- Editorial Note: Although FTW has received many reports
pertaining to the likely nature of future terrorist attacks we have refrained
from publishing them because we either felt that they were unsubstantiated
or risked causing unnecessary alarm. This story is the first such story
that we have felt it essential to report. We view the anthrax outbreaks
of recent weeks as a distracting form of psychological warfare, which do
not pose an immediate risk to any large numbers of people.
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- FTW, October 19, 2001, 1400 PDT - Credible information
received by FTW from a source long connected to intelligence operations,
and circumstantially supported by recent but little publicized events -
including government alerts - indicates that a number of hand-held surface-to-air
missiles, perhaps as many as 35, may have been smuggled into the U.S. from
Canada.
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- Events in the last two days at U.S. and French nuclear
generating plants lend credibility to the source's claims.
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- On October 15, Michael Riconosciuto, a computer programmer
connected by government documents to CIA and FBI intelligence operations
involving Promis software, made contact with a radio talk show host who
has requested anonymity. Riconosciuto passed on a warning that as many
as 35 Russian-made surface to air missiles had been smuggled across the
Canadian border into the U.S. The movement of the missiles reportedly occurred
within the last week to ten days. According to the broadcaster the missiles
were part of a two-phase attack on the United States that began with the
World Trade Center attacks on September 11. The second phase of the plan
was to shoot down large aircraft over population centers and/or "high
value" targets.
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- Although Riconosciuto is currently an inmate in the federal
penitentiary at Allenwood, PA - serving a sentence on a drug conviction
- he has repeatedly been the source of highly accurate information as documented
in a number of press stories, even while in prison. His status as a credible
intelligence source, both for U.S. and foreign agencies was confirmed last
year in an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) national
security staff. During that investigation, members of the RCMP - tracking
developments around an intelligence software program known as Promis -
visited FTW editor Michael Ruppert and acknowledged that Riconosciuto was
a key player with highly sensitive intelligence knowledge. However, both
the RCMP investigators and Ruppert shared the opinion that Riconosciuto's
information was not always 100% accurate. (To read a fuller description
on the RCMP/Promis investigation please visit http://www.copvcia.com/stories/may_2001/052401_promis.html.)
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- In a recent and unrelated development, United States
government agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, acknowledged
in FOX News reports on October 17, that they had stopped using Promis.
FTW has confirmed that the FBI now admits use of the software. These sudden
reversals came after years of denials - including court testimony - from
those agencies that they had ever used the software. These confirmations
support longstanding claims made by Riconosciuto.
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- On the evening of October 17, as confirmed by brief but
unpublicized stories by the Associated Press and in direct interviews by
FTW, the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant outside of Harrisburg, PA
was put on a state of high alert. At the same time the FAA ordered an immediate
and unexplained shutdown of the Harrisburg airport located just a few miles
from the plant.
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- On October 19, an AP report disclosed that France had
suddenly set up a radar system in northwest France to "sweep the skies
above Europe's largest nuclear reprocessing plant as a precaution against
airborne suicide attacks." Taken at its face the AP story seems to
indicate preparations for a different kind of attack. However, it raises
questions about why military and civilian radar systems currently in operation
would not detect an aircraft moving off course toward the plant and might
possibly be a cover to disguise other kinds of preparations. There are
too many operational variables to determine, one way or another, if the
French move is connected to events at TMI.
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- Harrisburg airport spokesperson, Scott Miller, told FTW
that he had no knowledge of why the FAA ordered the shutdown of the Harrisburg
airport on Wednesday night. "We were just following orders from the
FAA."
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- FAA Eastern Regional spokesperson Jim Peters told FTW,
"Even if I knew, I'd have to refer you to the FBI.
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- An unidentified spokesperson at FBI headquarters in Washington,
D.C. told FTW, "No comment."
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- The Harrisburg airport reopened yesterday morning.
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- What is clear is that nuclear facilities have become
a very clear priority for defensive precautions since September 11.
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- There are 103 nuclear power plants in the United States.
The French facility at La Hague is a reprocessing facility that handles
highly radioactive nuclear waste from reactors in Europe and Asia, according
to the AP story. France is almost totally dependent on nuclear energy.
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- Dave Carl, speaking for the TMI plant's owner, Exelon
Nuclear, told FTW, "The events of Wednesday night began when the Nuclear
Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified TMI that a security threat had been
made against the plant. The good news was that nothing happened. We are
taking extra security measures." Carl declined to state whether there
was a known direct connection between events at TMI and the Harrisburg
airport. According to Carl, TMI is currently undergoing a scheduled refueling
and maintenance period. The plant is currently shut down and scheduled
for a restart in early November.
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- Riconosciuto allegedly told the talk show host who forwarded
the information that he has been warning the FBI of terrorist-related surface-to-air
missile attacks for months and that the FBI has attempted to silence him.
The talk show host told FTW that Riconosciuto fears direct reprisals for
having issued a warning to the media.
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