Legal News

Ex-Sailor Found Guilty of Leaking Ship Info to Terrorists

By Dan Slater

In 2000, after a terrorist ambush killed 17 sailors aboard the USS Cole, Navy commanders grew increasingly wary of intelligence leaks regarding the plans of ships heading into the Persian Gulf.

During that time of heightened awareness of leaks, Hassan Abu-Jihaad — a Muslim convert from Phoenix whose name used to be Paul Hall, and a signalman aboard the USS Benfold — was accused of passing along details to terrorists that included the planned movements of his Navy battle group when it was to pass through Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf in April, 2001. Yesterday, in federal court in Connecticut, Abu-Jihaad was convicted and faces up to 25 years in federal prison when he is sentenced in May. (He was prosecuted in New Haven because the investigation first focused on a Connecticut-based Internet service provider.) Here’s the AP story.

What’s odd about Abu-Jihaad’s case is that, according to his attorney, Dan LaBelle, a four-year investigation that spanned two continents failed to turn up proof that his client leaked details of ship movements. And prosecutors, while they say Abu-Jihaad sympathized with the enemy and admitted disclosing military intelligence, acknowledged they did not have direct proof that he leaked the ship details.

However, authorities say the leaked documents closely matched what Abu-Jihaad, who was honorably discharged in 2002, would have had access to as a signalman, and that he was the only member of the military who was communicating with the suspected terrorists. They cited one e-mail in which he called the attack on the USS Cole in 2000 a “martyrdom operation” and praised “the men who have brong (sic) honor … in the lands of jihad Afghanistan, Bosnia, Chechnya, etc.”

“Mr. Abu-Jihaad jeopardized the lives of countless American servicemen and women and, as a member of the U.S. Navy, his conduct was shameful and deceitful,” said Kathryn Feeney, an agent with the defense criminal investigative service.

Full post as published by Law Blog - WSJ.com on March 06, 2008 (boomark / email).