By Ted Barrett
The U.S. government has identified "a certain number of people" believed involved in the Benghazi, Libya, attack, a senior Republican lawmaker told CNN on Tuesday.
The lawmaker said that government investigators have put identities to individuals seen in surveillance video of the attack.
"They know the names. That's what we haven't known. These are individuals they know now. Not just the pictures," the senior lawmaker said.
The lawmaker, who is familiar with the status of the investigation, could not say how many had been identified.
Just last week, Attorney General Eric Holder hinted there were developments in the investigation. FULL POST
A former federal official who led information sharing efforts between intelligence agencies after September 11 says that system failed ahead of the Boston Marathon terrorist attacks earlier this month.
“We didn’t connect the dots that we had. Few though they might have been, they were serious enough that they should have been connected,” Ambassador Thomas McNamara said Monday on CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper.”
FULL STORY
By Pam Benson
The name of one Boston Marathon bombing suspect was included in U.S. law enforcement and counterterrorism databases, but he was not on any watch list that would have prevented him from flying or required additional screening when he left or entered the country, according to intelligence and law enforcement officials.
After the FBI was asked by the Russians in early 2011 to investigate Tamerlan Tsarnaev's possible connection to jihadist causes, his name was put on a Customs and Border Prevention list known as TECS, used to detect unusual or suspicious travel, so that the FBI and other agencies would know if he traveled outside the United States.
The FBI investigation turned up no terrorism threat or any other derogatory information and the case was closed in June of 2011.
Several months later in the fall of 2011, the CIA received from the Russians information almost identical to what had been given to the FBI, according to a U.S. intelligence official.
FULL POST
By Carol Cratty
As law enforcement agencies finalize security preparations for Barack Obama's second inauguration, an FBI official said Tuesday authorities have "no credible corroborated threats to any of the activities."
Debra Evans Smith, the FBI's acting assistant director in charge of its Washington field office, said the FBI will have specialized personnel ready to go to meet any security challenge.
"We will have our SWAT team, pretty much all of our specialty teams will be available and on standby to include (weapons specialists), our dive team, our intelligence team - working around the clock - our hostage negotiators, (and) our special agent bomb technicians will also be available," Smith told reporters.
FULL STORY
By Carol Cratty
The FBI performed nearly 2.8 million background checks on people wanting to buy guns in December, a record month that capped a record year.
The numbers from the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System on Wednesday did not show how many firearms buyers actually took home from federally licensed gun stores. Some purchasers may have bought more than one weapon.
Data is made publicly available, but the FBI but does not generally try to explain increases in the number of checks.
FULL STORY
By Dominique Debucquoy-Dodley
The FBI extensively monitored the Occupy Wall Street movement around the United States, using counterterrorism agents and other resources, according to recently released FBI internal documents.
The heavily redacted documents indicate that FBI counterterrorism agents were in close communication with law enforcement agencies, businesses, universities and other organizations across the country about the Occupy Wall Street movement, even before Occupy Wall Street set up a camp in New York's Zuccotti Park in September 2011.
In August 2011 the FBI informed New York Stock Exchange officials of a "planned Anarchist protest titled Occupy Wall Street" scheduled for September 17, 2011. The FBI also notified several New York businesses of the impending protests, according to the document.
FULL STORY
By Susan Candiotti, Ross Levitt and Mohamed Fadel Fahmy
American authorities are examining whether the leader of a post-revolution terror network in Egypt played a role in the September 11 attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge of the investigation.
Muhamed Jamal Abu Ahmed has been detained by Egyptian authorities; however, the FBI has not yet had access to him, the official said.
By Carol Cratty
Two Florida brothers originally from Pakistan were indicted Friday, accused of plotting to use an explosive device and conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists.
Raees Alam Qazi, 20, and Sheheryar Alam Qazi, 30, were arrested by FBI agents in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday. The indictment does not provide specific details about what the men may have been targeting, saying only they conspired to use a "weapon of mass destruction" against people and property in the United States.
The indictment alleges that the Qazis engaged in their conspiracy from at least July 2011 until the time of their arrest. There is no mention of whether any explosives or other weapons were seized when the men were arrested.
FULL POST
By Carol Cratty
The FBI has launched an international publicity effort asking for tips from anyone with knowledge about the September 11th attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi which killed four Americans.
The FBI is using the Internet and the social networking site Facebook to solicit help on the case. Last week the FBI posted "Seeking Information" notices in English, Arabic and French with pictures of the damaged consulate.
The "Seeking Information" posters say the FBI is "asking Libyans and people around the world for additional information related to the attacks." Respondents can text or e-mail the FBI or fill out a form on the FBI's website. The FBI notice says the information can be submitted confidentially. FULL POST
By Ben Brumfield
Four men from the greater Los Angeles area were allegedly on their way to train with the Taliban in Afghanistan and were plotting to kill American soldiers and bomb government installations, according to the FBI and the U.S. Attorney in Los Angeles.
They were charged Monday in a federal court in California, where three of them appeared for the first time. The fourth man was already in Afghanistan, where he was also apprehended, said U.S. attorney André Birotte Jr. and assistant director Bill Lewis from the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office in a joint statement.
Sohiel Omar Kabir, Ralph Deleon, Miguel Alejandro Santana Vidriales and Arifeen David Gojali face charges of supporting terrorists who conspired to kill, kidnap or harm U.S. officers and other U.S. citizens, as well as bomb public places and government facilities.
The Joint Terrorism Task Force in Riverside, California, arrested Deleon, 23, Santana, 21, and Gojali, 21 on Friday. Kabir, 34, spent over six months in Germany before arriving in Afghanistan in July, and is in custody there, according to the statement.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
