We are told cops are here to protect us. But that is a lie! The police are at war with American civilians and everyone of us is a suspect either in the "war on drugs" or the "war on terror". If you think we have too much government, you must be a criminal, at least that is how the police are taught to think.

And of course a few milliseconds after I click the SUBMIT button to post this article a police computer will scan it for key words so the police can review it, because after all I am a suspect because of my political views. That police computer program developed by the FBI was originally called carnivore.

And of course when this email is receive by the listserver and emailed to all its receipents a number of those receipents are FBI agents who read all the emails that are sent to or from anybody who has a "problem" with the government, because after all the government is at war with anyone who thinks we live in a "police state" or have too much government.

Source

Chicago: Front line in war on terror

By Annie Sweeney and Hal Dardick, Tribune reporters

9:48 p.m. CST, November 11, 2010

On a summer day last year, David Coleman Headley, like many fathers, took his children to a Chicago park.

There, Headley ran his children through military drills, including maneuvers such as rolling into a shooting position.

The observations — by an officer who had received counterterrorism training — became part of the case that was built against Headley, who four months later was charged in the 2008 terrorist attacks on Mumbai and with planning attacks in Denmark, according to law enforcement officials.

Authorities say the case highlights the dramatic shift in local policing over the past decade. Chicago police are no longer just tracking drug and gang organizations but also terrorists bent on launching attacks here or abroad.

New investigative teams have been created to generate tips about potential threats and also investigate them. Chicago has an officer permanently assigned to Washington for counterterrorism, and thousands of others are trained to spot terrorists, getting briefings on organizations like Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Chicago cops are working with other law enforcement agencies as part of a local FBI task force, and took a key role in the recent arrest of a man suspected of a bomb plot in Wrigleyville.

Even in a more sweeping international conspiracy such as Headley's, Chicago police took a leadership role in an investigation that led to his guilty plea last March.

"That was a prime example of how the Chicago Police Department has become an integral force against terrorism,'' said Patrick Daly, the chief of the department's counterterrorism and intelligence section. "We worked on this investigation 24/7.''

The FBI-run Joint Terrorism Task Force, which handles terrorism-related investigations in Chicago, has expanded significantly since Sept. 11, 2001.

Daly was an FBI agent when he joined the task force shortly after it formed in 1981. He was hired by Chicago police Superintendent Jody Weis and created the department's counterterrorism and intelligence unit.

Back in the early 1980s, a terror plot here was more likely to be planned by a local group, Daly said.

"That continued throughout the '80s," Daly said, noting that the task force targeted organizations such as FALN, a Puerto Rican nationalist group that was pressing for independence with acts of violence in Chicago and New York.

In the early 1990s, the Chicago FBI task force expanded its members and also was focusing on international groups, including the Irish Republican Army and various Palestinian militant groups. But the targets were still largely thought to be overseas, Daly said.

"Most of the people in these international groups weren't plotting attacks on Chicago," he said. "Their basic activity was to raise funds and do attacks overseas. And also to hide wanted people from their countries.''

Then, in 1993, the first World Trade Center bombing showed the U.S. to be a target of international plots. And Sept. 11 changed forever how local departments would approach terrorist threats.

Daly said: "Before we were more reactive. … The event, the attack would occur, we would collect the evidence, we would find out who did it and prosecute them. Now we want to prevent the attack from occurring.''

Headley's plot on Mumbai, formerly Bombay, dates back to 2005, when he traveled to India to conduct surveillance for the team of gunmen who carried out coordinated, deadly assaults there in November 2008.

A Pakistani-American, Headley had changed his name from Daood Gilani in 2006 to bring less suspicion in his travel, authorities said.

In 2009, Headley was living on Chicago's Far North Side. His plans for another attack, this one in Denmark, were under way, according to federal documents.

By now, he had already twice avoided detection despite two of his wives coming forward with information. U.S. officials have said those tips were not specific enough to launch an investigation of a U.S. citizen.

Meanwhile, Chicago police were well into a counterterrorism strategy that had more officers out in neighborhoods trying to gain contacts and information. The department also had increased its emphasis on training officers to be more alert— and to document suspicious activities.

At the park, the officer did exactly that, department officials said.

"This really helped … bring him on the radar,'' Chicago police Cmdr. Steve Caluris said of the officer's observation. "We are not saying he witnessed him plotting something out there in the public. He recognized activity that seemed out of the ordinary."

While the maneuvers were what caught his eye, the officer also took note that Headley, who was later linked to a Pakistani terrorism group, was speaking Urdu, a language of that country.

Authorities did not disclose the Chicago park where Headley was seen. The details of his park activities were eventually combined with an independent tip the FBI task force got about Headley, adding pieces to the emerging picture of a possible terrorist. Chicago police — as well as the FBI and other local law enforcement officers — worked the case to completion.

In October 2009, Headley, 49, was arrested in Chicago by the task force. He pleaded guilty in March to plotting the Mumbai attacks and one on a Danish newspaper that was targeted for printing controversial cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad. Headley avoided the death penalty in exchange for his plea, and he is expected to testify against a co-defendant, Tahawwur Hussain Rana.

Officers point to the Headley investigation as a success, but know there are more plots out there to uncover.

Inside a small, hushed office with more computer screens than people is the counterterrorism section of the Deployment Operations Center at police headquarters at 35th Street and Michigan Avenue. Here, some 20 tips on potential terrorist-related activity are investigated each week.

Information deemed credible is routed to the FBI task force for full investigation.

Chicago's counterterrorism officers start the day in the "secure room,'' where classified databases are reviewed for the current threat information. A briefing is prepared for the unit commanders.

Officers have access to a variety of federal databases to run names and information. They work off video feeds when suspicious behavior is caught on tape. Once they've identified an alleged suspect, they do old-fashioned police work by knocking on doors and asking questions.

The team recently chased down a tip about men aboard a CTA bus who appeared, to an onlooker, to be using a counter to keep track of the number of passengers. Investigators pulled bus video footage to identify them and, after talking to them, determined they were counting their prayers.

Terrorism tips can come from anywhere, but the 13,500 police officers on Chicago's streets are considered a prime source of information. A "terrorism liaison officer" position has been created in each of the 25 police districts. These officers get regular training on current threats and tactics and are a contact for the entire district.

But all officers are trained as well at daylong courses that cover everything from bombs improvised from paint cans to the structure of terrorist organizations to the attempted bombing in New York's Times Square last May. Trainees run through mock exercises, including examining cars in a garage to try to find the suspicious pieces of evidence left behind by their instructors.

A mock mailroom is filled with questionable packages for inspection. Officers then have to pick over a room filled with household products, some of which could be used for bomb-making.

"They are the eyes and ears on the street,'' said Chicago police Sgt. Val Roytman, who oversees the training. "They are the most valuable resource in the war against terrorism.''

Ken Dilanian of the Tribune Washington Bureau contributed to this report.

asweeney@tribune.com

hdardick@tribune.com