The Boston Bombers: Who Knew What When

The Boston Bombers: Who Knew What When

April 30, 2013, 9:40 pm ET by Sarah Childress

 

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One of the most devastating revelations in the wake of 9/11 was that U.S.

intelligence agencies had key pieces of information on the would-be

hijackers - but didn't share them with each other in time to prevent the

attack.

 

Since then, the U.S. has poured billions of dollars into federal and

private-sector infrastructure to gather intelligence that could help prevent

another attack. It created the new department of Homeland Security, and an

overarching Director of National Intelligence.

 

But a government watchdog flagged the government's information-sharing

problem as a "high risk" as recently as January. The report by the

Government Accountability Office found that the government's leadership is

"committed" to better managing and sharing information on terrorism and

terror suspects. "However, the federal government has not yet estimated and

planned for the resources needed to resolve risks or fill gaps in the

planning they have undertaken," it said. (Full report here (pdf).)

 

The Boston Marathon bombings were the first successful domestic attacks

since 9/11, and reignited concerns in Congress about whether the new intel

system was working after reports emerged that Russian authorities had warned

the FBI and the CIA separately about one of the attackers two years ago.

 

"There still seem to be serious problems with sharing information, including

critical investigative information," Sen. Susan Collins (R-Me.) told

reporters after a Senate intelligence committee briefing on the bombings.

"That is troubling to me, that this many years after the attacks on our

country in 2001 that we still seem to have stovepipes that prevent

information from being shared effectively, not only among agencies but also

within the same agency in one case."

 

Last week, the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, defended

the intelligence network, telling Wired that finding self-radicalized

terrorists, as the Tsarnaev brothers appear to have been, before they strike

would be a major infringement on Americans' privacy.

 

"The rules were abided by, as best as I can tell at this point," Clapper

said. "The dots were connected."

 

But on Monday, Clapper ordered a broad review into how the nation's spy

agencies handled information on the bombers before the attack.

 

President Barack Obama said in a rare press conference Tuesday that such a

review was routine, and important to determine whether there might be

"additional protocols and procedures" to prevent a future attack. But, he

added, "Based on what I've seen so far, the FBI performed its duties;

Department of Homeland Security did what it was supposed to be doing."

 

Here's a look at what we know so far about what U.S. intelligence knew about

the oldest brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and when they knew it:

March 2011

 

Russia's Federal Security Service alerts the FBI to Tamerlan Tsarnaev,

saying that they believed he was a "follower of radical Islam and a strong

believer" and might be prepared to join underground groups in Dagestan.

 

The FBI begins looking into Tsarnaev: whom he calls, what sites he looks at

online, whom he meets, where he's traveled, what he might be planning. The

FBI also conducts interviews with Tsarnaev and his family, but turns up no

indications of terrorist activity. Tsarnaev is added to two federal

databases, including the Terrorist Screening Database, which contains

biographical information.

September 2011

 

Russia's Federal Security Service alerts the CIA in late September 2011 to

Tsarnaev, noting that they believe he has become radicalized and might be

planning to travel overseas. The information is "nearly identical" to what

Russian authorities gave the FBI.

October 2011

 

Information on Tsarnaev is passed to CIA headquarters on Oct. 4.

 

Two weeks later, CIA asks the National Counterterrorism Center, which serves

as a data clearinghouse, to put Tsarnaev on the Terrorist Identities

Datamart Environment database, or TIDE, which sends info to other lists,

including the FBI's main terrorist screening database.

January 2012

 

Homeland Security notes that Tsarnaev flew to Dagestan on Jan. 12, 2012. But

the FBI isn't alerted because his name is spelled wrong on the airline

passenger list.

Mid- 2012

 

When Tsarnaev returns six months later, his return to the U.S. goes

unnoticed. "The system pinged when he was leaving the United States," Janet

Napolitano, Homeland Security chief told reporters last week. "By the time

he returned, all investigations in the matter had been closed."

 

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