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by The Consul » Mon Dec 09, 2019 7:16 pm
by cptmarginal » Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:10 pm
Pensacola NAS Link Faces More Scrutiny
Senator seeks answers on hijackers ties to Navy base
by Larry Wheeler, Scott Streater, Ginny Graybiel
The Pensacola News Journal
September 17, 2001
U.S. Sen. Bob Graham is requesting information on published reports of a possible Pensacola Naval Air Station tie-in to last week's terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C.
As many as four of 19 suspected hijackers may have participated during the 1990s in the base's flight training program for foreign military trainees, according to reports in The Washington Post and Newsweek magazine.
In addition, The New York Times reported that one of the four also may have lived at the Fountains apartment complex near the University of West Florida, leaving about a year ago.
Graham, D-Miami Lakes, who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was briefed early Sunday on the latest intelligence information, but there was no mention of suspected hijackers having been enrolled as pilot trainees in Pensacola, said his spokesman, Paul Anderson.
Since then, Anderson said, Graham has requested more information on the possible Pensacola tie-in as well as updates on suspected hijackers who may have been receiving civilian flying lessons at commercial training academies elsewhere in Florida.
Graham and a number of state lawmakers returned to Florida aboard a Florida Air National Guard flight Saturday. He could receive the requested information today, Anderson said.
It's not unusual for foreign nationals to train at Pensacola-area bases.
Pensacola NAS and Whiting Field train many of the more than 6,000 foreign military students who receive flight training each year at U.S. military institutions.
The students are instructed in everything from warfare specialty training to air navigation meteorology and land/water survival, according to the NaPentagon and local military officials refused to comment on the media reports on Sunday. They referred calls on the subject to the FBI, which also refused comment.
The news articles caution that there are slight discrepancies between the FBI list of suspected highjackers and the military training records, either in the spellings of their names or in their birth dates. They also raise the possibility that the hijackers stole the identities of military trainees.
Tracking names
The Newsweek article says U.S. military officials gave the FBI information suggesting that five of the alleged hijackers received training in the 1990s at secure U.S. military installations.
It says three of them listed their address on driver licenses and car registrations as 10 Radford Blvd. on Pensacola NAS, a base road on which residences for foreign- military flight trainees are located.
Those suspects are:
Saeed Alghamdi, believed to have helped hijack United Airlines Flight 93 that crashed in rural Pennsylvania.
Ahmad Alnami, who also was aboard Flight 93.
Ahmed Alghamdi, who is suspected of helping commandeer United Airlines Flight 75, which hit the south tower of the World Trade Center.
Saeed Alghamdi listed the address in March 1997 to register a 1998 Oldsmobile; five months later, he used the same address to register a late-model Buick.
The other two used the address on driver licenses issued in 1996 and 1998.
The Newsweek article cites two other suspects with possible U.S. military training: One may have been trained in strategy and tactics at the Air War College in Montgomery, Ala., and one may have received language training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
A Washington Post article adds a fourth suspect who may have trained in Pensacola:
Hamza Alghamdi, who also is believed to have been aboard Flight 75.
A New York Times article, using an alternative spelling, says that Ahmed A. al-Ghamdi lived in the Fountains near UWF. The article says he moved out about August 2000 and does not specify how long he may have lived there.
The Fountains, off University Parkway, caters to UWF students and also has a number of military personnel, according to several residents. The apartment manager could not be reached on Sunday.
The FBI's official list of suspected hijackers gives the most recent addresses of the four with possible Pensacola links as possibly Delray Beach.
Complicating the effort to learn if the suspects ever trained in Pensacola is the fact that Alghamdi is an extremely common name. Scores of people with that name live throughout Florida.
He said the victims were known to be “very reclusive, very secretive.”
The bodies were discovered Friday in their home in a rural neighborhood of ranch-style houses north of Pensacola Naval Air Station after a request for a welfare check. Investigators believe the Smiths were killed about 7 p.m. on July 28.
...
Richard Smith was employed by the Department of Homeland Security and worked at Naval Air Station Pensacola, but officials with the Naval Criminal Investigative Services “have determined there are no issues involving … national security elements,” Morgan said.
Officials at the Naval base in Pensacola referred all questions to their colleagues in Washington. Officials in Washington have not responded to repeated calls and emails from The Associated Press.
by cptmarginal » Mon Dec 09, 2019 10:16 pm
SonicG » Sun Dec 08, 2019 3:55 am wrote:Member of the Saudi AF commits terrorist act on US military base and the US's response is to get an apology and some promise of remuneration for the victims' families? It will be hilarious how the various factions desperately trying to hang onto Trump, esp. the qanon nutters and assorted "Nationalists" view Drumpf basically blowing this whole thing off ~ just as the Epstein story will be buried by Barr...They are on the forefront of outrage right now, but will be predictably trained, probably by "this was a Hilary thing"....
But we really need to talk about the mass-shooter video party the night before and others filming the actual incident...
by stickdog99 » Tue Dec 10, 2019 9:10 am
by Elvis » Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:10 am
by Wombaticus Rex » Tue Dec 10, 2019 11:40 am
Elvis » Tue Dec 10, 2019 10:10 am wrote:Pardon my ignorance, but is this the guy who's part of an "exchange program" and came over to the US but never reported for duty for six months or a year? A cursory Web search doesn't say, but I heard it on the radio.
by JackRiddler » Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:06 pm
by cptmarginal » Tue Dec 10, 2019 12:47 pm
The AlShamrani Group is a Saudi Arabian conglomerate based in Damman with business operations in the areas of construction, mining and manufacturing. Created in 1980 by the company’s namesake, Abdul Khaliq Owdah Alshamrani, the Group also conducts earthwork operations such as grading, excavation and gravel surfacing.
These particular jobs are performed for a wide variety of businesses within the Kingdom. While many such projects focus on construction and other real estate considerations, the continuing development of oil and gas operations and the broadening of infrastructure are also jobs that they’re capable of handling.
Those construction projects are undertaken as part of the overall plan to help Saudi Arabia continue its development as a growing force in the world. Buildings for business operations (including pre-fabricated models) and the creation of stores, museums, hospitals and labs also are part of this vast picture.
Providing much of the supply for construction and the needed infrastructure is what Alshamrani Metal Industries does during its daily manufacturing process. Producing tanks, trailers and other items that are created out of steel and concrete, the company seeks to expedite such construction by creating the aforementioned pre-fabricated material.
When it comes to mining the rich deposits of minerals within the Kingdom, FAD Mining handles these duties. The list of minerals includes silica sand, fieldspar, limestone, quartz, gold and dolomite.
VERY FEW people today succeed in balancing the modern and traditional lifestyles, either you will have an ultra sophisticated westernised person or those who are morbidly obsessed with their traditions.
One such example is the Saudi industrialist Ali Owdah Al Shamrani, who is both modern and true to the soil at the same time.
Al Shamrani is a Bedouin, whose example is worthy of emulation for the youngsters aspiring to make it big while remaining loyal to their culture.
“The desert has many faces,”
said Al Shamrani, who belongs to a leading tribe in Saudi Arabia, “like a mountain, it is both hostile and hospitable - depending on the way you take it,” he told City Times in an interview.
Al Shamrani, who is not even a high school graduate, is Chairman of the Al Shamrani Group that was ranked 27th in Arab News’ prestigious Top 100 Saudi companies list.
Whereas he cannot speak or understand a word of English, his sons and daughters, who have studied in England, United States and Canada are at home with the language.
by SonicG » Fri Dec 13, 2019 9:34 pm
The city of Pensacola, Florida, said it has experienced a cyber "incident" and has disconnected several city services until the issue can be resolved.
Mayor Grover Robinson told CNN affiliate WEAR the city has been dealing with a cyberattack since late Friday.
The city said the issue has impacted city emails and phones, 311 customer service and online payments, including Pensacola Energy and Pensacola Sanitation Services. However, 911 and emergency services are not impacted.
Officials for the city are unsure whether the incident is related to the Friday shooting at Pensacola Naval Air Station.
"It's really too early to say one way or another. We are still assessing this," said Kaycee Lagarde, a spokeswoman for the mayor.Cyberattack hits city of Pensacola. Officials aren't sure if it's related to shooting at Naval Air Station
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/12/09/us/p ... index.html
(Saudi Embassy spokesperson Fahad Nazer): The shooter involved in this incident who died, Mohammed al-Shamrani, he was a second lieutenant in the Royal Saudi Air Force. We also learned that on social media he had left a trail of declarations of hate for Americans because of their so-called crimes against Muslims. Why did his commanders send him to the US if he had that kind of history?
Right. So, as I mentioned earlier, the kingdom is fully cooperating with the US investigators, who are trying to determine the motivations of the assailant. I do not want to speak about the assailant or the details of the investigations at this point. We simply don't have all the answers. Going forward, the kingdom will take all necessary measures to reduce the likelihood of something like this happening again in the future.
https://www.pri.org/stories/2019-12-13/ ... ry-prevent
by cptmarginal » Tue Dec 17, 2019 12:50 am
SAN ANTONIO — While the FBI continues its investigation into the Pensacola Naval Air Base shooting that left 3 dead and 8 injured by a Saudi Arabian Air Force student, Fox San Antonio & News 4 SA are getting more information on the San Antonio connection. We are uncovering how many Saudis are now under the microscopic eye of the FBI here in San Antonio.
I asked Joint Base San Antonio more questions about the Royal Saudi Arabian Air Force students being trained here in San Antonio. I also asked questions about the one individual whom sources tell us traveled with 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani to New York city just before the shooting, who is here in San Antonio.
Close to 900 Airmen from the Royal Saudi Air Force are currently in the U.S. training with the U.S. government, of those Joint Base San Antonio tells us close to 300 are stationed in San Antonio. All of them are undergoing Air Force sponsored training in the U.S., in either pilot, technical or language training. 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, who killed 3 and injured 8 in Pensacola trained here 2 years ago. While here at Lackland Air Force Base he trained at the language institute and did his initial aviation classes. Classes that now have been suspended since his shooting spree in Florida. Currently 67 flight training students from Saudi Arabia have been grounded in San Antonio, while the department of defense goes over their procedures for vetting international military students. So these 67 are limited to classroom instruction.
Senator Rick Scott of Florida demanded on Thursday that all Saudi Air Force members in the U.S. be forced to stay here until the investigation is completed.
"I have a call this afternoon with the Saudi Ambassador to the United States and my question for her is going to be 'Are you going to make sure that all your Airmen fully cooperate to make sure we know what happened,' so we make sure this doesn't happen again and if anyone's done anything wrong, they need to be held accountable," said Senator Scott.
Fox 29/News 4 SA uncovered last week through our sources that at least one of the 3 Saudi students who traveled with Al Shamrani to New York city just before the shooting is one of those 67 students grounded in San Antonio. He is still being questioned by the FBI.
The fifth man may have received language instruction at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Tex. Both were former Saudi Air Force pilots who had come to the United States, according to the Pentagon source… NEWSWEEK visited the base early Saturday morning, where military police confirmed that the address housed foreign military flight trainees… It is not unusual for foreign nationals to train at U.S. military facilities. A former Navy pilot told NEWSWEEK that during his years on the base, ‘we always, always, always trained other countries’ pilots. When I was there two decades ago, it was Iranians. The shah was in power. Whoever the country du jour is, that’s whose pilots we train.’
by cptmarginal » Tue Dec 17, 2019 12:52 am
16 Dec 2019
Military.com | By Richard Sisk
A young Saudi officer who killed three and wounded eight more in a shooting rampage at Naval Air Station Pensacola had passed a rigorous vetting process without setting off alarms, DoD officials said Friday.
The officials, speaking on background, said that 21-year-old Saudi Royal Air Force 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani and all other foreign military trainees are cleared first by their own countries and then subjected to a three-level screening process by U.S. Embassies in the host nations.
The applicants for training alongside U.S. troops would have their names run through databases maintained by the Departments of Defense, State and Homeland Security to check for criminal activity or substance abuse, the officials said in a conference call with defense reporters.
The trainees would also have to submit to a physical and psychological examination by a doctor approved by the U.S. Embassy and then pass requirements for a visa from the State Department, the officials said.
In the case of Alshamrani, however, the screening apparently failed to turn up his exposure to jihadist ideology before coming to the U.S.
A Saudi government analysis obtained by the Washington Post showed that a Twitter account thought to have been used by Alshamrani indicated his exposure to the “extremist thought” of four radical clerics.
Since the Dec. 6 shootings at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Defense Secretary Mark Esper and other officials have restricted the estimated 152 Saudis at the base to classroom training and also confined about 12 of Alshamrani’s Saudi friends to quarters under monitoring by the FBI.
Esper has also ordered up a review of vetting processes for all of the more than 5,000 foreign military students currently training in the U.S. The defense officials, speaking on background, said new vetting procedures could be outlined as early as next week.
“At this time, we have no indications of additional threats” from foreign military trainees, including more than 800 Saudis at various bases nationwide, but “we are looking to increase vetting standards across the board for all students,” a defense official said.
The defense officials declined to name the bases besides Pensacola where Saudis were in training but said they were at installations of the Army, Navy and Air Force.
The officials also declined to state whether Saudi students represented the largest number of foreign trainees in the U.S., or give a cost estimate of the programs.
Earlier, Army Lt. Gen. Charles Hooper, who oversees the training programs as head of the Defense Security Cooperation Agency, said the programs were of “exceptional value” to U.S. national security in terms of the “enduring relations that come along with it.”
The foreign students “are exposed to our values, our culture and our people,” and the experiences serve as “building blocks” for future relations, Hooper said.
The federal government is facing a backlog of 700,000 security clearance reviews, which has led agencies like the Defense Department to mistakenly issue interim passes to criminals. Criminals like rapists and killers have been able to obtain passes fueling calls for better and faster vetting of people with access to the nation's secrets.
...
"If we don't do interim clearances, nothing gets done," Dan Payne, director of the U.S. Defense Security Service, said last week at an intelligence conference.
by Marionumber1 » Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:01 pm
More than a dozen Saudi servicemen to be expelled from US after review of December shooting at Naval Air Station
By David Shortell and Evan Perez, CNN
Updated 10:14 PM ET, Sat January 11, 2020
(CNN) - More than a dozen Saudi servicemen training at US military installations will be expelled from the United States after a review that followed the deadly shooting last month at a Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, multiple sources told CNN.
The Saudis are not accused of aiding the 21-year-old Saudi Air Force second lieutenant who killed three American sailors in the December shooting, two sources said, but some are said to have connections to extremist movements, according to a person familiar with the situation.
A number are also accused of possessing child pornography, according to a defense official and the person familiar with the situation. The FBI and Justice Department declined to comment.
"In the wake of the Pensacola tragedy, the Department of Defense restricted to classroom training programs foreign military students from Saudi Arabia while we conducted a review and enhancement of our foreign student vetting procedures," said Lt. Col. Robert Carver, a spokesman for the Department of Defense. "That training pause is still in place while we implement new screening and security measures."
About a dozen Saudi trainees at the Pensacola base had been confined to their quarters as the FBI investigated the shooting as a potential terror attack, and the Pentagon initiated a review of all Saudi military trainees in the country, numbering around 850 students.
The Justice Department is expected to conclude that the Pensacola shooting was in fact an act of terrorism, according to a US official.
No co-conspirators have been charged as part of the investigation, and the Saudi government has pledged its full support.
by Marionumber1 » Sun Jan 12, 2020 1:09 pm
The Consul » Mon Dec 09, 2019 6:16 pm wrote:I mean, a party where people (Saidis, apparently) watch mass shooting videos the night before a mass shooting on a military installation, and then the filming of it.
Pensacola: suspect watched mass shooting videos at dinner party, official says
Sat 7 Dec 2019 15.47 EST
The Saudi student suspected of killing three people at a US navy base in Florida hosted a dinner party earlier in the week where he and three others watched videos of mass shootings, a US official told the Associated Press on Saturday.
One of the three students who attended the party videotaped outside the building while the shooting was taking place at Naval Air Station Pensacola on Friday morning, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed by federal authorities.
Two other Saudi students watched from a car, the official said, adding that 10 Saudi students were being held on the base on Saturday while several others were unaccounted for.
According to a group that monitors online extremism, the man who opened fire appeared to have posted criticism of US wars and quoted Osama bin Laden on social media hours before opening fire. US officials had previously said they were investigating possible links to terrorism.
Authorities confirmed the suspect was a member of the Royal Saudi air force who was on the base as part of a US navy training program designed to foster links with foreign allies. In an emailed statement on Saturday, the FBI named him as second lieutenant Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, 21.
An uncle of Alshamrani, Saad bin Hantim Alshamrani, told CNN from Saudi Arabia his nephew was 21 and “likable and mannered towards his family and the community”. He said his nephew “has his religion, his prayer, his honesty and commitments”. If his nephew was guilty, then he will be “accountable before God”, the uncle said.
According to Site Intelligence Group, which tracks Islamist extremism on the internet, the younger Alshamrani appeared to have posted a justification of his planned attack in English on Twitter a few hours before it began.
He referred to US wars in the Middle East, writing that he hated the American people for “committing crimes not only against Muslims but also humanity” and criticizing Washington’s support for Israel, Site’s analysis said. He also quoted bin Laden, the Saudi mastermind of the attacks on the US on September 11, 2001, according to Site.
The US defense secretary, Mark Esper, said during a public appearance on Saturday that he was not ready to label the attack an act of terrorism.
The assault, which prompted a massive law enforcement response and base lockdown, ended when a sheriff’s deputy killed the attacker. Eight people were hurt including the deputy and a second deputy who was with him.
Family members identified one of the victims as a 23-year-old graduate of the US Naval Academy who alerted first responders to where the gunman was even after he had been shot several times.
“Joshua Kaleb Watson saved countless lives today with his own,” Adam Watson wrote on Facebook. “He died a hero and we are beyond proud but there is a hole in our hearts that can never be filled.”
The navy, in an emailed statement, named the other victims as Mohammed Sameh Haitham, 19, and Cameron Scott Walters, 21, both sailors studying at the base.
The Florida senator Rick Scott issued a scathing statement calling the shooting, the second on a US naval base this week, an act of terrorism “whether this individual was motivated by radical Islam or was simply mentally unstable”.
On Wednesday, a sailor whose submarine was docked at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, shot three civilians, killing two before killing himself.
Donald Trump declined to say whether the shooting was terrorism-related. The president tweeted his condolences to the families of the victims and noted that he had received a phone call from Saudi King Salman. He said the king told him that “this person in no way shape or form represents the feelings of the Saudi people”.
The Saudi government offered condolences to the victims and their families and said it would provide “full support” to US authorities.
The US has long had a robust training program for Saudis, providing assistance in the US and in the kingdom.
One of the US navy’s most historic and storied bases, Naval Air Station Pensacola sprawls along the waterfront south-west of the city’s downtown and dominates the economy of the surrounding area.
Part of the base resembles a college campus, with buildings where 60,000 members of the navy, marines, air force and coast guard train each year. Around 200 students from outside the US are also enrolled in training, said the base commander, Capt Tim Kinsella.
The shooting took place in one classroom and the shooter used a handgun, authorities said. Weapons are not allowed on the base, which Kinsella said would remain closed until further notice.
Adam Watson said his brother was able to make it outside the classroom building to tell authorities where the shooter was after being shot “multiple” times. “Those details were invaluable,” he wrote.
Watson’s father, Benjamin Watson, was quoted by the Pensacola News Journal as saying his son was a recent graduate of the US Naval Academy who dreamed of becoming a navy pilot. He said he had reported to Pensacola two weeks ago to begin flight training.
“He died serving his country,” Benjamin Watson said.
by Elvis » Sun Jan 12, 2020 11:12 pm
Marionumber1 wrote:According to Site Intelligence Group, which tracks Islamist extremism on the internet, the younger Alshamrani appeared to have posted a justification of his planned attack in English on Twitter a few hours before it began.
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