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From the Los Angeles Times

White House received emails about Fast and Furious gun-trafficking operation

Three national security officials were given some details about the operation. But an administration official says the emails do not prove that anyone in the White House was aware of the covert tactics of the program.

by Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau

September 2, 2011

Reporting from Washington

Newly obtained emails show that the White House was better informed about a failed gun-tracking operation on the border with Mexico than was previously known.

Three White House national security officials were given some details about the operation, dubbed Fast and Furious. The operation allowed firearms to be illegally purchased, with the goal of tracking them to Mexican drug cartels. But the effort went out of control after agents lost track of many of the weapons.

The supervisor of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation in Phoenix specifically mentioned Fast and Furious in at least one email to a White House national security official, and two other White House colleagues were briefed on reports from the supervisor, according to White House emails and a senior administration official.

But the senior administration official said the emails, obtained Thursday by The Times, did not prove that anyone in the White House was aware of the covert "investigative tactics" of the operation.

"The emails validate what has been said previously, which is no one at the White House knew about the investigative tactics being used in the operation, let alone any decision to let guns walk," said the official, who was not authorized to speak about it publicly. "To the extent that some [national security staff members] were briefed on the top lines of ongoing federal efforts, so were members of Congress."

He identified the three White House officials who were briefed as Kevin M. O'Reilly, director of North American Affairs for the White House national security staff; Dan Restrepo, the president's senior Latin American advisor; and Greg Gatjanis, a White House national security official.

"The emails were not forwarded beyond them, and we are not aware of any [additional] briefings related to that email chain," the official said.

The emails were sent between July 2010 and February of this year before it was disclosed that agents had lost track of hundreds of guns. Many are thought to have fallen into criminal hands, and some have turned up at crime scenes in Mexico and the United States, including at the fatal shooting of a U.S. Border Patrol agent.

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista) and Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) are trying to determine what the Justice Department and the White House knew about the program.

According to the emails, William D. Newell, then the ATF field supervisor for Arizona and New Mexico, was in close contact with O'Reilly and sought the White House's help to persuade the Mexican government to let ATF agents recover U.S. guns across the border.

After earlier emails from Newell to O'Reilly surfaced, Newell testified to congressional investigators in July that the two were friends and acknowledged that he probably should not have sent them to him. But the new emails indicate that Newell and O'Reilly were in deeper discussions about gun operations on the border.

In July 2010, about nine months after Fast and Furious started, O'Reilly was seeking information about ways to fight gun trafficking in Arizona when he emailed Newell.

"Just an informal 'how's it going?' " he wrote. He titled the email "GRIT Surge Phoenix," an acronym for Gun Runner Impact Teams.

Newell replied that things were "going very well actually."

Though not mentioning Fast and Furious by name, he talked about large numbers of ATF agents being temporarily transferred to Arizona to work on cases, apparently alluding to the Fast and Furious program. He also praised their work on "firearms trafficking investigations with direct links to Mexican" cartels, which was the main goal of Fast and Furious.

"This is great," O'Reilly replied. "Very informative."

O'Reilly asked whether he could share the information with Restrepo and Gatjanis. He added that the information "would not leave NSS, I assure you."

Newell answered, "Sure, just don't want ATF HQ to find out, especially since this is what they should be doing (briefing you)!"

A third email went from Newell to O'Reilly on Feb. 11, two months after Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was killed in Arizona and Fast and Furious weapons were found at the scene.

Newell discussed the just-obtained indictments of 20 people, including Jaime Avila, for illegal gun purchasing. It was two of Avila's guns bought under Fast and Furious that ended up at the Terry shooting. This time, Newell specifically mentioned Fast and Furious.

"The Fast and Furious indictment is listed under U.S. v Avila and that's the one in which there's an introduction of the techniques used by firearms traffickers," he told O'Reilly. He suggested "we" should use the indictment to draw attention to the arrests through the media in Mexico.

In another development, the Justice Department said it knew of only one other instance where a Fast and Furious weapon was "recovered in connection with a crime of violence in the U.S." Earlier it had said there were 11 instances.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-atf-guns-20110902,0,5775412,print.story

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From the FBI

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FBI Seeks Assistance in Solving a '81 Domestic Terrorism Case

The FBI is asking for the public's assistance in locating Donna Joan Borup. Borup is wanted for her alleged participation in the violent disruption of an anti-apartheid demonstration at JFK International Airport in Queens, New York, on September 26, 1981.

Borup allegedly tossed an acidic substance into the eyes of Port Authority Police Officer Evan Goodstein. As a result, Goodstein was partially blinded. At the time, Borup was a member of the 19th Communist Organization, a Marxist-Leninist Organization that advocated the armed revolution and violent overthrow of the United States government. Borup was arrested and released on bail pending a trail in May 1982.

“Borup has been on the run for too long and deserves to be brought to justice for her alleged attack against a law enforcement officer. We're asking the public to look at these photos and to contact the FBI if they recognize Borup," said Supervisory Special Agent Tim Flannelly.

Read more | Wanted poster | 'Wanted by the FBI' podcast

http://www.fbi.gov/news/news_blog/fbi-seeks-public-assistance-in-solving-a-1981-domestic-terrorism-case

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Orange County Man Who Admitted Hacking Into Personal Computers Sentenced to Six Years in Federal Prison for ‘Sextortion' of Women and Teenage Girls

LOS ANGELES—A Santa Ana man who hacked into dozens of computers to obtain personal data—and in some cases demanded sexually explicit videos from female victims in exchange for not distributing other images—was sentenced today to 72 months in federal prison.

Luis Mijangos, 32, an illegal alien from Mexico, received the six-year prison term from United States District Judge George H. King, who said the defendant engaged in “psychological warfare” and “cyberterrorism.”

Mijangos pleaded guilty in March 2011 to computer hacking and wiretapping. When he pleaded guilty, Mijangos specifically admitted that in late 2009 he used malicious software to hack into a teenage girl's computer, which gave him control over the victim's webcam and allowed him to surreptitiously obtain naked photos of her. He also admitted that in April 2009, through the use of malware, he intercepted portions of a private conversation by listening through the microphone on a victim's computer.

In sentencing papers filed with the court this summer, prosecutors said Mijangos is a “computer hacker who infected the computers of hundreds of victims by sending Trojan e-mails and instant messages embedded with malicious software that gave him complete access to and control over the victims' computers.” In addition to stealing financial information, Mijangos “read victims' e-mails and IMs, watched them through their webcams, and listened to them through the microphones on their computers. Often, he then used the information he obtained to play psychological games with his victims.”

Court documents filed in the case describe how Mijangos induced victims to download the malware onto their computers by making the files appear to be popular songs or videos. After the victims downloaded the malware, Mijangos was able to control their computers, allowing him to send instant messages containing malware from those computers to other people in the victims' address books. These later victims thought they were receiving messages from friends or family members.

Court papers also describe how Mijangos obtained images and videos from female victims, which he used to “sextort” victims by threatening to post intimate pictures on the Internet unless the victims provided Mijangos with more intimate images or videos. When one victim shared Mijangos “sextortionate” threats with a friend, Mijangos responded by posting nude pictures of the victim on her MySpace page, prosecutors said in their sentencing brief.

“We now live in a world gone digital, relying on our personal computers for everything from banking, to learning, to intimate communications with friends and family,” said United States Attorney André Birotte Jr. “Mr. Mijangos invaded the sanctity of many personal digital worlds and used intimate content to victimize and prey upon unsuspecting victims.”

Steven M. Martinez, Assistant Director in Charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, stated: “The sentence imposed on Mr. Mijangos is appropriate based on the chilling impact his behavior had on scores of young women. The FBI has seen a rise in similar cases based on the exploitation of emerging technologies by criminals, and it's my hope that this sentence serves as a warning for victims of Internet predators to advise law enforcement or a trusted source when threatened, and always refrain from sending compromising photographs via cyberspace.”

At the time of Mijangos' arrest in June 2010, FBI computer forensics experts had determined that he had infected more than 100 computers that were used by approximately 230 individuals, at least 44 of whom were juveniles. In sentencing papers filed this year, prosecutors said that many other victims remain unidentified.

Mijangos told federal agents last year that he worked with “black hat” hackers to obtain financial information that he claimed earned him as much as $3,000 per day, according to an affidavit filed in the case. But, prosecutors said in court papers that Mijangos also caused psychological harm to the young women and girls who were the victims of his “sextortion.”

During today's sentencing hearing, two sextortion victims described how they were subjected to “nightmare” situations. One young woman said that before Mijangos victimized her she had been a victim of domestic violence, “and I want to tell you, there's no difference.”

In sentencing Mijangos, Judge King said: “This was nothing short of a sustained effort to terrorize victims.” The court later added that “a lot of people suffered—and suffered greatly.”

This case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Glendale Police Department. The federal investigation into Mijangos started when the Glendale Police Department referred the matter to the FBI after receiving a complaint from a victim and realizing a sophisticated computer hacker may have been victimizing numerous people.

CONTACT:

Assistant United States Attorney Stephanie S. Christensen
Cyber and Intellectual Property Crimes Section
(213) 894-3756

Assistant United States Attorney Jennifer L. Williams
(213) 894-5862

http://www.fbi.gov/losangeles/press-releases/2011/orange-county-man-who-admitted-hacking-into-personal-computers-sentenced-to-six-years-in-federal-prison-for-sextortion-of-women-and-teenage-girls

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