Exclusive: Al Qaeda Conference Call Intercepted by U.S. Officials Sparked Alerts

[geek tragedy]

Source: The Daily Beast

Several news outlets reported Monday on an intercepted communication last week between Zawahiri and Nasser al-Wuhayshi, the leader of al Qaeda’s affiliate based in Yemen. But The Daily Beast has learned that the discussion between the two al Qaeda leaders happened in a conference call that included the leaders or representatives of the top leadership of al Qaeda and its affiliates calling in from different locations, according to three U.S. officials familiar with the intelligence. All told, said one U.S. intelligence official, more than 20 al Qaeda operatives were on the call.

To be sure, the CIA had been tracking the threat posed by Wuhayshi for months. An earlier communication between Zawahiri and Wuhayshi delivered through a courier was picked up last month, according to three U.S. intelligence officials. But the conference call provided a new sense of urgency for the U.S. government, the sources said.

Al Qaeda members included representatives or leaders from Nigeria’s Boko Haram, the Pakistani Taliban, al Qaeda in Iraq, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and more obscure al Qaeda affiliates such as the Uzbekistan branch. Also on the call were representatives of aspiring al Qaeda affiliates such as al Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula, according to a U.S. intelligence official. The presence of aspiring al Qaeda affiliates operating in the Sinai was one reason the State Department closed the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, according to one U.S. intelligence official. “These guys already proved they could hit Eilat. It’s not out of the range of possibilities that they could hit us in Tel Aviv,” the official said.



Read more: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/08/07/al-qaeda-conference-call-intercepted-by-u-s-officials-sparked-alerts.html

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Rather surprising AQ would be so stupid as to hold a conference call with that many participants. Didn't they learn anything from Mitt Rmoney?

[rocktivity]

1. Well, why WOULDN'T Al Qaeda have conference calls?

Last edited Wed Aug 7, 2013, 05:49 PM - Edit history (1)

We know for a fact that they have a personnel department!


rocktivity[//b]

[geek tragedy]

2. I'm trying to envision AQ guys on a conference call, rolling their eyes as that schuck from the back

office takes too long to make a simple point . . .

[penultimate]

30. I laughed when read the title thinking of how it went down

*beeeeep*

AQ1) Hello, who just came in?
AQ2) This is Hassan.
AQ1) Hey, Hassan, I'm Akmed, interim Al Qaeda leader #2. I will be leading this call today. We're waiting on a few others to join.

*beeeeeep*
AQ1) Who just joined?
AQ3) Hadiyah here.
AQ2) Oh a girl!!!

Okay, I'm bored.

[dipsydoodle]

3. Its also possible

they were aware of the "listening in" and responded accordingly with disinformation.

[geek tragedy]

4. Seems like a lot of effort to salt a gold mine.

It's possible, but I dunno. Weird development either way.

[niyad]

5. okay, I have not had sufficient caffeine this morning, but I am expected to believe, after all the

info about nsa surveillance, etc., that these guys were on a "conference call"??

come on, people, you can do better than this.

this is as much fun as the wet/dry expolsives

[KansDem]

6. But...but...we don't have enough translators!

This was one of the excuses for letting the sitting president's family friends and business partners fly airliners into our tallest buildings.

That and he didn't want to scare the children.

[Roland99]

7. Defusing national outrage over spying on phone calls, perhaps?

Although, if they're spying overseas, is it as bad as spying on US citizens against the Constitution?

[Doctor_J]

16. Yeah, this came right on schedule

I'm surprised they didn't "raise the alert level to orange" or whatever

[Roland99]

22. Where's Tom Ridge when you need him?

[RC]

29. Working on something like this?

[Maedhros]

41. I inspired a meme!

Wow. Nice work.

[RC]

42. Thank you.

I'm sure you will be seeing it again. You can use it too, if you like.

[alc]

8. we caught it just in time

Just imagine what could have happened. Without this press release, we may have kept complaining and Congress may have done something to crack down on what many of us think are unconstitutional collections of information. If all goes well, those complaints and oversight threats are in the past and the NSA has once again helped avoid a catastrophe (and can continue to collect information on terrorists and candidates and judges and anyone else who may cause them problems in the future - only collecting the information, not using it except for terrorists)

[Fuddnik]

9. Yeah, it was a conference call to discuss a bridge I'm selling them.

They're all on the AT&T family plan.

Conference call my ass.

I remember when the caught the Insane Clown Posse Network of homeless terrorists in Miami discussing blowing up the Sears Tower on their satellite phones.

[rhett o rick]

10. Ok, I am convinced. Let the NSA operate with impunity, just keep me safe. nm

[geek tragedy]

13. I don't think this has anything to do with the controversial programs.

[rhett o rick]

17. Just a coincidence that when we try to crack down of the spy'ers that we are

told how terrible the threats are. Maybe they should bring back the color codes (where is Tom Ridge when you need him).

"The AQ threat is real, dont bother the NSA."

[geek tragedy]

20. The NSA debate is not the center of the universe.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23598516

The BBC's correspondent in Washington, David Willis, says it appears that Yemen was at the centre of a complex and audacious plot which - had it succeeded - would have given al-Qaeda control over a crucial aspect of the country's infrastructure.



Yemeni government spokesman Rajeh Badi said the plot involved blowing up oil pipelines and taking control of certain cities - including two ports in the south, one of which accounts for the bulk of Yemen's oil exports and is where a number of foreign workers are employed.

"There were attempts to control key cities in Yemen like Mukala and Bawzeer," said Mr Badi.

"This would be co-ordinated with attacks by al-Qaeda members on the gas facilities in Shebwa city and the blowing up of the gas pipe in Belhaf city."

Al-Qaeda members dressed as soldiers were to be outside the ports, he said. On a given signal they were to invade the facility and take it over.

Yemeni officials quoted by AP news agency said they believed the motive for the planned attacks was retaliation for the killing of senior al-Qaeda figure Said al-Shihri, who was critically wounded in a November drone strike and later died of his injuries.

AQ did not cease to exist because of the NSA debate.

[rhett o rick]

21. You are missing the point entirely. nm

[geek tragedy]

23. Not really. Virtually every real event happens at a time that's convenient for some and

inconvenient for others.

The timing is always suspicious.

[leveymg]

25. It doesn't. But, they want us to think it does.

This is the sort of foreign surveillance NSA has always done, and was set up to do. They could totally eliminate the warrantless domestic spying programs, and it would not in one bit impact NSA's capabilities to continue doing this sort of necessary monitoring overseas.

[geek tragedy]

32. I agree. Even if one accepts the existence of this threat, that does not mean

one has to accept the spin put on it by surveillance state apparatchiks.

[leveymg]

46. The threats are real, just not what they'd like us to believe.

Last edited Wed Aug 7, 2013, 03:32 PM - Edit history (1)

For several decades, every real mass casualty "foreign" terrorist attack that has succeeded inside the US has been carried out by groups and individuals associated with CIA covert operations. This is true going back to WTC '93, and includes 9/11, the string of Anwar al-Awlaki-related incidents (which included 9/11 and the Underwear Bomber), and the Tsarnaev brothers. In other words, almost all real terrorism that has caused civilian casualties in America in recent times has been carried out by "our" terrorists.

If after 9/11, we had simply curtailed the CIA's use of terrorists, or at least allowed the FBI to watch and arrest them, we wouldn't be having this debate. Instead, the government threw money at contractors to spy on everyone, Bush invaded Iraq, and the CIA continued along its merry way, running known terrorists in and out of the country.

Unfortunately, American casualties from terrorist attacks is seen as acceptable collateral damage of CIA covert operations (or, treated as acceptable by US policymakers, who never really change the way intelligence agencies do business) and are used as a pretense to go to war (not necessarily against those who actually attack us) and to build up a police state apparatus inside the US.

This is the real "intelligence failure" of U.S. Counter-terrorism.

[stupidicus]

11. Then why weren't some/all of them droned?

I'd ask

[geek tragedy]

15. Over a telecom line? nt

[leveymg]

27. That would spoil the game. Like going into Superbowl halftime with Buffalo down by 40 points.

Think of the lost ad revenue. Horrifying.

[VWolf]

43. Buffalo down at a superbowl?

Never.

[leveymg]

45. "Nobody could have imagined such a thing." ;-)

[Jackpine Radical]

12. I wonder if these Al Quaeda types

get phone calls with important news about their credit cards, and offers to help them get out of their timeshares in Qatar.

[geek tragedy]

14. One of them was from Nigeria . . . nt

[stupidicus]

18. I see

being on a con-call hopelessly obscures ones location

they should fix that

[Orrex]

24. It's true

being on a con-call hopelessly obscures ones location

When I'm on a conference call at work, I can't find my cube for two or three hours afterward.

[marmar]

19. Sorry, but my BS detector is on Orange.

[Lugal Zaggesi]

26. So what's the plan here ?

...a key factor that led the State Department to close embassies, missions, and consulates throughout the region. “All you need to do is look at that list of places we shut down to get a sense of who was on the phone call,” the official said.

They abandon all the embassies, missions and consulates in areas where Al Qaeda might attack them - now Al Qaeda knows they are undefended and reduces all the buildings to rubble - the Americans come back and start over in rubble-strewn vacant lots when the "Threat Level" returns to green or blue ?

Is that the Plan ?

[center]
Ha ha ! Nobody was there when they blew up the Embassy ![/center]

When you allow US Embassies to be turned into rubble, the Terrorists win:



Say, aren't the Americans in Riyadh holding down a huge uprising against the hated Saudi royalty? What happens when they are removed?

[hedgehog]

28. I can believe that this story is true; it makes perfect sense to me.

But at the same time, I am hoping for someone to satirize this with what goes on with typical conference calls -

- someone has trouble signing on and has to be coached thru the process

- someone has to be told to stop using a speaker phone

- someone has to go to another line to call the guy who is supposed to be on the call but hasn't signed on

- the first people to sign in are forced to listen to Muzak waiting for the chairperson to sign on.

[geek tragedy]

31. automated voice: "Al Qaeda philippines has joined the call" nt

[RC]

33. I was on a conferance call once.

Actually lots of conference calls. These calls could sometimes last 4 hours or more.
But anyway, on this one call, someone forgot to mute their mike. Sometime in the middle of the call, you could hear snoring. And not softly either. The moderator was pissed! It only took the operator a minute or so to discover which line it was and therefore the phone number and the person on the other end.
I can imagine after his ruined day, he did not fall asleep in any conference calls after that.

[geek tragedy]

34. The Dilbertization of Al Qaeda.

Zawahiri as the pointy haired boss?

[BumRushDaShow]

40. !!!!!

I'm sorry but that was hilarious!

[indio55555]

35. But

NSA can only listen in on them half way around the world, but can't find and do justice? Also Yemen has been a hotbed for years, so why now? Are we just playing the 'exterminator' game for the Saudis to get rid of some of these cockroaches?

[GoneFishin]

36. Hahahahahahahahaha. pphfft.

Hahahaha.

[postulater]

37. If they can find their phones, then they can find the people.

Why haven't they gotten Zawahiri yet?

[Ian David]

38. Too bad it wasn't a Google Hang-Out. n/t

[AppleBottom]

39. LOL, Al Qaeda probably has a couple of unsecure Skype accounts as well...

Let the propaganda continue.

[Maedhros]

44. Laughing at the Government's cries of "Wolf!!!"

is very healthy. The more people that ridicule these attempts to make us afraid, the better off we will be as a nation.

[Dash87]

47. This call is brought to you by Cisco Telepresence.

Feel like you're actually there!