In the aftermath of the April 15, 2013 Boston Marathon explosions which killed three and wound hundreds of others, it was reported, denied then later confirmed by the FBI, that Russia had warned the U.S. about the now deceased Boston bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
Tuesday, in an exclusive Daily Mail blockbuster, it was reported that Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about accused Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012.
The Saudis' warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government. 'It was very specific’ and warned that 'something was going to happen in a major U.S. city,' the Saudi official said during an extensive interview.
Just as the FBI originally denied that Russia had sent multiple requests to U.S. officials to investigate Tamerlan, until the mother of the suspect publicly confirmed the FBI had spoken to her about her son's extremist ties, now the DHS is denying knowledge of of the Saudi's warnings.
Previous confirmed reports show that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was also on two government watch lists, the TIDE and TEC, and he had a very public YouTube channel devoted to Islamic terrorism.
Washington Post is reporting that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence is launching " an inquiry into U.S. counterterrorism agencies’ handling of the shards of information they had collected on the brothers in the 18 months leading up to the attacks. The probe will focus on whether information was shared among agencies, including the FBI, the CIA and the National Counterterrorism Center."
Acknowledging the inquiry at his news conference, Obama said: “We want to go back and we want to review every step that was taken. . . . We want to see, is there in fact additional protocols and procedures that could be put in place that would further improve and enhance our ability to detect a potential attack?”
A spokesman for Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. said that, while Clapper has instructed U.S. spy agencies to cooperate with the inspector general probe, he does not believe any mistakes were made.
“Director Clapper believes that every agency involved in collecting and sharing information prior to the attack took all the appropriate steps,” said the spokesman, Shawn Turner. “He also believes that it is prudent and appropriate for there to be an independent review of those steps to ensure that nothing was missed.”
Will this "probe" will have more Obama administration cooperation than the Benghazi probe and investigations have been getting, with Congress still being denied access to the survivors of the 9-11 terrorist attack in Libya which killed four Americans, and whistle-blowers being forced to obtain legal counsel, claiming they have been threatened by the Obama administration?
[Update] Boston Globe is reporting three others have been arrested in the Boston bombing.
