THE OVERVIEW
Bin Laden Sent Suspect to U.S., Officials Say
By DOUGLAS JEHL and WILLIAM K. RASHBAUM
Published: August 7, 2004
WASHINGTON, Aug. 6 - American intelligence officials now believe that Issa al-Hindi, the alleged Qaeda operative now in British custody, was dispatched to the United States in early 2001 by the mastermind of the Sept. 11 plot at the direction of Osama bin Laden to case potential targets in New York City, senior government officials said Friday.
The officials said that Mr. Hindi was the same person as the figure identified in the Sept. 11 commission report as Issa al-Britani. The account of Mr. Hindi's being dispatched to New York was based on claims by the mastermind, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, while in American custody, the report said. But American officials said on Friday that it is consistent with other evidence that Mr. Hindi headed a three-man team that surveyed the New York Stock Exchange and other buildings in New York, probably in early 2001.
Senior government officials said that Mr. Hindi - the name is thought to be an alias - was believed to have visited the United States several times in 2000 and 2001, the same period in which reconnaissance of financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington that was discovered last week is believed to have taken place.
The Joint Terrorist Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the New York Police Department was working on Friday to track Mr. Hindi's movements in New York, focusing on where he lived, anyone with whom he might have come into contact and how long he was there. One law enforcement official said investigators had identified some people in photographs that were included in the surveillance package and those people were being interviewed....
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/07/politics/07terror.html