Terror suspect's office was bugged for years (FL Prof. Sami Al-Arian)

[maddezmom]

A former FBI agent testified that the agency monitored former Professor Sami Al-Arian for nine years before terrorism charges were filed.


TAMPA - (AP) -- The government tapped former university Professor Sami Al-Arian's phones, planted microphones in his office and intercepted his faxes and computer conversations because they suspected him of terrorism ties, a retired FBI agent testified Monday.

Julian A. Koerner, who retired last year from the FBI after a long career in foreign counterintelligence and counterterrorism, testified he could not specifically recall the substance of the conversations the government overheard between Al-Arian and his codefendants. They are on trial on federal terrorism charges for allegedly raising money for the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, a group that has killed more than 100 people in Israel and the West Bank.

Koerner said the wiretaps were not monitored ''live,'' or while the conversations were taking place, but were recorded by machines and evaluated, indexed and filed days or weeks later.

However, he did say that toward the end of the nine-year investigation, he thought the FBI was able to determine what was being typed on computers ''on a very, very limited basis.'' Before that, the technology was not available, he said.

more: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/state/12000943.htm?source=rss&channel=miamiherald_state

[salin]

1. bullsh*t ... per keystrokes

way back in late 1984 I briefly dated a guy who was former military intelligence. It freaked me out a bit when he told me that 'they' (intel) could tell what I was typing from several blocks away - just by the key strokes.

So - either military intel is decades ahead of the FBI or this is total bs that they could only determine what was typed (and then on a very, very limited basis") recently because the technology was not available. That was thrown out there to try to de-freak people out. The idea that a) it is limited how much they can tell by 'listening' to us type - per what we are writing' and b) it is only recently that we have this "limited" capacity to do so.

[Greyskye]

9. yep. Google "tempest computers"

My first job out of college was working for a company that had the local military contract for working on their tempest computer systems. There was so much shielding on those things that the cable that attached the keyboard to the computer was an inch and a half thick!

On the other hand, you have to really want to know what someone is doing on their computer in order to decode the faint EM transmissions that Tempest shielding was designed to foil. This was primarilly used to shield 'stand-alone' computers and printers, as the internet as we know it was not really in existance in the early 80's.

[napi21]

2. I realize the US is a friend of Israel, but why are we trying people

in court for their links to Israel's problems? I could understand capture and turning these people over to Israel for prosecution, but why are WE doing it?

[Charles19]

3. Becaue Israel is the 51st state and they won't admit it

because if they did they would have to admit they were supporting oppression like they are involved in too.

[geek tragedy]

5. Do you think that people in Germany should be able to fund

and plan terrorist operations inside the United States without fear of prosecution?

If not, your rant makes no sense.

[geek tragedy]

4. You're asking why aiding a terrorist organization is illegal in the

United States?

Oy.

[struggle4progress]

6. So Bush was happy to be photographed with him while he was a suspect?

[geek tragedy]

7. Maybe they held hands? eom

[alarimer]

8. They've been trying to get this guy for years

Way before 9/11. Also he was/is a big supporter of the Bush administration. Even got an invitation to the White House. Now he is a "terrorist".

[geek tragedy]

10. Can you IMAGINE if he was a big booster of someone like Clinton

or Conyers? Oy.