THE FBI RESPONDS TO THE QUESTIONS ABOUT THE 2011 FOREIGN GOVERNMENT REQUEST ON TSARNAEV
Many people are blaming the Obama Administration or the FBI for the failure to act on a foreign government’s request (believed to be Russia) on the older terrorist brother … and somehow are blaming the FBI for not taking proactive action on a foreign national in the United States.
The FBI responds …
2011 Request for Information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev from Foreign Government
The two individuals believed to be responsible for the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday have been positively identified as Tamerlan Tsarnaev, now deceased, and Dzhokar Tsarnaev, now in custody. These individuals are brothers and residents of Massachusetts. Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a legal permanent resident and Dzhokar Tsarnaev is a naturalized U.S. citizen. Charges have not yet been filed against Dzhokar Tsarnaev and he is presumed innocent.
Tamerlan Tsarnaev, age 26, was previously designated as Suspect 1, wearing a black hat. Dzhokar A. Tsarnaev, age 19, was designated as Suspect 2, wearing a white hat. Both were born in Kyrgyzstan.
Once the FBI learned the identities of the two brothers today, the FBI reviewed its records and determined that in early 2011, a foreign government asked the FBI for information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev. The request stated that it was based on information that he was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer, and that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the country’s region to join unspecified underground groups.
In response to this 2011 request, the FBI checked U.S. government databases and other information to look for such things as derogatory telephone communications, possible use of online sites associated with the promotion of radical activity, associations with other persons of interest, travel history and plans, and education history. The FBI also interviewed Tamerlan Tsarnaev and family members. The FBI did not find any terrorism activity, domestic or foreign, and those results were provided to the foreign government in the summer of 2011. The FBI requested but did not receive more specific or additional information from the foreign government. Source: FBI — 2011 Request for Information on Tamerlan Tsarnaev from Foreign Government
CBS is reporting extremely troubling news regarding the FBI’s interactions with the Tsarnaevas …
CBS News correspondent John Miller reports it is likely Russia asked to have the elder Tsarnaev vetted because of suspected ties to Chechen extremists.
The FBI is likely to have run a background check, running his name through all the relevant databases, including those of other agencies, checking on his communications and all of his overseas travel. Miller reports that culminated in a sit-down interview where they probably asked him a lot of questions about his life, his contacts, his surroundings. All of this was then written in a report and sent it to the requesting government.
This is an issue they've had in the past. They interviewed Carlos Bledsoe in Little Rock, Ark., before he shot up an Army recruiting station in 2009. They were also looking into Major Hasan Nadal before the Fort Hood shootings. However, the FBI has maintained in those incidents that they took all the steps they were asked to and were allowed to under the law.
Although the FBI initially denied contacting Tsarnaev, the brothers' mother said they had in an interview with Russia Today. Zubeidat Tsarnaeva said her son got involved in "religious politics" about five years ago, and never told her he was involved in "jihad." She insisted the FBI "knew what he was doing on Skype" and that they counseled him "every step of the way."
Tsarnaeva, who is a U.S. citizen currently in Russia, told Russia Today the FBI had called her with concerns about her elder son, although she did not specify when exactly she was contacted.
"They used to come [to our] home, they used to talk to me ... they were telling me that he was really an extremist leader and that they were afraid of him," Tsarnaeva said. "They told me whatever information he is getting, he gets from these extremist sites... they were controlling him, they were controlling his every step...and now they say that this is a terrorist act!" Source: Boston suspects' father calls fugitive son a "true angel," says brothers were set up
Considering the history of the FBI and the use of confidential informant in terrorist activities, one might ask whether or not there involvement went beyond what they are claiming.
Could something have gone wrong?
Fake terror plots, paid informants: the tactics of FBI 'entrapment' questioned
Critics say the FBI is running a sting operation across America, targeting – to a large extent – the Muslim community by luring people into fake terror plots. FBI bureau send informants to trawl through Muslim communities, hang out in mosques and community centers, and talk of radical Islam in order to identify possible targets sympathetic to such ideals. Or they will respond to the most bizarre of tip-offs, including, in one case, a man who claimed to have seen terror chief Ayman al-Zawahiri living in northern California in the late 1990s.
That tipster was quickly hired as a well-paid informant. If suitable suspects are identified, FBI agents then run a sting, often creating a fake terror plot in which it helps supply weapons and targets. Then, dramatic arrests are made, press conferences held and lengthy convictions secured. <Source>
While I would have to think poorly of an iconic American institution and the Congressional oversight committees charged with reviewing the bureau’s activities, the preponderance of concerns over the fact that the FBI had an active investigation of these individuals and did not flag them for law enforcement review demands an investigation.
Bottom line …
There are three troubling issues at play. The first, how much official information was really withheld from the public and were the first photos released to the public the best photos available at that point in time? Second, why the FBI tracking system did not have more information regarding potential terrorists in and around a major prestigious and iconic national sporting event that was obviously a target? And third, can the Department of Justice, which runs the FBI, be trusted to handle the prosecution in light of its staff personnel who have represented terrorists in Guantanamo and seems to have bent over backwards to try terrorists as mere criminals. As if terrorists were simply mass murderers, rather than terrorists.
Nothing can bring back the dead or the limbs of the crippled. But, we must be assured that FBI tracking systems are greatly improved and that travelers to terrorist-associated foreign lands are heavily scrutinized upon reentry to the United States.
Personally, I would like the FBI to be a separate federal agency handling domestic intelligence and a cabinet level position.
-- steve
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