Daily intel report 05-08-09
1. Inside the Ring
Bill Gertz Washington Times Thursday, May 7, 2009
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/07/inside-the-ring-98368565/
IPT NOTE: The cited WINPAC report does not appear to be posted online.
Iran's nuclear program
Iran has dramatically increased the amount of low-enriched uranium produced by its growing number of centrifuges that are part of its nuclear fuel production system. According to a CIA report to Congress, "During the reporting period, Iran continued to expand its nuclear infrastructure and continued uranium enrichment and activities related to its heavy water research reactor, despite multiple United Nations Security Council Resolutions since late 2006 calling for the suspension of those activities." The little-noticed report covering 2008 was released without comment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) on March 12. It was produced by the CIA's Weapons Intelligence, Nonproliferation and Arms Control Center, known as WINPAC, and approved by the National Intelligence Council. The findings, similar to those reported by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the U.N. nuclear watchdog, come as the Obama administration prepares to engage Iran in a new diplomatic approach to the nuclear program. The report repeats a controversial 2007 U.S. intelligence judgment that Tehran in 2003 halted nuclear weapons design and weaponization activities. However, it stated that "we do not know whether Tehran currently intends to develop nuclear weapons," although the Iranians appear to be considering it…
Pentagon reorg
In one of the first major reshufflings inside the Pentagon policy shop, officials are moving anti-terrorism duties out of the special operations unit, special correspondent Rowan Scarborough reports. Inside the Ring obtained an internal "action memo" written by two senior officials: Michael G. Vickers, assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low intensity conflict; and Bob Salesses, a senior aide for the assistant secretary of defense for homeland security and Americas' security affairs. Both offices fall within the purview of Undersecretary for Policy Michele Flournoy, who is reorganizing a bureaucracy that submits advice papers to the defense secretary...
IG report withdrawn
Under pressure from Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, the Pentagon inspector general has taken the unusual step of withdrawing a report that exonerated the Pentagon of wrongdoing related to a program that used retired military officials in a public relations campaign…
China military exchange
The Bush administration's senior White House policymaker criticized the Pentagon as well as China for the poor state of U.S.-China military relations, even though it was China that cut off the military-to-military program in October in a bout of pique over U.S. arms sales to Taiwan…
Report: Foreign analysts cite Iran bomb progress
By DESMOND BUTLER The Associated Press Wednesday, May 6, 2009 6:35 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR200905...
WASHINGTON -- Congressional investigators say some foreign intelligence analysts believe U.S. intelligence is underestimating Iran's progress toward designing a nuclear warhead before Tehran halted its program in 2003. The foreign analysts believe that Iran ended its work because it had made sufficient progress, not because of international pressure, as the 2007 U.S. national intelligence assessment concluded. The report by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee did not identify its sources, referring only to "intelligence analysts and nuclear experts working for foreign governments." It says some research was conducted in Israel, which has been publicly critical of the 2007 U.S. assessment. The foreign analysts believe "intelligence indicates Iran had produced a suitable design, manufactured some components and conducted enough successful explosives tests to put the project on the shelf until it manufactured the fissile material required for several weapons," the report says…
Gates Assures Mideast Allies on U.S. Overtures to Iran
By Greg Jaffe Washington Post Wednesday, May 6, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/05/AR200905...
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, May 5 -- Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates sought to reassure U.S. allies in the Middle East on Tuesday that their relationships with the United States would not be damaged by the Obama administration's efforts to open a dialogue with Iran. In Egypt, Gates played down the likelihood of a major breakthrough, or "grand bargain," that would lead to dramatic changes in the U.S.-Iranian relationship, such as the re-establishment of diplomatic ties…
2. Report: FBI slow to update terror watchlist
By DEVLIN BARRETT – Associated Press May 6, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3352
IPT NOTE: The report is posted at http://www.usdoj.gov/oig/reports/FBI/a0925/final.pdf
WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has been slow to update the national terror suspect watchlist — and the lapses pose real risks to U.S. security, a Justice Department audit has found. A report by the Justice Department's Inspector General, Glenn Fine, found that 12 terror suspects who were either not watchlisted or were slow to be added to the list may have traveled into or out of the United States during the period when they were not placed on the list. Auditors also found significant delays in taking people off the list once they were no longer considered suspects. The watchlist, which is used to screen people entering the U.S. and by local law enforcement, contains more than 1.1 million names. In 15 percent of the cases auditors reviewed, subjects were not nominated to the watchlist, contrary to FBI policy. In some instances, people with names matching subjects who were not watchlisted — or who were not put on the list in a timely fashion — attempted to cross U.S. borders during the period their names were not placed on the list, according to the report…
GOP probes 'extremism' report's origins
Audrey Hudson Thursday, May 7, 2009 Washington Times
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/may/07/gop-seeks-explanation-of-ext...
House Republicans demanded Wednesday that Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano detail how the controversial "right-wing extremism" report was compiled, using a rare legislative maneuver that ensures that the Democrats must take a public stand - one way or another. The request asks Ms. Napolitano to release information on how the report was compiled. The report sparked a furor from conservatives included in the definition of "right-wing extremism" and prompted Ms. Napolitano to apologize to the nation's veterans…
3. Exclusive
Several Guantanamo Bay detainees to be released in Washington, D.C., suburbs, say sources
By James Gordon Meek New York Daily News WASHINGTON BUREAU May 7th 2009, 4:04 PM
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3359
WASHINGTON - A large federal security operation is now in place to keep tabs on several Guantanamo Bay inmates who may soon be released in Virginia, the Daily News has learned. A half-dozen ethnic Chinese detainees known as Uyghurs will be flown by marshals from the U.S. naval base in Cuba to live in the Washington suburbs if lingering legal, logistics and political problems are ironed out, government officials said Thursday. But some lawmakers and counter-terror officials worry about terrorists living next door. Northern Virginia was chosen because it has an established Uyghur Muslim community that could help the ex-prisoners adjust. "The potential release into the U.S. ... takes us into uncharted waters," a counterterror official told The News. The Uyghurs were trained at an Afghan camp before 9/11, though the "widespread belief" is they were focused on fighting the Communist Chinese, not attacking America, the official said... Most of the Uyghurs cleared for release, though considered the "least dangerous" of a group of 17 remaining at Gitmo, were suspected operatives of the East Turkestan Islamic Movement. Its leader, Abdul Haq, who ran the Afghan camp, was designated by the Treasury Department last week as a member of Osama Bin Laden's shura council - Al Qaeda's board of directors... But the alleged Al Qaeda ties - which the Uyghurs' lawyers dispute - have alarmed GOP Reps. Frank Wolf, whose Virginia district is where the Uyghurs will likely be resettled, and Pete King of Long Island, a Homeland Security Committee leader. However, a "comprehensive" surveillance watch by FBI and Homeland Security counterterror agents is ready to be activated once the Uyghurs land on U.S. soil, four officials confirmed…
Document: Judge sets May 27 Guantánamo court hearing
BY CAROL ROSENBERG Posted on Wednesday, 05.06.09 Miami Herald
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/americas/guantanamo/story/1035103.html
The chief judge for the Pentagon's military commissions has scheduled the next war court hearing at Guantánamo Bay for late May, according to a document obtained by The Miami Herald. The May 27 hearing for Ahmed Darbi, a Saudi captive, would be the first since government lawyers sought, and won, a 120-day freeze of the hearings staged at an abandoned airstrip called Camp Justice. The Guantánamo judges suspended the proceedings on a request from the White House to give the new administration time to study each of the captive's cases. The judge, Army Col. James L. Pohl, wrote in the document dated April 27 that he was "not trying to influence" the ongoing review of detainee operations by the Obama administration. But Pohl said he had set the date to "ensure the orderly processing of the currently pending charges." The timing is significant because news organizations wrote over the weekend that the Obama administration is considering reviving with changes the Bush era military commissions for trying some captives at the remote base in southeast Cuba...
Lawmakers Spar Over Closing Guantanamo Prison
Republicans are trying several tactics to prevent detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from reaching the United States, introducing legislation aimed at stopping the transfer of terrorists and denying funding for closing the facility.
FOXNews.com Thursday, May 07, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/07/lawmakers-spar-efforts-gitmo-...
Republicans are trying several tactics to prevent detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, from reaching the United States, introducing legislation aimed at stopping the transfer of terrorists and offering amendments to an emergency war funding bill to deny funding for closing the facility. Republican leaders accuse President Obama of endangering American lives by calling for the closure of Gitmo without a plan as to where the detainees will go next. Several GOP lawmakers on Thursday introduced the Keep Terrorists Out of America Act, which prohibits the Obama administration from transferring or releasing any suspected terrorist detainees at Guantanamo to any state without express approval from the state's governor and legislature. The legislation also demands the administration certify to Congress that certain requirements have been met…
4. Omer Saeed Shaikh under strict watch
By M. H. Khan Dawn (Pakistan) Tuesday, 05 May, 2009 | 09:18 AM PST
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3353
HYDERABAD: Sindh Home Secretary (Special) Kamran Dost said on Monday that Ahmed Omer Saeed Shaikh, a convict in the Daniel Pearl murder case, was being kept under strict watch in jail after a mobile phone was seized from him. Talking to journalists after appearing before the Sindh High Court's Hyderabad circuit bench in a suo motu case initiated by Justice Amir Hani Muslim, the official said the 'very high-profile prisoner' had also made a phone call abroad…
5. Math used to identify terrorist networks
Published: May 7, 2009 at 11:38 AM United Press International
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3354
IPT NOTE: The cited paper is posted at http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/0710/0710.4231.pdf
TOKYO, May 7 (UPI) -- Japanese scientists say they have used graph theory and computational data processing to create a technique that can help identify potential terrorists. Yoshiharu Maeno and Associate Professor Yukio Ohsawa of the University of Tokyo used their new technique to analyze the terrorist network responsible for Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon. They said they discovered connections among terrorists that had not been apparent to security experts. "If the investigators had had a warning information on the 19 hijack planners … before 9/11, our analysis could have aided the investigators in quickly understanding the complete picture of the organized attack, including the covert foundation," Yoshiharu said…
6. Conn. students warned to stay in after shooting
By JOHN CHRISTOFFERSEN and KATIE NELSON, Associated Press May 7, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090507/ap_on_re_us/us_wesleyan_shooting
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. – Wesleyan University students were told to stay in their dorms and the city's only synagogue closed Thursday as police warned that the man wanted in the shooting death of a woman at a bookstore may be bent on killing other students and Jews. Apparently applying the lessons of Virginia Tech, police and administrators locked down the 3,000-student campus and stepped up patrols as authorities hunted for the killer. Johanna Justin-Jinich, a 21-year-old student, was shot several times Wednesday inside a bookstore cafe just off campus by a gunman wearing a wig. Two years ago, she complained to police in New York that the suspect, 29-year-old Stephen P. Morgan, had stalked and threatened her. University officials said police told them the suspect expressed threats in his personal journals toward Wesleyan and its Jewish students. The Hartford Courant, citing anonymous law enforcement sources, said police confiscated Morgan's car and found a journal in which he spelled out a plan to rape and then kill Justin-Jinich before going on a campus shooting spree. It also reported that police stopped Morgan shortly after the shooting, spoke to him and let him go, only to later learn from Justin-Jinich's family that they suspected him. Police declined to discuss the report…
7. Abu Bakr, the Jamaat leader in Trinidad loses appeal in Privy Council
Published on Thursday, May 7, 2009 By Oscar Ramjeet Caribbean Net News Special Correspondent
http://www.caribbeannetnews.com/news-16264--17-17--.html
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad -- Jamat Al Muslimeen leader Yassin Abu Bakr on Tuesday lost his appeal in the Privy Council, as the state moved closer to selling off 11 properties to satisfy a $32 million debt arising from the destruction of Police Headquarters in Trinidad during the 1990 attempted coup. The Trinidad Guardian reported that Bakr was hoping the Law Lords would reinstate an affidavit he filed, but the Privy Council, in a 12 page judgment, said it was irrelevant to the proceedings … In 1994, the Trinidad government commenced proceedings against Bakr and 113 members of the Jamaat for the destruction of Police Headquarters and damage to the Red House during the attempted coup…
8. Order banning self-described informant from mosque is lifted
Yet man who says he was FBI informant agrees to stay away from Irvine mosque voluntarily.
By SALVADOR HERNANDEZ The Orange County Register Thursday, May 7, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/monteilh-fbi-informant-2397480-restra...
A restraining order prohibiting an Irvine man – who claims to have pretended to be Muslim while working as a paid informant for the FBI – from entering an Irvine mosque was lifted by a judge Wednesday. However, the purported informant signed a voluntary agreement to stay away. As part of a deal to lift the restraining order, Craig Monteilh, a 46-year-old fitness consultant, agreed to stay away from the Islamic Center of Irvine until 2015… In 2007, the center filed for a restraining order against Monteilh, claiming that he was advocating violence to members of the mosque. In February, Monteilh said that during that time he was working as an informant to the FBI and was tasked with infiltrating several mosques in the county. Monteilh said conversations about blowing up empty buildings he had with members of the mosque, including Ahmadullah Sais Niazi who was arrested by the FBI in February, were not initiated by himself. The FBI has not commented on whether Monteilh worked as a paid informant, or on his assertion that he was tasked with identifying Middle Eastern-looking men at local gyms for FBI agents...
Air, rail, port, health & communication infrastructure security
IPT NOTE: For more infrastructure news, see Dep't of Homeland Security Daily Open Source Infrastructure Reports http://www.dhs.gov/xinfoshare/programs/editorial_0542.shtm; Public Safety Canada Daily Infrastructure Report http://www.publicsafety.gc.ca/dir/index-eng.aspx; TSA Press Releases http://www.tsa.gov/press/releases/index.shtm
9. Wildfires threaten homes in Southern Calif., Ariz.
May 6, 2009 USA Today From staff and wire reports
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/wildfires/2009-05-06-wildfire_N.htm
LOS ANGELES — An early-season wildfire whipped by high winds Tuesday forced the evacuation of 1,200 homes around the luxury seaside community of Santa Barbara. As of Wednesday morning, some 2,000 homes were threatened by the 400-acre blaze, which started shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday. The cause of the blaze was not immediately known… The U.S. Forest Service says the human-caused fire charred 1,500 acres since breaking out on private land about 1 p.m. Tuesday west of Fort Huachuca and then spreading to Coronado National Forest land…
Calmer 'sundowner' winds give firefighters a break in Santa Barbara
Dozens of homes are reported destroyed in the brush fire, which is expected to consume 2,000 to 2,500 acres. About 3,500 homes are still threatened, officials say.
By Ann M. Simmons and Rong-Gong Lin II Los Angeles Times 5:29 PM PDT, May 7, 2009
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-santa-barbara-fire8-2009may08,0,...
Fire officials battling the Santa Barbara blaze said "sundowner" winds that fueled the destructive blaze have been much calmer today, providing firefighters a needed break. They predicted the fire will consume 2,000 to 2,500 acres and that "dozens" of homes were destroyed. One fire commander said the exact number is still unavailable, but that the losses were in the "dozens not the hundreds." He said about 3,500 homes were still threatened. Thousands of residents remained displaced from their hillside homes as firefighters struggled to get the upper hand on the wind-driven blaze. There was no containment of the fire, officials said…
Wildfire burns structures in southern New Mexico
Associated Press May 7, 2009
http://www.investigativeproject.org/ext/3355
TIMBERON, N.M. (AP) A wildlife has burned some structures and is threatening dozens more in the mountains near Timberon in southern New Mexico. State Forestry spokesman Dan Ware says the Timberon fire has charred about 100 acres and at least three structures have burned but firefighters haven't been able to confirm what types of buildings they were. Ware says about 70 structures are being threatened by the flames and authorities have asked residents to evacuate. A shelter has been set up at Cloudcroft High School…
10. FAA's Air-Traffic Networks Breached by Hackers
By SIOBHAN GORMAN MAY 7, 2009 Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124165272826193727.html
WASHINGTON -- Civilian air-traffic computer networks have been penetrated multiple times in recent years, including an attack that partially shut down air-traffic data systems in Alaska, according to a government report. The report, which was released by the Transportation Department's inspector general Wednesday, warned that the Federal Aviation Administration's modernization efforts are introducing new vulnerabilities that could increase the risk of cyberattacks on air-traffic control systems. The FAA is slated to spend approximately $20 billion to upgrade its air-traffic control system over the next 15 years. The increasing reliance of modernized systems on the Internet "is especially worrisome at a time when the nation is facing increased threats from sophisticated nation-state sponsored cyber attacks," wrote Assistant Inspector General Rebecca Leng…
11. Police arrest teen suspected of pointing laser at planes
Mengyang Sun, 19, of Tustin could face federal charges.
By JON CASSIDY The Orange County Register Thursday, May 7, 2009
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/laser-tustin-police-2397415-girl-area...
TUSTIN – A 19-year-old Tustin man and a friend were arrested by Tustin police Wednesday night on suspicion of pointing a laser at commercial aircraft landing at John Wayne Airport. Mengyang Sun and an underage girl were arrested around 11 p.m. after Tustin police were sent to the area of El Camino Real and Parkcenter Lane to check out reports that someone was shining a laser at passing cars. While the Tustin officers were in the area, officers in the Costa Mesa police helicopter radioed to say that they were in the area as well, looking for somebody who had shined a laser at five airplanes. As officers on the ground searched Camino Real Park, they saw a green laser pointed at the helicopter, police said…
12. BELLEVUE MAN AND CHINESE NATIONAL CHARGED WITH CONSPIRACY TO DEFRAUD UNITED STATES OVER HONEY IMPORTS
Allegedly Submitted False Paperwork to Hide Chinese Origin of Honey
May 6, 2009 US Attorney's Office, Western District of Washington
http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/waw/press/2009/may/liu.html
CHUNG PO LIU, 68, of Bellevue, Washington, and BOA ZHONG ZHANG, a citizen of China, were arrested this morning and charged by criminal complaint with a conspiracy to defraud the United States by submitting false paperwork regarding shipments of honey to the U.S. The men conspired to avoid import fees on Chinese honey by claiming the honey was manufactured in Thailand or the Philippines. BOA ZHONG ZHANG is a 30 year employee of a bee products company in China. LIU is the president of two companies involved in honey imports and sales. LIU will make his initial appearance in federal court today at 2:30 in the Magistrate Judge Courtroom on the 12th floor at 7th and Stewart. ZHANG was arrested in Los Angeles, and will make his first appearance in federal court there. In addition to the two arrested on charges from the Western District of Washington, Yong Xiang Yan, the president of the Chinese honey manufacturing company was arrested on a criminal complaint filed in Chicago, Illinois. That complaint alleges that Yan conspired to import falsely labeled honey into the U.S. for a Chicago based honey distributor. According to the complaint, the honey's country of origin was falsified, and some Chinese honey has been found to be contaminated with three different antibiotics…
Financing, identity theft, money laundering
13. President of Alavi Foundation Indicted for Obstruction of Justice
Dep't of Justice Press Release May 6, 2009 US Attorney's Office, Southern District of New York
Contact: (212) 637-2600
http://newyork.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/nyfo050609.htm
Lev L. Dassin, the Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced today that Farshid Jahedi, the president of the Alavi Foundation, was indicted for allegedly destroying documents subpoenaed by a grand jury investigating the Alavi Foundation's relationship with Bank Melli Iran and the ownership of a Manhattan office building. On December 19, 2008, Jahedi was arrested in New York City on a criminal complaint in this case. According to the indictment filed yesterday, the criminal complaint, and other documents filed in Manhattan federal court: …
Morgenthau: Iran Threat 'Deadly Serious' to U.S.
Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Wednesday that he has uncovered a pervasive system of fraud designed to let Iran's banks skirt U.S. and international sanctions.
By Micah Morrison FOXNews.com Wednesday, May 06, 2009
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/05/06/morgenthau-iran-threat-world/
IPT NOTE: The witnesses' prepared statements are posted at http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090506a.html.
Famed Manhattan District Attorney Robert M. Morgenthau warned Congress on Wednesday that Iran's efforts to build nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles pose a "deadly serious" threat to the United States. The legendary prosecutor -- whose pursuit of white-collar criminals has spanned the globe -- told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that he has uncovered a pervasive system of deceitful practices and fraud designed to let Iran's banks skirt U.S. and international sanctions. Sources told FOX News that the Morgenthau probe into Iranian money laundering schemes is broad and ongoing. So far, the Manhattan DA has struck a plea deal with a British bank and, separately, indicted a Chinese citizen and his company on charges related to Iran's violations of international sanctions designed to block its acquisition of nuclear weaponry. In the British case, Lloyds Bank admitted it had engaged in a "stripping" scheme designed to hide the Iranian origin of more than $300 million in wire transfers. Bank coding information indicating an Iran address for the money was "stripped" from wire transfers. Some of Iran's biggest banks -- blacklisted by the U.S. and international agencies for their alleged role in nuclear armament and terror funding -- are believed to have played a role in the illegal money movement…
ENGAGING IRAN: OBSTACLES AND OPPORTUNITIES
HEARING before the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN RELATIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE, ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
Wednesday, May 6, 2009 Time: 9:30 A.M. Place: 419 Dirksen Senate Building
http://foreign.senate.gov/hearings/2009/hrg090506a.html
Panel 1:
The Honorable Robert M. Morgenthau, District Attorney, New York County
Former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York
http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2009/MorgenthauTestimony090506a.pdf
Mr. Adam Kaufmann, Bureau Chief,
Investigation Division Central Office of the District Attorney, New York County
http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2009/KaufmannTestimony090506a.pdf
Panel 2:
The Honorable R. Nicholas Burns, Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics,
Harvard Kennedy School
Former Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs
http://foreign.senate.gov/testimony/2009/BurnsTestimony090506a.pdf
14. Mesa man pleads guilty in Muslim charity probe
by Megan Boehnke - May. 6, 2009 06:17 PM The Arizona Republic
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/05/06/20090506muslim-charity...
A Mesa man pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to the FBI about his fund raising activities for a Hamas-financing charity during the mid-90s. Akram Musa Abdullah, also known as Abu Saiaf, 54, entered his plea in U.S. District Court in Phoenix after the government said Abdullah told special agents that he had never raised money for Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. The Muslim charity and five of its leaders were convicted in November for funneling more than $12 million to Hamas, a Palestinian militant group. In 2007, agents interviewed Abdullah as part of the investigation. Authorities say Abdullah knew the foundation was under investigation by the federal government and lied about his work organizing fundraisers in Phoenix and collecting donations between 1994 and 1997...
15. Appeals court says raid on Muslims' Va. home OK
May 6, 2009 - 9:59pm By LARRY O'DELL Associated Press Writer
http://www.wtop.com/?nid=25&sid=1670541
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Government agents searching for evidence of terrorist funding acted reasonably when they broke down a Muslim family's front door, entered with guns drawn and handcuffed a frantic woman and her teenage daughter, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday. A three-judge panel of the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously upheld a lower court's decision rejecting the family's claims of false imprisonment, assault and battery, conspiracy, and unconstitutional search and seizure. The raid on the Herndon home of Iqbal and Aysha Unus and their daughter, Hanaa, was one of several conducted in northern Virginia in 2002, months after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. No charges were filed as a result of the search, part of a federal anti-terrorism investigation called "Operation Green Quest." Agents targeted the home of Iqbal Unus, an employee of the Islamic Institute of Islamic Thought, because he was an officer or adviser in three organizations the government suspected of supporting international terrorism…
Court Upholds Searches Of Muslim Groups in Va.
By Jerry Markon Washington Post Thursday, May 7, 2009
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/06/AR200905...
An appeals court yesterday upheld the legality of federal raids on a Herndon-based network of Muslim charities, businesses and think tanks, a case that caused a firestorm in the Muslim community. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit said the March 2002 raids on homes and business in Herndon and elsewhere in Northern Virginia were "a harrowing experience" for the targets but did not violate their constitutional rights. The court said agents exercised "lawful force" in drawing their guns and handcuffing a family whose home was searched. Federal agents carted away hundreds of boxes of documents during the searches from some of the most established Islamic organizations in the United States. They were looking for evidence of an international network to finance terrorism, part of what federal officials have called the nation's largest terrorism-financing investigation. Muslim leaders denounced the raids as violations of their civil rights and have strongly denied terrorist ties. A Herndon family sued federal agents involved in the raids, asserting that the agents had fabricated evidence to obtain a search warrant, falsely imprisoned family members by restraining them in their home and violated their civil rights. A federal judge in Alexandria dismissed the lawsuit in 2007, and a three-judge 4th Circuit panel upheld that dismissal yesterday... The raids have led to several indictments and the conviction of prominent Muslim activist Abdurahman Alamoudi, who admitted that he plotted with Libya to assassinate the ruler of Saudi Arabia. No charges have been filed against the Herndon-based cluster of companies and charities that are at the center of the investigation, and their attorneys and some Muslims have long labeled the raids a fishing expedition…
16. Judge Upholds Case Against Ex-Manager of Islamic Center
By Del Quentin Wilber Washington Post Thursday, May 7, 2009 2:43 PM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/07/AR200905...
A federal judge today refused to throw out charges that the former business manager of the Islamic Center of Washington embezzled $430,000 from the mosque during a six-year period. Defense attorneys for Farzad Darui, the former manager, had asked Chief U.S. District Judge Royce C. Lamberth to toss the case or block testimony by a key witness. They alleged that the witness, the center's director and religious leader, lied to investigators and on the witness stand during Darui's trial last year. The trial ended in a hung jury, and prosecutors are seeking to retry him on mail fraud, money laundering and theft charges...
17. 2009 Auto Theft Export Summit showcases leading experts in the fight against auto theft for export: Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson speaking tomorrow
May 6, 2009 Insurance Bureau of Canada Media Release http://www.ibc.ca/en/Media_Centre/News_Releases/2009/05-06-2009.asp
OTTAWA, May 6 /CNW/ - Officials from across North America have gathered in Ottawa this week to attend the 2009 Auto Theft Export Summit, the 13th annual meeting of the North American Export Committee (NAEC). The two-day event allows law enforcement, government and other stakeholders to strengthen alliances and share valuable information and ideas to curtail auto theft for export, which remains a staple of organized crime. Today, the first day of the event, leading experts discussed the problem of theft for export, its connections to organized crime and terrorism, and some of the innovative tactics being employed to fight the problem…
18. Former Bank of China Managers and Their Wives Sentenced for Stealing More Than $485 Million, Laundering Money Through Las Vegas Casinos
May 6, 2009 United States Attorney's Office, District of Nevada Contact: (703) 388-6336
http://lasvegas.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel09/lv050609.htm
WASHINGTON—Two former managers of the Bank of China and their wives were sentenced today after their convictions on Aug. 29, 2008, by a federal jury in Las Vegas on charges of racketeering, money laundering, international transportation of stolen property as well as passport and visa fraud, Assistant Attorney General Lanny A. Breuer of the Criminal Division and U.S. Attorney Gregory A. Brower of the District of Nevada announced today. U.S. District Judge Philip M. Pro sentenced Xu Chaofan aka Hui Yat Fai to 25 years in prison, Xu Guojun aka Hui Kit Shun to 22 years in prison, Kuang Wan Fang aka Wendy Kuang to eight years in prison and Yu Ying Yi to eight years in prison. All four defendants were sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $482 million in restitution. Denaturalization proceedings against Kuang Wan Fang and Yu Ying Yi have been initiated by the government. Evidence presented during the trial established the elaborate scheme to defraud the Bank of China of at least $485 million, orchestrated by former managers Xu Chaofan, Xu Guojun and a third former bank manager, Yu Zhendong aka Yu Wing Chung, who pleaded guilty in connection with this investigation and cooperated with the United States. According to information
