Exclusive: Courier Led U.S. to Al Qaeda Internet Conference

The Daily Beast ^ | August 20, 2013 | Eli Lake, Josh Rogin

[don-o]

Prior to the worldwide security alert that temporarily shuttered U.S. embassies throughout the Middle East earlier this month, authorities captured an al Qaeda courier who had in his possession a recording of a seven-hour Internet-hosted meeting between more than 20 senior al Qaeda leaders from around the globe, U.S. intelligence officials said.

snip

The Daily Beast has learned new details about the conference, including that it was conducted over a secure Internet messaging system and that U.S. and Yemeni officials learned about it after intercepting the communications of an al Qaeda courier, who was subsequently captured by Yemen’s National Security Bureau with help from the CIA.

snip

The recording begins with a video address from Ayman al-Zawahiri, the leader of al Qaeda’s network. His participation surprised U.S. intelligence analysts, who believed the al Qaeda leader wouldn’t risk being part of real-time communication.

[don-o]

Interesting read

[CondorFlight]

Wait a minute: al Qaeda can have secure internet communications but US citizens can’t?

[Gaffer]

So, Obama lies, our Intelligence Community Lies, our State Department Lies - the whole damned apparatus of liars, the Cabal lies.

Their Prism, the NSA’s multi-trillion, trillion dollar electronic network and plethora of personal US Citizen rights violations, go this information from a fricking courier....human intel, humam ops...go figure...

I’ll say it again, these effers have not stopped shit since 2001. They always stumble on things after the fact, after an attempt has failed, or after the room has been emptied.

Yeah...I’m feeling good about the worth of all this privacy invasion, aren’t you? I mean the value is immeasurable - it stops a lot of stuff, right?

[Buckeye McFrog]

an al Qaeda courier, who was subsequently captured by Yemen’s National Security Bureau

Bet that poor S.O.B. wishes he had been caught by us and sent to Club Gitmo instead.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

CondorFlight ~:".. that U.S. and Yemeni officials learned about it after intercepting the communications of an al Qaeda courier,
who was subsequently captured by Yemen’s National Security Bureau with help from the CIA. "

You mean to say that the multi-billion NSA didn't find it !
The CIA located the courier ? Where the he!! was NSA .. watching porn with Nancy ?
I thought NSA was supposed to look for foreign communications , but they were too busy listening to domestic !!
Your overgrown tax dollar at work !!
Who is watching the watchers ,.. other than Nancy and John Mc Lame ? ?

[Yaelle]

Yours is nominated for Post of the Day.

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

Buckeye McFrog :" an al Qaeda courier, who was subsequently captured by Yemen’s National Security Bureau."

Probably an Al Jezzera newsman/courier.
Thats where Hillary and Zippey get all their news ..

[Pearls Before Swine]

Why do we reveal these things?

It’s as if O wants to give AQ security hints.

[elpadre]

In the Bush years AQ and other Islamist groups quickly learned not to use the telephone or internet as The Seals or a drone would quickly visit them. If they use it now I suspect it will only be for misdirection and decoy purposes.

[gaijin]

1. It’s a LIE - They had no real-time conference. The lie is designed to justify the Utah Data Center in Bluffdale, and numerous other intrusive NSA programs.

2. It’s the TRUTH - They did have a real-time conference, which would mean AQ has secure commo but innocent Americans do not. Which means the NSA is FAILING.

[InterceptPoint]

You should re- read the article. If you do you will find this:

Earlier this summer, the al Qaeda courier began uploading messages to a series of encrypted accounts containing minutes of what appeared to have been an important meeting. A U.S. intelligence agency was able to exploit a flaw in the courier’s operational security, intercepting the digital packets and locating the courier, according to two U.S. intelligence officials and one U.S. official who reviewed the intelligence. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is 99.99 percent certain that the referenced U. S. Intelligence Agency is the NSA.

[InterceptPoint]

Why do we reveal these things? It’s as if O wants to give AQ security hints.
++++++++++
You may have stumbled on to the truth. More importantly the issue you raised should be the main focus of this thread. But instead we get another round of NSA bashing.

The people who released this information have damaged this country. They have given al Qaeda and their like important information about our intercept and decryption capabilities. They will make the nessary adjustments and we will lose valuable future intelligence as a result.

In an honest world we would call that treason.

[Buckeye McFrog]

Though I think when they realized that “hey, Adbul the courier went out to grab some takeout kebabs and never came back” they would have known the jig was up.

[InterceptPoint]

Though I think when they realized that “hey, Adbul the courier went out to grab some takeout kebabs and never came back” they would have known the jig was up.
+++++++++++
No doubt. Very little damage in divulging that fact.

The problem lies elsewhere.

The damage comes from letting out information about how we identified and tracked this courier and decrypted some of his messages. That is what NSA does and I’m willing to bet they are steaming mad that (presumably) Obama has given the OK to let out this information. It just makes their work harder and our men and women in the the military less safe.

It’s treason any way you cut it.

[Charles H. (The_r0nin)]

Earlier this summer, the al Qaeda courier began uploading messages to a series of encrypted accounts containing minutes of what appeared to have been an important meeting. A U.S. intelligence agency was able to exploit a flaw in the courier’s operational security, intercepting the digital packets and locating the courier, according to two U.S. intelligence officials and one U.S. official who reviewed the intelligence. All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity.

It is 99.99 percent certain that the referenced U. S. Intelligence Agency is the NSA.

You're making a lot of unwarranted assumptions there. First off, opsec is not necessarily electronic in nature (and in this case almost certainly isn't). This bozo operated in such a way that we could flag his traffic as coming from him. That means he uploaded from the same place multiple times, or he did something like making unsecure phone calls from the same location as he was uploading (since he's obviously already watchlisted). Basically, he made a mistake that allowed us to identify him as the source of the data and gave us his location. Then the Yemenis swooped in and picked him up. None of this would require the NSA (and especially not PRISM) to accomplish. In fact, unless he was in the US or calling the US, PRISM wouldn't even be involved.

Simply put, if the Administration could claim this as a NSA success, you'd have seen the fact that we cracked his com somewhere in the leak (which was purposeful and from the WH... no doubt). Instead it clearly blames poor opsec for his capture. Sorry, but the NSA spying on Americans doesn't have anything to do with this guy...

[InterceptPoint]

Sorry, but the NSA spying on Americans doesn’t have anything to do with this guy...
+++++++++
Did I say it did? I don’t think so. I didn’t mention PRISM. There is no connection to a possible U. S. person as far as I know.

Could some other agency besides NSA be the one intercepting and locating this guy?I suppose. But I doubt it. And that’s not the point in any case. This information should have remained a secret.

You may be right about the OPSEC connection. But most of what you say is just speculation. A little more reasoned than most of the NSA posts but speculation nevertheless.