Remember the 5th of November. V NSA: 50 terrorist acts foiled One plot was tied to Wall Street, chief says By Kimberly Dozier and Donna Cassata Associated Press WASHINGTON — The U.S. foiled a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange because of the sweeping surveillance programs at the heart of a debate over national security and personal privacy, officials said Tuesday at a rare open hearing on intelligence. The House Intelligence Committee provided a venue for officials to defend the once-secret programs. There was limited inquiry into statements that the collection of information on people’s phone records and Internet usage has disrupted dozens of terrorist plots, and few details were volunteered. Army Gen. Keith Alexander, director of the National Security Agency, said the two recently disclosed programs — one that gathers U.S. phone records and another designed to track the use of U.S.-based Internet servers by foreigners with possible links to terrorism — are crucial. But details about them were not closely held within the NSA. Alexander said after the hearing that most of the documents accessed by Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former systems analyst on contract to the NSA, were on a web forum available to many NSA employees. Others were on a site that required a special credential to access. Alexander said investigators are studying how Snowden did that. He told lawmakers Snow-den’s leaks have caused “irreversible and significant damage to this nation” and undermined the country’s relationship with allies. When Deputy FBI Director Sean Joyce was asked what is next for Snowden, he said, simply, “justice.” Snowden fled to Hong Kong and is in hiding. Intelligence officials disclosed some details last week on what they said were two thwarted attacks — one targeting the New York subway system and the other, a Danish newspaper office that had published cartoon depictions of Is-lam’s prophet, Muhammad. On Tuesday, Alexander said more than 50 terrorist acts were averted because of the surveillance programs. In one example, Joyce said the NSA was able to identify an extremist in Yemen who was in touch with Khalid Ouazzani in Kansas City, Mo., enabling authorities to identify coconspirators and thwart a plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange. In May 2010 in federal court in Missouri, Ouazzani pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy to provide material support to a terrorist organization, bank fraud and money laundering. He was not charged with the alleged plot against the stock exchange. Joyce said the arrest was made possible by the Internet surveillance program Snow-den disclosed. Joyce also said a terrorist financier in San Diego was identified and arrested in October 2007 because of a phone record provided by the NSA. The individual was making phone calls to a known terrorist group overseas, Joyce said. He confirmed under questioning that the calls were to Somalia. Alexander said the Internet program helped stop 90% of the 50-plus plots he cited. He said just more than 10 of the plots thwarted had a connection inside the U.S. and most were helped by the review of phone records.
Posted on: Wed, 19 Jun 2013 12:23:46 +0000
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