FBI Withheld Vital Info About Terror Connections From Boston Police Dept

May 9, 2013 - "The FBI never told the Boston police or the Massachusetts State Police about possible Russian terror connections of the suspected Marathon bombers until three and half days after the attack, law enforcement officials testified today before the House Homeland Security Committee," reports ABC News.

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"My fear is that the Boston bombers succeeded because our system failed," said committee chairman Rep. Mike McCaul (R-Texas).

Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis was asked if it would have helped to know everything that the FBI knew about the terrorist activities of the bombers, especially of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.

Davis said while the information might have been useful, it might not have changed anything. "That's very hard to say. We would certainly look at the information, we would certainly talk to the individual," Davis said. "From the information I've received, the FBI did that, and they closed the case out. I can't say that I would have come to a different conclusion based upon the information that was known at that particular time." (AP/Newser)

Failure to Communicate

Rep. McCaul said  "the Boston bombers may have succeeded because our system failed. We can and we must do better," reports CNN. "We learned over a decade ago the danger in failing to connect the dots," McCaul said, referring to the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001.

Testimony in the hearing today indicate that the US intelligence community is still not connecting the dots as well as they could. Why did the FBI not tell the Boston and Massachusetts authorities about the possible terror connections of Tamerlan Tsarnaev? Commissioner Davis said the intelligence might not have helped, but he left it open to the possibility that it might have.

We'll never know, but the fact remains that the FBI withheld information that might have saved lives. Such information should always be shared with law enforcement agencies that have a need to know. As we learned the hard way, Boston and Massachusetts had a very real need to know.

"The idea that the feds have this information and it's not shared with the state and locals defies why we create the Department of Homeland Security in the first place," said Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee. (FoxNews)

"Why didn't they involve the local law enforcers who could have stayed on the case and picked up signals from some of the students who interacted with them, from the people in the mosque," asked former Sen. Joe Lieberman, who also testified. "In this case, aggravatingly, you have two of our great homeland security agencies that didn't involve before the event the local and state authorities that could have helped us prevent the attack." (NorthJersey.com)

Israel Preps for War with Iran, Syria Beats War Drums

February 3, 2010 - Breaking - War seems imminent in the Middle East. This report today from debka.com is very alarming: Arab voices were fanning Middle East war fever Wednesday night, Feb. 3. debkafile's military sources report that not only are Syrian leaders beating war drums - Syrian foreign minister Walid Muallem said in Damascus: "Israelis, do not test the power of Syria since you know the war will move into your cities" - but Egyptian military sources have put out information purporting to outline Israel's preparations to strike Iran. Debka.com's article goes on, with more info, which I've put into abbreviated list form here: - Israeli Navy and the US Fifth Fleet have been charting Persian Gulf waters and Iranian shorelines "in preparation for attacks" - Israeli Defense Forces intelligence and special forces ... have been marking out routes.... to hit Iran's nuclear installations - Egyptian sources say that Saudi Arabia is [to put it in my own words] freaking out about all of this - Some of this has already been "leaked in Cairo Wednesday night to ... a publication which Egyptian intelligence often uses ..." Full Article and more details at debka.com QUESTIONS: Since this is so widely known now, will the Obama Administration talk about it? How has Hillary Clinton been involved in all of this? Will Israel soon find itself embroiled in a war with Iran and its puppet state Syria? How deeply will the U.S. get pulled in, and how will this affect our efforts on the ground in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan? RELATED: Syria: If Israelis declare war, we'll hit their cities US seeks to restore Damascus envoy Assad: Israel pushing Middle East to war Ehud Barak Warns Syria Of Confrontations, Incite Against Iran Netanyahu: If Hamas wants a deal - there will be one Analysis: negotiation with Iran an "unending waltz" After test failure, US warns Iran over defensive missiles Iranian Proxies: An Intricate and Active Web UN Gives Green Light for Israel, Syria, Iran War Leave a Comment * Conservative T-Shirts * Follow CNB on Twitter * RSS Feed

Fort Hood Shooter and Prior Classified Investigations

STRATFOR security expert Fred Burton discusses the possibility that Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected gunman in a massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, became the target of a classified FBI investigation months before the shootings occurred. (Source) Conservative Caps, Shirt and more! Leave a Comment - Chicago News Bench RSS Feed Visit us on Twitter!

INTELLIGENCE: AL-QAEDA BEHIND MUMBAI ATTACKS

The Islamic terrorists who are currently wreaking mayhem and murder in Mumbai, India call themselves the "Deccan Mujahideen." They appear to be a previously little-known branch of al Qaeda, as Western intelligence sources now say. A Newspost Online article reports that "Western intelligence chiefs on Thursday said that the planned and synchronized terror strikes across southern Mumbai had all the markings of a strategy designed by the Osama-bin Laden-led al Qaeda." Yet, even with the ensuing chaos, flights into and out of Mumbai are on schedule, reports NDTV. Newspost continues: As the unprecedented scale of the attacks became clear last night, it looked to be the most co-ordinated terrorist operation since the targeting of the Twin Towers in New York in 2001. Wednesday’s attacks, however, involving the taking of Western hostages made it more likely that the operation’s masterminds were from the core leadership of al-Qaeda, which is based in the lawless tribal regions close to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, they said. [The intelligence chiefs] also said that in recent weeks they were expecting an al-Qaeda-type spectacular terrorist attack between the end of President George Bush’s administration and the succession of Barack Obama. They said Osama bin Laden’s terror outfit might be plotting an attack to grab headlines before Obama takes over on January 20. RELATED: Shocked industry demands tougher laws against terrorists Hostage Situation Continues at Nariman House One terrorist caught alive, confirms RR Patil Encounter on at Nariman House in South Mumbai Jewish targets in Mumbai carnage How it happened: A blow-by-blow account Irish students lie low as terror attacks rock city centre

INDIA'S MAOIST BLOWBACK

The Indians just went to the moon, but they can't clean up their own backyard. If they don't get a handle on an extreme threat to their very existence, and soon, the India that we know and love today will soon turn into a hellish whirlwind of bloody anarchy. The threat comes from ultra-leftists known as Maoists, also known as the Communist Party of India. A report from AFP today: NEW DELHI (AFP) – Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Sunday said India was failing in its efforts to crush a Maoist rebellion plaguing vast swathes of the country. Addressing a conference of senior police and security officials in New Delhi, Singh once again described the ultra-leftist insurgency as "the most serious internal security threat" India was facing. Full Article... Just who are the Maoists in India? Jane's notes that "[t]he proscribed Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) was founded on 21 September 2004, following the merging of the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) People's War, also known as the People's War Group, and the Maoist Communist Centre of India - two of India's most prominent insurgent groups." In short, they're communists. It should be noted that communists come in a variety of flavors, and Maoism is one of them. There are even variations with the global Maoist movement, and the Indian Maoists are particular nasty. Again, from Jane's: "The CPI-Maoist is the largest group of a wider communist insurgent movement, known as Naxalites after the village of Naxalbari in West Bengal, the site of a revolutionary rural uprising in 1967. The CPI-Maoist has a presence in 185 districts in 17 out of India's 28 states, exerting varying degrees of influence in these areas. Chhattisgarh is currently the state worst affected by the insurgency, particularly its southern Bastar region, which was referred to as a "war zone" in July 2007 by state police chief Vishwaranjan. Other states affected by Maoist violence are Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, West Bengal and Maharashtra. Andhra Pradesh - where the insurgents are currently on the retreat - has been affected for the longest period of time - since 1964, when radical elements of the political Communist Party of India (Marxist) waged a rebellion called the Srikakulam armed struggle." More at Jane's Intelligence... The irony in all of this is that India's problem with Maoists is, at least in part, blowback from previous intelligence wars of its own. In the past, India has made use of the Maoists as allies in its arguments with Nepal (see India Using Maoists Against Nepal). RELATED: Maoist rebels spread across rural India csmonitor.com YouTube - India's Maoist Revolution - India Subscribe to The Bench by E-mail. It's free!