Posted on 11/15/2002 5:04:50 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
WASHINGTON – Justice Department officials confirmed Thursday that electronic intercepts of communications by suspected al-Qaeda operatives have recently hit their highest level ever.
"We have never seen this high level of the so-called 'chatter' by al-Qaeda guys," said one senior law enforcement source. "There's more of this stuff than we've ever seen before."
The confirmation of an increase in suspected al-Qaeda communications came just after U.S. intelligence officials said that a tape released Tuesday by an Arabic-language network was likely the voice of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and recorded in the past two weeks.
Bin Laden was last heard from on radio intercepts in December 2001, as the U.S. military and its Afghan allies attacked the al-Qaeda stronghold at Tora Bora in Afghanistan.
Since that time several bin Laden messages have been released, but none seemed timely enough to prove that he lived through the assault, which included widespread bombings of caves he was suspected of hiding inside. But Tuesday's messages included references to recent terror attacks in Bali, Moscow and Jordan, convincing many that it was recorded in the past two weeks.
While officials say the more communications are being intercepted than ever before, it remains unclear whether such information is an accurate harbinger of future terrorist acts. And observers said that the U.S. intelligence community has yet to reform its collection and analysis techniques to adequately interpret such data.
This chatter is generally considered to be intercepts by the National Security Agency of telephones, wireless communications and e-mail by suspected al-Qaeda operatives or sympathizers. The NSA uses a variety of techniques to collect this information, including satellite intercepts and ground-based listening posts, according to experts.
Volume, Not Content
"When they talk about chatter, they're talking about the volume of communications from suspected al-Qaeda sources, not the content," said James Bamford, an author who has extensively written about the NSA.
"Let's say the NSA is focusing on 150 known members of al-Qaeda and these guys on a Thursday have 45 to 50 communications between them. The suddenly on Friday they hear 150 to 200 messages. That's what happened right before Sept. 11 and before the anniversary."
"These guys talk in word code, or let's say they're talking in Arabic. They might have an Arabic linguist listening and suddenly the guys switch to Urdu or Pashto or Dari. Then we might have no idea what they're talking about until it can be translated."
Another expert with a background in intelligence issues said that in his view the U.S. intelligence community still has not adapted to the methods used by al-Qaeda and continue to use the tactics that failed to detect previous attacks.
"I haven't been impressed with the reforms," the source said. "From what my [former colleagues] tell me the effort has been disappointing. The reaction [to Sept. 11] has been 'Let's spend more money to do the same things we were doing before.' There has been no obvious change in the way they are organized or the way they do business."
The source also said that disinformation continues to be part of the al-Qaeda arsenal.
"They appear to be a reasonably sophisticated organization when it comes to such things," he said. "They clearly pay attention to the media. [During the Cold War] we were lucky that the Russians assumed that our media was as controlled as theirs was, so they assumed everything that was printed was disinformation. [Al-Qaeda] knows that isn't true, and they use the media to their advantage."
Bamford agrees that the interception of such communications have not always been a decent predictor of future action by the terrorist organization.
"It hasn't been very good," he said. "We didn't get such chatter warnings before the Bali bombing, the attack on the French tanker [off the coats of Yemen] or the killing of the American diplomat in Jordan. "They could be planning various operations that happen, or even ones that don't go through," he added.
"This could also just be a big spike of intelligence that among supporters at the news that [bin Laden] is still alive. This is a big deal to these guys as it's very embarrassing for U.S. intelligence that he's alive. He was the number one target in the world, right until they couldn't find him."
Copyright 2002 by United Press International.
The cells are here and have been trained for specified operations. Government is making us aware. Be aware.
The chatter is significant.
The government is concerned about the purchase of products which when combined will create explosives...
IT IS THE AL QAEIDA STUPID
IT IS BEN LADEN STUPID
IT IS THE MOSLEM TERRORIST STUPID
This Iraq thing is simply a distraction from the real mission to eradicate the ISLAMIC JIHADISTS, wherever it is, and its source of funds. Remember, we are still playing footsy with Iran, and Saudi Arabia, the people who f##ked us! We are still inviting the rabid American Moslems leaders to the White House for Ramadan celebration! Where is the anger of this population? It is misdirected to one stupid dictator. It should be toward ALL Moslems until they show remorse, and seek to be accepted as human beings by behaving as ones.
Every single Arab leader is a dictator. We should force these dictators to reform the hate preaching. Instead of listening to the BS of Mr. Bush that Islam is a religion of peace!
So if I buy sugar and fertilizer I'm going into an FBI database? I'm sure just a little more police state will save us all...
Here it is.
It's too bad we've become so PC that we can't even fight a war effectively.
I could not imagine a more horrific set of targets: Cinemas full of children during the opening weekend.
This is what is happening IMO.
Still can't bring themselves to say 'islamic terrorists', can they?
I would hazard a guess that northeast corridor airspace is once again actively patrolled by F-15s and F-16s, among others.
(steely)
If one billion people get fed venomous preaching every day, no wonder they end up with a few dozens losers who are willing to kill themselves for the cause. Our war should be with these nations to stop the venomous preaching. DO YOU THINK WE WOULD HAVE ANY OPPOSITION IN THE UN IF WE SIMPLY REQUESTED THAT? That by itself can be a hell of a good step to dry out the supply of haters terrorists. Now, how many leaders in congress, how many highly paid talking heads, how many Investigating reporters keep drilling this one single demand.
They want to collect information on every single transaction of every single American. That is the latest invention! Why don’t you hire a load of Arabic, Iranian, and Pakistani speaking spies and penetrate all the dormant cells. But no, that would be too easy. It is simply money paid to workers. They rather pay hundreds of millions to a computer company to develop a monstrosity, that can be circumvented, any time.
My point is, if we hire say ten thousand ethnic spies, at a $100K each, we would cover every stinking mosque in this country. The high tech BS does not work with the underground movements. At least not as good as insiders, who can detect real facial expressions and real meanings from being in the place—not listening on the phone?.
...............ala the Moscow Theatre hostage situation. THIS has been on my mind too, and I have been too fearful to even bring it up.
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