New America Foundation: Surveillance and Infiltration

I will be appearing at this event to discuss PATCON and to mark the release of a new and much more detailed report on the undercover operation and its implications for U.S. law enforcement policy. Please come! I will post a link to the extended report once it become available.

The New York City Police Department's surveillance of Muslim communities in New York has been widely debated since being publicly revealed in a Pulitzer Prize winning series of Associated Press reports. Defenders argue such techniques are crucial tools in an era of homegrown terrorism. Critics allege that the NYPD's techniques amount to blanket surveillance and alienate the very communities that government needs to work with against extremists. Please join us for a discussion about these techniques with two of the Pulitzer Prize winning reporters that broke the NYPD surveillance story and the author of a New America Foundation report revealing the FBI's efforts to infiltrate anti-government extremist networks in the early 1990s.

Sign up for the event On an unrelated note, if you haven't taken the "One Year After Bin Laden" survey sponsored by Selected Wisdom, please take a few minutes to do so. It's an important snapshot of our current view of Al Qaeda. Clint Watts also has an interesting post today on the fact that Al Qaeda, like most Western stakeholders in the war on terrorism, may not really know what it means to be in Al Qaeda. Check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

Labels: FBI, Infiltration, Informants, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, PATCON, Patriot-Movement, Surveillance, Timothy-McVeigh, Undercover

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

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OKC Anniversary: A New Investigative Report by J.M. Berger

An FBI undercover program known as PATCON spent more than two years collecting intelligence on the Patriot movement, without producing a single conviction. Timothy McVeigh was in contact with members of the targeted groups at the time of the investigation, but those links escaped notice, even after the Oklahoma City bombing.

The program and its connections to the bombing are the subject of a major new investigative report by J.M. Berger for Foreign Policy.

Read the full story

PATCON will be examined in more detail in a forthcoming report by J.M. Berger for the New America Foundation, which looks at the double-edged sword of infiltration techniques and raises questions about how undercover agents and informants should be used in light of current controversies.

Documents related to the case will be published on INTELWIRE in the weeks to come.

For more investigating reporting on terrorism, check out J.M. Berger's new book, Jihad Joe: Americans Who Go to War in the Name of Islam, on sale everywhere.

Labels: American-Pistol-and-Rifle-Association, Andreas-Strassmeir, Civilian-Materiel-Assistance, Louis-Beam, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, PATCON, Roger-Moore, Texas-Light-Infantry, Timothy-McVeigh

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Witness: Dennis Mahon claimed he was third man in Oklahoma City bombing

The trial opened today for Arizona white supremacists Dennis and Daniel Mahon, who are accused of bombing the office of a state diversity official in 2004.

Much of the case hinges on information collected by informants, including a woman who sent the brothers racy photos. A defense attorney dismissed statements made by Dennis Mahon to the informant, saying he was an alcoholic with a tendency toward self-aggrandizement.

Alcohol, at least, was likely not a factor in Dennis Mahon's conversations with his cellmate after he was arrested in 2009. One of those statements was particularly interesting according to a recent filing in the case:

Mr. Scott [the cellmate] stated that he and Dennis Mahon found they had an interest in military history in common, and that is how they began talking about bombs. Ms. Scott said that Dennis told him he had known Tim McVeigh and that he (Dennis) was the number three anonymous person in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation.

Read the full document

Mahon has spoken of knowing McVeigh in the past. Based on those comments and other information, it is at least plausible that Mahon was involved in the bombing. I'll have more on this over time.

Labels: Dennis-Mahon, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Timothy-McVeigh

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

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Oklahoma City Bombing: FBI Informants Reported on ABC News, McVeigh Defense Team

FBI informants reporting on the Oklahoma City bombing provided the bureau with leads taken from ABC News and Timothy McVeigh's defense team, according to documents filed in a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.


A confidential informant in the St. Louis, Missiouri, area "learned of the following information as a result of interviews and contacts made by the ABC News team covering OKBOMB," the FBI's code name for the investigation, according to an FBI FD-302 record dated April 3, 1996.

The informant said government documents including "telephone records and grand jury information" had been "leaked" to attorneys for both Timothy McVeigh and his co-conspirator, Terry Nichols.

The informant said the information was "being used to fuel belief that a government conspiracy exists to 'cover up' government mistakes," the document states, including information indicating that the goverment was warned of the April 19, 1995 attack ten days in advance. The material was being used to bolster claims that "the government had a confidential informant next to McVeigh."

The informant also provided information on reporting by the late J.D. Cash regarding the bombing and the possibility of additional conspirators.

According to the document, the informant also provided information on gun dealer Roger Moore and German neo-Nazi Andreas Strassmeier, both of whom have been the subject of scrutiny for their relationships to McVeigh and possible roles in the bombing plot. According to the informant, "some right-wing group supporters believe [Strassmeier] is an FBI informant."

A second document from the same informant again provided information learned "as a result of interviews and contacts made by the ABC News Team covering OKBOMB" related to Elohim City, a white supremacist compound in rural Oklahoma where Strassmeier lived and worked as security director.

A third document identifies a numbered informant in Oklahoma who claimed to be alerting the FBI to a planned ABC expose concerning the bombing. This informant was relaying information from "a confidential source who works for a news agency."

A fourth document from April 16, 1996, was previously released and identifies a numbered FBI informant based in New York who was "a senior official employed by ABC News for over fifteen years." This informant was pressured into revealing the name of a ABC News source -- Vincent Cannistraro -- who had provided information pointing to overseas involvement in the attack. This informant was later allegedly identified as Christopher Isham, who denied providing information to the FBI.

The complete set of new Oklahoma City bombing documents were filed as support for a sweeping motion that details the FBI's noncompliance with previous court orders regarding disclosure of documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Documents previously disclosed as part of the lawsuit can be found here, here and here.

Labels: Andreas-Strassmeir, Informants, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Roger-Moore, Terry-Nichols, Timothy-McVeigh

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

In Latest Filing, FBI Says It Can't Find OKC Bombing Videos

The FBI admitted in a court filing Thursday that videotapes related to the Oklahoma City bombing -- including possible footage of the actual truck bomb detonation -- may have been misfiled and as a result might never be found.

The new filing came as part of a lawsuit filed by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue. Documents previously disclosed as part of the lawsuit can be found here, here and here.

The lawsuit seeks, among other things, information pertaining to surveillance videotapes that may have captured the bombing in progress and which Trentadue believes may show additional conspirators in the domestic terrorist attack that claimed 168 lives on April 19, 1995.

Trentadue previously submitted affidavits and other filings claiming the existence of a tape that shows the truck bomb in the moments before it detonated as well as another tape showing the arrest of Timothy McVeigh during a traffic stop soon after the bombing.

In response to these documents and another filing which showed David Hardy, the FBI's main FOIA compliance official, had intentionally misled the judge in a different FOIA case, Judge Clark Waddoups in May ordered the FBI to provide additional information on its search for the tapes as well as other documentation averring the truthfulness of previous FBI filings.

Filed Thursday, Hardy's response was largely uninformative, repeating its earlier claims and averring that Hardy had not misled the judge. Hardy claimed he had no information which could assist additional searches for the tapes, except for a manual review of the 450,000 pages of documents generated during the first two weeks of the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, which he said could take as long as a year and a half to complete.

Hardy argued against making the search, saying that it would impact other pending FOIA cases. The documents in question are, in fact, covered by a FOIA request made by INTELWIRE which has not been fulfilled to date.

Hardy also said in Thursday's filing, "While it is always a possibility that responsive documents might have been misfiled and thus could be located somewhere other than in the OKBOMB file (though it would be impossible to know where), I am not aware that this is the case, and a reasonable search did not and would not locate any such documents (if they exist) because they would not be in a location likely to contain responsive documents."

The complete response from the FBI can be viewed here.

Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Labels: Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Ruling: FBI, DOJ Lied To Judge Regarding CAIR FOIA Search

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

The FBI and the Department of Justice lied in response to a Freedom of Information Act request for documents pertaining to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and other Islamic organizations, according to a judge's ruling filed last month.

The government cited "national security" as its reason for misleading both the requesters and the court in a subsequent appeal of the request.

The FOIA request was filed in 2006 by a group of Muslim individuals and organizations in Southern California, including the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, CAIR's California chapter, the Islamic Center of San Gabriel Valley, the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, the West Coast Islamic Center, Human Assistance and Development International Inc.

Individuals included in the request included Muzammil Siddiqui, a former employee of the Muslim World League in New York, and Hussam Ayloush, of CAIR's Los Angeles office.

The request asked for "[a]ny records relating or referring' [to themselves] including but not limited to records that document any collection of information about monitoring, surveillance, observation, questioning, interrogation, investigation and/or infiltration of any of the Requesters or their activities."

In 2009, the requesters appealed responses from the FBI and Justice Department that it had fully responded to the FOIA request, arguing that material had been improperly redacted and that the FBI and DOJ had not performed an adequate search. The court ordered an in camera review of material related to the request in order to verify the government's compliance.

David Hardy, the FBI's top FOIA compliance officer, subequently filed an in camera declaration revealing that the government had misled the court in its filings for the case by misrepresenting both the basis for redacting the documents that had been released as well as the number of documents found.

According to Judge Cormac J. Carney (emphasis added):

The Government's in camera submission raises a very disturbing issue. The Government previously provided false and misleading information to the Court. The Government represented to the Court in pleadings, declarations, and briefs that it had searched its databases and found only a limited number of documents responsive to Plaintiffs' FOIA request and that a significant amount of information within those documents was outside the scope of Plaintiffs' FOIA request. The Government's representations were then, and remain today, blatantly false. As the Government's in camera submission makes clear, the Government located a significant number of documents that were responsive to Plaintiffs' FOIA request. Virtually all of the information within those documents is inside the scope of Plaintiffs' FOIA request. The Government asserts that it had to mislead the Court regarding the Government's response to Plaintiffs' FOIA request to avoid compromising national security.

Carney took a dim view of this rationalization, writing, "The Government cannot, under any circumstance, affirmatively mislead the Court." FOIA exemptions for national security and intelligence gathering "do not grant the Government a license to lie to the Court," Carney wrote.

The ruling was provided to INTELWIRE by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who is also embroiled in a lawsuit against the government over FOIA requests relating to the Oklahoma City bombing. Trentadue filed a copy of Carney's ruling in his own case as evidence of the FBI's bad faith in responding to FOIA requests. David Hardy also responded for the government during proceedings in Trentadue's lawsuit.

CAIR has been the subject of FBI investigations relating to its origins with Hamas and Muslim Brotherhood support organizations, as detailed in the terrorism financing trial of the Holy Land Foundation. The Muslim World League has also been investigated for links to terrorism financing.

Read the complete ruling (PDF)

Labels: Council-on-American-Islamic-Relations, FOIA, Hamas, Jesse-Trentadue, Muslim-World-Leage, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Just Days After OKC Bombing, Informant Named Two Key Suspects

Just days after the Oklahoma City bombing, an informant told the FBI that white supremacists Dennis Mahon and Andreas Strassmeier had been actively discussing plans to bomb the Alfred E. Murrah federal building for months prior to the attack.

A record of an FBI interview with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms informant Carol Howe, dated April 21, 1995, was provided to INTELWIRE by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue and investigative journalist Roger Charles. Trentadue is engaged in a lawsuit to compel the FBI to release documents pertaining to the bombing under the Freedom of Information Act. Charles, a retired Marine Corps officer, worked with J.D. Cash of the McCurtain Gazette investigating the bombing.

Mahon and Strassmeier both have ties to a large number of white supremacist and anti-government movements, and both have been linked to a white supremacist compound in Oklahoma known as Elohim City. Both men separately claimed to have met convicted OKC bomber Timothy McVeigh at gun shows prior to the attack. McVeigh placed a call to the Elohim City compound, where Strassmeier was living, shortly before the bombing.

According to the document (click here to read), Mahon told Howe he wanted to target federal facilities for bombings, including specifically federal buildings in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.

Howe told the FBI that Mahon and Strassmeier took three trips to Oklahoma City, in November 1994, December 1994 and February 1995. According to a chronology of McVeigh's travels compiled by his defense team (link), McVeigh was also in Oklahoma City in December 1994 and cased the Murrah building during that trip. However, Howe said she accompanied Mahon and Strassmeier on the trip and did not report any meeting with McVeigh.

It's not clear how much the FBI did to attempt to follow up on this information. The FBI has consistently refused to disclose the bulk of its investigative file related to the Oklahoma City bombing.

What records have been released through Trentadue's lawsuit and other sources do not detail any substantial investigation of Mahon and only relate a belated interview of Strassmeier by phone after he had left the United States. Strassmeier left the U.S. soon after the bombing and now lives in his native Germany.

Dennis Mahon is currently facing trial, along with his twin brother Daniel, for a 2004 bombing that targeted Don Logan, a black official working for the Scottsdale, Arizona, city diversity office. Logan was injured in the attack.

According to the Associated Press, the Mahon brothers' trial was scheduled to start this month but has been delayed until early 2012 because of "a 'substantial' amount of information disclosed by the government" during discovery. The nature of the disclosures is currently unknown.

Previously released documents (click to read) indicated that Howe had related the possible threats described above to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms prior to the April 1995 bombing (for specific testimony, click here).

Labels: Andreas-Strassmeir, Dennis-Mahon, Elohim-City, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Timothy-McVeigh

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Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

New OKBOMB Documents Show Threats To Nichols' Family After FBI Reopened Investigation in 2005

The family of convicted Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols was threatened after the FBI began looking into new investigative leads in 1995, according to new documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

The documents also detail the FBI's sparring with U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, who sought to interview Nichols as part of a probe into additional, unindicted conspirators in the bombing, as well as summarizing Nichols' comments during the interview, including a claim that Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was connected to Middle Eastern terrorists. However, Nichols did not provide specifics to support that allegation, according to the documents.

The documents were obtained by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

June 17, 2005 memorandum

The interview with Nichols was conducted with Nichols separated from his visitors by a bulletproof window. The window had holes drilled in it for conversation and an intercom system was also available.

The congressman's request to make an audio recording of the interview was refused. Rohrabacher asked to bring a reporter from MSNBC to witness the interview, which was also refused.

June 23 memorandum

June 24 memorandum

Rohrabacher's interview request coincided with a renewed investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing, due to the discovery of unexploded ordinance at Nichols' former home in Herington, Kansas (story).

The tip about the explosives was first reported by Gregory Scarpa Jr., a mobster who shared a prison block with Nichols. It was confirmed on subsequent investigation. Nichols subsequently confirmed the information to the FBI.

Nichols had expressed concerns about putting his family in danger by discussing the Oklahoma City bombing and the role of alleged additional conspirators.

Just days after the FBI began making inquiries about the new information from Nichols, the FBI in Newark received a phone call, the details of which have been redacted from the documents but which appears to pertain to a "threat to Nichols' family."

The next day, the FBI sent an urgent message to all field offices where Nichols' family members notifying them of information which has also been redacted from the documents.

With an active investigation underway, the FBI was concerned about the impending Rohrabacher interview, but the primary concern seemed to be the prospect that Nichols might identify "John Doe #2," an early suspect in the OKC bombing whom the FBI sought initially but later dismissed as a dead end.

The FBI's Domestic Terrorism Operations Unit "expressed concern regarding John Doe #2's name surfacing during the Congressman's interview." The FBI then re-interviewed Nichols, before Rohrabacher's visit, pressing him for information "specifically pertaining to John Doe #2."

According to the documents, if Nichols did not provide that specific information, the FBI said it would no longer interview him. It's not clear why the agents would be so specifically focused on John Doe #2, when it had previously ruled out the relevance of the suspect and when other possible co-conspirators who did not match the John Doe #2 description had been specifically named by Nichols.

Meanwhile, a grand jury investigation -- about which all information has been redacted -- was being conducted in the same time frame. An unidentified individual testified before the grand jury on June 6, 2006, with an unspecified connection to the case.

The FBI repeatedly canceled dates scheduled for Rohrabacher's visit with Nichols and denied Rohrabacher's repeated requests to make an audio recording of the interview. Meanwhile, the FBI tried to get Rohrabacher to reveal his questions in advance.

June 28 memorandum

During the actual interview, which finally took place June 27, 2005, the FBI observed the interview through a closed-circuit camera in another room. The interview was recorded on video, but without audio. An FBI agent was placed in the room to take notes of the interview, the only record permitted.

Nichols objected to the FBI's presence in the room. Rohrabacher asked the agent to leave, but the special agent in charge on the scene told him the FBI would terminate the interview if the agent was not permitted to remain. The agent eventually returned to the interview, which resumed:

Nichols advised Congressman Rohrabacher that he had no direct or "first-hand" knowledge of "foreign invoivement" in the Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols stated that Timothy McVeigh mentioned "Middle Eastern" people (no further information), and their connection to terrorism (no further information) several times. According to Nichols, McVeigh mentioned this in reference to serving in the U.S. Army during Operation Desert Storm and not in connection to the Oklahoma City bombing. Nichols believed there was an "Arab" connection to the Oklahoma City bombing, but could not articulate the reasons for his belief. Nichols advised McVeigh "talked to Muslims"
before the the Oklahoma City bombing.

Nichols told Rohrabacher he did not meet World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef in the Philippines during a visit when both men were in the country in late 1994, but that he had met him subsequently in prison. Both men are housed at the Supermax facility in Florence, Colo.

Nichols claimed that McVeigh had mentioned "Andy the German" prior to the bombing, a reference to Andreas Strassmeier, a German neo-Nazi who has long been suspected of links to the case and has been mentioned as a possible "John Doe #2." When asked directly about John Doe #2, however, Nichols said he didn't know who that was. Nchols told Rohrabacher he knew of at least two other people involved in the bombing, but only identified one.

Nichols passed notes to Rohrabacher during the interview. The FBI tied to get the documents away from Rohrabacher after the interview, but the congressman declined and told the special agent in charge he would send copies after his staff had reviewed them.

Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Trentadue believes his brother was murdered in prison in a case of mistaken identity due to his resemblance to a suspected accomplice in the bombing, Richard Guthrie, who was also found dead in prison under similar circumstances in 1996.

Labels: Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

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FBI Lab Took Nearly Three Years To Analyze Terry Nichols Bomb Cache

The FBI Laboratory took 34 months to check for fingerprints on a cache of explosives hidden by Oklahoma City bombing conspirator Terry Nichols, according to new documents released by the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act.

The cache of explosives was discovered in 2005 in connection with a threat that they would be used in an act of domestic terrorism and a claim that the fingerprints might point to an unindicted co-conspirator in the Oklahoma City bombing.

The documents were obtained by Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue.

On March 5, 2005, the FBI received information from an asset concerning explosives that had been hidden in Terry Nichols' home in Herington, Kansas, since the time of the Oklahoma City bombing, without being discovered by investigators (click here for more on how the tip came about).

The tip, which was received by the Kansas City FBI field office, indicated that the material was slated for use in an "impending act of domestic violence." The tip was specific about the type of explosives stored at the house and their location.

According to the report, Nichols told fellow prisoners that the material also bore the fingerprints of Roger Moore, an Arkansas gun dealer and friend of Timothy McVeigh whom investigators had previously discounted as a suspect. Moore's name is redacted from the document, but Nichols previously confirmed this detail in a letter.

Moore, who testified against McVeigh and Nichols, claimed that Nichols had robbed his home prior to the bombing. According to the FBI report, Nichols claimed Moore had provided explosives for use in the bombing. According to the report, Nichols also claimed to believe Moore was an FBI informant who had forewarned the FBI about the bombing.

Read the March 14, 2005 report about the tip

It took more than two weeks from the report being filed for the FBI to investigate whether live explosives were hidden on the site for use in a domestic terrorism attack. On April 2, 2005, agents from the Kansas City field office discovered that there was in fact a substantial cache of explosives still hidden in Nichols' former home, which had somehow been missed during the original investigation of the Oklahoma City bombing.

Items found in the house included almost 70 Kinestik explosives (used in the design of the Oklahoma City bomb), hundreds of detonators of various types, detonator components and accessories, flares, bomb fuses, tear gas grenades, and books on improvised explosives and manufacturing poison.

April 8, 2005, inventory of Nichols house search

April 2005, photos of items retrieved in Nichols search

April 2005, sketch of former Nichols home

Nichols had claimed that Moore's fingerprints would be found on the explosives. It took almost three years for the FBI lab to report on whether it found any fingerprints.

In a report dated Feb. 21, 2008, the FBI Laboratory stated that it had not found useful prints on the explosives. However, it did find fingerprints that did not belong to Terry Nichols on one of the books. The name of the person to whom the fingerprints belonged has been redacted from the lab report.

Request to FBI Lab for fingerprint analysis, May 5, 2005

FBI Lab Receipt of Evidence, May 13, 2005

FBI Lab Receipt of Evidence, July 1, 2005

On April 24, 2008, the FBI Lab destroyed the explosives which Nichols had hoped would yield the fingerprints of Roger Moore. The FBI Lab confirmed the destruction of the evidence months later. Explosives are routinely disposed of after they are no longer required for evidentiary purposes.

FBI Lab Report on Disposition of Evidence, October 10, 2008

Jesse Trentadue sued the FBI under the Freedom of Information Act for documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Trentadue believes his brother was murdered in prison in a case of mistaken identity due to his resemblance to a suspected accomplice in the bombing, Richard Guthrie, who was also found dead in prison under similar circumstances in 1996.

Labels: Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols, Timothy-McVeigh

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Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Jesse Trentadue Presses FBI on Secret Files In OKC Bombing

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue has filed new evidence of secret FBI filing practices in his Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the bureau seeking files related to the Oklahoma City bombing.

Trentadue this week filed exhibits pertaining to FBI procedures for filing documents while keeping them out of legal disclosure processes such as FOIA or discovery. The exhibits were provided to INTELWIRE by Trentadue.

Affidavit of Richard Ojeda

Ojeda was an FBI agent from 1989 to 1999 who worked on the Oklahoma City bombing. According to Ojeda, when FBI agents interviewed subjects, they were trained to "be careful what we put into" written records such as FD-302 forms, since such records were "likely to be turned over to the defense in discovery."

According to Ojeda's affidavit, some information for FD-302 files would be omitted from the main report, but included in an insert "which we knew would generally not be discoverable in court."

"The FBI also kept 'zero files' which were reports containing information that the FBI would not generally want disclosed to the defense and which were kept in a separate case file." Ojeda indicated that he believed information about the Oklahoma City case had been improperly withheld from defense attorneys.

Memorandum and Order, National Lawyers Guild et. al. v. FBI et. al.

The unpublished 1980 court ruling found that the FBI maintained what were called "June Files," which held "the results of electronic surveillance and other secretive methods of acquiring sensitive information."

Trentadue sued the FBI after his brother, Kenneth, was found dead in a federal prison cell soon after the bombing. Trentadue won a wrongful death suit against the Bureau of Prisons for covering up key details of his brother's death, which the Bureau claimed was a suicide.

Trentadue believes his brother was murdered in prison in a case of mistaken identity due to his resemblance to a suspected accomplice in the bombing, Richard Guthrie, who was also found dead in prison under similar circumstances in 1996.

Labels: FOIA, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

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Oklahoma City Bombing: Still Digging

It's the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing, and in some ways, the public understanding of the worst domestic terrorist attack in history has not progressed significantly since the first anniversary.

Serious questions remain about McVeigh's co-conspirators -- whether he had any, and who they might have been -- and those questions are not just a fringe pursuit. A growing body of documentary evidence points to the possibility of a wider conspiracy, including FOIA documents obtained exclusively by INTELWIRE.

Significant advances in understanding the case have also been made thanks to the efforts of Jesse Trentadue. Trentadue sued the FBI to force it to disclose information about the Oklahoma City bombing after the death of his brother, Kenneth Trentadue, in federal custody on Aug. 21, 1995 (link, graphic content warning).

Trentadue believes his brother was killed by authorities because he was mistaken for Richard Guthrie, one of McVeigh's suspected co-conspirators, which led him to seek more information on the bombing from the FBI through FOIA.

Here's a quick guide to just a few of INTELWIRE's exclusive reports on the Oklahoma City bombing. There will be more stories to come.

PATCON: The FBI's Secret Plan To Infiltrate The Militia Movement

1991 FBI Memo Warned Of Truck Bomb Inspired By 'Turner Diaries'

Terry Nichols Claims Midwest Bank Robber Link To Timothy McVeigh

OKC Witness Linked To CIA

Richard Lee Guthrie's Suicide

Richard Lee Guthrie, ATF Investigative Files

Documents Tighten Net Around Additional OKBOMB Conspirators

The Jesse Trentadue Files

Did Terry Nichols and Ramzi Yousef Meet?

Informants, Middle Eastern Suspects, And More

Secret Service Document Describes Missing Scenes From FBI Release of Oklahoma City Bombing Videos

Labels: Andreas-Strassmeir, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Richard-Lee-Guthrie

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Oklahoma City Bombing Witness Linked to CIA, New Filing Reveals

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com

A potential witness in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation 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: American-Terrorists, CIA, INTELFILES, INTELWIRE-Exclusive, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing, Terry-Nichols

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

OKBOMB: Dennis Mahon Indictment

White supremacist brothers Dennis and Daniel Mahon have been indicted in Phoenix, Arizona, for an alleged bombing plot:

Indictment of Dennis and Daniel Mahon

The name of Dennis Mahon will be familiar to those who have followed the Oklahoma City bombing conspiracy investigation.

Chairman's Report, Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee of the House International Relations Committee, Oklahoma City Bombing Investigation

A relevant excerpt:

Carol Howe came from a prominent Tulsa family. She was attracted to the white supremacist movement in February 1994 after she was allegedly attacked by three African-American men. She became a paid informant for the ATF and a frequent visitor to Elohim City in June 1994. Howe testified in Terry Nichols' federal trial that she saw McVeigh with [German national Andreas] Strassmeir at Elohim City in July 1994.

Howe dated Strassmeir in 1994 and January 1995. Howe asserted that Strassmeir trained Elohim City racist radicals in weaponry and had discussed assassinations, bombings and mass shootings. Strassmeir, according to Howe, frequently called for direct action against the U.S. federal government. Howe reported these statements to the ATF. It is not clear how seriously they were taken, as authorities have tried their best to discredit Howe as a witness. She was a former drug abuser and had other personal weaknesses; nonetheless, she was a paid ATF informant and in the aftermath of Waco and Ruby Ridge must have been considered an important source of information.

Howe also talked to the ATF regarding Dennis Mahon, an occasional inhabitant of Elohim City who is listed as a terrorist in several countries (including Germany and Canada) and is a leader of the White Aryan Resistance. Strassmeir also stayed with Mahon while attending weekend gun shows in Tulsa. Howe reported that Mahon talked about targeting federal buildings for bombings. Her reports could be interpreted as warnings of the upcoming Oklahoma City bombing. Howe, for example, claimed that Mahon and Strassmeir took three trips to Oklahoma City, in November 1994, December 1994, and February 1995, on one of which she accompanied them.

Labels: American-Terrorists, Andreas-Strassmeir, Dennis-Mahon, INTELFILES, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

CIA Records On Oklahoma City Bombing

Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue released more than 50 pages of heavily redacted documents relating to the Oklahoma City bombing, which he obtained from the CIA under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

Trentadue had petitioned for a number of documents relating to the bombing itself, communications between the CIA and the FBI over the bombing, and records related to Andreas Strassmeir, a German national linked to McVeigh who is alleged to have played a role in the bombing.

The CIA claimed a number of exemptions including that the release of the documents would pose a threat to national security and could expose CIA methods.

Read the full documents

Labels: American-Terrorists, INTELFILES, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink

 

Videotapes of Oklahoma City Bombing

A dozen or more surveillance videotapes showing the Oklahoma City bombing may soon be released under the Freedom of Information Act. The videotapes are described in documents released to Salt Lake City attorney Jesse Trentadue, who is also seeking the tapes themselves. The actual tapes "are due any day," Trentadue said Thursday.

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Labels: American-Terrorists, INTELFILES, Jesse-Trentadue, OKBOMB, Oklahoma-City-Bombing

Views expressed on INTELWIRE are those of the author alone.

Posted by J.M. Berger | Permalink