- In the often discordant world of secret intelligence,
there is a common consensus about Promis. It is computer software like
no other. A tracking program that the CIA and FBI depend on. And a lot
of other spy agencies.
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- So, why are there persistent reports - never denied -
that today Promis has ended up in the hands of Osama bin Laden, Saddam
Hussein, and Kim Jong-il, North Korea's increasingly unpredictable leader?
Intelligence agents in Britain and Europe say Promis gives the 'axis of
evil' invaluable insights into how the United States is trying to fight
global terrorism. Yet nobody in Washington wants to talk about just how
that came about.
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- I have spend thirty years writing about intelligence
matters. But never have I encountered such a Byzantine story of just how
Promis arrived in the hands of bin Laden and his cohorts.
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- Part of the story involves the late newspaper magnate,
Robert Maxwell. He sold a version of Promis all over the world. But he
is not the man who handed over the software to bin Laden.
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- To understand the scandal of how that happened, it is
important to understand the history of Promis. It was developed by a small
company in Washington called Inslaw. Its creator was William Hamilton
and a small team of computer geniuses. They created a program that the
Justice Department grabbed.
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- The saga of what happened them has rumbled through the
Washington courts with Hamilton accusing Justice of stealing the software
from him.
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- But that is not the issue here. It is one simpler than
the world of legal manoeuvres. It is a question of what part Promis played
in the run-up to 9/11 - and what role it continues to have in the hands
of bin Laden and his cronies in Baghdad and North Korea?
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- Yet there is no sign that the Commission on Terrorist
Attacks - whose Washington offices will be a short distance from Hamiltonís
modest one in Inslaw - is going to try and find the answer.
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- In a twist no movie producer would think twice about
using, Promis was installed by the FBI in its headquarters to track terrorists.
No one at the agency realised its key computer technician, Robert P Hanssen,
was a long-time Russian mole.
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- Hanssen stole a copy of the software and handed it over
to the then KGB. He received $2 million. The Russians used it for computer-based
espionage against the United States.
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- How successful the KGB was is a secret over which the
US intelligence community has closed ranks.
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- But according to Britainís MI6 and Germany's BND
security service, Promis found its way on to the thriving Moscow black
market after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
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- Some months before 9/11, one of bin Laden's agents was
approached by a redundant KGB officer. They met in a Moscow hotel room.
Within hours, the agent had seen enough of the promise of Promis to pay
$4 million for the software.
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- So runs the story in Wiesbaden, the home of the BND,
and in the architectural monstrosity along the banks of the Thames, where
MI6 has its London headquarters.
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- Mr Hamilton has no doubt the story is true. He wants
to know why former New Jersey Governor David H Kean, who heads the commission,
has not made how Promis came into bin Laden's hands a priority for his
investigation.
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- Could it be that the answers might cause embarrassment
at the White House and the FBI?
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- Until now the Justice Department has steadfastly denied
using the Promis software - let alone that Hanssen shopped it to the Russians.
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- But gradually - chip by microchip - the truth is beginning
to surface - despite ferocious opposition from Justice about what it knows
of how Promis has given bin Laden access to databases on specific targets,
and the ability to monitor electronic-banking transactions, including money
laundering.
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- MI6 and the BND have both said there is credible evidence
that bin Laden sold on copies of Promis to Saddam and North Korea. He
is said to have used the money to finance his terror attacks on Bali and
in Kenya last year.
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- European intelligence services say that both the CIA
and FBI know how Promis has been exploited to stop US efforts to track
down bin Laden - and give Iraq and North Korea valuable intelligence on
US intentions.
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- Governor Kean and his ten-man commission has the authority
to subpoena witnesses and documents to determine the extent of intelligence
lapses prior to 9/11. But he should extend his brief to try and discover
how Promis, which Hamilton is not alone in saying is crucial to Americaís
war on terrorism, fell into the hands of those who are now using it against
the United States.
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- Gordon Thomas is the co-author of Robert Maxwell: Israel's
Super Spy.
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