Law Enforcement, Military, and Terrorism News

DOJ OIG Releases Report on the FBI’s Efforts to Identify Homegrown Violent Extremists Through Counter-terrorism Assessments

Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General Michael E. Horowitz announced today the release of a report examining the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) efforts to identify homegrown violent extremists (HVE) through counter-terrorism assessments from October 2012 to September 2018. The FBI defines HVEs as global jihad-inspired individuals who are in the United States, have been radicalized primarily in the United States, and are not receiving individualized direction from a foreign terrorist organization.

Since September 11, 2001, HVEs have carried out over 20 attacks in the United States, some of which occurred after the FBI closed a counter-terrorism assessment or investigation on the individual.

The DOJ Office of the Inspector General (OIG) found that the FBI had not taken a comprehensive approach to resolving deficiencies in its counter-terrorism assessment process. The specific findings in today’s review include:

Weaknesses existed in the FBI’s counter-terrorism assessment process. Following attacks by individuals previously assessed or investigated by the FBI, the FBI conducted reviews to identify weaknesses and areas for improvement in the FBI’s process for assessing potential HVEs. However, the FBI did not ensure that all field offices and headquarters implemented recommended improvements and subsequent policy requirements. As a result, FBI field offices continued to conduct some counter-terrorism assessments that did not meet FBI requirements or standards.

The FBI did not adequately execute an enterprise-wide review of closed counter-terrorism assessments. In 2017, the FBI conducted an internal review of closed counter-terrorism assessments to ensure that the investigative effort and oversight of these assessments were thoroughly conducted in order to identify potential threats to national security and mitigate risks to public safety.

Through this effort, the FBI identified that 6 percent of the closed assessments it reviewed did not adequately assess the potential threat, and warranted additional investigative action. However, nearly 40 percent of these counter-terrorism assessments went unaddressed for 18 months after deficiencies were known to the FBI. As of February 2019, the FBI reported to the OIG that necessary investigative measures have now been taken on these assessments.

The FBI should identify and address inconsistencies in its reevaluation of closed assessments. We found inconsistencies in the scope of database checks that were being conducted by some field offices when reviewing closed assessments that may implicate legal, policy, and civil liberties issues associated with these reevaluations. As a result, the FBI must determine if some field offices missed opportunities to identify current and accurate information about potential HVEs, or if actions taken by other offices could have implicated the civil liberties of subjects of previously closed assessments.

The FBI must address emerging challenges to assess potential HVEs. Another challenge facing the FBI arises from the increased the number of tips and leads being sent to FBI offices. We found that the FBI has decided to integrate criminal threat matters into its system for assessing counter-terrorism threats and it is in the process of updating its protocols related to this change. However, we found the FBI has not developed an effective approach in dealing with the prevalence of assessments associated with individuals with an identified mental health issue and determining whether these individuals pose an actual threat to national security or public safety.

Today’s report makes seven recommendations to assist the FBI its efforts to identify HVEs through counter-terrorism assessments.

The FBI agreed with all seven recommendations.

Report: Today’s report can be found on the OIG’s website under “Recent Reports” at the following link: https://oig.justice.gov/reports/2020/a20030.pdf

Video: To accompany today’s report, the OIG has released a 2-minute video featuring the Inspector General discussing the report’s findings. The video and a downloadable transcript are available at the following link: https://oig.justice.gov/multimedia/video-03-04-20.htm.

In addition to this report, in June 2018 the OIG issued to the FBI a Management Advisory Memorandum detailing the OIG’s concern about inadequate actions taken by the FBI to mitigate a particular national security threat.

OIG.Justice.gov (March, 2020) DOJ OIG Releases Report on the FBI’s Efforts to Identify Homegrown Violent Extremists Through Counterterrorism Assessments

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Mother of San Bernardino Shooter Agrees to Plead Guilty to Destroying Evidence Related to Her Son’s 2015 Terrorist Attack

The mother of Syed Rizwan Farook, the male shooter in 2015 San Bernardino terrorist attack, has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge of intending to impede a federal criminal investigation by shredding a map her son generated in connection with the attack.

Rafia Sultana Shareef, a.k.a. Rafia Farook, 66, of Corona, has agreed to plead guilty to a one-count information charging her with alteration, destruction, and mutilation of records. The criminal information and related plea agreement were filed Monday in United States District Court in Riverside, and the documents became publicly available on Tuesday.

Shareef is scheduled to make her initial appearance in federal court in Riverside on March 16.

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According to her plea agreement, on December 2, 2015, Shareef was living at a Redlands residence she shared with her son and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, and her grandchild. At approximately 8 a.m. on that day, Farook and Malik left the family home and left their infant child with Shareef, falsely telling her that they were going to a medical appointment.

Instead, Farook and Malik drove a black SUV that Farook had rented a few days earlier to the Inland Regional Center (IRC) in San Bernardino. Farook entered the IRC alone, while Malik waited inside the SUV, which was parked at the IRC parking lot. Farook placed a bag containing a bomb in a conference room where his coworkers were holding an event. After some time, Farook and Malik left the IRC, then returned at approximately 10:58 a.m. dressed in black tactical gear.

Approaching the IRC on foot from the exterior, Farook and Malik opened fire using high-powered firearms on individuals outside and inside the venue, killing 14 people and wounding at least 22 others. At approximately 11:01 a.m., Farook and Malik departed the IRC and began driving around San Bernardino. A few hours later, Farook and Malik engaged in a firefight with law enforcement officers that resulted in the wounding of one policeman and their own deaths.

Sometime between 11:43 a.m. and 3:06 p.m., while Shareef was still at her home, she learned that law enforcement had identified her son as a suspect in the IRC attack, the plea agreement states. In the presence of family members that afternoon, Shareef expressed her belief that her son and daughter-in-law had perpetrated the IRC attack, according to the plea agreement.

Prior to leaving the family home with her infant grandchild at 3:41 p.m., Shareef went into her son’s bedroom, grabbed at least one document that appeared to be a map, and fed it into a shredder, according to the plea agreement. Shareef admitted that she knew her son had produced the document, and she believed it was directly related to his planning of the IRC attack.

Once she pleads guilty to the felony charge, Shareef will face a maximum statutory sentence of 20 years in federal prison, but the plea agreement contemplates a sentence of no more than 18 months.

This matter was investigated by the FBI. This case stems from the broader investigation of the San Bernardino attack by members of the Inland Empire Joint Terrorism Task Force, which includes the FBI; the San Bernardino Police Department; the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; Homeland Security Investigations; the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department; the San Bernardino County District Attorney’s Office; the Chino Police Department; the Redlands Police Department; the Ontario Police Department; the Corona Police Department; and the Riverside Police Department.

The case against Shareef is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Christopher D. Grigg, Chief of the Terrorism and Export Crimes Section; Melanie Sartoris of the General Crimes Section; and Julius J. Nam of the Criminal Appeals Section. Justice Department Trial Attorneys Alicia Cook and C. Alexandria Bogle of the National Security Division’s Counterterrorism Section provided substantial support.

Justice.gov (March, 2020) Mother of San Bernardino Shooter Agrees to Plead Guilty to Destroying Evidence Related to Her Son’s 2015 Terrorist Attack

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Man Arrested for Bomb Threats Against Collins Aerospace in Wilson, NC

The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announces that KiDARRYL T. PHILLIPS faces federal charges for Threatened Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina, Robert J. Higdon, Jr., announces that Kidarryl T. Phillips faces federal charges for Threatened Use of a Weapon of Mass Destruction.

According to publicly filed documents in federal court, Phillips is alleged to have made six bomb threats targeting Collins Aerospace in Wilson, North Carolina. Phillips is a contract employee of Collins Aerospace and had his initial appearance today in front of United States Magistrate Judge James E. Gates.

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If convicted, Phillips would face up to a maximum term of life imprisonment, a $250,000 fine as to each count, and a term of up to five years supervised release following any term of imprisonment.

The charges and allegations contained in the criminal complaint are merely accusations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.

The Wilson Police Department and the Federal Bureau of Investigation are conducting the investigation of this case.

Assistant United States Attorney Gabriel Diaz is prosecuting this case for the government.

Justice.gov (March, 2020) Man Arrested for Bomb Threats Against Collins Aerospace in Wilson

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Department of Justice Launches a National Nursing Home Initiative

Attorney General William P. Barr announced today the launch of the Department of Justice’s National Nursing Home Initiative, which will coordinate and enhance civil and criminal efforts to pursue nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care to their residents.

This initiative is focusing on some of the worst nursing homes around the country and the Department already has initiated investigations into approximately thirty individual nursing facilities in nine states as part of this effort.

“Millions of seniors count on nursing homes to provide them with quality care, and to treat them with dignity and respect when they are most vulnerable,” said Attorney General William P. Barr. “Yet, all too often, we have found nursing home owners or operators who put profits over patients, leading to instances of gross abuse and neglect. This national initiative will bring to justice those owners and operators who have profited at the expense of their residents, and help to ensure residents receive the care to which they are entitled.”

The department considers a number of factors in identifying the most problematic nursing homes.

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For example, the department looks for nursing homes that consistently fail to provide adequate nursing staff to care for their residents, fail to adhere to basic protocols of hygiene and infection control, fail to provide their residents with enough food to eat so that they become emaciated and weak, withhold pain medication, or use physical or chemical restraints to restrain or otherwise sedate their residents.

These care failures cause residents to suffer in pain and to be exposed to the great indignities.

Care failures cause residents to develop pressure sores down to the bone, to lie in their own waste for hours, to starve because they cannot reach the food on their trays and to remain unwashed for weeks at a time. Nursing homes that provide grossly substandard care also force vulnerable elderly residents who cannot leave the facilities to live in filthy and dangerous conditions where there are leaks in the roofs, mold is found growing and rodents found living in residents’ rooms. These are some of the actions and the inactions that the department intends to pursue.

“The Department of Justice has a long history of holding nursing homes and long-term care providers accountable when they fail to provide their Medicare and Medicaid residents with even the most basic nursing services,” said Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt for the Civil Division. “Through this National Initiative, we will more effectively and quickly pursue nursing homes that are jeopardizing the health and well-being of their residents.”

“The Administration for Community Living was created to help ensure that older adults and people with disabilities are able to live the lives they want, with the people they choose, fully participating in their communities,” said Administrator Lance Robertson for the Administration for Community Living, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Our mission includes supporting their basic right to live with dignity, free from abuse. We appreciate the Department of Justice’s leadership on this important Initiative, and we are proud to work side by side with DOJ and all of our partners in the Elder Justice Coordinating Council to prevent elder abuse in all forms.”

“The HHS Office of Inspector General (OIG) continues to pursue nursing home operators who provide potentially harmful care to residents who are often unable to protect themselves,” said Chief Counsel to the Inspector General Gregory Demske of HHS. “Creating this Initiative sends a message to those in charge of caring for these beneficiaries that grossly substandard care will not be tolerated.”

The National Nursing Home Initiative reflects the department’s larger strategy and commitment to protecting our nation’s seniors, coordinated by the department’s Elder Justice Initiative in conjunction with the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices.

The Elder Justice Initiative and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices are essential to the department’s investigative and enforcement efforts against nursing homes and other long-term care entities that deliver grossly substandard care to Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries. The Initiative and the U.S. Attorneys’ Offices also support the efforts of state and local prosecutors, law enforcement, and other elder justice professionals to combat elder abuse, neglect and financial exploitation, with the development of training, resources, and information.

Learn more about the Justice Department’s Elder Justice Initiative at http://www.justice.gov/elderjustice/.

Justice.gov (March, 2020) Department of Justice Launches a National Nursing Home Initiative

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Ex-CIA engineer charged in massive leak was described by Prosecutors as ‘angry and vindictive’

Federal prosecutors stated on Monday that a software engineer on trial for the largest leak of classified information in CIA history was “prepared to do anything” to betray the agency, Fox News reported.

Joshua Schulte is a former CIA coder accused of sending the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks a large portion of the agency’s computer hacking arsenal — tools the agency had used to conduct espionage operations overseas.

“The defendant was prepared to burn down the United States government,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Laroche said. “He is an angry and vindictive man.”

More at Fox News here.

In 2018, the U.S. Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York charged Joshua Adam Schulte with the unauthorized disclosure of classified information and other offenses relating to the theft of classified material from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Schulte was charged in a 13-count Superseding Indictment (the “Indictment”) in connection with his alleged theft of classified national defense information from the Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) and the transmission of that material to an organization that purports to publicly disseminate classified, sensitive, and confidential information (“Organization-1”). The Indictment also charges SCHULTE with the receipt, possession, and transportation of child pornography, as well as criminal copyright infringement. SCHULTE, who is presently detained on the child pornography charges, will be arraigned by U.S. District Judge Paul A. Crotty.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman said: “Joshua Schulte, a former employee of the CIA, allegedly used his access at the agency to transmit classified material to an outside organization. During the course of this investigation, federal agents also discovered alleged child pornography in Schulte’s New York City residence. We and our law enforcement partners are committed to protecting national security information and ensuring that those trusted to handle it honor their important responsibilities. Unlawful disclosure of classified intelligence can pose a grave threat to our national security, potentially endangering the safety of Americans.”

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Assistant Attorney General John C. Demers said: “The National Security Division, alongside our partners in the Intelligence Community, will not waver in our commitment to pursue and hold accountable these officials, and I commend all those at the Department of Justice and the FBI who have worked diligently to investigate this matter and bring these charges.”

Assistant Director-in-Charge William F. Sweeney, Jr. said: “As alleged, Schulte utterly betrayed this nation and downright violated his victims. As an employee of the CIA, Schulte took an oath to protect this country, but he blatantly endangered it by the transmission of Classified Information. To further endanger those around him, Schulte allegedly received, possessed, and transmitted thousands of child pornographic photos and videos. In an effort to protect this nation against crimes such as these, the FBI’s Counterintelligence Division in New York will continue to keep our mission at the forefront of our investigations in protecting the American public.”

On March 7, 2017, Organization-1 released on the Internet classified national defense material belonging to the CIA (the “Classified Information”). In 2016, SCHULTE, who was then employed by the CIA, stole the Classified Information from a computer network at the CIA and later transmitted it to Organization-1. SCHULTE also intentionally caused damage without authorization to a CIA computer system by granting himself unauthorized access to the system, deleting records of his activities, and denying others access to the system. SCHULTE subsequently made material false statements to FBI agents concerning his conduct at the CIA.

SCHULTE was previously arrested on August 24, 2017, on charges relating to his receipt, possession, and transportation of approximately ten thousand images and videos of child pornography. In March 2017, members of the FBI had searched SCHULTE’s residence in New York, New York, pursuant to a search warrant and recovered, among other things, multiple computers, servers, and other portable electronic storage devices, including Schulte’s personal desktop computer (the “Personal Computer”).

On the Personal Computer, FBI agents found an encrypted container (the “Encrypted Container”), which held over 10,000 images and videos of child pornography. The Encrypted Container with the child pornography files was identified by FBI computer scientists beneath three layers of password protection on the Personal Computer. Each layer, including the Encrypted Container, was unlocked using passwords previously used by SCHULTE on one of his cellphones. Moreover, FBI agents identified Internet chat logs in which SCHULTE and others discussed their receipt and distribution of child pornography. FBI agents also identified a series of Google searches conducted by SCHULTE in which he searched the Internet for child pornography.

SCHULTE, 29, of New York, New York, is charged with one count each of (i) illegal gathering of national defense information, (ii) illegal transmission of lawfully possessed national defense information, (iii) illegal transmission of unlawfully possessed national defense information, (iv) unauthorized access to a computer to obtain classified information, (v) theft of Government property, (vi) unauthorized access of a computer to obtain information from a Department or Agency of the United States, (vii) causing transmission of a harmful computer program, information, code, or command, (viii) making material false statements to representatives of the FBI, (ix) obstruction of justice, (x) receipt of child pornography, (xi) possession of child pornography, (xii) transportation of child pornography, and (xiii) copyright infringement.

A chart containing the charges and maximum penalties is shown here. The maximum potential sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendant will be determined by the judge.

Mr. Berman praised the outstanding investigative efforts of the FBI.

The prosecution of this case is being handled by the Office’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sidhardha Kamaraju and Matthew Laroche are in charge of the prosecution, with assistance from Trial Attorney Scott McCulloch of the National Security Division’s Counterintelligence and Export Control Section.

Foxnews.com/Justice.gov (March, 2020) Prosecutors describe ex-CIA engineer charged in massive leak as ‘angry and vindictive’; Joshua Adam Schulte Charged With The Unauthorized Disclosure Of Classified Information

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