'FBI ...conducting ...70 ...investigations': 8/6/01 PDB

[skeptic9]

"The FBI is conducting approximately 70 full-field investigations throughout the
U.S. that it considers bin Laden-related."

--From the 8/6/01 transcript of 'Bin Laden determined to strike in US', at
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/10/august6.memo/index.html

Question #1 for the FBI at the 9-11 Commission hearings starting Tuesday may be,

"Had any of those investigations turned up evidence related to what happened at the WTC and Pentagon on 9-11"?

According to NBC Nightly News, Richard Benveniste already is wondering about the details of those 70 investigations. The 9-11 Commission hearings this Tuesday and Wednesday will deal with "Law Enforcement and the Intelligence Community".

[displacedtexan]

1. Want to bet that those began under Clinton?

That would really embarrass the freak monkey!

[skeptic9]

9. GREAT idea! How can we get the 9-11 widows to make sure...

... this question gets asked Tuesday?

The number of "FISA Warrant applications" measures quantitatively the extent to which the Department of Justice is pursuing counterterrorism. Under Bill Clinton's and Janet Reno's watch, 796 of these applications were made in 1998. 886 in 1999, and 1005 in 2000.

According to the FISA Annual Report to Congress (see http://www.usdoj.gov/04foia/readingrooms/oipr_records.htm ), there were 932 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act warrant requests in 2001. What were the monthly, weekly, and daily distributions of such requests?

How many came during Bill Clinton's last three weeks, how many between Inauguration Day and 9/10/01, and how many on or after 9/11/01?

Between Inauguration Day and 9/10/01, how many FISA warrant requests from the field never made it out of the OIPR? What happened to these requests? Who in OIPR worked on them? In particular, what happened to Colleen Rowley's request for a FISA warrant to search Zacharias Moussaoui's competer?

Answers to these questions would show in a quantitative way how Dubya seized conterterrorism responsibilities from Bill Clinton on Inauguration Day, and then proceeded to leave doors unlocked for terrorists, and to turn off alarm systems. Despite his fantasies to the contrary, Dubya is no Winston Churchill, and these statistics could help prove this to millions of voters.

A few of us DUers have been researching and thinking about this since 2001. See especially the August 2002 thread archived at http://www.democraticunderground.com/cgi-bin/duforum/duboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=1922&forum=DCForumID60 This post is paraphrased from post #13 in that archived thread.

[LittleApple81]

2. FBI: 70? where? what? who put it there?

DISPUTING RICE TESTIMONY

BY KNUT ROYCE AND TOM BRUNE
WASHINGTON BUREAU


WASHINGTON -- The FBI on Friday disputed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony that it was conducting 70 separate investigations of al-Qaida cells in the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

snip...

But the FBI Friday said that those investigations were not limited to al-Qaida and did not focus on al-Qaida cells. FBI spokesman Ed Coggswell said the bureau was trying to determine how the number 70 got into the report.

snip...

In addition to these investigations, Rice told the panel that FBI headquarters, reacting to alarming but vague intelligence in the spring and summer of 2001 that attacks were imminent, "tasked all 56 of its U.S. field offices to increase surveillance of known suspected terrorists" and to contact informants who might provide leads.

That, too, is news to the field offices. Commissioner Timothy J. Roemer told Rice that the commission had "to date ... found nobody, nobody at the FBI, who knows anything about a tasking of field offices." Even Thomas Pickard, at the time acting FBI director, told the panel that he "did not tell the field offices to do this," Roemer said

more....

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-rice0410,0,3695500.story?coll=ny-nation-big-pix

[mike1963]

4. Yes, the number is probably BS, but someone should ask him:

"Since you knew there were 70 investigations in progress, wouldn't that have been an indication that there was some fire behind all that smoke?
How many more would have aroused your curiosity?"

:eyes:

[skeptic9]

5. Great link! I find the last 2 sentences most relevant ...

... for thinking about what may happen on Tuesday and Wednesday:

'Asked to elaborate on the nature of the suspicious activities, Coggswell, the FBI spokesman, said, "I can't speak to that classified document."

Some answers may come Tuesday, when Louis J. Freeh, the FBI's director until June 2001, and Pickard, who then served as acting director until a few days before Sept. 11, testify publicly before the commission.'

--From http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-rice0410,0,3695500.story

[havocmom]

3. Can't help wondering how many FBI investigations on pron at present

Law enforcement under Ashcroft seems a bit too preoccupied with morality enforcement.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x50809
Gee, maybe they have all the terrorist investigations tied up and are bored? </sarcasm>

[peacetalksforall]

10. If only the terrorists had been running a prostitution ring...

[F.Gordon]

6. Deputy Attorney General memo issued that same day.......

The 1995 Procedures require the FBI to notify the Criminal Division when "facts or circumstances are developed" in an FI or FCI investigation "that reasonably indicate that a significant federal crime has been, is being, or may be committed." This notification requirement is mandatory and is to be followed by the FBI absent a specific exemption for a particular investigation granted by me or the Attorney General after discussions with the Core Group (see Part 4). Several aspects of the notification requirement bear emphasis.

The Interim Measures established a Core Group consisting of the FBI Assistant Directors for the Counterterrorism and National Security Divisions, the Counsel for OIPR, and representatives of the Office of the Deputy Attorney General. The Core Group is to resolve disputes concerning application of the 1995 Procedures in particular cases. Thus, for example, if the FBI or OIPR is uncertain whether a particular case satisfies the "reasonable indication" standard for notifying the Criminal Division, the matter shall be brought to the attention of the Core Group. Other disagreements that arise from application of the 1995 Guidelines shall also be brought to the attention of the Core Group. The Core Group will then make a recommendation to me or to the Attorney General for a final decision on the matter.


http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/doj/fisa/dag080601.html

It does seem that the Justice Department was trying to clear an intelligence chain from the FBI FI "full-field" investigations to the Attorney General. On the same day the "historical" briefing was given to Mr. Clueless in Wacko. Hmmm.......

[crisis]

7. FBI says Rice is a liar

WASHINGTON -- The FBI on Friday disputed National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony that it was conducting 70 separate investigations of al-Qaida cells in the United States before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Rice, testifying before the Sept. 11 commission Thursday, said that those 70 investigations were mentioned in a CIA briefing to the president and satisfied the White House that the FBI was doing its job in response to dire warnings that attacks were imminent and that the administration felt it had no need to act further.

But the FBI Friday said that those investigations were not limited to al-Qaida and did not focus on al-Qaida cells. FBI spokesman Ed Coggswell said the bureau was trying to determine how the number 70 got into the report.

The Aug. 6, 2001, memo was prescient in its title, which she divulged for the first time as "Bin Laden Determined to Attack Inside the United States."

She said the briefing memo disclosed that the FBI had 70 "full-field investigations under way of cells" in the United States. And that, Rice said, explained why "there was no recommendation that we do something about" the flurry of threat warnings in the months preceding the attacks.

But Coggswell Friday said that those 70 investigations involved a number of international terrorist organizations, not just al-Qaida. He said that many were criminal investigations, which terrorism experts say are not likely to focus on preventing terrorist acts. And he said he would "not characterize" the targets of the investigations as cells, or groups acting in concert, as was the case with the Sept. 11 hijackers.

In addition to these investigations, Rice told the panel that FBI headquarters, reacting to alarming but vague intelligence in the spring and summer of 2001 that attacks were imminent, "tasked all 56 of its U.S. field offices to increase surveillance of known suspected terrorists" and to contact informants who might provide leads.

That, too, is news to the field offices. Commissioner Timothy J. Roemer told Rice that the commission had "to date ... found nobody, nobody at the FBI, who knows anything about a tasking of field offices." Even Thomas Pickard, at the time acting FBI director, told the panel that he "did not tell the field offices to do this," Roemer said.

Two and a half years after the terrorist attacks, it remains unclear why the FBI, given the general but dire warnings that preceded the attacks, did not go on full alert.

The agency clearly believed something was afoot. On July 12 of that year, Assistant FBI Director Dale Watson, chief of the counterterrorism division, told the National Governors Association that a significant terrorist attack was likely on U.S. soil. "I'm not a gloom-and-doom-type person," he said. "But I will tell you this. headed for an incident inside the United States."

The Aug. 6 CIA memo, called the president's daily brief, includes this passage: "The FBI indicates patterns of suspicious activity in the United States consistent with preparations for hijacking." This line was read into the record by Commissioner Bob Kerrey, but the memo itself remains classified. The White House said it may declassify it as early as next week.

Asked to elaborate on the nature of the suspicious activities, Coggswell, the FBI spokesman, said, "I can't speak to that classified document."

Some answers may come Tuesday, when Louis J. Freeh, the FBI's director until June 2001, and Pickard, who then served as acting director until a few days before Sept. 11, testify publicly before the commission.

http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-rice0410,0,3695500.story?coll=ny-nation-big-pix

[RoadRunner]

8. Hi crisis, Welcome to DU!!

Gladya' found us! :hi: