Posted: 2/24/2008 7:57:55 AM EDT
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from:www.courant.com/news/local/hc-newterror0224.artfeb24,0,4825704.story A Profile In Terror, Behind A Keyboard Suspect Charged With Leaking Navy Secrets By EDMUND H. MAHONY | Courant Staff Writer February 24, 2008 If appearance matters, Hassan Abu-jihaad is an improbable holy warrior. His demeanor has been painfully meek during the legal proceedings leading up to his trial Monday in federal court in New Haven, where he is charged with transmitting military secrets to terrorists. Mostly, he has been a bewildered-looking man in an oversize prison jumpsuit. Little is known about him. He was born Paul R. Hall and lived in Southern California. He converted to Islam, changed his name and joined the Navy. Later, he would be recorded by the FBI laughing with a friend at an al-Qaida propaganda video showing an insurgent known as the Juba sniper killing American soldiers in Iraq. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Related links The 'Unremarkable' Life Of A Sailor Turned Terror Suspect ------------------------------------------------------------------------ "They show him knocking out about … probably like, 10 of 'em," says the friend, who confides to Abu-jihaad that he screened the video with a girlfriend. "Ding! Ding! Ding! I'm like, Allahu Akbar." Abu-jihaad, now 32, says on the recording that he hopes the sniper is training replacements, against the eventuality that the Americans pick him off. "Juba was a cold dude," Abu-jihaad says. "If he's still breathing, may Allah let him be pluggin' those dudes. If not, I know he done train more in the skills and tactics that he got, cuz he was layin' 'em down." If truly reflective of Abu-jihaad's thinking, the recording — one of many made by the FBI — leaves little doubt about his sympathies. Prosecutors hope the tapes will help convince a jury that he is guilty of disclosing military secrets and providing terrorists with information intended for use in killing U.S. military personnel. But the tapes hold no clue as to how a former Navy seaman, an utterly average and anonymous man, could come to develop such radical views. Understanding cases like Abu-jihaad's is central to an evolving profile being used in the U.S. and Western Europe to identify what security experts consider one of the most pressing terrorism threats: violent, homegrown attacks by otherwise unremarkable citizens. Those that fit the profile are mostly young men who, for murky psychological reasons, embrace radical Islam and its consuming antipathy to almost everything that shaped their lives in the West. Men, as federal prosecutors claim, just like Abu-jihaad. Online Terror Abu-jihaad caught the attention of law enforcement agencies in the U.S. and Britain following a December 2003 raid in London. By then, Western anti-terrorism agencies had mounted a post- 9/11 effort to disrupt the networks supplying money, soldiers and weapons to Islamic insurgents. Near the top of the list of networks suspected by investigatorswas a group of websites in London operated by Azzam Publications. Azzam was run by two young British citizens, Babar Ahmad and Syed Talha Ahsan, who are now credited as pioneers of using the Internet to launder money and channel volunteers and supplies to support Islamic terrorism. "The Azzam websites were among the first to successfully utilize the internet on a global scale to propagate the call to jihad," says an FBI affidavit in Abu-jihaad's case. "As the premier mujahideen propaganda and support sites they were the precursor to many more that would follow." Both Ahmad and Syed are under indictment in a federal case related to that of Abu-jihaad, and for more than a year they have been fighting extradition from London to Connecticut. All three cases are being prosecuted here because the men are charged with communicating by e-mail or through websites maintained by a Web hosting company in Connecticut. The FBI says in legal filings that Azzam achieved a string of firsts with its support of Islamic insurgencies. It published Osama bin Laden's 1996 declaration of war. It obtained an exclusive interview in September 2002 with Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaida's second-in-command. And it provided detailed instructions on how to contribute money, supplies and soldiers to the struggle. It also sold footage of battle deaths — such as the Juba sniper video — that counter-terrorism experts say has become propaganda and a fundraising tool for al-Qaida. On one video, Ibn al-Khattab, the former leader of the foreign mujahedeen in Chechnya, personally acknowledges support from "the brothers" at Azzam immediately after shooting a captured Russian soldier in the head. In the London raid, British law enforcement moved against Ahmad, Syed and their Azzam network. In Ahmad's bedroom, the authorities found a disc containing a password-protected file with classified information about the movement and mission of a U.S. Navy battle group that had been ordered to the Persian Gulf from San Diego in early 2001 to operate against the Taliban and al-Qaida. Abu-jihaad was stationed aboard one of the ships in the group, the USS Benfold, a destroyer. The document, according to government disclosures in court, contains an "explicit" discussion of the missions, defenses and vulnerability to attack of the battle group and its member ships. In particular, the document focuses on the group's passage through the 21-mile-wide Strait of Hormuz, which separates the Persian Gulf from the Gulf of Oman, a place where the group would be most susceptible to attack from small craft. It says the group would be in the strait under a communications blackout on the night of April 29, 2001, and it contains a drawing of the group's anticipated formation. The document said, in part: "Weakness: They have nothing to stop a small craft with RPG [rocket-propelled grenades] etc, except their Seals stinger missiles. Deploy ops in Gulf 29 April - 04 October 29th APRIL is more likely the day through the Straits. For the whole of March is tax free — a moral booster. Many sailors do not like the gulf. Please destroy message." The battle group was not attacked, even though investigators say the document was e-mailed to Azzam well before the ships reached the strait. But the Navy has said, according to an FBI affidavit, that the information was accurate and classified as secret when it was leaked. Ship Movements Abu-jihaad had access to all the compromised information, according to information provided by the Navy to federal prosecutors. As a signalman in the Benfold navigation division, he was often on the ship's bridge and in the signal shack, where sail plans, navigational charts and planned ship movements were available. He was given a "secret" security classification a year after joining the Navy in December 1997. The alarming implications for U.S. Naval security from the discovery of what has become known as the battle group document provoked a search for the author. Although the file found on the seized disc could not be tied to Abu-jihaad, information submitted in court by federal prosecutors reveals that the resulting investigation produced plenty of other electronic correspondence linking him to Azzam. Their legal filings show that prosecutors hope jurors use that correspondence to link Abu-jihaad circumstantially to the battle group document. Some of that correspondence with Azzam included e-mail sent from Abu-jihaad's military account aboard the Benfold. That seems to have alarmed even the Azzam operators. In July 2001, they asked Abu-jihaad by e-mail whether it was safe to mail explicitly violent war propaganda to his shipboard address. Ahu-jihaad's response was to order another video. Go ahead and ship it to the Benfold, he told Azzam. Then he thanked the website for "great quality services." His correspondence with Azzam dates from at least 2000, and much of it is related to his apparent fascination with the gruesome battle videos. Once, after overpaying for a video order by $5, he told Azzam to "keep the remaining $5.00 and added to the funds that you Brothers are spending in the way of Allah via videos, tapes and the great web sites." On another occasion, he sent an e-mail to confirm that the video he had ordered, "Russian Hell in the Year 2000," had been received by his mother in San Bernardino, Calif. Neither federal prosecutors or Abu-jihad's attorney would discuss the case, but federal court documents suggest that Abu-jihaad's e-mails with Azzam in 2001 were occasionally more reflective of his religious and political inclinations. In April 2001, six months after terrorists manning a small craft nearly sank the USS Cole, Abu-jihaad seemed happy to report to Azzam that the attack was creating morale problems for the Navy. He described the Cole attackers as "the true champions and soldiers of Allah." An e-mail from Azzam replied: "You said it all. … I trust that you are doing your best to make sure that the other brothers & sisters in uniform are reminded that their sole purpose of existence in this [pilgrimage] is purely to worship our Lord and Master, Allah. … Keep up with the … psychlogical warefare." While in the Navy, Abu-jihaad communicated with Azzam for about eight months. The record on file in federal court suggests that the correspondence ended by the time he left the service. He was honorably discharged Jan. 25, 2002. At that time, the British had yet to raid Ahmad's bedroom; that would not happen until December 2003. U.S. authorities had no knowledge that the information in the battle group document had been compromised. Unremarkable Men Abu-jihaad moved to Phoenix. Four years later, it would be there that his commitment to radical Islam would change from leaking secrets to discussing attacks on U.S. military installations, the FBI says. But in the meantime, he remained remarkably average. He was estranged from his wife but devoted to his children, friends said. He worked in a warehouse for UPS. He visited an Islamic community center. He seems to have been on nobody's radar. That anonymity is challenging the analysts who study terror conspiracies in an effort to stop them in the future. They have found that participants in terror networks share a maddening commonality: They are absolutely "unremarkable." They say those most likely to blow something up probably have never done anything to attract attention. The task confronting intelligence analysts is to develop a profile to help pick a potential bomber out of a sea of pedestrians. After reviewing prior terror plots, the intelligence division of the New York Police Department recently issued a report endorsing a developing profile now in use in the U.S. and Europe. As a result, the department is concentrating on the period when conspirators "progress through a process of radicalization" rather than the "point where a terrorist or group of terrorists would actually plan an attack." "Understanding this trend and the radicalization process in the West that drives 'unremarkable' people to become terrorists is vital for developing effective counter-strategies," the department said. The department found that participants in about half a dozen past plots — including conspiracies near Buffalo, N.Y, in Portland, Ore., and in northern Virginia — had "ordinary jobs, had lived ordinary lives and had little, if any criminal history." Other experts add a refinement to the profile: Potential conspirators are likely to be young men and U.S. citizens who convert to Islam. Some sort of psychological trauma seems to propel the otherwise "unremarkable" people toward "self-radicalization," New York police say. Trauma can include economic loss, social alienation, racial discrimination, death, divorce or simply an attraction to radical political views. Whatever the cause, the department says trauma seems to lead to "religious seeking," which has led in the past to militant Islam. In some cases, the department says potential terrorists have been guided along the path to radicalism by an enabler, someone who might have been befriended at a mosque or Islamic center. Experts say the Internet can be an incubator for terror, attracting potential conspirators to radical Islamist sites, such as Azzam, and connecting them to others who may be experiencing similar transformations. Groups of such disaffected young men in the past have used al-Qaida as an "inspiration and ideological reference point," according to the department. With such a group dynamic, members often goad one another into ever more radical thought, the department says. Security experts use shorthand for the phenomenon: BOGs, for a bunch of guys. Author and terrorism expert Marc Sageman coined the phrase, a reference to a small group that independently plans and executes its own operations. As many as 100 young men fitting the profile described by the New York police have been arrested in the United States since 9/11, according to the Anti-Defamation League. "Those people are young and may not be particularly satisfied with their lives," said Oren Segal, a terrorism analyst for the ADL. "They look to many different places to try to find a community. That can be through some subculture, through music or for many people it can be through religion." A Friend In 2002, Abu-jihaad befriended another convert to Islam, a young man named Derrick Shareef. Eventually, that relationship would provide the FBI with a major break in its investigation. Through Shareef, federal investigators became convinced that Abu-jihaad leaked the battle group document and had begun talking about attacking U.S. military targets. Legal filings made public in court provide a glimpse of how their friendship began and some of what followed. The two men met at the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix. Shareef, who was 17 or 18 at the time, later would say that they "instantly bonded." Shareef had become a Muslim about a year earlier while living in Rockford, Ill. He moved to Phoenix to be with his father following a disagreement with his mother and stepfather in Illinois and began spending a lot of time with Abu-jihaad. He moved into Abu-jihaad's home for about seven months in 2003 and 2004, during which the raid on Ahmad's bedroom and discovery of the battle group document would occur. During those months, Shareef said Abu-jihaad supported him financially and helped him look for work. He encouraged Shareef to obtain a high school equivalency degree and take college courses. They visited a firing range together; Shareef said he had a rifle and Abu-jihaad owned an AK-47. Abu-jihaad even suggested Shareef join the Navy. Shareef didn't, but said he "looked up to Abu-jihaad like a brother." It wasn't long before the two were discussing what the FBI calls "the terms and justification for jihad." The subject came up for the first time while they watched attacks by Muslim extremists on a video called "Martyrs of Bosnia." Viewing such videos, battle footage recorded by al-Qaida sympathizers, seems to have been a regular activity for Abu-jihaad, according to prosecution legal filings in the case. It was in Phoenix that the FBI recorded Abu-jihaad and another friend gushing over the Juba sniper video. A prosecution memo says the Juba sniper is the nom de guerre of an Iraqi insurgent who "is claimed" to have shot 37 U.S. soldiers. He is featured on several videos of insurgents in action, including a November 2000 clip distributed online that shows soldiers falling, apparently after being shot. The clip opens with a character saying, "I have nine bullets in this gun, and I have a present for George Bush. I am going to kill nine people. I am doing this for viewers to watch. Allahu akbar. Allahu akbar." The friend with whom Abu-jihaad was recorded discussing the video called it "the highlights, the ESPN" of battlefield slaughter. Abu-jihaad asked whether it has "close-ups." "Close enough, man," the friend says. "You see helmets, pieces tearing up." Abu-jihaad also monitored news reports online of other terrorism conspiracies. Shareef said one of those reports reduced Abu-jihaad to tears. In 2004, when he was either living with Abu-jihaad or a frequent visitor to his house, Shareef said he looked over Abu-jihaad's shoulder as he read a news report about the London raid and discovery of the battle group document. The report discussed the likely prosecution of Ahmad in Connecticut. It did not mention Abui-jihaad by name, but it referred to e-mails involving a sailor aboard the Benfold According to the prosecution documents, Abu-jihaad confided, "I think this is about me" or "I think this article is talking about me." "Abu-jihaad became visibly upset and emotional and began to cry," according to the documents. "Abu-jihaad immediately threw away certain Azzam Publications videos and deleted certain computer files that reflected material from the Azzam Publications sites." But in a setback for the prosecution, U.S. District Judge Mark R. Kravitz issued a pretrial ruling that makes it highly unlikely that prosecutors will be allowed to present evidence about Abu-jihaad's reaction to online news reports, as well as other alleged admissions concerning the battle group document. Another Friend In 2004, Shareef returned to Illinois, but he remained connected to Abu-jihaad by telephone Two years later, in suburban Chicago, Shareef met William Chrisman, another convert to Islam. Chrisman said he was a devout Muslim who lived with three women on a sheep ranch.  In reality, he was something different. He admitted as much late last year testifying at a pretrial hearing in New Haven. He was a 34-year-old gang member and crack dealer from Camden, N.J., who spent time in prison for attempted armed robbery and possession of a stolen car. When he got out, he moved to Illinois. After 9/11, he said he walked into an FBI office and offered to do whatever he could to help. Sometime later, the FBI had a job for him: befriend Shareef. Chrisman said he visited the suburban Chicago video store where Shareef was working. He struck up a conversation. Shareef said he was looking for a place to live. Chrisman offered Shareef a room on the sheep ranch. Shareef moved in. Almost immediately, Chrisman said, Shareef began talking about violent, Islamic holy war. Later, the topic turned to Abu-jihaad, who Chrisman said Shareef described as the "father figure" he had met at a Phoenix mosque. It wasn't long, Chrisman said, before Shareef had introduced him by telephone to Abu-jihaad. The three men were soon talking in person and by telephone on a regular basis.Conversation topics included the battle group document, purchasing weapons and how to attack a Phoenix recruiting station and a San Diego military base, according to court documents. Chrisman said he recorded it all. Shareef would later say discussion about the recruiting station and military installation was just "idle talk." But, as with Abu-jihaad's tearful reaction to the news report about discovery of the battle group document, much of the evidence about talk of attacks in Phoenix and San Diego is unlikely to reach jurors. In large part, it was derived from conversations between Shareef and Chrisman about what they had learned from Abu-jihaad. In a complicated series of decisions, Kravitz ruled that material inadmissible, too. Prosecutors are still left with a wealth of other recordings, some made by Chrisman and some made through FBI wiretaps, that Kravitz has said can be presented to jurors. On the recordings the three men talk about subjects including their support for Islam and holy war. At times, Abu-jihaad sounds as if he is trying to thwart potential wiretappers by speaking in code. At other times, he berates Shareef for being insufficiently sensitive to potential law enforcement surveillance. The investigation, which began with the battle group document and moved from Arizona to Illinois, closed on a dramatic note Dec. 6, 2006. That's when Shareef was arrested after trading Chrisman a pair of stereo speakers for what turned out to be four inert hand grenades. Shareef, then 22, was planning to set them off among Christmas shoppers at the CherryVale Mall in his old hometown of Rockford. The FBI got him before he got there. Reports from the Associated Press were included in this story. Contact Edmund Mahony at [email protected]. |