Report: White House Ruins Terrorist Intel

White House Denies It Prematurely Released Al Qaeda Video, Hurting Intelligence-Gathering

(CBS)  A small, privately run intelligence analysis company says that a Bush administration leak has ruined years of clandestine work to find and exploit al Qaeda secrets on the Internet, the Washington Post reports.

SITE Institute, one of many private companies that troll extremist Web content and use secret methods to find unreleased material and release it early, against the wishes of the militants creating it, was the first to obtain an Osama bin Laden video last month.

According to the report, Rita Katz, who runs SITE, told The Post she turned the video over to the White House on the condition that it not be made public until the material was released on line by al Qaeda's own media wing.

Katz told The Post that by the afternoon of Sept. 7, the day she turned the video over to White House officials, it had been leaked and was appearing on myriad news Web sites and television networks around the world.

SITE claims the White House leak - the source of which had not been confirmed, according to the report - tipped al Qaeda off to the glitch that had been exploited for years by the company, rendering the practice useless for future intelligence gathering.

"Techniques that took years to develop are now ineffective and worthless," Katz told The Post.

CBS News White House correspondent Peter Maer reports the Bush administration said Tuesday it was "concerned" to learn of SITE's complaints.

Spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters, "anytime a citizen comes forward to provide information, we want to encourage it and we want them to know their sources will be protected."

Perino insisted the White House was not the source of the leak last month. She referred reporters to the intelligence community for questions on what she described as any "process problem."

Other officials, speaking to The Post, played down the importance of Katz's work to the overall intelligence gathering effort of the U.S. government. "We have individuals in the right places dealing with all these issues, across all 16 intelligence agencies," Ross Feinstein, spokesman for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence told the newspaper.

But off the record, some intelligence officials admitted that SITE had been of great help in obtaining al Qaeda secrets.

Terrorism expert and author Bruce Hoffman, who has worked as an advisor to the Bush White House in Iraq, tells CBSNews.com that SITE and other private intelligence companies have become a valuable tool for the government.

"The government has its own intelligence sources, its been monitoring these things, and one would hope it's comparing and contrasting, using this as supplements, using this to round out" government intelligence, Hoffman said.

Hoffman points out that one of the complaints of the 9/11 Commission was that the government didn't have a wide enough variety of intelligence sources, and firms like SITE help to fill that gap, fixing what was called a "lack of imagination".

Ben Venzke, CEO of IntelCenter, another private intelligence firm, said that his company's video collection techniques were still working effectively, but that the decision to release material to the public must be made very carefully.

"The continued public release of videos before terrorist groups officially release them has been making it progressively more difficult to collect video material early in the dissemination process," Venzke said.

He went on to caution that getting access to videos early is less important than the analysis that goes on in the weeks after the release.

"It is not just about getting the video first," Venzke said. "It is about having the proper methods and procedures in place to make sure that the appropriate intel gets to where it needs to go in the IC (intelligence community) and elsewhere in order to support ongoing counterterrorism operations."

Accurate, timely intelligence is America's most valuable weapon against the terrorist threat, which the White House classified Tuesday as "persistent and evolving".

Maer reports that the administration's newly-revised National Strategy for Homeland Security warns that al Qaeda will likely continue to "enhance its ability to attack America through greater cooperation with regional terrorist groups." It predicts al Qaeda will likely intensify efforts to send operatives to the U.S.

The report says the U.S. faces "a persistent and evolving terrorist threat, primarily from violent Islamic terrorist groups and cells." It points to al Qaeda as "the most serious and dangerous manifestation of this threat."

Katz's company sells intelligence to a range of clients, including other private firms and military and intelligence agencies in the U.S. and other countries. Media organizations can also pay SITE for access to terrorist videos and audio's obtained, and analysis of the material.

Officials told CBS News on Sept. 7 that the U.S. government had obtained a copy of the new bin Laden video. Katz says that within 20 minutes of handing the material to two senior administration officials, with the request for secrecy, it was being downloaded from SITE's Web site by various intelligence agencies.

Al Qaeda's media arm had previously announced a new bin Laden video would be released ahead of the sixth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks

Earlier that day, the White House said that any new video from bin Laden would serve to highlight threats the West faces.

Al Qaeda has frequently released video and audio propaganda to coincide with the anniversary of Sept. 11, and analysts interpreted the early September release as part of that effort.

[terrorislam1]

THEY ARE LOSING

Last letter from doomed Al Qaida chief: "We are so desperate for your help"
http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/WTARC/2007/ss_iraq_09_30.asp

Iraq insurgency: People rise against al-Qa''eda
Damien McElroy spent a week in the heart of the insurgency in Anbar province in Iraq. In the second of seven exclusive reports he describes how peace and prosperity have returned to a town formerly riven by sectarian killings.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2007/10/08/wanbar308.xml

[speakinup]

Has anyone noticed how the ''surge'' not working has kinda fallen off the radar scope ?

What''s happenin'' libs ? Are you gagging on your feet ? Yeah, right about now I''m sure Hillary is wishin that would just go away. Let''s listen in...

"She-it - it is comin'' true with a vengence, Billy! What am I gonna DO !?! THE SURGE IS WORKIN!!!!! Now I have to talk substance, I can''t count on just bad=mouthin'' the Republican Administration and then tryin'' ta tie their candidate to George!"

"I feel your pain, Hillary... (gee, wish she''d let me feel something else.) Don''t worry honey-bunch, we still got the $5000 freebee for babies - that''ll buy us the black votes."

"NO IDIOT!!!! I had to can that earlier this week - I forgot about funding and administration! She-IT!!! Where have you been Billy! More importantly, WHO have you been WITH!

"No one honey-bunch. (Gosh, hope she doesn''t check to see if Craig is still in the men''s room.)"

"LOOK!!! HOW am I suppossed to sell you as the untarnisher of the US of A if you keep messin'' around. You know we had to leave Arkansas because the only virgins left were under 7 and could run the 100 meters in world class time!"

"I Know, Dear, I''ll (WOW - WHO IS SHE???) try harder."

[prinzowhales]

This story is absurd on its face...SITE is as US/Israeli intelligence as can be. It is a front. It is the Air America of intel front organizations-- only this front is shoveling horse manure, while Air America was hauling Sh*t, Coke, guns, etc..

Speaking of US intel front companies, here''s another story on a CIA oops, ''private'' plane, wink, wink, nod, nod...that went down in Mexico with lots and lots of white powder...the Mexican press is onto it...the American press ignores it...

http://www.madcowprod.com/10092007.html

There are only so many cave floors these videos can turn up on...

http://www.signs-of-the-times.org/articles/show/141464-Al-Qaeda%3A+Sort of Like the Energizer Bunny

SITE is as obvious a front for the real producers of ''the Best of bin Laden'' as the former London release site of these silly videos.

[simonsez40]

"Because word is coming out that it may not have been the white house afterall. See, CBS was sooooo quick to do another Bush slam dunk, ala Dan Rather, that they didn''''t wait for the facts to come out. SignOf4

But those far left liberals flies were right on that pile of **** weren''''t they!

BUZZZZZZ BUZZZZ BUZZZZZ

I think Bush has warranted being SLAMMED since his track record has been so honest. Why don''t you try to speakinup at one of his speaking events - you can''t even get within 2 miles of this President or be arrested - he''s one of the most protected Presidents ever - he doesn''t like hearing protestors or dissent!

[speakinup]

why did this article dissappear from the front page so quickly?
Posted by ainttaken at 08:42 AM : Oct 10, 2007

"Because word is coming out that it may not have been the white house afterall. See, CBS was sooooo quick to do another Bush slam dunk, ala Dan Rather, that they didn''t wait for the facts to come out. SignOf4

But those far left liberals flies were right on that pile of **** weren''t they!

BUZZZZZZ BUZZZZ BUZZZZZ

[signof4]

why did this article dissappear from the front page so quickly?
Posted by ainttaken at 08:42 AM : Oct 10, 2007

Because word is coming out that it may not have been the white house afterall. See, CBS was sooooo quick to do another Bush slam dunk, ala Dan Rather, that they didn''t wait for the facts to come out.

And you wonder why your ratings suck, eh CBS?

[finewoven]

". . . overall intelligence gathering effort of the U.S. government. "We have individuals in the right places dealing with all these issues, across all 16 intelligence agencies,"

"Hoffman points out that one of the complaints of the 9/11 Commission was that the government didn''t have a wide enough variety of intelligence sources"

I don''t know what the deal is here, 16 intelligence agencies and still yet the government didn''t have a wide enough variety? I bet you there is a lot of overlap within these agencies, and they don''t share information readily. So what will happen? We create even more intelligence agencies? We outsource to real intelligence experts? We consolidate the the existing 16 agencies into maybe four really useful agencies? Or maybe we just get everyone to spy on each other, and give regular reports. Amercian seems to be turning into the old Soviet Union, 21st century style.

[mrhoppy-2009]

"Kucinich 9-11 Hearings Delayed
Given poll results showing a majority of Americans want such an investigation and Kucinich''''s own oft repeated public pledges to begin one this fall, this is a troubling and inexplicable development. Broken promises deserve explanations, especially from presidential candidates. Perhaps it''''s time for Kucinich supporters to approach him at his campaign events and ask what is really holding this up. %u2014 Ed."

Dear Ed,

Maybe it is because they tried to kill him by poison which put him in the hospital again. Of course the media dominated by 7 jews didn''t say a word.

As they jews take control of the US, the US reflects their NAZI like values and becomes heartless, cruel and anti-human.

As the US fights their war for conquest of the middle east and the oil, American rednecks are waking up to the fact that they are having their racist tendencies exploited by the jews to use them as cannon fodder.

I think the jews pushed a little to hard this time and it is going to backfire on them in a big way. The rednecks are waking up.

[smirk5]

Today is a new day. It''s another opportunity for the Bush Admin to leak secrets to the enemy.

[pixelslinger]

If the intel doesn''t come from the VP (meaning *** Cheney, not his staff) or what was formerly known as the Office of Special Plans, it isn''t a credible source in the current Administration.

Furthermore - you''re forgetting that the White House is a political operation. Someone made a call to leak it early, and the reasoning was certainly political.