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JFK Terror Plot: Intentions vs. Capabilities
If there's one thing the JFK terror plot doesn't need, it's more obfuscation from senior officials. Take a look at what Michael Balboni, head of public safety for New York State, just told Contessa Brewer of MSNBC.
BREWER: Let’s talk about [alleged ringleader Russell] Defreitas. We just are seeing this new video in where he was meeting with a person he thought was in on the plot -- turns out that that was an informant for the investigators. What are they learning about this plot, how close were we to really being in danger?
BALBONI: Contessa, when you read through the indictment, what you see here is a concerted effort on behalf of more than one person trying to recruit, going overseas, trying to get money, trying to get the wherewithal to come in and to attack and identify a target -- and remember that Mr. Defreitas had knowledge because he worked at the airport. And, again, in the indictment is information that was recorded through various surveillance means. But also information taken from the confidential informant where this guy really wanted to do this. We're now seeing all these sorts of other kinds of questions about, could he do it, could he not do it. What everyone needs to appreciate is that there are suspicious activity reports that are produced daily: somebody videotaping this, somebody trying to find out information about this critical infrastructure. Here when you have a plot like this that has been this dedicated this much time and effort put into it, it really does signal that this is a real thing.
With this brief statement, Balboni went a long way to muddying the public case against the four alleged conspirators. First, in today's New York Times, law enforcement officials labored to counter the impression left over the weekend that the plot was anything close to being realized. By ducking Brewer's question about "how close" we came to attack and emphasizing a "concerted effort," Balboni left the distinct impression that we nearly lost JFK. So much for message discipline.
More importantly, Balboni advised viewers to "remember that Mr. Defreitas had knowledge because he worked at the airport." And it's there that the capabilities of the attackers most directly come into question. Yet Defreitas's long-ago experience at JFK didn't tip him to the safeguards in place at the fuel tanks he wanted to explode in the hopes of taking out the airport -- mistakenly telling an associate, "If you hit them tanks, that's the whole terminal down." What's more, according to the criminal complaint against Defreitas, his surveillance of the airport was so poor that it needed to be supplemented by GoogleEarth imagery. This is the guy who the Joint Terrorism Task Force's informant referred to as "the sheikh" -- in other words, the ringleader of the plot. If Defreitas is the sheikh, the easily-penetrated plot didn't have much of a chance from the jump. Nefarious intentions aren't the same thing as actual capabilities.
The accumulated evidence in the complaint is more than enough to warrant the indictment of Defreitas and his alleged co-conspirators. Assuming that Trinidad and Tobago extradites Kareem Ibrahim and Abdul Kadir to the U.S., and Abdel Nur is found, they and Defreitas will face their day in court, as is appropriate. But if Balboni wants to make the case that we should take the plot seriously, he shouldn't need to strain to portray it as "the real thing."
Comments (20)
what?! wrote on June 4, 2007 4:25 PM:If one was cynical, you (me), might believe that Balboni and the NY officials et.al. hype this threat in order to increase their budgets and to leverage Congress for more Homeland Security funds for NY.
But only a cynic would come to that conclusion. Or a rabid US Attorney.
what?! wrote on June 4, 2007 4:27 PM:If one was cynical, you (me), might believe that Balboni and the NY officials et.al. hype this threat in order to increase their budgets and to leverage Congress for more Homeland Security funds for NY.
But only a cynic would come to that conclusion. Or a rabid US Attorney.
Steve5117 wrote on June 4, 2007 4:45 PM:I listened a 2nd time to Balboni. He talkes about reports that are "produced" daily about suspisous activity, then goes on (00:55) to talk about the information that was "produced" through the investigation. I thought that they would have "produced" reports from the information they "gathered".
I wonder....? Then I see this on Fox
"Feds Hoped to Snag Bin Laden Nuke Expert in JFK Bomb Plot"
Wag the dog?
Eric Ferguson wrote on June 4, 2007 4:48 PM:I'll believe the plot was real, but worthy of a big announcement? If they had real successes, and if the DOJ had credibility left, they wouldn't have to play up the breaking of these wannabe plots.
Steve5117 wrote on June 4, 2007 4:48 PM:Here' the link to the Fox story,
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,277614,00.html
merrimarr wrote on June 4, 2007 4:49 PM:I think Nora Ephron has the right take on this whole thing:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nora-ephron/how-to-foil-a-terrorist-p_b_50474.html
Ducky wrote on June 4, 2007 4:50 PM:With this administration and all its strong arm tactics, I question everything I'm told. Wag the Dog? I hope not but wouldn't be surprised judging by Iraq.
Anonymous wrote on June 4, 2007 5:14 PM:I'm going out to buy some plastic and duct tape right away.
Anonymous wrote on June 4, 2007 5:15 PM:More I hear about this JFK thing, the more skeptical I am: If this was a "real" threat, there's too much detail/information "how to do it."
Recall the secrecy around the security issues after Sept 2001. Too many secruity issues are being raised, suggesting that there is a goal: To share how something might work, and give people ideas.
P J Evans wrote on June 4, 2007 5:24 PM:Shiny silver object - and they're also playing up the amount of damage that a fuel tank explosion at the storage area would have done to the *airlines*.
Yes, they should stop talking about the security measures they have in place, except for the ones that should be immediately obvious to anyone over the age of, say, ten.
I'm wondering how much of this 'plot' was being driven by the FBI's informant.
Steve5117 wrote on June 4, 2007 5:28 PM:I'll go out on a limb and say that, since there is a CIA connection, Defreitas worked for Evergreen, known to be a CIA operation, this whole operation is another attempt by some neocons to keep us on alert.
So I wonder what it might be that they don't want us to paying attention to?
Mcboo wrote on June 4, 2007 5:46 PM:**NEWS ALERT**
It "seem"s that an al-Qa'ida mastermind here in the United States named Mcboo has recently been apprehended after secretly planning to claim that he is far more successful with "the ladies" then is actually the case.
After several months of investigation, authorities produced copious evidence that his nefarious plan had actually been underway for years. One anonymous source even says he was planning to go out at least once this week and "fraternize" with women with the intention of furthering this plot. When apprehended he had several $20 bills in his pocket with which he had intended to purchase an undisclosed amount of "alcohol" from several different sources.
We'd like to remind all citizens that in this post 9-11 world we must remain vigilant in our efforts to weed out these kinds of subversive activities. The head of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff was quoted as saying: "It's obvious that people like Mcboo have nothing but contempt for our way of nightlife here in America and will go to any lengths to undermine our most sacred institution - hooking up."
Condition Red Security Code: seem
Bucketochicken wrote on June 4, 2007 6:01 PM:You know, I watched "V for Vendetta" (again) last night, and a quote from High Chancellor Suttler regarding the populace was (as are way too many things from that fine film) right on target:
"We will remind them why they need us."
SC="school." As in it doesn't take an advanced degree from a highly-reputed one to know that this is all complete trumped-up bullshit.
Steve5117 wrote on June 4, 2007 6:35 PM:Some information about Evergreen
Rodney Lamprey, jr. wrote on June 4, 2007 6:49 PM:You have to wonder whether these "terrorist plotting foiled" announcements are being made by Regent University trained US Attorneys at the direction of Karl Rove in order to counter the days bad press coming out of Iraq. Go round up some losers that can't afford a lawyer and charge them with terrorism. We'll quitely drop the charges after the next election.
TomaHawk wrote on June 4, 2007 7:15 PM:It is reported that the "informant" is working down a drug charge. How does that match with arson?
TomaHawk wrote on June 4, 2007 7:16 PM:Check out this bit from Joe Cannon.
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2007/06/terror-plot-suspect-worked-for-cias.html
It is reported that the "informant" is working down a drug charge. How does that match with arson?
dave t wrote on June 4, 2007 10:19 PM:Check out this bit from Joe Cannon.
http://cannonfire.blogspot.com/2007/06/terror-plot-suspect-worked-for-cias.html
I think one of the important things to note here is the growing number al-Qa'ida wannabe's this administrations policies are fomenting here and abroad. These JFK guys couldn't locate al-Qa'ida to join in the same way I couldn't get laid in a whore house with a fist full of fifty's. well....maybe I stand a slightly better chance.
featherfamily wrote on June 5, 2007 2:56 AM:Security code = "screw," as in screw over some poor dumb brown-skinned wannabes, while screwing tight the vise over the (former) constitutional republic and its deluded citizen/subjects who imagine they still have constitutional and civic rights ...
John Patterson wrote on June 5, 2007 9:16 AM:So how many more comic terrorist cells and doofus dominoes are lined up to knock over every time the bad news in Iraq manages to leak out around the MSM coverup?
And each new "conspiracy" seems to get more cosmically comical.
When is SOMEONE going to start claiming "entrapment" every time another over-anxious agent enables a pretentious terrorist plot, providing the very information and inspirational input that turns the impotent grumbling of disgruntled partisans into an actual illegal conspiracy?