Ways to Improve US Intelligence Networks

1. Devise a tickler system – an alert that reminds an agency to follow up with individuals who have exhibited terroristic traits. We can’t let these people “fall through the cracks”.
2. Draw inspiration from other industires. If google can devise an alert, than the FBI should be able to create an alert system.
3. We have to build an intelligence system that coordinates between the different agencies.
4. Our agencies need to start talking to eachother.
5. We have to keep our intelligence programs on a “need to know” basis.
6. Not everything should be made public.
7. When the joint terrorist task force works together, attacks can be stopped before happening.

One Year Later – Three Things We Have Learned Since the Boston Marathon Bombing

 

A year ago today, two young Chechen brothers, who had made a life in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were alleged to have carried out a horrific bombing at the Boston Marathon that killed three, wounded more than 250 and led to a massive manhunt that paralyzed the bustling city of Boston and its surrounding areas.

While one of the brothers, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, died during a shootout with various police departments, the other brother Dzhokhar Tsarnaev sits in an isolated federal prison cell, 36 miles away from Boston.  Of the 30 counts in Tsarnaev’s Federal indictment, 17 counts carry the death penalty.

A year after the attack, the 2014 Boston Marathon will feature 36,000 runners, 9,000 more than 2013 and is slated to be the second biggest attendance in the race’s history. That’s Boston Strong!

What have we learned from the Boston Marathon Bombing?

 1.      The intelligence was flawed.  Russia had more information about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s activities.  Russian officials had told the FBI back in 2011 that the suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a follow of radical Islam, also that he had changed drastically since 2010 as he prepared to leave the United States for travel to the county’s region to join unspecified underground groups.  After that bit of information, Russia refused several FBI requests for additional information.  It wasn’t until after the 2013 Boston Bombing that Russia shared additional intelligence, including information from an intercepted telephone conversation between Tsarnaev and his mother in which they discussed Islamic Jihad. 

It can’t be said that had this information had been shared, that the bombing wouldn’t have happened.  However, this information would have led to more extensive Federal and State scrutiny of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, two years before the attack, perhaps before he had begun plotting it.

 2.      We have to follow up.  According to the report produced by the Intelligence Community Inspector General, Federal Agents in the Boston area who investigated the Russian intelligence in 2011 could have conducted a few more interviews when they first examined the information.  There should be a reminder system in place to facilitate proper investigative steps, this way no one falls through the cracks.

 3.      We have to share information. From my tenure in the NYPD as Detective – Investigator responsible for Crisis Management for the City of New York, I know that although there is already information being shared between the Federal agencies and various police departments, there is always room for improvement. This is especially true between Federal agencies and foreign government counterparts and the political disagreements between countries should not interfere with this sharing agreement, as it is to the utmost importance in keeping the world and our respective populations safe from heinous acts by lone wolves or terrorists.   

That being said, the FBI, Boston Police Department and Massachusetts State Police worked together to discover the video(s) of the Boston bombers and then release the still pictures of the Tsarnaev brothers to the public.  It’s an agonizing decision to make when it comes to releasing evidence and information to the public in a criminal investigation. In this particular case, we see how well that decision worked. In a matter of two days after the release of this critical information, the two suspects were identified and were brought to justice by one being killed in a gunfight with police and the second apprehended and now facing the death penalty if convicted. 

Nicholas Teausant

In yet another case of a home-grown terrorist, Nicholas Teausant of Acampo, California, was arrested early Monday in the State of Washington and was charged with a single count of attempting to Provide Material Support to a Foreign Terrorist Organization.  He was plotting to bomb the Los Angeles subway and was planning on leaving the U.S. to join a Syrian terrorist cell.

Teausant, a 20 year old student at San Joaquin Delta Community College in Stockton, Ca. and a recently discharged National Guard member, began expressing in his online photography account a desire to see America’s downfall. He wrote “I would love to join Allah’s Army, but I don’t even know how to start,” the US Federal complaint outlined.

On August 5^th, he allegedly posted online again, “anyone know where I can get the long Mujahid pocket book,” which is described as a how-to-guide for becoming a “Lone Wolf” terrorist.  The book includes articles on bomb-making and remote-control detonation.

A paid confidential source who was allegedly working with the FBI assisted in the investigation after meeting with Teausant for the first time in October through a mutual connection of a Muslim friend.

Teausant, a recent Muslim convert, had admitted to the informant that he was sending cash overseas to support the Mujahedeen.

As their friendship grew between the informant and Teausant, the two discussed numerous other ideas for terrorist activity that never came to fruition, including a plot supposedly hatched during a camping trip with seven other people to bomb the Los Angeles subway system last New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day.

When an informant questioned Teausant about what happened to his plan, Teausant responded that it was canceled because “they” had been “tipped off.”

According to the complaint, Teausant had been planning since October to support the efforts of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, a group that has been fighting in Syria’s three-year-old civil war and is designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant are breakaway organizations from al-Qaida that are considered some of the most brutal groups fighting in Syria’s civil war, made up largely of non-Syrian Islamic militants. They have seized several areas in Syria as it fights the government of President Bashar Assad.

Teausant joined the National Guard in April 2012, but was recently discharged after failing to meet the minimum qualifications to continue due to his lack of required academic credits.  He never attended basic training.

Teausant’s plans included, appearing in videos for the group, without covering his face. He said he wanted to be “the one white devil that leaves their face wide open to the camera”, the Federal complaint stated.

The FBI informant put Teausant in contact with a “mentor” — in reality, an undercover Federal Agent — who could purportedly approve his efforts to join the extremists. Early this month, the “mentor” blessed Teausant’s travel and he boarded a train for Seattle on Sunday night, the complaint said.

When the bus arrived in Blaine, just south of Vancouver, British Columbia, U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped it and questioned Teausant about where he was headed. He responded that he was traveling to Vancouver and was arrested, the complaint said.

If convicted, Teausant faces a maximum statutory penalty of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Many times we have seen “home-grown” terrorism, Herald Square Bombing Plot in 2004, Fort Hood Shooting in 2009, Times Square Bombing Attempt in 2010 and Boston Marathon Bombings in 2013.

U.S. security officials have been warning for years that one of their biggest challenges is detecting home-grown terrorists.  Extremists who have grown up or lived here for years tend to blend in easily and were seemingly fully integrated into American society.

Since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, U.S. authorities have become far more sophisticated in identifying potential suspects and keeping them out of the U.S., creating a major barrier for terrorist groups trying to enter the country with violent intent.

Those integrated American citizens are exactly the type of recruits that international terrorists groups are looking for.

Counter-terrorism officials have become adept at spotting terrorism suspects who travel overseas to get training or arrange large money transfers to support terrorist groups.  However, home-grown followers who secretly and quietly embrace violent extremism after watching al-Qaida propaganda don’t raise those same flags