U.S. leak 'harms al Qaeda sting'(Bush exposes Secret scource for political

[papau]

needs in the US)

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/08/09/terror.wrap/index.html

U.S. leak 'harms al Qaeda sting'
Monday, August 9, 2004 Posted: 6:24 AM EDT (1024 GMT)
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (CNN) -- The effort by U.S. officials to justify raising the terror alert level last week may have shut down an important source of information that has already led to a series of al Qaeda arrests, Pakistani intelligence sources have said.

Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him in a sting operation to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, the sources said.
<snip>

The unnamed U.S. officials leaked Khan's name along with confirmation that most of the surveillance data was three or four years old, arguing that its age was irrelevant because al Qaeda planned attacks so far in advance.<snip>

Then on Friday, after Khan's name was revealed, government sources told CNN that counterterrorism officials had seen a drop in intercepted communications among suspected terrorists.<snip>

But some observers have said that Islamabad should not have been compromised by political considerations in Washington. <snip>

http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=49604
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ADMINISTRATION EXPOSES SECRET SOURCE

The Department of Justice has strenuously argued that it could not release the names of detainees - even those who had not been charged or accused of terrorism - because doing so would harm national security. In a sworn affidavit, James Reynolds, then a top Justice Department official, argued that when people detained as part of a terrorist investigation are publicly identified, "terrorist organizations with whom they have a connection may refuse to deal further with them. This could eliminate valuable sources of information for the investigation. It would similarly impair the government's ability to infiltrate terrorist organizations engaged in ongoing criminal activities."<1> Apparently, this does not apply if the disclosure suits the administration's political agenda.

Last week, the administration was desperate to justify their decision to raise the threat level to orange in three states based on activity that occurred over three years ago. National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice admitted yesterday that the administration - during a background briefing to reporters - identified Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan as the source of the information that prompted the terror alert.<2> According to Reuters, Khan "had been actively cooperating with intelligence agents to help catch al-Qaida operatives when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers"<3> His identification by the administration likely "cost the United States a valuable source."<4>


Sources:

1. "James Reynolds Affidavit," Chief, Terrorism and Violent Crime Section, Criminal Division, DOJ, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=49605.
2. "CNN Late Edition With Wolf Blitzer," CNN, 08/08/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=49606.
3. "Pakistan: U.S. Blew Undercover Operation," MSNBC, 08/06/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=49607.
4. "U.S. Says Man Had Ties to Plot to Disrupt Vote," New York Times, 8/8/04, http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1338421&l=49608.

[Krupskaya]

1. Jayzus H.

A heaping helping of incompetence. Lovely.

[Moderator]

2. Duplicate topic, please update story here, thanks

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=737588