1995, and titled "Possible Suspect" which "provides information about a possible person of interest in the Oklahoma City bombing."

A two-page cable dated April 20, 1995, and titled "Name Trace Results" which describes "a person named in connection with the Oklahoma Bombing investigation, but whom was not the object of plaintiff's FOIA request." Trentadue's FOIA request specifically requested information on Andreas Strassmeir, a German national linked to McVeigh.

A two-page cable dated April 21, 1995, and titled "Investigative Lead."

A two-page cable dated April 21, 1995, and titled "Possible Lead."

A two-page cable dated April 21, 1995, and titled "Information Regarding Possible Suspects." It contains "the identity of an intelligence source and details regarding inter-agency coordination with respect to the intelligence as well as to protect the location of a covert CIA field station and foreign liaison"

The Vaughn Index lists numerous other leads generated by human intelligence sources.

Read the full document

Labels: CIA, INTELFILES, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols, Timothy-McVeigh

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink