NAVY TURNCOAT
By VINCENT MORRIS
August 7, 2004 -- WASHINGTON - A U.S. sailor aboard one of America's high-tech Navy warships sent e-mails to a suspected London-based al Qaeda terrorist and may have revealed sensitive military secrets, authorities announced yesterday.
The traitor sailor, who has not been identified, praised Muslim terror strikes against America and may have turned over detailed plans about the Navy's USS Benfold and more than a dozen other ships in its battle group as they were moving through the Mideast, officials said.
The information about the American sailor was disclosed yesterday by federal prosecutors in Connecticut who said he had been in contact with accused British terrorist Babar Ahmad.
In court papers, prosecutors said the sailor sent a July 2001 e-mail to Ahmad that expressed "enmity towards the 'American enemies' and strong support for" Islamic fighters.
The e-mail also hailed those who attacked the USS Cole and "the men who have brought honor this week to the [religious leaders] in lands of Jihad: Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, etc."
Prosecutors said, "The response sent from the [Ahmad's] e-mail account praised the [Navy] enlistee's comments."
The sailor told Ahmad about how the men on his ship reacted to a briefing they were given on how to prevent terror attacks similar to the deadly strike against the USS Cole off the coast of Yemen that killed 17 Americans.
Investigators also found information on Ahmad's computers showing the vulnerability of the battleship to an assault by a small craft of men armed with rocket-propelled grenade launchers.
U.S. Attorney Kevin O'Connor said, "You can rest assured the Navy knows who he is and is taking appropriate precautions."
Ahmad, arrested earlier this week, is accused of running two U.S.-based Web sites to recruit and raise money for Taliban fighters and other terrorists.
Prosecutors said he had at least one classified Navy document about the movement and plans of the 8,000-person battle group that the USS Benfold is attached to.
Among the documents was a drawing showing the formation of the various ships in the group as they passed through the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East.
The sailor left the Navy two years ago when his enlistment expired, authorities said.
"We are aware of the investigation. There is currently no tie between the sailor and the information on the battle group," said Lt. Ohene Gyapong, a Pentagon spokesman told The Post yesterday, noting that the Navy's own investigative agency took part.
None of the ships in the battle group was ever attacked.
The USS Benfold is a 505-foot guided-missile destroyer based in San Diego and is named after Edward C. Benfold, a Medal of Honor recipient from Pennsylvania killed during the Korean War while saving two injured Marines.
The $1 billion, high-tech destroyer is armed with Tomahawk missiles.