organization:f.b.i

Obama May Back F.B.I. Plan to Wiretap Web Users - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/08/us/politics/obama-may-back-fbi-plan-to-wiretap-web-users.html?pagewanted=all

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration, resolving years of internal debate, is on the verge of backing a Federal Bureau of Investigation plan for a sweeping overhaul of surveillance laws that would make it easier to wiretap people who communicate using the Internet rather than by traditional phone services, according to officials familiar with the deliberations.

Un éditorial de l’année dernière sur l’#entrapment : Terrorist Plots, Helped Along by the F.B.I. par David K. Shipler
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/29/opinion/sunday/terrorist-plots-helped-along-by-the-fbi.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

But all these dramas were facilitated by the F.B.I., whose undercover agents and informers posed as terrorists offering a dummy missile, fake C-4 explosives, a disarmed suicide vest and rudimentary training. Suspects naïvely played their parts until they were arrested.

Attack on Mosque Illustrates Relationship Between F.B.I. and Muslims in Bay Area - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/01/us/attack-on-mosque-ilustrates-relationship-between-fbi-and-muslims-in-bay-are

In 2005, someone had left messages including “racial slurs” on the center’s answering machine, the agents wrote. In 2006, a single shot had damaged a window; a few months later, the same window was destroyed with a brick.

In a report written three weeks after the shots were fired, and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, an agent wrote that no investigation would continue “since there is no current evidence to show this incident as being a hate crime.”

Six months later, arson gutted the center. F.B.I. agents opened an investigation, but members of the center wondered whether the fire could have been prevented if the agency had pursued the fusillade that preceded it.

Why Did FBI Agent Go Outside Chain of Command in Reporting Petraeus Case to House Republicans?

Posted: 12 Nov 2012 02:02 AM PST

The NY Times report on the latest in the Petraeus case raised my eyebrows quite a bit. This is the most strikingly political aspect of this scandal:

Meanwhile, the F.B.I. agent who had helped get a preliminary inquiry started, and learned of Mr. Petraeus’s affair and the initial concerns about security breaches, became frustrated. Apparently unaware that those concerns were largely resolved, the agent alerted the office of Representative Eric Cantor, Republican of Virginia, the House majority leader, about the inquiry in late October. Mr. Cantor passed on the agent’s concerns to Mr. Mueller.

Other news reports (this one published in the Times as well) portrayed this part of the story slightly differently. They say that the FBI agent contacted Rep. Dave Reichert (not Cantor) and that Reichert in turn contacted Cantor. For those who may not know, Reichert is a law-and-order Christian conservative House member representing a suburban Seattle district. His entre to victory in his first House race was that he’d been King County Sheriff when the Green River killings were solved. Reichert is generally an ineffective, do-nothing GOP House member who’s made no mark during his service.

A number of questions arise about this part of the story: why would the FBI agent go outside the chain of command when he was dissatisfied with the progress in the case? Why did he tell Reichert and Cantor that his was a “national security concern?” Why did he contact Dave Reichert specifically? My guess is that the FBI agent may’ve known Reichert through law enforcement circles (perhaps he served in the FBI’s Seattle office?).

The claim that knowledge of the affair by Republicans played no role in the decision to let Petraeus go seems weak to me. Once the FBI agent got word to Reichert it became a huge partisan political football. For that reason, the agent should be fired. I want to know everything that Reichert and Cantor did, who they called, what they said, etc. They were sniffing for a political advantage. Did they overstep in their partisan zeal to dig up dirt on a senior Obama appointee?

Further, it appears this FBI agent began an investigation of the threatening e-mails sent to Jill Kelley because of a personal friendship between the victim and the agent. Again, suspicious. I’ve reported numerous e-mailed death threats sent to me and would love to know who sent them. The FBI has done nothing about them. Curious that they’d take this one so seriously except for that personal connection. I guess I need to make personal friends with some FBI agents.

Once they discovered that Paula Broadwell was author of the threatening e mails how and why did Petraeus become involved? Since when does having e mails from a former mistress in your Inbox constitute a federal crime?

I’m having a lot of trouble seeing what specifically Petraeus did that should’ve demanded his resignation. Throughout the investigation, the FBI attempted to uncover evidence that took this case outside the realm of an affair and that would make it a national security case. They couldn’t find any. Petraeus didn’t compromise national security, didn’t share classified documents. He simply had an affair. It appears he chose the wrong woman with which to do so as she caused the unraveling of his career. But why did the FBI take this outside the agency? What crime were they investigating? What evidence of a crime did they have?

We’re still a nation of laws. What laws were broken? Would the affair be embarrassing to the president and all involved? Sure. But to give a distinguished general the ax because he’d engaged in a sexual indiscretion seems an impossibly high bar. In some senses, we’re returning to those prurient days of the Clinton impeachment when Republicans wanted us to judge a President’s ability to govern based on whether or not he could keep his pants zipped. I thought we, and Congress, said No to that by refusing to convict Clinton. Apparently not when it comes to this president.
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Pour un internet libre ! | OPA | Orchestre Poétique d’Avant-guerre
http://www.opa33.org/pour-un-internet-libre.html

Yep !

Il y a ces temps-ci deux évènements qui secouent le monde virtuel d’internet : la fermeture de Mégaupload et la renaissance du site Copwatch.

Dans les deux cas, les Anonymous se sont mobilisés dans le but avoué d’alerter les internautes et les populations sur la censure de plus en plus croissante sur Internet.

Cette censure s’exerce notamment avec la mise en place d’ACTA (pour Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement ou accord commercial anti-contrefaçon) qui « est une offensive de plus contre le partage de la culture sur Internet » (La Quadrature du Net).

La riposte des Anonymous, face à la fermeture de MU, fut rapide nette et précise : de nombreux sites institutionnels furent attaqués (F.B.I, Département de la justice de la Maison Blanche, L’Elysée etc…)

Big up !

La particularité du site Copwatch est de dénoncer les violences et autres abus policiers en affichant les visages, prénoms et autres coordonnées des flics, pour les mettre sous surveillance comme l’Etat le fait désormais pour chaque personne en lutte mais aussi n’importe quel citoyen.

Scientists Dispute F.B.I. Closing of Anthrax Case - NYTimes.com
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/10/science/10anthrax.html?_r=1&hp=&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=1&adxnnlx=1318248074-0wF5mVleOF

Now, three scientists argue that distinctive chemicals found in the dried #anthrax spores — including the unexpected presence of tin — point to a high degree of manufacturing skill, contrary to federal reassurances that the attack germs were unsophisticated. The scientists make their case in a coming issue of the Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense.

Rebondissement dans l’affaire des enveloppes d’anthrax aux #États-unis

#armes_biologiques

The Kingdom and the Towers | Politics | Vanity Fair
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/08/9-11-2011-201108

Late on the night of the 13th, Prince Bandar’s assistant called the F.B.I.’s assistant director for counterterrorism, Dale Watson. He needed help, the assistant said, in getting bin Laden “family members” out of the country. Watson said Saudi officials should call the White House or the State Department. The request found its way to counterterrorism coordinator Richard Clarke, who has acknowledged that he gave the go-ahead for the flights. He has said he has “no recollection” of having cleared it with anyone more senior in the administration.

An F.B.I. memo written two years after the exodus appears to acknowledge that some of the departing Saudis may have had information pertinent to the investigation. Asked on CNN the same year whether he could say unequivocally that no one on the evacuation flights had been involved in 9/11, Saudi Embassy information officer Nail al-Jubeir responded by saying he was sure of only two things, that “there is the existence of God, and then we will die at the end of the world. Everything else, we don’t know.”

L’Arabie séoudite et le 11 septembre : en France, on a tellement appris à aboyer contre les complotistes et conspirationnistes de tous poils, qu’on est très surpris de lire un tel article dans Vanity Fair.

Le #FBI manipule un jeune américain d’origine somalienne, l’accompagne pendant des mois dans une longue dérive vers le terrorisme, puis finalement installe pour lui une fausse bombe dans un véhicule. Et enfin l’arrête. #entrapment

Pour le New York Times, ça permet de faire un long article complaisant sur ce nouvel exemple du danger des américains musulmans naturalisés (voir même nés américains mais de parents musulmans et étrangers).
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/28/us/28portland.html

Commençons par le plus évident : le jeune gars se nomme « Mohamed Osman Mohamud », ce qui est une sorte de nom idéal pour un apprenti terroriste islamiste sélectionné par le FBI.

La fausse bombe a été installée par le FBI, et non par le jeune Mohamed :

The bomb, which was in a van parked off Pioneer Courthouse Square, was a fake — planted by F.B.I. agents

Mais tout de suite, le FBI précise que, même si la bombe était un jouet en plastique placé là par des agents du FBI :

the threat was very real

D’ailleurs, voyez comme c’est grave, la fausse bombe installée par le FBI menaçait la vie de plusieurs millions de bons américains :

An estimated 10,000 people were at the ceremony on Friday night, the Portland police said.

D’entrée de jeu, le New York Times annonce vers quelle conclusion il souhaite amener le lecteur :

The terrorism attempt was the latest is a string of plots since last year involving Americans or immigrants who had become radicalized, often through exposure to extremist Web sites.

Est-il très équilibré, ce garçon, on n’en saura pas grand chose. Facile à manipuler ? Complètement aux fraises ?

As he was taken into custody, he kicked and screamed at the agents and yelled “Allahu akbar,” an Arabic phrase meaning “God is great,” the authorities said.

Le FBI, qui a donc lui-même placé la bombe, explique son choix (pardon, le choix de Mohamed) :

Federal agents said Mr. Mohamud thought Portland would be a good target because Americans “don’t see it as a place where anything will happen.” “It’s in Oregon; and Oregon, like you know, nobody ever thinks about it,” an affidavit quotes him as saying.

Pas d’enquête de trois pages du New York Times, en revanche, sur ce que ce genre de manipulation policière provoque immanquablement :

Early Sunday, a fire at the Salman Alfarisi Islamic Center in Corvallis, which Mr. Mohamud attended, caused some damage to one room, according to the Corvallis Fire Department. No one was injured and the fire, which officials said was deliberately set, was put out soon after it was reported around 2:15 a.m.

Le NY Times se rend bien compte qu’il est en train de décrire, sans recul, une manipulation du FBI. Pour prévenir le ridicule, il ajoute donc encore une dose de navrant (où l’on se rend compte que c’est directement le FBI qui suggère ses arguments au journaliste) :

Defense lawyers in such cases involving sting operations often accuse the F.B.I. of entrapment. Anticipating such claims, undercover agents in Mr. Mohamud’s case offered him several nonfatal ways to serve his cause, including mere prayer.

Cependant, c’est bien décrit là : c’est bien le FBI qui organise, planifie et finance l’opération :

For the next several weeks, the F.B.I. let the plot play out, assisting Mr. Mohamud with the details, providing him with cash, scoping out a parking spot near the square, sketching out the plan on paper.

Après deux pages basées uniquement sur ce que seul le FBI a pu fournir d’"informations", la suite de l’article est passionnante : le journaliste semble s’être déplacé (en personne, comme un grand ?) pour tenter d’en savoir plus sur la famille de Mohamed, et en tartine une page complète pour raconter qu’il n’a rencontré personne d’intéressant et ne sait rien de plus, à part des on-dit de la part de gens du quartier.

Une certaine Stephanie, qui vit de l’autre côté de la rue, apporte notamment ce témoignage très fort :

She said the family appeared to follow Muslim customs and celebrate Muslim holidays, but she emphasized that she knew little about Islam and that she did not talk to the family about religion.

Bon, il semble qu’ils suivent des coutumes de chez eux, mais j’en sais trop rien, parce qu’en fait j’y connais rien en trucs de l’Islam, là.

Pour le New York Times, ça devient une tendance à la mode chez le jeune rappeur de 19 ans qui traîne au pied de son immeuble la nuit. Si vous laissez une équipe d’agents du FBI le manipuler pendant plusieurs mois, si le FBI lui donne de l’argent et de l’importance, si le FBI discute science-fiction avec lui, si le FBI organise avec lui les détails d’une organisation terroriste, si le FBI installe une bombe en plastique dans un véhicule, et si le FBI lui fait passer un coup de fil via un téléphone portable qui-aurait-pu-être-un-operating-device, vous arriverez sans doute à obtenir trois pages dans le journal sur la menace des jeunes américains islamo-naturalisés :

His case resembles several others in which American residents, inspired by militant Web sites, have tried to carry out attacks in the name of the militant Islamic movement only to be captured in a sting operation.