Tough questions for FBI over Marathon Bombing response

A top U.S. Senator is demanding answers from the FBI about what they knew about the Tsarnaev brothers and when they knew it, asking if agents had recruited either suspected Marathon bomber as informants and if the bureau had the pair under surveillance before releasing their images to the public.

An Iowa senator’s eyebrow-raising letter to the FBI — which questions whether the marathon bombing suspects had been recruited as secret anti-terror informants before the devastating attack — “is what happens when agencies don’t think they’re accountable to anyone,” Massachusetts U.S. Representative Bill Keating said, noting that he’s still waiting for the feds to answer an inquiry he placed in July.“They must feel they’re above answering questions not only to the public, but to Congress itself,” Keating told the Herald. “This is what happens when agencies don’t think they’re accountable to anyone to provide information and accountability for the actions the agency conducts.”

The FBI issued a strongly worded denial that the Joint Terrorism Task Force, which they lead, knew the identities of the Tsarnaevs before the shootout in Watertown that ended one of their lives or that they were ever sources for the FBI.

But in a letter to the head of FBI, U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley is asking the questions that have been on the minds of many in state and local law enforcement. Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, is the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, with broad oversight over the Department of Justice and the FBI.

Grassley also asks why FBI agents were conducting surveillance in Cambridge’s Central Square on April 18, hours before authorities say the brothers ambushed and murdered Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus cop Sean Collier in his cruiser.

“Did the FBI have the suspects under physical surveillance at any time prior to releasing the photos to the public?” Grassley wrote in his letter to FBI Director James B. Comey, Jr. The FBI aired the photos of the then-unnamed suspects during a 5 p.m. press conference after the bombing, about five hours before Collier was shot and killed.

Boston bombing suspect: Congress has questions for the FBI.. Youtube video

Grassley also writes that his office has learned through sources that, “In the hours leading up to the shooting of Collier and the death of the older suspect involved in the bombing, sources revealed that uniformed Cambridge Police Department officers encountered multiple teams of FBI employees conducting surveillance in the area of Central Square in Cambridge. It is unclear who the FBI was watching, but these sources allege the Cambridge Police Department, including its representation at the (Joint Terrorism Task Force ), was not previously made aware of the FBI’s activity in Cambridge.”

The Cambridge surveillance drew such pointed questions from Grassley not only because it goes to the explosive question of whether the Tsarnaevs slipped through FBI surveillance and went on their path of destruction, but also because the information about surveillance, regardless of who was the target, wasn’t shared with local police.

[Note: The FBI does not always "invite law enforcement to participate" in their investigations/events/drills. The need for information sharing of security threat demands "situational awareness."]

“Continued reluctance on the part of the FBI to share information with local law enforcement, especially in the wake of the Whitey Bulger saga and your ongoing Mark Rossetti investigation, would be extremely troubling,” Grassley writes. Rossetti is a made captain in the Boston mafia, a suspected murderer, who was also revealed to be a long-time FBI informant, an issue that previously drew the scrutiny of Grassley as well as U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, D-South Boston.

Referring back to the FBI’s review of Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2011, prompted by a tip from the Russian government, Grassley asks if the FBI tried to recruit him as a source, and if not, why not.

In a statement, the special agent in charge of the Boston office, VINCENT B. LISI, said the Tsarnaev brothers were never sources for the FBI and denied knowing any link between the Tsarnaevs and the bombing until after the Watertown “shootout.”

“Members of the Joint Terrorism Task Force did not know their identities until shortly after Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s death. Nor did the Joint Terrorism Task Force have the Tsarnaevs under surveillance at any time after the assessment of Tamerlan Tsarnaev was closed in 2011,” Lisi said.

That was echoed by Rick DesLauriers, the special agent in charge during the Marathon Bombing, who said in an interview with reporter Mike Beaudet that his office only learned “their identities” after fingerprinting Tamerlan’s body” after he was killed in the Watertown shootout. DesLauriers also called any suggestion that the FBI is somehow to blame for Collier’s death, “irresponsible”.

Recent mainstream news….

A cautionary tale.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dead Boston Marathon Bombing Suspect, Reportedly Tied To 2011 Killings

Slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was named as a participant in an earlier triple homicide by a man who was subsequently shot to death while being questioned by authorities, according to a filing made by federal prosecutors in the case “against his brother,” surviving bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

According to the filing made Monday, Ibragim Todashev told investigators Tamerlan Tsarnaev [allegedly] participated in a triple slaying in Waltham on Sept. 11, 2011.

In that case, three men were found in an apartment with their necks slit and their bodies reportedly covered with marijuana. One of the victims was a boxer and “friend of Tamerlan Tsarnaev.”

Todashev, a 27-year-old mixed martial arts fighter, was fatally shot at his Orlando home during a meeting with an FBI agent and two Massachusetts state troopers in May, authorities said. He had turned violent while being question, according to authorities.

The filing is prosecutors’ attempt to block Dzhokhar Tsarnaev from getting certain information from authorities, including investigative documents associated with the Waltham slayings.

“The government has “already disclosed” to Tsarnaev that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide,” prosecutors wrote.

According to prosecutors, the ongoing investigation into the 2011 slayings is “reason not to allow Dzhokhar Tsarnaev access to the documents he’s seeking.” [wait a minute! The above statement says "The government has already disclosed (just not the documents?) Tsarnaev that, according to Todashev, Tamerlan Tsarnaev participated in the Waltham triple homicide,"]

“Any benefit to Tsarnaev of knowing more about the “precise nature and extent” of his brother’s [alleged] involvement does not outweigh the potential harm of exposing details of an ongoing investigation into an extremely serious crime, especially at this stage of the proceeding,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is not entitled to the information because his brother’s criminal history will be relevant, if at all, only at a possible future sentencing hearing.

A phone message left for a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office was not immediately returned Tuesday night. A message left for Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s federal public defender was also not immediately returned.

Authorities allege that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 20, and 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev, ethnic Chechens from Russia, planned and carried out the twin bombings near the finish of the marathon on April 15. [Allegedly] Three people were killed and more than 260 were injured.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev faces 30 federal charges, including using a weapon of mass destruction and “16 other charges” that carry the possibility of the death penalty.

Tamerlan Tsarnaev died in a “gunbattle with police” as authorities closed in on the brothers several days after the bombings.

‘Law enforcement officials told ABC News days before Todashev’s death that there was “mounting evidence,” bolstered by “forensic hits,” that pointed to the “possible involvement” of both Tamerlan and Dzhokhar in the triple murder. One of the young men killed, Brendan Mess, had once been a roommate and martial arts colleague of Tamerlan’s, officials said then. At the time, the “officials cautioned that DNA testing was not complete and it was too early to bring an indictment against Dhzokhar.”‘

Boston Marathon Bombing – Crisis Actors Caught in the Act – YouTube

Dead men tell no tales! WHAT A CROC THIS STORY IS! So we’re gonna tie a dead man to an unsolved crime, by the confession of another dead man, who just happened to confess before he was executed by the FBI. Wow, does that wrap things up in a neat little bundle, or what? Take note, there is no recording, or ANY evidence that Todashev confessed anything to the FBI before he was killed. Shot in the BACK of the head after he confessed, and suddenly became enraged, and attacked the FBI agent, who just happened to be questioning him alone. We just have to take their word for it that he confessed, AND gave up Tsarnaev before he was killed. Jeez Louis people, can we get just a shred of evidence, please? But since they were a couple of those evil muslims, no evidence necessary. Right?’

We live in a sinister world folks.
The more the myriad of stories like this are painted as gut-wrenching, or heart wrenching,nthe less I tend to believe them.’

Color me cynical.