German media say CIA observed 11 September death pilot, took no action

BBC Monitoring ^ | August 13 2003 | ddp news agency

[knighthawk]

Hamburg: The US secret service, the CIA, had apparently been on the trail of one of the three Hamburg death pilots of 11 September since March 1999. According to ARD and Stern magazine [as of 1030 gmt on 13 August, the Stern and ARD web sites were not observed to carry this report and the hardcopy version of Stern is not yet available], it was Marwan al-Shehhi, who later piloted the Boeing that crashed into the south tower of the World Trade Centre in New York on 11 September. Yet the CIA did not take any action against the man before the terror attack, a report released by the two media on Wednesday [13 August] claims.

According to the report, the US secret service knew al-Shehhi's name, his nationality, and his cell phone number two-and-a-half years before the attacks of New York and Washington. In addition, the CIA knew that he studied in Germany and maintained close contact there with the Syrian-born German Haydar Zammar, who was living in Hamburg. As an Al-Qa'idah mastermind in Germany, Zammar had been under observation by the CIA and German intelligence services since 1993.

This information was apparently not passed on to the US federal police, the FBI, the State Department, or the US immigration authority. Thus, al-Sehhhi entered the United States on 30 May 2000 and was trained as a pilot in Florida, the report by Stern and ARD claims.

The CIA reportedly received its information from the Office for the Protection of the Constitution [BfV]. The BfV was observing the Syrian-born German Zammar at the time and was also tapping his telephone. When a certain "Marwan" called in January 1999, the security authorities expanded their investigations. Two months later, the information was forwarded to the CIA, the report says.

[knighthawk]

Ping

[MEG33]

What is the Office for the Protection of the Constitution?

[John Beresford Tipton]

" As an Al-Qa'idah mastermind in Germany, Zammar had been under observation by the CIA and German intelligence services since 1993."

Shows that the information gathering was not the trouble but rather not acting on it.

Shows what a complete sham the push by Ashcroft and the administration to gut the Constitution by passing things like the Patriot Act is.

They already knew of this guy.

But the Patriot Act furthers two goals of the administration:

1. It further concentrates power in the hand of the feds and

2.It is a distraction to the questions that should be asked:
a. "What the the government know and when did it know it"?
b. "Why wasn't one part of the government sharing the info with other parts"?
c. "Knowing what the government already knew, was there any *less* the government could have done to prevent a terrrorist attack"?

[Steve_Seattle]

"What is the Office for the Protection of the Constitution?"

I was wondering the same thing; since its initials are given as BfV, which do not match the words Office for the Protection of the Constitution, I wonder if this is a foreign agency, possibly German, and the initials reflect the name in its native language. Just a guess.

[MEG33]

Sounds reasonable..

[Steve_Seattle]

"John Beresford Tipton"

With this name, you're really dating yourself. Whatever became of Michael Anthony?

[knighthawk]

Their site:

http://www.verfassungsschutz.de/

It also has got an English part:

In Germany there are three national intelligence services. The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) gathers intelligence of foreign countries; the Office for the Protection of the Constitution (BfV) gathers intelligence on certain activities at home and the Military Intelligence Services (MAD) is responsible for security within the Federal Armed Forces (Bundeswehr).

Unlike other countries Germany does not have a central intelligence service, and the intelligence services have no police powers. Therefore members of these intelligence services are not authorized to carry out any executive measures (arrests, search of premises, interrogations, confiscation of items). If the BfV establishes that judicial and police measures are required the matter is handed over to agencies with appropriate legal powers (the courts, public prosecutors, police) which decide independently what action is justified.

The Constitution (Grundgesetz) and the federal laws and the laws of the states (Laender) lay down in detail the protection of the constitution by intelligence means.

In Germany the protection of the constitution is organized on the federal basis. Every Land has an office for the protection of the constitution (LfV). The intelligence gathered by the Laender is stored centrally by the BfV. The BfV does not control the offices for the protection of the constitution of the Laender but cooperates closely with them.

The BfV's task, laid down in law, is to monitor all activities directed against the free democratic order (so-called "left-wing" and "right-wing" extremist activities). It is also responsible for counter-espionage and also collects information on the activities of foreigners, where these pose a threat to security.

In addition to this primary task the BfV is involved in the security vetting of personnel with access to classified information or of persons employed in sensitive posts within essential or defence establishments.

The free democratic order does not represent the whole constitution. According to the definition of the Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) it covers the basic principles of our legal system which include:

- the observance of the human rights laid down in the Constitution (Grundgesetz),
- the sovereignty of the people,
- the division of powers,
- the responsibility of the government,
- the observance of the law by the administration,
- the independence of the courts,
- the multi-party system with each party having equal opportunities and the right to form an opposition within the framework of the constitution.

In the field of political extremism the BfV mainly studies organizations which seek to partly or completely subvert the free democratic order or individual basic principles. The BfV does not study single persons who carry out activities e.g. to establish whether someone is "left-wing" or not.

About 80% of the BfV's information is gathered from overt sources. This office evaluates generally accessible publications (leaflets, newspapers, brochures, ets.), attends public events staged by extremist orga- nizations or collects information voluntarily supplied by individuals.

The BfV applies intelligence methods for collecting sensitive information of special significance. These intelligence methods are used to gather information covertly without the person concerned being aware of it. These intelligence methods include in particular:

- the infiltration or recruitment and handling of agents in extremist terrorist organizations,
- the surveillance of suspects,
- secret photography
- interception of post and telecommunications (this method is only available in cases of suspected treason or membership in a terrorist organization and it is only possible when stringent conditions are met and after a complicated approval procedure),
- other measures to conceal certain BfV operational activity by the use of non-attributable vehicle registration numbers or identity cards with cover names.

The intelligence gathered by the BfV has the purpose of giving the government an oversight of the anti-constitutional activities posing a security risk. It may also be used as justification for the imposition of defensive measures of a democracy (the banning of parties, organizations, stripping of constitutional rights, the banning of extremists from employment in the public service).

The BfV material is normally only disseminated to public authorities. Only in special cases are exceptions possible and only with ministerial approval.

The BfV, like any other government office, is subject to the controls of parliament, the courts and the public. A Parliamentary Control Commission, to which the BfV is normally answerable, checks particularly sensitive cases and operations. Operations in accordance with the Law on Article 10 of the Constitution (interception of post and telecommunications) are approved and checked in each and every case by a special independent commission as well as a Select Committee of Parliament (Bundestag).

[John Beresford Tipton]

Whatever became of Michael Anthony?

Ah, yes, Steve_Seattle, you remember my former glory years.
Now I am unfortunately, unable to add anyone to Michael Anthony's list.

Indeed, Mr. Anthony is no longer in my service. He said he was bored giving all those millions to worthy people such as you, Steve_Seattle. Instead he hooked up with that young scamp, Dick Clark, and joined his Publishers Clearing House Prize Patrol.

So though you might keep looking down you driveway for Mr. Anthony, he will no longer be coming here to Silverstone on his way to find his "next millionaire".

On many occasions I was able to summon Michael Anthony to come to my palatial estate, Silverstone, to receive his next assignment. Unfortunately, his scoundrel of a cousin, Mordred "Tex" Anthony had me mortgage Silverstone and invest in Enron. I am now trying to get handouts from all those very same millionaires that I created, but because I did it anonymously, they think I'm a con man and slam the door in my face.

Now if you would like to send me a small remittance, it might enable me to prime my finacial pump, by flying over to Nigeria to move ahead with a project that I am told, in absolute confidence, should fatten my secret bank account that their Central Bank is holding in my name to the sweet tune of $50 million rolling. Can I count on you?

[alloysteel]

The CIA did not have so much a reluctance of taking action, as they were CONSTRAINED from acting. Remember, that even with their badly hamstrung efforts to gather intelligence (and some of it was even getting to the highest levels), there was NO authorization to act. This had become the culture of the CIA, and only after 9/11 were these limitations even considered for reduction or abolition.

[MEG33]

Thanks!

[SouthParkRepublican]

Bump for later

[Trust but Verify]

Of course it's a German agency.

[Phsstpok]

Shows what a complete sham the push by Ashcroft and the administration to gut the Constitution by passing things like the Patriot Act is.

OK, your logic (what little of it there is) needs a little work. The surveillance of this mutt was because he was associated with other "people of interest," not because he had done anything anyone could act on. he didn't break the law during the period in question (which was almost entirely during St. Clinton's tenure, by the by). What in the hell does this have to do with your objections to the Patriot Act? The government should have acted against this guy because he might do something in the future, but there's no evidence of what, yet the provisions of the Patriot Act are too severe? You don't see a problem with that reasoning?

a. "What the the government know and when did it know it"?

Billy Jeff and his cronies knew that Islamic terrorists were intending bad things for every American, but he thought they weren't the threat (to him), only domestic Christian groups were worthy of government sanction and hostile attention. At the time this evil doer entered the country George W had been President 10 weeks. His FBI director was still some time away from approval by the Congress because of Democrats stalling the process and the attempt to steal the election in the Florida courts.

b. "Why wasn't one part of the government sharing the info with other parts"?

The laws passed by the Democrat controlled congress in the wake of Watergate and the Church Commission (which blamed the US and the CIA for all the evils in the world) made it illegal for the CIA and the FBI to share information. The Patriot Act you hate so much changed that.

c. "Knowing what the government already knew, was there any *less* the government could have done to prevent a terrrorist attack"?

Knowing what the Democrat administration of Bill Clinton knew for 8 years, and the damage done intentionally to our defenses and capabilities by Democrats and lib RINOs over the last 40 years could they have done anymore to make it certain that we would be attacked in this manner?

Is it possible that the current administration had even the slightest amount of time to do anything to affect this situation before we were hit? Is it possible that Ann Coulter has a new book about not just passive Treason by ignorant ommission but active attempts by libs and Dims to destroy this country at all costs by "any means necessary" out of sheer hatred? The kind that you appear to be exhibiting?

I don't care how many times your control repeats it to you, 1 + 1 doesn't equal 5. Send your talking points back to Carville, they need work.

(No, I'm not pissed about this constant stream of anti Bush BS that is being pushed by the left - I'm not steamed when someone tries to pass this off on FR as a "conservative" criticizing a gov "grab for power" when they're simply following the latest script from ABC news - no, I'm not upset at all...... Forgive me if I've been shrill or if I misunderstood your intent - you touched a very raw nerve)

[jd777]

Yes, The CIA was observing the "Hamburg Cell" (atta's group). And what was German Intelligence doing...?