DETROIT, Nov. 13, 2007
Ex-FBI Agent Accused Of Security Breach
Woman Pleads Guilty To Charges Involving Improper Access Of Information
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Serious Security Questions
An ex-FBI agent with a brother-in-law linked to Hezbollah pleads guilty to database searches, raising questions about the security of top secret files in the war on terror. Bob Orr reports.
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Nada Nadim Prouty, a former employee of the CIA and FBI, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized computer access and naturalization fraud, November 13, 2007. (CBS/U.S. Marshals Service)
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Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, emigrated to United States from Lebanon in 1989. She was given U.S. citizenship five years later and began working as a special agent at the FBI's field office in Washington in 1999, according to a criminal information sheet filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
While working as a special agent, Prouty improperly searched an FBI computer database for information about her relatives and links they might have to the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the criminal sheet showed. She joined the CIA in 2003 and resigned as part of her guilty plea Tuesday, officials said.
There's no evidence that Prouty was working as a spy on Hezbollah's behalf, two government officials said.
However, "This still continues to be an ongoing investigation," said FBI spokesman Stephen Kodak in Washington.
The case raises questions about hiring practices and background checks by two of the nation's most security-sensitive and secretive agencies.
"Clearly, something was broken in the system that allowed her to get in, to maintain that type of access for an extended period of time," said CBS security analyst John Brennan.
"This case highlights the importance of conducting stringent and thorough background investigations," Stephen J. Murphy, the U.S. attorney in Detroit, said in a statement. "It's hard to imagine a greater threat than the situation where a foreign national uses fraud to attain citizenship and then, based on that fraud, insinuates herself into a sensitive position in the U.S. government."
Prouty passed a lie-detector test before she was hired by the FBI, which conducted numerous interviews with her relatives and other associates in Beirut and the United States as part of her security background check, Kodak said. But she was not subjected to the more rigorous security screening that the FBI adopted after its 2001 arrest of turncoat Robert Hanssen, who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia over a 20-year period.
"She had a complete, full investigation," Kodak said, referring to the FBI's background check on Prouty before she was hired.
The CIA largely relied on the FBI's security checks when they hired Prouty, according to a government official familiar with the case who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation.
"The CIA may have been a little too trusting of the FBI's ability to do a background check, as the bureau's own pre-employment investigation of Prouty would have covered her first years in country," the official said. "That won't happen again."
According to the court documents, released in Washington by the Justice Department, Prouty lived in Taylor, Mich., with her sister when her visa ran out in 1990. That summer, she paid off an unemployed U.S. citizen to marry her in a civil ceremony in Detroit. But the two never lived together and the marriage was never consummated sexually, the documents show.
Over the next four years, Prouty claimed she was legally married and living with her husband as part of her application for U.S. citizenship. She was naturalized in 1994.
In 1999, she was hired as a special agent in the FBI's field office in Washington, where she investigated crimes committed against U.S. residents while overseas. She was not part of investigations into Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that the U.S. government has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
Prouty was not authorized to search the FBI database, in 2002, for her name and that of her sister and brother-in law. Her relatives were linked to Hezbollah two years later when they joined a senior Hezbollah official at a fundraiser.
Prouty's brother-in-law Talal Chanine spoke at that fund raiser in Lebanon alongside Hezbollah's one-time spiritual leader Sheikh Fadlallah, reports CBS News correspondent Bob Orr.
Prouty joined the CIA in 2003. CIA spokesman Mark Mansfield described Prouty as a "midlevel employee" who violated immigration laws long before she was hired by the government.
The CIA is cooperating with the investigation, Mansfield said.
Prouty pleaded guilty to conspiracy, unauthorized computer access and naturalization fraud.
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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See all 84 CommentsTrento and Armstrong recently sat down with CBS News, discussing why we should be concerned about ongoing nuclear proliferation from members of Khan''''s former network and how a "fatal error" in 2000 changed the course of nuclear history forever.
"We heard about this amazingly brave, British customs inspector who had run up against the network," Trento said. "As he makes his discoveries and gets closer and closer to AQ Khan, he''''s pulled off the case, and told to stop it, leave it alone."
That''''s when it became clear, says Trento, that the intelligence services of Britain and the U.S. were actually protecting members of the AQ Khan network in what Trento calls "a cover-up." The result: proliferation continued for four more crucial years, allowing North Korea and Iran to move forward with their WMD programs. That''''s a gap, according to Trento, that could never be recovered.
OK AMERICA NOW ARE YOU READY FOR A REVOLUTION.....STOP SHUTTING YOUR EYES TO THE TRUTH OF THIS ADMINASTRATIONS LIES ON TOP OF LIES
So passing information is not spying OK I will bite what is it besides passing information to the enemy. Is she related to a politician.
If it is true, that this woman will voluntarily admit guilt to this, and she hasn''t been tortured into her confession, then it is not correct to say that she was "linked" to these activities.
The word "linked" should be preserved for CBS writers to use in bolstering claims for which they have no other support, such as "linked" to "al-Qaeda-in-Iraq", or weapons and support which have been "linked" to Iran.
If CBS and other Corporate controlled media outlets start using the word "linked" for claims that have some factual basis, it is likely to further confuse the reader.
CBS and other Corporate mouthpieces should reserve the words "linked" and "believed", for the unsupported nonsense that they relentlessly present to the public as fact.
Her admission is/will be a link that she made herself.
So I take it that you only trust Al Jazeera?
Hezbollah is directly responsible for being Iran''s proxy, and for killing counless American civilians and soldiers.
Sometimes I think that the "enemy within" our CIA, FBI and State Departments are every bit as hostile as our open enemies.
At any rate, Hezbullah fighters in Lebanon were elevated to the status of "freedom fighters" last summer, after defending the people of Lebanon from the criminal Israeli war of aggression against them, during a period when nobody else would stand up against Israeli war crimes and atrocoties.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOpB1x5Qzyg
Hezbullah members are also about the only organization in that country that has helped the people of Lebanon rebuild. They can hardly be considered a "terrorist" organization, as compared to the Israeli leaders or the Bush regime. Not even close.
Posted by antoniof123 at 02:20 PM : Nov 13, 2007
She apparently took it on herself to devulge priviledged intelligence to a sympathizer of a terrrorist faction. That will earn her jail time by itself.
ToolMangler,
Re: "So I take it that you only trust Al Jazeera?"
Al-Jazeera had had some good articles, but I am usually able to gleen useful information from almost any source, based on information that I have been able to confirm on my own.
How about you?
ToolMangler,
Re: "That will earn her jail time by itself."
Or, had the spying been done on the behalf of Israel, she could have earned a pardon and a medal.
Re: "Her admission is/will be a link that she made herself."
My point is that words like "linked" and "believed", should be reserved for empty and false claims, rather than claims that are supported. If we stray from that standard, the reader may become confused.
If she admits to these offenses, then she has "admitted" her guilt, which is clear, while being "linked" means nothing, and generally indicates baseless propaganda.
I am simply asking for consistency.
I read as many as I can, including Asian, Mid east and others. I don''t take any one news sources output as the sole truth for anything, at the same time I don''t slam a source simply because I have disagreed with it in the past like you do CBS. No I am not a CBS lover either. you are one of those that I see as throwing the baby out with the bath water. correct me if I am wrong.
Posted by FeelFree1 at 02:57 PM : Nov 13, 2007
Me too, Define ''link''
ToolMangler,
Re: "Me too, Define ''link''
As used routinely by Western Corporate media outlets, the word "linked" appears to mean unsupportable BS and inflamitory nonsense.
Boy! You had better not be here in the US -- I just reported you comments to the FBI and the CIA.
three-o-six,
Re: "Boy! You had better not be here in the US -- I just reported you comments to the FBI and the CIA."
Are you threatening me?
If the CIA and FBI clowns have nothing better to do than to harass me for no good reason, then we are even worse off than I had previously thought.
Yes its called treason
Law still there but Libs are afraid to use it due to 90% of them being guilty themselves. For a Public Servant elected officals to make statements against the US. is punishable. Im still waiting for someone to show some backbone and charge Hillery Read and Poloski if it ever gets in a courtroom the least they will be found guilty of is sadition
blackwater
Link: definition.
Link = connecting element; a tie or bond: nothing more, nothing less.
ToolMangler,
You seem to be stuck on the classical meaning of the word, and not the new and "improved" news-speak definition.
Oh -- nothing to worry about -- they said they already know who you are and you are on their watch list.
Have a good day
three-o-six,
Re: "Have a good day"
I always do. Tell your goon friends that I said hello.
Today you have government officials "leaking" the names of CIA agents to the press and the Great Emperor Bush II commutes their sentence. It all ends up with one word: MONEY! Loyalty to one''s country (especially one run by the would-be dictator in the White House), doesn''t mean anything anymore. It doesn''t pay the bills, feed your family or keep a roof over your head. All that matters is MONEY!!!
As stated before, the new 10 Commandments for the USSA are just one line 10 times.
1-10 GREED IS GOOD; GREED IS GOD!
SIG HEIL, BUSH!!!
notblue,
Re: "FeelFree1 is not an American citizen, he is a radical sympathizer who pretends to be a liberal."
And how did you determine this? Is this what is to be "believed"? Have I been "linked"?
Re: "His blather is not only a product of brainwashing, probably at his mosque but as American success continues to grow in Iraq his comments reflect his increasing desperation."
How could your claim be true, when electricity service in Iraq is still even worse than it was prior to the illegal invasion?
(hint- computers use electricity)
Maybe so. I guess that would explain why they can''t catch Bin Laden.
What a maroon.
Hey three-o-six, I think your mommy wants you to come up from the basement now, your mac-n-cheese is getting cold. Toddle off now crybaby.
Posted by notblue at 03:42 PM : Nov 13, 2007
Luckily, we have right-wing synchophants like yourself parroting the party line and smearing anyone and everyone who dares question the wisdom and brilliance of the Bush administration to balance things out.
mswolfestock,
Re: "We need to start profiling, and YES, discriminating against middle eastern people in government employment before they take over."
The WWII Nazis used similar techniques on a different target group. It did not end well for them.
POTUS
That just got this comment sidelined and inspected by some poor slob that doesn''t know what is ''really'' happening. He/she thinks that she is seeking intelligence from terrorist cells in the US. Now I just dug a deeper hole for you and me because I probably ticked somebody off and they just flagged me as worthy of further investigation. all this will happen behind the scenes and unless somebody is really stupid or vengeful it will be dropped (but only after they spend a considerable amount of time (money) checking us out. If they do their job they will find out that I am but an opinionated old man that is not scared to call the shots as I see them.
Furthermore, the only people doing the "smearing" are ingrates like yourself. If you don''t like what the greatest country in the world dose and stands for you are free to leave, otherwise why not try being on the side of the U.S.? Noit many that frequent these posts are.
ToolMangler,
Nice work.
Posted by notblue at 03:42 PM : Nov 13, 2007
If by ''success'' you mean bankrupting the nation, then yes, the Bush administration is doign a very good job of that:
''The total economic impact of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is estimated to reach $1.6 trillion by 2009, a congressional committee said in a report released Tuesday.''
You pro-war dunces aren''t patriots. You''re nothing more then dull-witting morons supporting an administration that is ruining the nation and enabling terrorists.
denn034,
Re: "My concern is that all Muslims will suffer as a result of a few bad apples."
Since you have made this statement without even knowing who this woman is or what her religion may or may not be, somehow I doubt that you are really very "concerned" about this, but instead are attempting a baseless smear of Muslims in general.
Posted by notblue at 03:53 PM : Nov 13, 2007
Typical. You smeared FeelFree1 in one of the most hateful posts I''ve ever seen, and you have the GALL to claim the only ones smearing here is us?
Your hypocrisy, as usual, is breathtaking in its scope and depth. Do you even bother to read your own posts? You''re a smear machine. And like most machines you lack self-awareness.
Posted by notblue at 03:53 PM : Nov 13, 2007
Of course I like my country. I know what it stands for. That''s why I hate to see phony patriots like you supporting policies that are ruining it.
Posted by FeelFree1 at 03:56 PM : Nov 13, 2007
"Et Tu" feely. You just did what you chastised this poster about, you ''assumed''. How do you know that ''denn034'' is not Muslim ?
The intelligence agencies of our government have a shortage of linguists capable of translating Arabic languages to english, so we need all the help we can get from honest and patriotic Muslims.
Unfortunately, there are those who don''t have our best interests at heart and its the responsibility of the intelligence agencies themselves to do a better job of vetting before hiring. Her relatives were Hezballah, shouldn''t the FBI & CIA know that?
Posted by badaxmofo at 04:02 PM : Nov 13, 2007
So...we should be wasteful, careless, wage pointless wars, build up massive debt with other nations because we''re so *** great?
This is how empires fall, moron. Many have come before us, and many declined becaue they were arrogant, stupid, waged wars on borrowed money and were led by morons, thieves and villans.
Pick up a history book. The US is just another empire and if managed foolishly, it will fall.
ToolMangler,
Re: "How do you know that ''denn034'' is not Muslim ?"
True. I don''t. But I think that it is a safe bet that a Muslim would not be calling for the racial profiling of, and discrimination against "middle eastern people", though granted, they did not say Muslims.
Maybe they were talking about Israelis?
DEBT DOESN''T MATTER!
If you don''t care who owns our economy(the Chinese People''s Liberation Army & the Japanese banks), don''t care what the dollar is worth, don''t care if your children can afford health insurance or college or job training, and don''t mind sticking the next generation with the bill, then you must be a Republican.
Millions of newly welthy entreprenuers are being created each year in countries like China, Russia, India, Brazil,etc. so it''s no longer the case that the U.S. is the only place where a person can become rich.
We now have slower growth than most developing economies and slower growth than Europe and Japan.
Profiling is simply a matter of substituting cultural intolerance and ignorance for legitimate fact-finding and due diligence.
Here is the funny part non of you see is in our country we have the Rev. Al and Jessie Jacksons out there spewing there hate for other races, over in the middle east you have a similar thing there are a small group of well funded extremist that get all these others to do their bidding. Believe me if Rev. Al and the other extremist in this country thought they could get away with it they would be using bombs and guns to get their points across. Although their way seems to work better since any non black person can not speak to a black man or woman without someone calling them a racists.
Badaxmofo you are a real piece of excrement, yes this country is wealthy but guess what money does run out when other countries start calling in your debit. Oh yeah I forgot you are so smart and think about all the money these other countries owe us again if you forgive another countries debit then they do not have to pay you back and we have done that on more occasions than I can count, that right just gave away YOUR money not their own but yours. So I suggest since we are currently still one of the richest countries in the world you start learning Spanish and Chinese because that is who will own this country by the time your friends finish in office.
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