American media does it once again

[muff daddy]

WASHINGTON — Al Qaeda's Internet communications system has suddenly gone dark to American intelligence after the leak of Osama bin Laden's September 11 speech inadvertently disclosed the fact that we had penetrated the enemy's system.

But the disclosure from ABC and later other news organizations tipped off Qaeda's internal security division that the organization's Internet communications system, known among American intelligence analysts as Obelisk, was compromised. This network of Web sites serves not only as the distribution system for the videos produced by Al Qaeda's production company, As-Sahab, but also as the equivalent of a corporate intranet, dealing with such mundane matters as expense reporting and clerical memos to mid- and lower-level Qaeda operatives throughout the world

Story

 

[KCFlyer]

Isn't ABC owned by Disney...a fairly large donor to the republican party? They may be the "liberal media"...but their ownership is solidly right leaning.

 

[delldude]

First off...what does campaign contributions have to do with letting out secret methods of terrorist detection?

And while you're on a roll...check this out...its contrary to what you imply:

Duh

 

[Royal Ambassador]

The story is untrue. Bin Laden stopped using his cellular phone shortly after the cruise missiles attack on his training camps, well before September 11, 2001.

The Washington Post - On Leaks, Relying on A Faulty Case Study; Untrue Bin Laden Satellite Phone Story Still Has Currency With Media's Critics

 

[delldude]

The story is untrue. Bin Laden stopped using his cellular phone shortly after the cruise missiles attack on his training camps, well before September 11, 2001.

The Washington Post - On Leaks, Relying on A Faulty Case Study; Untrue Bin Laden Satellite Phone Story Still Has Currency With Media's Critics

You are wrong...this story is about penetrating an internet communication system in use since the original attack.It is

not about a cellular phone system and is dated September 2007 if you read the article.

 

[Veritas]

It was not the media, it was the White House.

Highlights:

San Diego Union-Tribune:

NEW YORK – The director of a group that monitors Islamic militant Web sites said the government leaked an Osama bin Laden video that was passed along to senior U.S. officials on condition that they keep it secret. She claimed the leak rendered certain intelligence-gathering capabilities ineffective.

Rita Katz, who runs the Washington-based SITE Institute, said her decision to pass the video to an official in the Bush administration has had an impact on the ways that the group has for obtaining these videos before they are made available by al-Qaeda.

“Due to the leak, sources that took years to develop are now ineffective,â€￾ Katz told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “A rare window into the world of al-Qaeda has now been sealed shut.â€￾ She declined to elaborate on whether she meant people or methods.

In a story first reported by The Washington Post on Tuesday, Katz said that on Sept. 7 she contacted White House counsel Fred Fielding, whom she had met before and trusted, and offered the video and a transcript, long before anyone else had a copy.

Katz said she wanted to give the government a head start on the video, which she expected al-Qaeda to release in the coming hours. She said she did not expect payment for passing along the information.

About an hour and a half after sending her e-mail, she saw news outlets reporting that the government had obtained the video. And soon after that, a transcript appeared on the ABC News Web site and later on the Fox News site.

Katz said both of these transcripts were hers, and they bear the same date – Sept. 6, the day SITE prepared the document – and file numbers as the copy SITE passed to Leiter.

CBS News

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.

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.

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.

 

[Garfield1966]

I heard it was the White House as well that leaked it. You got to love those poor SOB's. Since they are the ones that leaked it who knows if it was even true.

15 more more months (give or take) and that worm and his minions are out the door.

 

[delldude]

Not quite so

The White House denied it had leaked the video but said the issue was a cause for concern and an investigation would be needed to determine what happened. The office of the Director of National Intelligence said U.S. intelligence agencies were not involved.

"To make the accusation that the intelligence community leaked this to the media is totally false," intelligence office spokesman Ross Feinstein said.

Asked if the government's ability to monitor al Qaeda communications had been compromised, he said, "We have the appropriate people and the appropriate methods."

Be real funny if it was a Liberal Dem leak to embarrass the Bush administration now wouldn't it?

White House at all costs

 

[Garfield1966]

Not quite so
Be real funny if it was a Liberal Dem leak to embarrass the Bush administration now wouldn't it?

White House at all costs

Funny like when they denied the Valerie Plame (sp?) leak?

 

[delldude]

Funny like when they denied the Valerie Plame (sp?) leak?

Its on record Gar......someone admitted leaking it and HE wasn't indicted.

Official source: CNN

The sources said Armitage revealed Plame's role at the CIA almost inadvertently in a casual conversation with Novak, and it is not clear if he knew her identity was classified at the time.

Armitage was not indicted by the federal grand jury that investigated the disclosure of Plame's name to Novak and other journalists. Deliberately revealing the identify of a CIA operative can be a crime.

 

[Garfield1966]

Its on record Gar......someone admitted leaking it and HE wasn't indicted.

Official source: CNN

Yea, never understood that. It would not have mattered anyway. W would have granted him a pardon. The 'they' I was referring too was the repubs not the dems. I guess my post could have been interpreted both ways.

 

[Veritas]

Yea, never understood that. It would not have mattered anyway. W would have granted him a pardon. The 'they' I was referring too was the repubs not the dems. I guess my post could have been interpreted both ways.

It is quite simple.

Richard Armitage admitted that he "inadvertently" revealed to Robert Novak that Joe Wilson's wife was with the CIA, but he managed to convince special counsel Patrick Fitzgerald that he was not aware of her covert status (Newsweek).

And according to CNN:

Both Libby and Rove have conceded, through their lawyers, that they were sources for journalists doing reporting on stories about Wilson and Plame.

Novak identified Rove as the second source who confirmed what he had learned about Plame from Armitage.

The White House did out Valerie Plame's covert status.