Enemies Within: Inside the NYPD's Secret Spying Unit and bin Laden's Final Plot Against America

by Matt Apuzzo

  16. Department of Justice, Office of Legal Counsel, “Memorandum for Alberto Gonzales Re: Standards of Conduct for Interrogation under 18 U.S.C. sections 2340–2340A,” August 1, 2002, www.justice.gov/olc/docs/memo-gonzales-aug2002.pdf.

  17. Joel Greenberg, “Israel Affirms Policy of Assassinating Militants,” New York Times, July 5, 2001, www.nytimes.com/2001/07/05/world/israel-affirms-policy-of-assassinating-militants.html.

  18. The origin of the term was described in interviews with former NYPD officials. Its official use was documented in an NYPD PowerPoint presentation obtained by the authors and published by the Associated Press. It is available at http://wid.ap.org/documents/nypd-demo.pdf.

  19. The list of ancestries of interest was revealed in an NYPD PowerPoint presentation obtained by the authors and published by the Associated Press. It is available at http://wid.ap.org/documents/nypd-demo.pdf.

  20. Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman, “With CIA Help, NYPD Moves Covertly in Muslim Areas,” Associated Press, August 23, 2011, www.ap.org/Content/AP-in-the-News/2011/With-CIA-help-NYPD-moves-covertly-in-Muslim-areas.

  21. NYPD Intelligence Division Analytical Units presentation, obtained by authors. The relevant excerpt, published by the Associated Press, is available at http://wid.ap.org/documents/nypd-demo.pdf.

  22. Details of the meeting with the foundation leadership were recounted in interviews with someone present for the discussion.

  23. This was included in the 2003 copy of the New York City Police Foundation Journal, an annual fund-raising document summarizing the foundation’s successes and highlighting its major donors.

  24. Dzikansky described his drinking problem in his book (coauthored with Robert Slater) Terrorist Cop: The NYPD Jewish Cop Who Traveled the World to Stop Terrorists (Fort Lee, NJ: Barricade Books, 2010), pp. 227–31, and in interviews with the authors.

  25. Concerns over Dzikansky’s role and his involvement in favors for the Israelis were spelled out in interviews with NYPD and FBI officials and corroborated by NYPD surveillance documents obtained by the authors.

  26. The conversation was recalled by a former US official in attendance.

  27. Kelly’s acknowledgment that no tips were generated from the program came in public remarks recounted in Len Levitt, “Kelly and AP: Ray’s Pants Are on Fire,” The Blog, Huffington Post, January 14, 2013, www.huffingtonpost.com/len-levitt/kelly-and-ap_b_2472012.html.

  28. The details of this meeting, including what was said, were described in interviews with Henoch.

  29. NYPD Intelligence Division, Strategic Posture 2006. Document obtained by authors and available at http://nypdconfidential.com/other/120604-intel.pdf.

  30. NYPD Intelligence Division, Demographics Unit, N.Y.P.D. Secret: Syrian Locations of Concern Report, available at http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd/nypd-syria.pdf. Document obtained by authors and published by the Associated Press.

  31. NYPD Intelligence Division, Demographics Unit, Secret: Albanian Locations of Concern Report, available at http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd/nypd-albania.pdf. Document obtained by authors and published by the Associated Press.

  32. Eileen Sullivan, “White House Helps Pay for NYPD Muslim Surveillance,” Associated Press, February 27, 2012, available at www.newsday.com/news/new-york/white-house-helps-pay-for-nypd-muslim-surveillance-1.3560418.

  33. Supervisor, Demographics Unit to Commanding Officer, C.A.R.U., memorandum, “Supervisors Conferral with Detective,” January 26, 2006, available at http://wid.ap.org/documents/nypd-memo.pdf. Document obtained by authors and published in redacted form by the Associated Press.

  34. NYPD Intelligence Division, Demographics Unit, N.Y.P.D. Secret: Newark, New Jersey, Demographics Report, available at http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd/nypd_newark.pdf. Obtained by authors and published by the Associated Press.

  35. Rocco Parascandola and Corky Siemaszko, “NYPD Report on Muslim Shops Includes Stores Owned by Jews, Catholics,” New York Daily News, March 9, 2012, www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nypd-wrongly-listed-businesses-muslim-linked-part-surveillance-article-1.1036538.

  36. Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, “NYPD: Muslim Spying Led to No Leads, Terror Cases,” Associated Press, August 21, 2012, www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2012/NYPD-Muslim-spying-led-to-no-leads-terror-cases. See also deposition of Thomas Galati, Handschu v. Special Services Division, United States District Court, Southern District of New York, June 28, 2012, 71-CV-2203, available at www.nyclu.org/files/releases/Handschu_Exhibit4(GalatiEBTredacted)_2.4.13.pdf.

  37. Ibid, p. 119. Galati: “Sometimes these officers, when they go, they go to places that they may like the food and go back for that reason, and I know that that has happened.”

  Five: Accidental Tourists

  1. “Afghanistan and the United Nations,” UN News Centre, www.un.org/News/dh/latest/afghan/un-afghan-history.shtml.

  2. Sarah Talalay, “Afghans in US Look Homeward: Soviet Pullout Arouses Hopes, Wariness—No Indifference,” Christian Science Monitor, May 13, 1988, www.csmonitor.com/1988/0513/aghan.html.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Dexter Filkins, “Afghans at Queens Mosque Split Over bin Laden,” New York Times, September 19, 2001, http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/nyregion/nation-challenged-new-york-mosque-afghans-queens-mosque-split-over-bin-laden.html

  6. Ibid.

  7. Michael Wilson, “From Smiling Coffee Vendor to Terror Suspect,” New York Times, September 25, 2009, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/26/nyregion/26profile.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  8. Ibid.

  9. FBI interview with Adis Medunjanin (FBI 302). Made public in United States v. Medunjanin, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 10-cr-00019.

  10. Zarein Ahmedzay testimony, trial transcript, United States v. Medunjanin, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 10-cr-00019, p. 199.

  11. FBI interview with Adis Medunjanin (FBI 302), January 7, 2010. Made public in United States v. Medunjanin, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 10-cr-00019.

  12. Steve Coll, The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century (New York: Penguin Press, 2008).

  13. “Haqqani’s Close Relatives Killed in US Missile Strike,” Dawn.com, September 8, 2008, http://archives.dawn.com/archives/39967.

  14. Najibullah Zazi testimony, p. 546. Trial transcript, United States v. Medunjanin, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 10-cr-00019.

  15. Ibid., p. 549.

  16. Zarein Ahmedzay testimony, ibid., p. 164.

  17. Peter Bergen, “Bin Laden: Seized Documents Show Delusional Leader and Micromanager,” CNN, May 3, 2012, http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/30/opinion/bergen-bin-laden-document-trove.

  18. Page 1 Adis Medunjanin FBI 302 1/22/2010. Made public in United States v. Medunjanin, United States District Court, Eastern District of New York, 10-cr-00019.

  19. Zazi’s considering jumping from the bridge was told to the authors in interviews with current and former officials, who were briefed on government interviews with Zazi.

  Six: Zone Defense

  1. The details of this investigation were pieced together in interviews with a former senior NYPD intelligence official, as well as with other former NYPD and federal officials.

  2. Interview with former NYPD analyst. This phenomenon was not unique to Hezbollah. Documents obtained by the authors, including one entitled “Hamas Case Recap,” show NYPD efforts to monitor Hamas: “The investigation consists of fifteen main subjects and nearly seventy-five associates. The subjects can be categorized as Hamas leader/recruiters, members or associate-sympathizers. Our main subjects all have the common thread of being extremely religious and are more radical in their feelings of Hamas.”

  3. Galati deposition, p. 35, available at www.nyclu.org/files/releases/Handschu_Exhibit4(GalatiEBTredacted)_2.4.13.pdf.

  4. NYPD Intelligence Division, Intelligence Analysis Unit, N.
Y.P.D. Secret Intelligence Strategy Report: US-Iran Conflict: The Threat to New York City, May 15, 2006, available at www.documentcloud.org/documents/288719-nypd-iranian-intel.html?key=9a9ba0d2ea8a33e7dce6.

  5. Details of the meeting were recounted by a former official in attendance who took notes. Though the authors did not review the notes, the official did.

  6. Seidel has identified himself as the station chief in Jordan during that time, both in public comments and on his LinkedIn profile.

  7. NYPD Intelligence Division, presentation, “Integrating Collection, Analysis and Operations,” circa September 2006. Obtained by authors. The strategy is spelled out under the heading “Our Philosophy”: “NYPD plays ‘zone defense,’ not ‘man to man’/strategically arrayed resources enable pre-emption”. It was fleshed out in interviews with former intel officials.

  8. Patrick Murphy affidavit, p. 3. Filed in Handschu v. Special Services Division.

  9. Listening posts are mentioned in a number of NYPD documents, including the N.Y.P.D. Secret: Syrian Locations of Concern Report, available at http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd/nypd-syria.pdf.

  10. The recruiting process was described in interviews with former NYPD detectives and supervisors and with former NYPD informant Shamiur Rahman, whose story was described in Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, “Informant: NYPD Paid Me to ‘Bait’ Muslims,” Associated Press, October 23, 2012, http://bigstory.ap.org/article/informant-nypd-paid-me-bait-muslims.

  11. Michael A. Sheehan, Crush the Cell: How to Defeat Terror Without Terrorizing Ourselves (New York: Three Rivers Press, 2008), p. 193.

  12. Adam Goldman and Matt Apuzzo, “With Cameras, Informants, NYPD Eyed Mosques,” Associated Press, February 23, 2012, www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2012/Newark-mayor-seeks-probe-of-NYPD-Muslim-spying.

  13. Pinkall’s attendance and failure at the Farm were described by former intelligence and law enforcement officials.

  14. The activities of the undercovers are taken from the NYPD’s internal documents including Cohen’s daily briefings on the activities of the SSU. They were also described in interviews with two former senior NYPD Intel officials and a former SSU detective.

  15. Handschu v. Special Services, “Defendants’ Answers to Plaintiffs’ Interrogatories,” December 22, 1971. The NYPD said it was possible to open an investigation based solely on rhetoric, but, because of its record keeping, it was impossible to say if or how often that happened.

  16. Memorandum from FBI headquarters, quoted in Final Report of the Select Committee, book 3, Supplementary Detailed Staff Reports, p. 18, www.intelligence.senate.gov/pdfs94th/94755_III.pdf.

  17. Galati deposition, p. 86: “Most Urdu speakers from that region would be of concern.”

  18. TIU Watch List. NYPD document, 2004. Obtained by authors.

  19. Galati deposition, p. 66.

  20. Statements of Rhetoric, Masjid Al-Ikhwa. Terrorism Interdiction Unit, circa 2004. Document obtained by authors.

  21. Interviews with a former NYPD intelligence official who attended a meeting with Parker.

  22. Apuzzo and Goldman, “With CIA Help,” www.ap.org/Content/AP-in-the-News/2011/With-CIA-help-NYPD-moves-covertly-in-Muslim-areas.

  23. Apuzzo and Goldman, “NYPD Keeps Files on Muslims Who Change Their Names,” Associated Press, October 26, 2011, http://www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2011/NYPD-keeps-files-on-Muslims-who-change-their-names.

  24. Dates of Interest. Masjid Al-Ikhwa. Terrorism Interdiction Unit. Circa 2004. Document obtained by authors.

  25. Quintan Wiktorowicz, “Anatomy of the Salafi Movement,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 29, no. 3 (April–May 2006): 207-39, http://ipac.kacst.edu.sa/edoc/2006/157374_1.pdf.

  26. Steven D’Ulisse, “Integrating Collection, Analysis and Operations.” Presentation, September 2006. Obtained by authors.

  27. NYPD Intelligence Division, Strategic Posture 2006, www.nyclu.org/files/releases/Handschu_Exhibit7b_(StrategicPostureredacted)_2.4.13.pdf.

  28. Mitchell D. Silber and Arvin Bhatt, Radicalization in the West: The Homegrown Threat (New York Police Department, 2007), p. 70, www.nypdshield.org/public/SiteFiles/documents/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf.

  29. Goldman and Apuzzo. “With Cameras,” www.ap.org/Content/AP-In-The-News/2012/Newark-mayor-seeks-probe-of-NYPD-Muslim-spying.

  30. NYPD Intelligence Division, Strategic Posture 2006, www.nyclu.org/files/releases/Handschu_Exhibit7b_(StrategicPostureredacted)_2.4.13.pdf.

  31. Ibid.

  32. NYPD Intelligence Division, Cyber Intelligence Division, Weekly MSA Report, November 22, 2006, http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd-msa-report.pdf.

  33. Mitchell D. Silber, “Who Will Defend the Defenders?” Commentary, June 2012, www.commentarymagazine.com/article/who-will-defend-the-defenders/.

  34. Mitchell D. Silber and Donald Powers, letter, entitled “Request to Conduct a Preliminary Inquiry Concerning Dennis Christopher Burke and Certain of His Associates,” March 27, 2008.

  35. NYPD Intelligence Division, Intelligence Collection Coordinator, Deputy Commissioner’s Briefing, April 25, 2008, http://hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/documents/nypd/dci-briefing-04252008.pdf.

  36. Memo to Kelly from Cyber Intelligence Unit, May 12, 2008. Obtained by authors.

  37. The X Team is mentioned in NYPD documents, including an organization chart that lists it as part of the Special Case Unit. Its function was described in interviews with former NYPD officials.

  38. Surveillance Request. Technical Operations Unit. December 9, 2008. Obtained by authors.

  39. Sheehan, Crush the Cell, p. 175.

  40. Interview with former law enforcement official who’d attended the meeting.

  41. This conclusion was described by a former law enforcement official involved in the discussions.

  42. Associated Press reporter Eileen Sullivan first heard about this conversation from a source. In the reporting of this book, the authors then corroborated it in an interview with a former official who’d attended the briefing.

  43. The story of Mueller in Newark is told frequently in FBI circles. It was confirmed by three current and former FBI officials with direct knowledge of the discussion.

  44. Interviews with three former federal prosecutors with direct knowledge of the decision.

  45. Craig Horowitz, “Anatomy of a Foiled Plot,” New York Magazine, December 6, 2004, http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/features/10559/.

  46. Mitchell D. Silber, “Who Will Defend the Defenders?” Commentary, June 2012

  47. FBI officials would not discuss Aziz, but the authors have obtained numerous NYPD documents related to Confidential Informant 184. Separately, Aziz has identified himself as a longtime NYPD informant in Martin Mawyer with Patti A. Pierucci, Twilight in America: The Untold Story of Islamic Terrorist Training Camps Inside America (Lynchburg, VA: PRB Publishing, 2012). Aziz’s assignment, travel, NYPD handler, immigration status, and criminal record match those described in the CI 184 documents.

  48. Deputy Commissioner’s Briefing, April 9, 2008.

  Seven: Ostermann

  1. Now known as the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab.

  2. The details of this briefing were described in interviews with Davis, Ritter, Carpenter, and Colorado State Patrol major Brenda Leffler.

  3. Federal Support for and Involvement in State and Local Fusion Centers (Washington, DC: United States Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, October 3, 2012), available at http://www.hsgac.senate.gov/download/?id=49139e81-1DD7-4788-A3BB-d6e7d97dde04.

  4. Interviews with Davis and Shepard.

  5. Details about the informant and the search for explosives residue were confirmed in interviews with Davis, Olson, and Lambert.

  6. The 5,500 figure comes from interviews with current and former counterterrorism officials.

  Eight: Mosques

  1. Details from inside the meeting were
described in interviews with a former law enforcement official.

  2. Interview with Ahmad Wais Afzali.

  3. Author interview with Fatimah Zulaika Rahim.

  4. Ibid.

  5. Details of this call are described in Afzali’s handwritten statement to federal agents on September 17, 2009.

  6. Afzali recounted this meeting in an interview with the FBI on September 14, 2009. It was memorialized in an FBI document known as a 302.

  7. Afzali has remained consistent in his interviews with the federal government—memorialized in a sworn personal statement and his FBI 302—that Sirakovsky told him to find out more about Zazi. Though some of his statements were false, the government has never alleged that this one was. Further, NYPD detectives did not need Afzali to identify Zazi’s picture. They knew who he was. They needed Afzali for information. Sirakovsky denies this, however, and says that his only instruction to Afzali was for him not to tell anyone about their conversation.

  8. Ervin Dyer, “Mosque Members Denounce FBI Raid as Desecration,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 8, 2006, www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-city/mosque-members-denounce-fbi-raid-as-desecration-441219.

  9. Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG) (Washington, DC: Federal Bureau of Investigation, October 15, 2011, http://vault.fbi.gov/FBI%20Domestic%20Investigations%20and%20Operations%20Guide%20%28DIOG%29/fbi-domestic-investigations-and-operations-guide-diog-2011-version/fbi-domestic-investigations-and-operations-guide-diog-october-15-2011-part-01-of-03/view.

  10. Ibid.

  11. Interviews with current and former US law enforcement officials.

  12. Andrea Elliott, “Why Yasir Qadhi Wants to Talk About Jihad,” New York Times Magazine, March 17, 2011, http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/magazine/mag-20Salafis-t.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  13. Bill de Blasio, public advocate for New York City, http://advocate.nyc.gov/sites/advocate.nyc.gov/files/deBlasioFOILReport_0.pdf.