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Radiological Weapons: Al-Qaeda Trained Padilla, United States Reasserts Contrary to a recent report, several intelligence sources have confirmed that suspected U.S. terrorist Jose Padilla collaborated with al-Qaeda operatives to plan a “dirty bomb” attack on the United States, the Washington Post reported Wednesday (see GSN, Aug 14). “Multiple intelligence sources separately confirmed Padilla’s involvement in planning future terrorist attacks by al-Qaeda against United States citizens, as well as his specific objective of detonating a radiological dispersal device within the United States,” U.S. officials said in documents submitted Aug. 27 to federal court in New York. Padilla, a U.S. citizen, met and trained with al-Qaeda leaders several times during the last two years, learning how to wire explosive devices and then returning to the United States to “explore and advance” attacks, according to the documents. One of Padilla’s attorneys, Donna Newman, questioned the validity of the intelligence reports. “My only reaction is, ‘What is the source?’” she said. “Is it written on the bathroom wall? Is it firsthand knowledge, secondhand knowledge, third, fourth?” U.S. officials have submitted no supporting evidence, but they said the reports come from at least three non-U.S. sources including captured al-Qaeda operative Abu Zubaydah, according to the Post (Steve Fainaru, Washington Post, Aug. 28). Some intelligence reports have indicated that Padilla’s relationship with al-Qaeda is trivial and have said that the group had no detailed plans for a radiological weapons attack, according to the Associated Press. Certain informants might be trying to mislead U.S. agents, one U.S. official wrote in one of the submitted documents. Some “confidential sources have not been completely candid,” the official wrote. One source has recanted certain information and officials are treating another informant with “various types of drugs to treat medical conditions,” according to the document (Christopher Newton, Associated Press/Chicago Tribune, Aug. 28).
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