msnbc.com
Bin Laden foils U.S. technology
Suspected terrorist uses ‘no-tech’ methods to communicate
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — Despite warnings from top
government officials that terrorists would use
exotic technology to communicate, suspected
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden instead has
used “no-tech” methods, foiling efforts to track
him, former U.S. intelligence officials said.
BUT THERE ARE SOME lingering electronic trails by
his suspected operatives being investigated by federal
officials looking at how last week’s attackers used e-mail
and the Internet.
Intelligence agents once could keep tabs on bin Laden
when he used a satellite phone that could be picked up by
U.S. spy gear and matched to his voiceprint. That capability
leaked to bin Laden, so he swore off talking on the phone,
according to Marc Enger, former director of operations at
the Air Intelligence Agency, the Air Force’s intelligence
arm.
“So he switched a lot
of communications
technologies,” Enger said.
“Unfortunately, now it is
other people talking for
him. In an innocuous
conversation, you can’t
pick that out.”
Bin Laden relies on human messengers, safe houses
and close-knit groups such as family members to send out
his directives.
“This isn’t low-tech,” said Wayne Madsen, a former
communications specialist for the National Security Agency.
“You’d have to really call it no-tech.”
Investigators think some of the hijackers may not have
been as wary of high-tech communications as bin Laden,
whom the United States considers the prime suspect in the
attacks.
After the attacks last week, investigators began
working with major Internet service providers like Earthlink
and America Online to get information about the hijackers’
Internet habits. In Britain, law enforcement agencies have
asked Internet companies to keep traffic logs to look for
clues to the attacks.
In March 2000, the CIA has
warned about terrorist organizations
using secure Internet communications.
CIA Director George Tenet told the
Senate then that several terrorist
groups, including bin Laden’s al-Qaida,
“are using computerized files, e-mail
and encryption to support their
operations.”
“Terrorists also are embracing the
opportunities offered by recent leaps in
information technology,” Tenet said.
Madsen said the hijackers could have communicated
by means of seemingly innocuous messages on Web sites,
impervious to the most vaunted surveillance tools in use by
U.S. intelligence.
“There might some
minor change to a Web
site that would indicate a
plan, because they knew
it in advance. All the
Carnivores and all the
Echelons in the world
would do very little to
hamper that kind of
operation,” referring to
the FBI’s e-mail
surveillance box and a
widely suspected NSA
surveillance network.
Enger said some
U.S. agents have reported bin Laden has used
steganography — the art of hiding a message in plain sight,
such as a text message hidden in a picture file — and
pornography Web sites to communicate. Enger said those
sites would be considered unlikely hiding places for a
devout Muslim like bin Laden.
The use of racy pictures loaded with hidden messages
is extremely difficult to verify because the investigator first
would have to know the message was there, Enger said.
Decrypting it presents another problem.
“Unless you have the original photo file, you can’t
compare to see if they’ve been changed,” Enger said. He
said the United States has looked for new technology to
overcome that hurdle.
While the free,
powerful encryption
software available
through the Internet
presents somewhat of a
hurdle, that a message is
encrypted can tip off
authorities. Sometimes,
they also can figure out
the sender and recipient
of the message even if
the message itself is
coded.
Former NSA
technician Madsen said the United States battled another
low-tech foe in recent years: Mohamed Farah Aidid, a
Somalian warlord who was the target of U.S. forces in
1993. Madsen said that instead of phones, Aidid’s forces
banged out messages on drums.
“Spy satellites can’t pick that kind of stuff up,” Madsen
said.
© 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or
redistributed. |
