It was just crazy… sitting maybe 20 yards away from KSM.   It’s clear today that the five defendants are aware, at some level, that the intention is to close Guantanamo Bay.  On Nov. 4, the five defendants  met for a so-called strategy session.  Who knew five of the worlds most despised terrorists could meet in this way??

After this meeting, right around the election, the defendants decided to write to the military commissions, telling them they want to enter their “confessions.”  There are a number of possible reasons, but the one that makes the most sense to me is that they are trying to fast track their deaths.  By telling the court they want to enter “confessions,” they are suggesting they want to be martyrs for Al Qaeda?

When the time came to enter the pleas, KSM asked if the death penalty would be in play.  The judge said he didn’t know the answer, and it was then that KSM said he would “postpone” his plea until the mental competency of two defendants is determined.  This was just an excuse.  And more evidence he wants to die.

Should the military commissions allow a self-confessed terrorist to manipulate our system so that he can be a martyr??

(The pleas were not entered today, because the judge wants to know, IF he accepts the pleas, will the death penalty still be in play.)

Share This

Here in the state capital, as soon as FOX called Ohio for Obama,  EVERYONE from the secretary of state’s office ran behind the curtain to where we believe her office is.  There has been a lot of tension here tonight. This was ground zero in the 2004 election and everyone was focused on the provisional ballots as the most likely source of litigation.

Whether it is wishful thinking, or all the networks will turn out to be wrong, the primary media contact for the state GOP in Ohio is not ready to concede.  When I reached John McClelland you could hear it was extremely busy in the room where he was, people calling over each other, and a few choice works appeared to be flying.

McClelland who has been very forward leaning with information about the race said point blank they are not ready to concede because they were over performing in many of  their counties. And he claimed that the counties yet to be counted were predominantly Republican.   His bottom line is that the number of votes being considered, so far, was just to small to make it real.

About a half hour from now we are expecting another news conference from the secretary of state where we will get the first real numbers…..

Share This

I’m sitting in the satellite truck outside the Aladdin Shrine polling center in suburban Columbus.  The Aladdin Shrine is one of the largest polling sites with 5000 registered voters.   They expect about 80% to turn out today – an astounding number which could well be replicated across the state.

What’s striking so far is what’s NOT happening.  After the trainwreck/meltdown of 2004 when machines broke down and there were record numbers of provisioal ballots, EVERYONE knew the high turnout here would put the system here in Ohio to the test.  So far, and I say so far, because alot can happen in the last few hours of the race, the lines have not appeared.

The secretary of state, Jennifer Brunner, much maligned by some republicans as too partisan, told reporters this morning that the average wait across the state was just an hour.  Just an hour!  When we covered the early voting in Columbus Sunday, the lines were averaging between 3 and 4 hours.   So what is going on here?  According to some of the poll workers we’ve spoken to, the impact of early voting CANNOT be underestimated.

In this state, ground zero n the 2004 race, about 20% of the eligible voters have already cast their ballots.   We were strike by the number of first time voters (roughly 10 percent of eligible voters this time around) also students and others who just wanted to avoid the long lines of the last presidential election.

What to watch for tonight?  One republican state contact told me he will be watching the south east corner of the state.  it is Appalachia. it is where the economic direction of the candidates really matters. it is where hillary clinton steam rolled obama in the democratic primiary  A strong showing for McCain in this part of the state could suggest a strong showing over all in Ohio and not republican has gone to the whitehouse whithout winning here in Ohio.

Share This

As soon as I saw the email my heart stopped. Ever since I met Staff Sgt Joe Cox this spring, in the back of my mind, I have worried about him.

Click here to read my original blog on Sgt. Cox. >>

I met him half way through his second tour in Iraq. Cox’s story was one of the most human and powerful stories I have ever reported and you responded with hundreds of emails. Cox is trying to change Iraq “one picture at a time.”

He takes pictures of Iraqi kids, prints them out back at base, and then gives them to the kids. It maybe the only picture their family has.

Back to Cox, his mother said his stryker was hit by an IED. Here is what she wrote:

Hi Catherine:

Jo Cox here, mother of SSGT. Joseph Cox. I got a call this morning at 4am from Joseph saying that their stryker had been blown up and he want to let me and his Dad know that he was o.k.. He didn’t sound o,k, because he had a quiver in his voice. I talked to him for about 5 or 10 minutes trying to see if I could tell if anything was wrong but he kept telling me all about the other guys.

I was wondering if you got any king of news as to what happened as we don’t hear anything about Iraq anymore since it is election time. Also, our little t.v. station don’t mention anything unless one of the guys gets killed. This happened the last time he was in Iraq. Just before they got to come home, they made a thunder run and 8 of the guys got killed. I just pray that he makes it until October 6 as that is when they are schedule to come back to Germany and we are going to see him home.

Please let me know if you have heard anything. I would appreciate it very much.

Thanks,
Jo Cox

That weekend, I spent a lot of time on the phone to Germany where Cox’s team is based. I couldn’t get much information because I’m not a family member, but I persisted anyway.

I clearly rattled some cages because a few days later I got this email from Joe.

hey catherine,

heard you were asking about my accident, someone has contacted our regiment asking for permission to release my info to fox news, dont know if it was for you or now. here is what i can tell you, we were investigating possible supply routes, and hold up locations, our enginieers had cleared as much of the route as the could, then we movedthem to our secondary objective. the reason they couldnt clear the whole route is the vehicles they have to use are more prone to roll over, so we pushed further in in our stryker, it was a calculated risk, we are always aware of the danger, this is one of the few times we didnt catchthe bomb before it caught us. the specifics havent been released to us about the exact type of explosive it was yet. the only thing that matters is we were all good and cracking jokes to each other within minutes. i had a concussion and bone briuses on my left foot, we had one person with a broken foot. the stryker did its job,
it absorbed the blast and once again saved soldiers. i am less than a month out, as you know i have lost dear friends that i have worked with in the past, thisis the closest i have been or ever want to be to loosing one of the guys who work for me. we now joke with our engineers that we had to go do there job for them, but they are one brave, or crazy group of guys we try to avoid bombs they arent happy unless they are finding them. the most common thing they joke about is that we cheated them out o gettingblown up…..at least i think they are joking…. SFC Kirrkwood of the 84th engineers is the platoon sergeant for them, he was with us a few months last deployment before getting hurt and evaced back to the states, now he is here doing the same thing again thank god he hasnt got hurt this time, that is the real story here, guys who almost loose it all and still come back. once again, thank you for your concern and hope this helps”

Typical of Joe, he says he is okay, he will be back in Germany this month and he has sent me pictures of the Stryker and a little boy who they are trying to help. He was hurt in a roadside attack. The picture on the top of this blog is so striking to me. Look at the little boy’s mother smiling to the left as Cox holds her son.

I had a lot of people ask me if Joe is going to sell his pictures. He told me he is thinking about it, he’s looking into frames, and he wants to. I don’t think he understands how his pictures continue to bring so many people together. After our first story for Memorial Day, I heard from three of the families whose sons, from Cox’s unit, were killed in January 2008 when a house was booby trapped. Among them the father’s of Matt Pionk, Jon Dozier and the family of Todd Davis.

I hope you will follow the link back to the original story. Reading the comments is still so moving. Joe wanted me to pass along his thanks, the messages to him and his buddies, meant the world. And as I write this, I am struck by the power of a single picture.

Share This

Share This

I asked myself this question, on assignment, when General Michael Hayden retired from the Air Force after 39 years of service. How many of us do anything for 39 years? OK, how many of us do anything we ARE proud of for 39 years?

You know Gen. Hayden from his “day job” as the CIA Director, a post he’s held since May 2006, and one he’s keeping. What many people don’t realize is that Gen. Hayden is also a four star. He is the highest ranking intelligence officer in the Armed Forces.

The ceremony at Bolling Air Force Base, just outside of Washington, was a virtual Rolodex of the intelligence community: the DNI, the Deputy DNI, the former head of the NCTC, the former CIA director, Gen. Hayden’s No. 2, acting general counsel for the agency, head of the Coast Guard…..

The ceremony was short, but powerful with moments of real humor. Did you know that the CIA Director at one time sold hairbrushes and combs door to door? He is also a die hard Steelers fan. He once worked as a bellhop. Check out the clips: two from Defense Secretary Gates (below) and the other from Gen. Hayden (above). This is a human side of the intelligence world you seldom see.

Gen. Hayden joined the Air Force when he was at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh. In his early 20’s, Gen. Hayden told the group, that he had never been on a plane and that this career choice would take him all over the world. One of the most moving moments came when the general thanked his wife Jeanine for her service to the country. His family presented him with an American flag which had flown at each of their assignments. It was powerful because, as he said, his success was not possible without his family.

So ask yourself the same question. How much of your success is due to the help of others? I’d like to begin by thanking our DC intern Natalee Morales who helped me select the clips!

Share This

For the first time today, I saw a man I have covered for nearly seven years.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is nothing like the mug shot we have all seen. No dark hair. No white T-shirt. He is now in full warrior mode. A long white and grey beard. Traditional head covering. Thick military issue glasses. As we waited for the hearing to begin, I was struck by how quickly Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) took control of the group. He had not seen them in years, his four fellow accused, but they smiled and laughed like old friends.

The five defendants sat in single file, each at this own desk with military and civilian attorneys and they delighted in mocking the military commissions, as imperfect as they are. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed leaned over and whispered to his fellow defendant Wallid Bin Attash, accused of running a training camp for the hijackers. Quickly, Bin Attash leaned over to Ramzi Binalsheib and whispered the message. It was passed down the line. All of them knew to follow KSM’s lead and today each one said they did not want any government are choosing to represent themselves. In other words, they will use these commissions, for their own purpose, to showcase Al Qaeda and their wish to die.

Click here to read the story from foxnews.com >>

KSM showed today, that after five years of captivity, after spending time in a CIA secret prison where he was waterboarded, he still has the drive to control the men around him. He still has the desire to make a mockery of this country.

This is just the beginning. Even military lawyers assigned to the case are questioning its legitimacy, their lack of access to their clients, their inability to establish a working relationship. But what we saw in court today, a small slice of history, questioned whether KSM and the others just want to be martyrs.

Share This

You never know where the next story will come from.

One of my FOX colleagues, Andy Ryan, a reservist, has been deployed in Iraq for the last 18 months. We’ve been shooting emails back and forth for a while and just a few weeks ago he sent one that really caught my attention.

The email boiled down to this: Can one soldier and his camera really change Iraq one picture at a time…..

The whole concept got me wondering and once I saw Staff Sgt. Joe Cox’s pictures it was clear to me that Cox was capturing through his lens, the humanity that is often lacking in our coverage of Iraq. We often talk about this war in big broad strokes, but I thought, Cox’s story would provide an intimate look at the war and the people living it.

Cox takes pictures from his Stryker while they are on patrol. Then, once back base, he prints them out to hand out to the villagers when he returns.He has become so famous in some areas they run into the streets, sometimes in their best clothes, to get their picture taken.

There is such poverty, many of them don’t have a single family picture. It’s not often a story or an individual really moves you. The pictures are powerful.

Can a picture paint a thousand words and make a difference?

Share This

This story seemed straight forward this morning when I started: How many detainees who are released or transferred from Gitmo have wound up on the battlefield again with the goal of killing Americans? But the more you report this story, the more you realize, the Pentagon doesn’t have a good handle on how many detainees are involved and some lawyers argue that their clients, the detainees, got radicalized after spending years in Gitmo without charge.

Cully Stimson, a former senior policy adviser on detainees to the president, told me that these detainees are trained to lie. It is part of their terror training – that is why Stimson says – it can be so hard to make the case they are enemy combatants. Stimson put it this way:

“You find a guy, who says he’s a sheep herder in the mountains of Afghanistan, he has 25k cash on him and a GPS recorder and he’s found with 200 rpgs. Is he a sheep herder? No. And so this is a typical type of cover story.”

According to the Pentagon’s statistics, and I mention the source because it’s always important to know the source and their agenda, of the 500 detainees released from Guantanamo Bay, about 36 are confirmed or suspected of returning to the battlefield. That is roughly 7 percent.

Among the group, Mohammed Nayim Farouq (top left) who according to military officials, quickly renewed his relationship with the Taliban and Al Qaeda after his release in July 2003.

Also, a Russian, Ruslan Odizhev, (bottom) who was killed in June 2007 after being transferred along with 7 other detainees to Moscow in 2004.

And Abdallah Salih al-Ajmi, (top right) who the military now links to a suicide bombing in mosul last month that killed 7. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today that some countries don’t even want the detainees back – period.

“I think we do as careful a vetting job as we possibly can before releasing these people. There are a lot, um, there are a lot of, prisoners down there frankly, that we would be prepared to turn over to their home government , but the home government isn’t prepared to receive them.”

I learned today that the conditions of each detainee’s transfer can vary dramatically. They could be transferred back to their home country and the only condition is that their passport is handed over. Each case is negotiated separately between the us and the host country.

A source familiar with a number of detainee cases told me the real problem is that there is no process at Gitmo. There is no way for a court to decide who should be held and who should be freed. And that in some cases, these guys become so angry and so frustrated, that if they didn’t hate the us before they got to Gitmo, they do now.

What should we do? Because the problem of possible radicalization is more pronounced in Iraq where, one contact claims, more than 20,000 are being held.

Share This

Late Monday, I got a tip from one of my contacts. It was one of those tips where a little negotiating went on. I couldn’t air the story right away, but I could “go with it” after midnight. So I am writing this story around 5 with the idea it will go up on the Web in about seven hours. I will also do an “as-live” that is TV speak for a taped report that “looks live” for the overnight headlines.

The new report, obtained by FOX News, claims that cigarette smuggling is generating big bucks for terror groups overseas. The total terror funding is estimated to be in the millions of dollars annually.

The ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, who called for the investigation said, “This is a very serious homeland security issue, one that has gone unnoticed for far too long. Cigarette smugglers are able to generate millions of dollars in illegal profits with a great deal of this wealth being sent to terrorist groups overseas – groups that would like nothing more than to inflict devastating harm on our country and its citizens.” The fifteen page report, obtained by FOX, includes intelligence from law enforcement sources as well as New York State’s Department of Taxation and Finance. The report reads in part:

“Historically, the low-risk, high profitability of the illicit cigarette trade served as a gateway for traditional criminal traffickers to move into lucrative and dangerous criminal enterprises such as money laundering, arms dealing, and drug trafficking. Recent law enforcement investigations, however, have directly linked those involved in illicit tobacco trade to infamous terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah, Hamas and Al Qaeda.”

One of the key issues, according to the report, is what maybe a fundamental flaw in New York state policy. In that state, according to the Congressman King’s office, there is a policy of “forebearance,” or refusing to collect on sales of Native American tax-free cigarettes to non-Native Americans. Critics of the policy say it has effectively created a safe haven for smugglers. In some cases, the report claims that a well-organized operation can generate up to $300,000 per week with a loss of up to $576 million in tax revenues to New York State.

According to the report, citing federal and New York state law enforcement sources, nearly 60 percent of all convenience retail outlets in New York City are now Arab-owned, primarily families of Lebanese, Yemeni, Jordanian and Palestinian descent. While the vast majority of retailers are operating above board, some are not, seeking their supplies from Native American reservations. The benefits of tax-free cigarettes are obvious.

Share This

One interesting nugget came out of the briefing with senior intelligence officials which did not make air for time reasons.  That is often the case on these stories; so much information, not enough time. I, frankly, don’t know how the network people do it, but that IS another story…

We were told that Israel’s decision to strike the Syrian Al-Kibar nuclear reactor in September 2007 was made on its own.  “No green light was given by the U.S. … no one asked for permission and none was given.”

According to senior intelligence officials, Israel saw the Syrian facility “as an existential threat.”

As for North Korea’s motivation, senior intelligence officials said it was cash-driven, not an effort to get nuclear fuel.

While senior intelligence officials were forceful in their conclusions it was a nuclear reactor, it will take time for outside analysts to digest the material and there is certain to be questions raised in the coming days by some foreign nations who may fear similar treatment.  Do you believe the evidence? Especially after WMD? There is clearly more pressure on the intel community to make their case as strongly and as openly as possible now.

Check out this letter that was sent by CIA Director Mike Hayden to CIA employees re: North Korea and Syria.  See the bold sections:

At our town hall meeting in January, I praised the outstanding work of our officers in tackling a very sensitive counter-proliferation issue, one that I could not identify at the time because it was highly compartmented.  As of today, some aspects have been declassified and will be publicly released this afternoon, so I can share with you the highlights of this extraordinary story.

Last spring, we acquired information confirming that a building in eastern Syria was a covert nuclear reactor using North Korean technology.  We had suspected the two nations were cooperating on nuclear technology as early as 2001, and although imagery had revealed the existence of the building, it lacked features associated with a nuclear installation.  The new information included photographs of the interior and exterior that offered our first unambiguous indication that the building was a nuclear reactor.  Moreover, the reactor would have been capable of producing plutonium for nuclear weapons, was not configured to produce electricity, and was ill-suited for research.

On the morning of 6 September 2007, the reactor was destroyed as it was nearing completion, but before it had been operated or charged with uranium fuel.  Syrian efforts to dismantle the ruined building and remove every trace of the incriminating equipment-largely conducted at night or under tarpaulins for concealment-further underscored Damascus less than benign intent for the facility. A video presentation summarizes our analysis of the Syrian reactor project and North Korean involvement in greater detail.

Our team effort on the Al Kibar reactor is a case study in rigorous analytic tradecraft, skillful human and technical collection, and close collaboration with our Community colleagues and liaison partners.  Our officers put in long hours on this issue for many months, and their hard work paid off by directly advancing our nations security and that of our allies.  To everyone who contributed to this success, my congratulations on a job well done.  

QUESTION: Do you think the pictures are the “Smoking Gun?”

Share This

So just as I was telling the babysitter I would be home a little after 6, one of those weird stories breaks.

What working mother doesn’t have that nightmare, the late in the day crisis at the office. Anyway, I digress …

The story is a great one and will probably have legs on Thursday. This guy Muthanna Al-Hanooti is accused of leading a double life. During the day, he helped an Islamic charity in Detroit and by night, he was a spy for the Iraq’s (specifically Saddam Hussein’s) intelligence service. Al-Hanooti’s job was to identify members of Congress who were sympathetic to getting the U.N. sanctions lifted against Iraq.

Reading a 14-page indictment late in the day can give you a brain cramp, but this alleged deal was pretty straight forward. Al-Hanooti apparently organized one trip for three members of congress, identified tonight by the AP as Jim McDermott of Washington State, David Bonior of Michigan (he’s gone from the hill of course), and Mike Thompson of California. The important thing here, according to one of my law enforcement contacts, is that there is no suggestion the members of congress did anything wrong or knew the trip was financed by Saddam.

We heard late tonight, i.e. 30 seconds before my FOX Report hit, so I took the call in the chair, that McDermott’s office was responding. Squeezing this stuff in late in the day is what fair and balanced is all about. A spokesman told FOX that the congressman thought the trip was put on by a Seattle church and McDermott saw sick and suffering Iraqi kids in the winter of 2002. For all of his efforts, Al-Hanooti got two million barrels of oil, according to the indictment, laundered through the oil for food program (remember that scam).

You know that old saying, and it’s especially true in Washington DC, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” Well, I guess now there’s no such thing as “a free trip.”

Share This

Hi! I’m Catherine Herridge and welcome to the blog! I’m guessing you watch FOX and know that I cover Homeland Security, terrorism and the intelligence community. In fact, I was the first TV reporter from any network assigned to the homeland beat after 9/11.

I left New York and came to Washington in the fall of 2001, after covering the World Trade Center attack. No one knew how long I would stay in D.C., so after a month the top brass at FOX let me go home to get more clothes and underwear.

Over the years, I’ve been given a nickname: “the Terror Pixie.” I don’t know if it’s the pixie haircut or the topics I cover, but somehow it has stuck. Although the issues I report on are very serious, there is a lighter side from time to time — and I’ll bring it to you whenever I can!

Share This