New York City

Lieberman Wants Google To Let Users Flag 'Terrorist Content' On Blogging Platform

Ryan J. Reilly | November 22, 2011, 3:08PM

When he wasn't smoking pot with the New York Police Department's confidential informant or trying to manually cut off the tip of his penis, "lone wolf" terror suspect Jose Pimentel was running a jihadist website on Google's Blogger platform.

Now Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) wants Google to implement a policy explicitly banning terrorist material on their Blogger servers and set up a YouTube-style "flag" system to bring such material to Google's attention.

TPM obtained a letter sent by Lieberman, chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, to Google CEO Larry Page on Tuesday calling for him to make some changes to their policy.

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Topics: Counterterrorism, Domestic Terrorist, FBI, Google, Joe Lieberman, Jose Pimentel, NYPD, New York City, New York Police Department

Jose Pimentel

'Lone Wolf' Terror Suspect Pimentel Got High With NYPD Informant, Tried To Circumcise Himself

Ryan J. Reilly | November 21, 2011, 11:07PM

Jose Pimentel, the "lone wolf" arrested in the terror sting run by the New York Police Department, smoked marijuana with the NYPD's cooperating informant in the case, an official familiar with the sting tells TPM.

An official with the local prosecutor's office said they were personally unaware of the marijuana detail on Monday afternoon. The NYPD did not respond to a request for comment. The marijuana detail was also reported by the New York Times on Monday night.

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Topics: FBI, Jose Pimentel, NYPD, New York Police Department

FBI

FBI Was Concerned NYPD's 'Lone Wolf' Case Raised Issues Of Entrapment

Ryan J. Reilly | November 21, 2011, 3:35PM

Jose Pimentel wasn't exactly hiding.

The 27-year-old accused of plotting to attack New York with pipe bombs was operating a website that espoused his beliefs in committing terror against the U.S. and was relatively well known in law enforcement circles.

Federal authorities passed on the case -- with one source telling TPM on Sunday night that the FBI passed several times, and an official telling the Associated Press on Monday that Pimentel "didn't have the predisposition or the ability to do anything on his own." That's leaving observers wondering what exactly the feds didn't like about the case and setting up another squabble in the long-running turf war between the New York Police Department and the FBI.

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Topics: Counterterrorism, DOJ, FBI, Jose Pimentel, Justice Department, NYPD, New York Police Department

Jose Pimentel

Feds Passed On NYC 'Lone-Wolf' Terror Case

Ryan J. Reilly | November 21, 2011, 9:37AM

Updated: 11:43AM

Federal authorities take terrorism cases pretty seriously, even when those plots are pretty far fetched. So when the FBI declines to take a case handed to them on a platter by local authorities -- on multiple occasions -- it suggests something isn't quite right.

Sources familiar with the case against Jose Pimentel -- accused of planning an attack with pipe bombs -- told TPM Sunday night that federal law enforcement declined several times to take the case out of local authorities' hands. The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal also report that the FBI passed because of issues with the case, setting up the rare occurrence of a local district attorney handling a terrorism prosecution case.

At a press conference at City Hall on Sunday night -- featuring a video of police blowing up a car to show television viewers what could have happened -- NYPD Police Commissioner Ray Kelly suggested that the Justice Department was aware of the case. Despite the fact that his investigators had been on Pimentel for two years, he said they had to act without the feds because the case, involving a bomb constructed out of a clock, elbow piping and Christmas lights game provided by the NYPD's source, came together quickly at the end.

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Topics: FBI, Jose Pimentel, New York City, New York Police Department