The FBI is investigating the mysterious death of a young American Jewish terrorism expert who worked at a think tank where research into Islamic extremism has drawn death threats, family and friends said.
Jason Korsower, 29, died in his sleep in his Washington apartment on Friday, November 26, after returning from Thanksgiving celebrations with his family in his native Atlanta.
For his 29 years, Korsower had lived a full life, thriving in a Jewish youth group, serving in the Israeli army in a crack infantry unit, studying religion and most recently plunging into terrorism research in Washington. He was also about to start law school.
Korsower's family and friends told JTA that FBI agents had gathered information about the death, but they know little else. An FBI agent in Atlanta, Steve Lazarus, refused to confirm or deny an investigation, citing FBI policy. However, an FBI spokeswoman in Washington, Debra Weierman, had referred JTA to the FBI's Atlanta bureau, even though JTA had not mentioned Korsower's hometown in its request for information.
Officials at the Investigative Project, where Korsower worked, also would not comment. The Investigative Project is run by Steve Emerson, whose predictions of a major Islamist attack in the 1990s enhanced his credibility as a terrorism expert after the attacks of September 11, 2001. After the attacks, the number of death threats against him and his organization ratcheted up – and drove his organization semi-underground.
The death of Korsower, who was athletic and believed to be in good health, continued to mystify his family, who is wracked with grief. An autopsy was inconclusive.
"It wasn't an aneurysm. It wasn't a heart attack. It wasn't the obvious things that could happen to a healthy 29-year-old," his mother, Karen Grablowsky, told JTA on Tuesday.
"I knew he worked for the Investigative Project. But we thought he was safe," she said, noting that Emerson himself said that it was very unlikely that he would have been targeted.
One of Jason's articles:
Jason Korsower of the Washington, D.C., counter-terrorism think tank The Investigative Project told CNSNews.com that "these events could be dry runs or decoys designed to divert the intelligence community's attention to planes while the next attack might be maritime or a truck bomb."
His death sounds so very suspicious.
Thanks for bringing this story and links to us all4one! It's certainly one that requires a second look when more info is gathered.