4um: Airlines, Others Sue FBI, CIA To Depose Agents In 9-11 Cases

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Airline manufacturer Boeing Co. (BA), major airlines and several airport operators sued the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday in a bid to question current and former agency employees in connection with negligence litigation over the Sept. 11th

terrorist attacks.

In separate lawsuits, the airlines and others are challenging decisions by the FBI and the CIA that prevent them from conducting depositions of those employees.

The airlines include AMR Corp.'s (AMR) American Airlines, UAL Corp.'s (UAUA) United Airlines, US Airways Group Inc. (LCC), Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL),

Continental Airlines Inc. (CAL) and AirTran Holdings Inc. (AAI).

The Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates Logan International Airport in Boston, and the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority, which operates Ronald Reagan National Airport and Dulles International Airport in Washington, D.C., also are plaintiffs in the lawsuits.

The lawsuits, filed in federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday, are related to ongoing negligence litigation over the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.

In the FBI lawsuit, the plaintiffs are seeking to conduct depositions of:

Scott Billings, a FBI special agent formerly assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force; Erik T. Rigler, a former FBI special agent; Michael Rolince, a FBI section chief for International Terrorism Operations Section from 1998 to 2002; Coleen M. Rowley, a former FBI special agent and Minneapolis Chief Division Counsel; and Harry Samit, a FBI special agent assigned to the Minneapolis Field office and Joint Terrorism Task Force in August and September 2001.

The agents were involved in FBI investigations of the terrorist organization al-Qaeda and its operatives before and after the Sept. 11 attacks, according to the complaint.

In the CIA lawsuit, they are seeking to depose a former deputy chief of the CIA's Osama Bin Laden unit code-named "John" and a FBI special agent assigned to that unit code-named "Mary." They are believed to have information regarding two of the hijackers who carried out the attacks, according to the complaint.

Special Agent Richard Kolko, a FBI spokesman in Washington, said he wasn't aware of the lawsuits and the FBI wouldn't comment on ongoing litigation.

A call to the CIA's public affairs office in Langley, Va., wasn't immediately returned late Tuesday.

Oh my - this doesn't bode well for Tenet to be able to keep his Medal of Freedom and pension perks or for Mueller to keep his job. harharhar It couldn't happen to a more deserving couple of ash-hats.

If there is any justice in this world both deadbeats will be stripped of all taxpayer funded stipends/honors.

And though the big fish who allowed 9/11 to happen can't be touched, at least the taxpayers should have the satisfaction of witnessing a very public humiliation of incompetent minions like Tenet and Meuller.

The very first whiff I smelled of something not being right was on 9/12 when Goofy did not fire Tenet and Meuller on the spot. Talk about gross negligence/incompetence! But Goofy did nothing except praise Tenet and Meuller for their efforts - what's wrong with that picture, I said to myself...

My career in government service was always confrontational because I refused to accept what was obviously wrong, without merit or self serving.

It's about time the airlines stood up and demanded some answers. Hopefully, they won't back down.

This is a National Security Issue ... hehehehe ... and all of the fascists involved know it ... they've already solved their differences, these filings are for public consumption.

"The mighty are only mighty because we are on our knees. Let us rise!" --Camille Desmoulins

Dale Watson, former CIA and former FBIHQ, warned the CIA months before Sep11th about an attack. However, only a few weeks before Sep11th, he decided to ignored warnings by two experienced and respected FBI-agents Kenneth Williams (- >) and Rowley,Coleen: Source http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news? e=pri&dt=020531&cat=news&st=newsattackfbireportdc

In late 2002, Watson resigned from the FBI and started a job at Booz Allen Hamilton (->). From an original GROUND ZERO article, originally released at Scoop: "During the past several years, the FBI and CIA have developed a closer working relationship." - Dale Watson, 1998 http://www.fbi.gov/congress/wtc.htm

The first known warning was FBI agent Robert Wright. He tried to warn his superiors three months before September 11th that Americans were in danger of terrorist attacks at home. No one listened to Wright and he finally blew the whistle a few months ago in March 2002, but didn't make much news coverage even then. Wright spoke out again at a press conference in Washington, D.C. in May. He accused the FBI of intentionally thwarting investigations of known terrorists. But instead of making national news, Wright's story was downplayed in the media. More disturbingly the FBI tried to block his new book, "Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission". Why? What does the FBI have to hide? Or who told them to do so? Wright brought a lawsuit against the FBI, claiming they violated his First Amendment rights by prohibiting him from making his complaints public. Chicago attorney David Schippers, who was the House Republican's counsel during Clinton's impeachment hearing, and Larry Klayman of Judicial Watch, who was one of the independent prosecutors, represent Wright. Wright said, in tears, live on C-Span, that he was threatened by John Ashcroft for months to shut up his mouth. http://biz.yahoo.com/prn ews/020529/dcw021_1.html http://biz.yahoo.com/prn ews/020529/dcw021_1.html

Schippers tried to reach John Ashcroft for weeks, but finally gave up a couple of days before September 11th. Noone called him back. The regular answer on the phone: "we don't start investigations at the top" or "we will get back to you". Schippers gave several interviews after Sep. 11th and explained his frustrations. Once a famous attorney, he was now called a crackpot or a traitor. ...Why did Watson ignore Wright? Why did the manager of the FBI Headquarters, David Frasca (Radical Fundamentalist Unit) ignore the two warnings of FBI agents Kenneth Williams (early July) and Coleen Rowley (August)? http://ab cnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/warnings020524.html "...He is one of the sharpest agents I have ever met," said former FBI agent Ronald Myers, a constable in Maricopa County, Ariz. "He's a superstar. ... Anyone in FBI management who wouldn't take what Ken Williams said seriously is a fool." http://www.nydailynews.com/2002-05-20/News_and_Views/Beyond_the_City/a- 151521.asp>

As Senator Arlen Specter, Charles Grassley and Patrick Leahy pointed out in a joint letter to Robert Mueller, "it has been noted that Supervisory Special Agent Dave Frasca in the Radical Fundamentalist Unit (RFU) may have been involved in handling the Phoenix memorandum and the Moussaoui investigation at FBI headquarters..." http://leahy.senate.gov /press/200205/052402a.html But Mueller never responded in public regarding Frasca. More strange is that Watson even sent a warning to the CIA before Watson, Wright and Rowley's warnings. In a secret FBI report he warned CIA director George Tenet, months before Sept. 11, "of a significant terror threat from the Middle East, and said the bureau did not have the resources to combat it", the NY Times reported. http://dailynews.att.net/cgi- bin/news? e=pri&dt=020531&cat=news&st=newsattackfbireportdc>

Contra Costa Times wrote about yet another internal memo from Aug. 22, 2000, then , to Thomas Pickard, the deputy director in charge of counterterrorism at the time, "acknowledged the FBI's lack of coherent prevention strategy". http://www.bay area.com/mld/bayarea/news/nation/3385691.htm (Watson) worked in the FBI Headquarters as Chief of the Iran Unit, Counter-terrorism Section, NSD, from November 1991 through April 1994. In June 1996, Mr. Watson was named Deputy Chief of the CIA at the Counter-terrorist Center. In July 1998, Mr. Watson was appointed Inspector Deputy Assistant Director of the National Security Division (NSD), FBI Headquarters, Washington, D.C Following an internal reorganization at FBI Headquarters, on December 6, 1999, the Attorney General appointed Mr. Watson the Assistant. No one has subpoenaed Watson about what exactly "went wrong" during August 2001, especially when they had already arrested Moussaoui,HabibZacarias. TIME reported, that Kenneth Williams' memo was never forwarded by Watson and not even to Mike Rolince, chief of the international-terrorism section http://www.time.co m/time/covers/1101020527/story2.html "Do you think," says a White House antiterrorism official, "that if Dick Clarke had known that the FBI had in custody a foreigner who couldn't speak English, who was trying to fly a plane in midair, he wouldn't have done something?" http://www.time.co m/time/covers/1101020527/story2.html

Even 5 days after the CIA send their urgent cable to the FBI, another FBI agent, Colleen Rowley, was still in contact with the NSLU, a law division within the FBIHQ. On August 28th she finally gave up: No permission was granted to search the hard drive of Mr. Moussaoui's computer under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). The incompetence theory doesn't work any more, especially for Dale Watson. He was a specialist and he ignored other specialists like Kenneth Williams. Why? If we look at Watson's past, this makes no sense at all. 5 years after the first bombing on the WTC, Dale Watson testified about an old plan, called Project Bojinka, which originally was about "simultaneously plant devices on flights" February 24, 1998 - "The terrorists of tomorrow will have an even more dizzying array of weapons and technologies available to them..." http://web.archive.org/web/19990502221624/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/wtc.h tm

Watson was concerned about "chemical, biological, and nuclear materials within the criminal and terrorist communities. These weapons of mass destruction represent perhaps the most serious potential threat facing the United States today..." But Watson was convinced of a perfect working relationship between the FBI and the CIA: "...During the past several years, the FBI and CIA have developed a closer working relationship. This has strengthened the ability of each agency to respond to terrorist threats, and has improved the ability of the U.S. government to respond to terrorist attacks that do occur..." "To improve response capabilities on a national scale, the FBI is working closely with five other federal agencies - the Department of Defense, the Department of Energy, the Public Health Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency ...Due to the measures I've discussed and several other initiatives, we are much better prepared to address the international terrorist threat than we were five years ago..." Watson praised various computer warning systems like E.G. NLETS. NLETS is controlled by state law enforcement agencies whereas the NCIC is controlled by the Department of Justice through the FBI. "...more than 35 federal agencies involved in the U.S. government's counterterrorism effort receive information via secure teletype through this system. The messages are transmitted to all 56 FBI field offices and 33 foreign liaison posts." Then the FBI used the Law Enforcement Intelligence Unit (LEIU), a "private, federally-funded network of computerized files", which was so successful that the ACLU tried to file a lawsuit against its use: http://www.publiceye.org/huntred/Hunt_For_Red_Menace-07.htm LEIU was developed by the California-based Anacapa Sciences Incorporated. Later the FBI developed two other programs, the National Infrastructure and Computer Intrusion Program (NIPCIP) and Awareness of National Security Issues and Response (ANSIR). The FBI improved the National Threat Warning System (NTWS), which had already been implemented in 1989. Sixty federal agencies and their departments received NTWS - information via secure teletype as well. The messages are transmitted to all 56 FBI field offices and 44 legal attaches. This basically works like a news ticker. ...Also unknown is the fact that the FBI also used data of the AAMVA (Amercian Association Motor Vehicle Administration) and worked on a new transfair system in real time. Who else in the FBIHQ can answer these questions about Rowley, Wright and Williams? What do Ruben Garcia Jr. (Domestic Terrorism specialist), Kathleen McChesney (master's degree in Public Administration) have to say? Why did the (first) 911 hearings die so fast? Was Bush's Confirmation of prior knowledge a strategy to get rid of these hearings? What can another FBI Headquarters employee of that time, Robert J. Chiaradio tell us? Maybe not much. He doesn't work there anymore. On July 8th, 2002 Chiaradio was named by KPMG Consulting, one of the world's largest business consulting and systems integration firms, as managing director and lead advisor on homeland security. Were the rats leaving the sinking ship? Did the FBIHQ let the attack happen on purpose?..."

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"I was real close to Building 7 when it fell down... That didn't sound like just a building falling down to me while I was running away from it. There's a lot of eyewitness testimony down there of hearing explosions. [..] and the whole time you're hearing "boom, boom, boom, boom, boom." I think I know an explosion when I hear it... — Former NYC Police Officer and 9/11 Rescue Worker Craig Bartmer