Racist Plot to kill President Obama thwarted.

[Savannahmann]

Now, for those who are looking for Racists, you can find some here. http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/fbi-foils-plot-build-strange-ray-weapon-possibly/story?id=19440343#.UcJXT2zD-M8

A New York man who allegedly wanted to kill President Obama and apparently blamed him for the recent Boston bombings has been arrested for trying to build and detonate a weapon of mass destruction.

Glendon Scott Crawford, 49, of Galway, N.Y., spent months designing and constructing an X-ray system that would emit deadly amounts of radiation and could be detonated remotely, according to the FBI. Crawford recruited Eric J. Feight, 54, of Hudson, N.Y, to join in the plot, and both were arrested Tuesday, the FBI said.

OK, we've found the Racists. Now, about the story. X Ray's at high enough power are quite lethal. As I recall from my limited understanding of Physics, X Ray's are some of the energy released by a Nuclear Weapon. I'm not sure how you would make a non nuclear device that would be powered off of a cigarette lighter and would still be lethal. I'm thinking it would need a lot more power than that.

But they were caught, and get this, without the NSA wiretapping, or the PRISM program. But because they were turned in by people they turned to for help.

The FBI launched an investigation into Crawford last spring after he allegedly walked into a synagogue in Albany, N.Y., and inquired about technology that could kill "Israel's enemies while they slept." The synagogue notified police, and within six weeks the FBI had a source secretly recording meetings with Crawford, according an FBI affidavit filed in the case.

Even the KKK turned them in, which makes some sort of sense. I mean, if they're so stupid that they are doing cold contacts to find help to kill the President, then you have to assume they're going to get caught. That means they're going to reflect very badly on anyone who didn't turn them in. Conspiracy charges anyone?

Now, today's question. How long before they start to suggest that these guys were found based upon the NSA spying programs?

[Gravitycollapse]

1. Nuclear weapons do emit high frequency electromagnetic radiation

Usually as a product of the initial burst of energy released which we often see as a bright flash.

However, it would be highly unlikely that a small x ray machine could mimic such intensity. Although I would not personally want to be on the receiving end of such a device.

[Savannahmann]

3. Oh I agree.

I wouldn't want to stand in front of it either. But I doubt that enough energy could be put out through a cigarette lighter to get the blood thing to get a decent picture of my teeth.

[bornskeptic]

2. I can assure you that the NSA won't claim credit for this,

because that would be admitting they violated the law. This plot was entirely within the US, and the NSA cannot target persons in he US. The CTers may try to claim that the NSA did it, believing as tey seem to, that the NSA violates the law regularly.

[Savannahmann]

4. Oh I'm one of those

I believe that the NSA is reading mail of purely domestic messages. I believe the NSA is searching the database taken by the warrants, and by PRISM, and any other information sweep that I don't know about.

History here is my Guide. President Truman was kept out of the VENONA project because it was decided that the White House was untrustworthy.

For much of its history, knowledge of Venona was restricted even from the highest levels of government. Senior army officers, in consultation with the FBI and CIA, made the decision to restrict knowledge of Venona within the government (even the CIA was not made an active partner until 1952). Army Chief of Staff Omar Bradley, concerned about the White House's history of leaking sensitive information, decided to deny President Truman direct knowledge of the project. The president received the substance of the material only through FBI, Justice Department, and CIA reports on counterintelligence and intelligence matters. He was not told the material came from decoded Soviet ciphers. To some degree this secrecy was counter-productive; Truman was distrustful of FBI head J. Edgar Hoover and suspected the reports were exaggerated for political purposes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venona_project

Why should the modern security services operate any differently than they always have?

[okaawhatever]

5. I find your comments truly ignorant. I think you will find that wiretaps were used. I certainly hope

law enforcement got a warrant and read his emails, phone logs, facebook postings and everything else. This plot went on for almost a year. it would be an excellent opportunity to collect info on those he had ties to. People like you sicken me.

[Union Scribe]

6. The question isn't whether they got a warrant

the question is whether it was through a real court or FISC.

[Savannahmann]

7. You miss the point entirely

The plot was not turned up because of PRISM, the NSA Metadata collection, or any of those secret programs. The baddies walked into a Synagogue, and said that they wanted to destroy Israel's enemies, and could they get some help? The individual they spoke to, presumably one of the staff, possibly the Rabbi, the news story doesn't say, phoned the FBI. This was the start of the investigation.

The point of my comments was to show that this terrorist act, they were charged with attempting to set off a WMD, was not prevented because of the odious NSA programs. I thought I had been clear about that. I'm sorry if you misunderstood.

The FBI was certainly going to get wiretaps, through normal channels, and get the information the proper way as outlined in the 4th Amendment.

[Gravitycollapse]

11. "People like you sicken." And people like you give me a hearty laugh.

[treestar]

8. Suppose that they had not turned to anyone for help

Or to anyone who chose to turn them in.

[Savannahmann]

9. Then that brings us back to the Physics.

Which again brings us to the question of the power source. I have a hard time with the idea that a car cigarette lighter can provide an X-Ray generator with enough power to be lethal within a time period short enough to be useful. Sure it might give you a bigger dose, and you might eventually die of cancer, but that could take years. I don't know enough about the design, but I do remember that powering a TV off a lighter through an inverter was about the max I ever tried. A small coffee pot I tried to run took an hour to brew up six cups worth of the brew of life.

Other than that we can suppose all day long. Because there be the rub. If they had not used words that would target them through the various filters, then no flags would have popped up and alerted the NSA contractors who are monitoring this stuff. If they didn't send an email, or text with the flagged code words, then again, no warnings would have been noticed.

[Gravitycollapse]

10. You could power it using capacitors or batteries

X ray machines probably use a 240V outlet. Which you could not get from a cigarette lighter. But you could rig a battery system. Granted, the x ray burst would be weak.