Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained newly declassified information regarding Osama bin Laden. The State Department had previously redacted this information on documents released to Judicial Watch in August 2005 prompting Judicial Watch's appeal to the Department of State Appeals Review Panel on October 13, 2005. The new information was released by the State Department on August 5, 2008.

According to a document entitled, "Terrorism/Usama bin Ladin: Who's Chasing Whom?" dated July 18, 2006, the Clinton administration was aware of a bin Laden suicide car bombing threat in London: "[redacted] . . . indicated bin Ladin planned to sponsor suicide car bombings against US interests in the UK, in part to punish London for 'submitting' to US pressure to bar his entry into the UK." The information about the terrorist threats to London had previously been redacted.

New information in the documents also suggests the leadership of Sudan, President Al Bashir and Hassan Turabi, had nefarious ties with bin Laden: "National Islamic Front (NIF) leader Turabi...agreed to the expulsing of terrorist financier Usama bin Ladin on the condition that in the future he be allowed to return.... Turabi and President Bashin hoped that when bin Ladin visited he would use false documentation and provincial airports...to avoid publicity."

The documents discuss bin Laden's travels, his prolonged stay in Afghanistan, financial networks, anti-Western threats in press interviews, his ties to the Khobar Towers bombing and his "emboldened" threats against U.S. interests.

The State Department documents were first produced to Judicial Watch in August, 2005, in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed with the State Department on December 11, 2001 concerning the government of Sudan's reported offer to share intelligence files on bin Laden. The Clinton administration also rebuffed an offer by Sudanese officials to turn bin Laden over to the U.S.

According to the declassified documents, bin Laden's many passports and his private plane allow him considerable freedom to travel "with little fear of being intercepted or tracked." Bin Laden reportedly even traveled to London where he gave a press interview subsequent to his departure from Sudan. The report also warns that bin Laden's prolonged stay in Afghanistan "could prove more dangerous to U.S. interests in the long run than his three-year liaison with Khartoum." The intelligence predicts that even if bin Laden were forced to keep on the move, it would prove no more than an inconvenience since, ". . . his informal and transnational network of businesses and associates remains resilient." The report goes on to explain that bin Ladin on the move, ". . .can retain the capability to support individuals and groups who have the motive and wherewithal to attack U.S. interests almost worldwide."

"Over five years before 9/11, the Clinton administration was warned about bin Laden's murderous intent - including specific threats to attack U.S. interests through suicide car bombings in London. And yet the Clinton administration took no meaningful action against bin Laden," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "As a result of this inaction, not only did 9/11 come to pass, but so did massive suicide bombings in London's Underground in 2005."

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to obtain records from the Office of former Vice President Cheney related to CIA interrogation techniques.

According to the complaint, which was filed on July 14, 2009, Judicial Watch is seeking the following records:

• a. CIA Report dated July 13, 2004, from Collection title "OVP Cheney, Immediate Office Files," Folder Title "Detainees."
• b. CIA Report dated June 1, 2005, from Collection title "OVP Cheney, Immediate Office Files," Folder Title "Detainees."

On March 31, 2009, Vice President Cheney personally issued a request with the National Archives Presidential Libraries section for declassification review of these two specific documents. The Archives then passed on the request to the CIA for review on April 8, 2009. These documents reportedly discuss the effectiveness of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques (EITs).

In March, President Obama overruled objections from national security officials and released documents detailing the government's enhanced interrogation program of terrorists (the so-called "torture" memos). However, President Obama withheld information detailing the results of this program, including alleged terrorist plots that the program prevented. It is these documents that Judicial Watch, through this new FOIA lawsuit, seeks to obtain.

CIA interrogations have been the subject of great controversy over the last few months. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi came under fire in April when she claimed she was never briefed about the CIA's use of the waterboarding technique during terrorism investigations. The CIA produced a report documenting a briefing with Pelosi on September 4, 2002, that suggests otherwise.

"President Obama cherry-picked documents to release on the enhanced interrogation program," stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "Our Freedom of Information Act lawsuit against the CIA shows how President Obama continues to stonewall and has yet to tell the full truth to the American people about whether the terrorist interrogation program saved American lives by preventing terrorist attacks."

Judicial Watch filed its original FOIA request with the CIA on May 18, 2009. On June 25, 2009, the CIA acknowledged receipt of the request but provided no documents, and did not specify when Judicial Watch would receive a substantive response. By law, the CIA had until June 30, 2009, to provide any non-exempt records.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and legally prosecutes government corruption and abuse, said that today's Washington Post report, entitled, "Infighting Slows Hunt for Hidden Al Qaeda Assets," by Karen DeYoung and Douglas Farah, corroborates and reinforces the whistleblowing disclosures of Judicial Watch and David P. Schippers' (Judicial Watch National Advisor) client, FBI Special Agent Robert G. Wright, Jr.

Special Agent Wright, of the FBI's Chicago Division, is the only agent in the history of the FBI to have used the civil forfeiture laws to seize over $1.4 million dollars in Hamas terrorist money in connection with a criminal investigation of terrorist money laundering operations here in the United States.

Special Agent Wright "blew the whistle" on FBI negligence and obstruction by senior, supervisory FBI agents and FBI headquarters Terrorism Unit agents of counterterrorism investigations targeting figures belonging to and supporting terrorist operations by Hamas and al Qaeda. Despite his extraordinary success and superb performance evaluations, Agent Wright encountered stonewalling, negligence, indifference and outright opposition by his superiors and FBI HQ in pursuing terrorists operating within the United States.

"While the Justice Department, Treasury Department and CIA continue to squabble and lose precious investigative time, the terrorists continue financing the next phase of their attacks against us. Ten months after September 11th, where is the leadership from President Bush in making sure these agencies are operating together? Talk is politically convenient, but actions speak louder than words," stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption and abuse, represents "whistleblowing" FBI Special Agent (SA) Robert G. Wright, Jr., of the bureau's Chicago Division, who said today that the FBI continues to dodge accountability and cover-up its negligence and dereliction of duty in pursuing terrorists who pose a direct threat to the United States. SA Wright is the only FBI agent to seize terrorist funds (over $1.4 million) from U.S.-based Middle Eastern terrorists using federal civil forfeiture statutes, prior to the September 11th attacks. The original source of the funds was Yassin Kadi, a Saudi businessman, who is reportedly a financier of Osama bin Laden.

SA Wright points to recent misconduct and falsifications of wiretap warrant applications by FBI agents (signed-off by the former FBI Director, Louis Freeh) to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Court. Prior to September 11th, SA Wright alleged FBI intelligence agents lied and hid vital records from criminal agents for the purpose of obstructing his criminal investigation of the terrorists in order to protect their "subjects," and prolong their intelligence operations. SA Wright was stunned to learn recently that some of the FBI intelligence agents that had stalled and obstructed his criminal investigations of terrorists in Chicago had also lied to the judges of the FISA Court in Washington, D.C.

SA Wright says that, in his opinion, prior to September 11th, the ITU's incompetence and repeated failures to support criminal investigations contributed directly to the deaths of five Americans. The ITU's absolute failure to detect and identify the September 11th terrorist plot, and the radical Islamists that carried it out, is further evidence of the ITU's negligence, and places the deaths of thousands of Americans at their door.

Over the last year, SA Wright has repeatedly tried to lawfully expose the FBI's incompetence and dereliction: 1) through FBI and Justice Department channels, 2) through individual Congressmen and Senators, 3) to the Joint Congressional Intelligence Committee and, 4) at a press conference held by his legal counsel, Larry Klayman, the Chairman of Judicial Watch, Inc., and co-counsel, David Schippers, Esq., of Schippers and Bailey of Chicago, IL.

The FBI continues to illegally refuse the release of SA Wright's 500 page manuscript, Fatal Betrayals of the Intelligence Mission, that SA Wright submitted for prepublication review in October 2001. In fact, the FBI refused to turn the manuscript over to Sen. Richard C. Shelby, Vice Chairman of the Joint Intelligence Commitee, charged with investigating the FBI's intelligence failures. The FBI falsely claims that the manuscript contains grand jury material, although SA Wright has publicly available, "open source," references for all of the material in the manuscript. Schippers, a former federal prosecutor, has suggested that the committee petition U.S. District Court Chief Judge Charles P. Kocoras to disclose any such grand jury material under Criminal Rule 6(e)(3)(D), as matter involving intelligence and counterintelligence.

In anticipation of being subpoenaed by the Joint Intelligence Committee, SA Wright has prepared a statement detailing the FBI's negligence and dereliction of duty in pursuing the terrorist threat to the American public.

"SA Wright is performing a service for his country by exposing the FBI's dereliction of duty – particularly by FBI headquarters staffers. Director Mueller survived the 'bad press' of last May, and the nation's attention has moved on to something else – until the next terrorist attack. How many more dead Americans will it take to get accountability from the FBI?" stated Judicial Watch Chairman and General Counsel Larry Klayman.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, called "unconscionable" the FBI's efforts to retaliate against an agent who criticized the bureau for its handling of terrorism investigations. A memo written by a former FBI official and released today by U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, says that the FBI tried to "take out" Judicial Watch client and FBI Special Agent Robert Wright for saying publicly that the bureau was derelict and negligent in combating terrorism.

Written by retired FBI agent John Roberts, who was a unit chief within the bureau's disciplinary office, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), the memo details how top FBI officials in the OPR intentionally withheld information from and deliberately deceived the Justice Department's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) in an effort to retain administrative control over the Wright case so that the OPR could fire him – in violation of its own rules. The OIG is responsible for reviewing all proposed disciplinary actions of the FBI and ensuring that the bureau's rules are administered fairly. The memo was sent to Sens. Grassley and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., both of whom serve on the Senate Judiciary Committee. In a letter sent today to Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller, Grassley and Leahy expressed concerns about the FBI's "continued targeting" of Wright and about other problems that "show problems still fester at FBI OPR."

Wright, who works in the FBI's Chicago office, was the first agent to seize funds ($1.4 million) from U.S.-based terrorists prior to the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, and has been an outspoken critic of the bureau's terrorism managers and the manner in which they investigate terrorism. Wright has two separate lawsuits pending against the FBI and is represented in both cases by Judicial Watch and former U.S. House impeachment counsel David Schippers.

Roberts' memo also describes other efforts by the FBI to retaliate against employees who point out misconduct within the bureau, and he accuses the bureau of having a double standard for disciplining employees – one more lenient standard for senior officials and a harsher one for lower level employees, including agents. (Roberts also has faced retaliation from the FBI.)

"By deceiving the Justice Department and attempting to fire agent Wright without due process, the FBI has sunk to new lows in its attempt to quiet those who are merely trying to expose incompetence within the FBI and improve that organization. The FBI's actions are unconscionable and likely violated the law," said Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton. "If the FBI worked as hard at catching terrorists as it does at trying to ‘take out' internal agency dissenters, the United States might not be under the serious terrorism threat it is today."