Friday, July 07, 2006

New York Train Tunnel Plot Compromised By NYT Leak

Apparently, that is the case. It seems the FBI had to close in on the Jihadis earlier than they normally would have as a result of the New York Time SWIFT program leak:


Two law enforcement sources told FOX News, however, that the main target was the underground PATH train system that connects New York and New Jersey. Other transport systems are said to have been considered by the plotters, but they showed the most interest in the PATH trains.

The planning was not far along, one U.S. official said, but authorities “take aspirations of that sort seriously.”

It is not clear whether this case was one of several our sources claim they discussed in general terms with the New York Times, and which Treasury and Justice told the Times would be endangered if it went public with the SWIFT program. It appears the arrest of the plotter in Lebanon took place before the SWIFT story was leaked.

But another DOJ source added something interesting to the mix: “If you go back and look at some of our more successful anti-terrorism cases, they have focused on taking down entire networks. How do we do that? From the inside, peeling off a lead actor, turning him and using him to keep the plot moving forward so we can trace everyone else, the money, the accounts, the weapons dealers, everyone. I’ll just note that we weren’t able to do that with this case and leave it at that. We could have, but we weren’t able to. You’ll have to do the math for the Times.”

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