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Qaeda Goes Dark After a U.S. Slip (ABC leak damage)
The Sun ^ | Oct. 9, 2007 | Eli Lake

Posted on 10/09/2007 2:21:58 AM PDT by jsh3180

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.

The intelligence blunder started with what appeared at the time as an American intelligence victory, namely that the federal government had intercepted, a full four days before it was to be aired, a video of Osama bin Laden's first appearance in three years in a video address marking the sixth anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001. On the morning of September 7, the Web site of ABC News posted excerpts from the speech.

But the disclosure from ABC and later other news organizations tipped off Qaeda's internal security division that the organization's Internet communications system, known among American intelligence analysts as Obelisk, was compromised. While intranets are usually based on servers in a discrete physical location, Obelisk is a series of sites all over the Web, often with fake names, in some cases sites that are not even known by their proprietors to have been hacked by Al Qaeda.

One intelligence officer who requested anonymity said in an interview last week that the intelligence community watched in real time the shutdown of the Obelisk system. America's Obelisk watchers even saw the order to shut down the system delivered from Qaeda's internal security to a team of technical workers in Malaysia. That was the last internal message America's intelligence community saw. "We saw the whole thing shut down because of this leak," the official said. "We lost an important keyhole into the enemy."

(Excerpt) Read more at nysun.com ...


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; Government
KEYWORDS: 20070911; 911; abc; abcnews; alqaeda; gwot; internet; leakers; looselips; malaysia; mediatraitors; obelisk; obl; sedition; siteintelligencegrp; surveillance; treason; videotape; wot
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To: EBH

Don’t be too quick to hang him. He may well have been delivering an officially planned “leak” of that comment. All is not as it seems in the world of intelligence.


21 posted on 10/09/2007 3:24:09 AM PDT by GovernmentShrinker
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To: jsh3180

Qaeda Goes Dark After a U.S. Slip (ABC leak damage)...

abc demonstrating once again which side they are fully supporting....

yet like lib/dems all ~ they squeal they supoort the troops...wonder if they wear their american flag pins proudly on their lapels???


22 posted on 10/09/2007 3:26:17 AM PDT by nyyankeefan
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To: shalom aleichem
And what will the Justice Department do about it? (Nothing)

Aw, c'mon... It's not like anybody takes any of this National Security stuff seriously...

23 posted on 10/09/2007 3:26:46 AM PDT by gridlock (C'mon people now / Smile on your Brother / Everybody get together / Try to love one anoth-kaBOOM!)
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To: Brilliant
Many years ago a very senior Brit spook remarked abiut the CIA that "the United States has let loose upon an unsuspecting world a horde of demented boy scouts.

The Company acquired the nickname "The Boy Scouts" in certain circles.

But is the problem really with the CIA? I had thought that elint was the responsibility of the NSA.

24 posted on 10/09/2007 3:29:56 AM PDT by Clive
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To: Darkwolf377
The intelligence blunder started

You are correct.

This was no "intelligence blunder."

It was MSM Treason.

25 posted on 10/09/2007 3:36:47 AM PDT by SkyPilot
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To: jsh3180
Our media traitors tip off the enemy again.

Someone had to tell the media. Who was it?

26 posted on 10/09/2007 3:38:38 AM PDT by Non-Sequitur (Save Fredericksburg. Support CVBT.)
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To: jsh3180

Wouldn’t it be ironic if a member of news media were to die because they couldn’t keep their mouth shut??


27 posted on 10/09/2007 3:46:52 AM PDT by Perdogg (Join the NCAA basketball thread - Freemail me)
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To: Darkwolf377
If you read the second page of the linked article, strong suspicion placed on the government doing the leaking.

An investigation into who downloaded the video from our server indicated that several computers with IP addresses were registered to government agencies.

Yesterday a spokesman for the National Counterterrorism Center, Carl Kropf, denied the accusation that it was responsible for the leak. "That's just absolutely wrong. The allegation and the accusation that we did that is unfounded," he said. The spokesman for the director of national intelligence, Ross Feinstein, yesterday also denied the leak allegation. "The intelligence community and the ODNI senior leadership did not leak this video to the media," he said.

Ms. Katz said, "The government leak damaged our investigation into Al Qaeda's network. Techniques and sources that took years to develop became ineffective. As a result of the leak Al Qaeda changed their methods." Ms. Katz said she also lost potential revenue.

28 posted on 10/09/2007 3:56:32 AM PDT by listenhillary (millions crippled by the war on poverty....but we won't pull out)
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To: jsh3180
ABC - Anti-American Broadcast Company...And, they keep proving that!
29 posted on 10/09/2007 4:00:37 AM PDT by Road Warrior ‘04 (Officially Fredbacker1 but don't know how to change my name)
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To: jsh3180

Is this where the MSM told the bad guys we had their cell phone frequencies?


30 posted on 10/09/2007 4:05:51 AM PDT by 50sDad (Angels on asteroids are abducting crop circles!)
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To: freekitty

What the hell was our intelligence organization doing giving the Press the info to begin with? How many times do they need to be hit over the head before they will get the fact that the MSM will F em every time?


31 posted on 10/09/2007 4:11:21 AM PDT by Kozak (Anti Shahada: There is no god named Allah, and Muhammed is a false prophet)
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To: jsh3180

TRAITOROUS MEDIA SCUM!!!


32 posted on 10/09/2007 4:11:21 AM PDT by AmericaUnited
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To: gridlock

Guess who’s back working for Hillary again...


33 posted on 10/09/2007 4:14:24 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Visualize the Clintons in jail.)
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To: Darkwolf377

But you were right the first time. How did that information get to the MSM?


34 posted on 10/09/2007 4:16:39 AM PDT by rabidralph
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To: jsh3180

OK the dems like a witch-hunt.
Find the jerk responsible for the leak and charge the leaker with treason.


35 posted on 10/09/2007 4:19:36 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Before the government can give you a dollar it must first take it from another American)
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To: GovernmentShrinker

True. It may have been to see where things came from in the “shut down”.


36 posted on 10/09/2007 4:20:29 AM PDT by DB
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To: jsh3180

It’s time to bring back the “Committee on Un-American Activities”.


37 posted on 10/09/2007 4:20:40 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Before the government can give you a dollar it must first take it from another American)
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To: Cap Huff

Remember our discussions after Damadola....wasn’t it my position that we were intercepting AQ internet video posting.....I’ll be darned ....but....I was correct....:-)


38 posted on 10/09/2007 4:24:37 AM PDT by Dog
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To: Darkwolf377

How did ABC learn of the system?


39 posted on 10/09/2007 4:25:04 AM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain And Proud of It! Those who support the troops will pray for them to WIN!)
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To: Billthedrill; jeffers; Southack; nuconvert; txflake; AdmSmith

Fyi


40 posted on 10/09/2007 4:25:57 AM PDT by Dog
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