Name of 9/11 Hijacker Known in 1999

— -- 9/11 Hijacker Briefly Detected By NSA in 1999

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept, 26 — The name of a future Sept. 11 hijacker washeard by the National Security Agency in early 1999, in what mayhave been the first detection by a U.S. intelligence agency of oneof the 19 plotters who took part in the attacks.

The NSA, which gathers intelligence by eavesdropping oncommunications, "received information in which a 'Nawaf al-Hazmi'was referenced. The parties involved were unknown to NSA," said aU.S. intelligence official, speaking Wednesday on the condition ofanonymity.

The intelligence official declined to provide more detail on theearly 1999 reference. The NSA did not immediately provide theinformation to other intelligence agencies, the official said.

Al-Hazmi was one of the five hijackers on the plane that crashedinto the Pentagon. In early 2000, he separately came to theattention of the CIA and the FBI, who learned he was at a meetingof al Qaeda operatives in Malaysia. It is unclear when the NSAinformation was matched with what the other counterterrorismagencies had learned.

But at some point, the NSA's information, kept in an agencydatabase, also associated al-Hazmi with al Qaeda, according to areport by Eleanor Hill, the director of the congressional inquiryinto the Sept. 11 attacks.

Hill's report, released last week, detailed the U.S.government's limited pre-Sept. 11 knowledge of the hijackers. NSADirector Lt. Gen. Michael Hayden told the congressional inquiry ofhis agency's information on Nawaf al-Hazmi, the intelligenceofficial said.

The report concluded that U.S. intelligence knew of only threeof the 19 eventual hijackers before the attacks: Nawaf al-Hazmi,Salim al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar. Nawaf al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhartook part in the Malaysia meeting, and Salim al-Hazmi was a knownassociate of the two. U.S. officials had no knowledge of theirintentions, the report says.

Sept. 11 inquiry hearings, conducted by members of House andSenate Intelligence committees, were set to continue Thursday withthe testimony of Cofer Black and Dale Watson, the top CIA and FBIcounterterrorism officials at the time of the attacks.

Black ran the CIA's Counterterrorism Center from 1999 until May,and he remains with the agency. He previously served as anundercover CIA officer and played a role in France's capture ofIlich Ramirez Sanchez, commonly known as Carlos the Jackal, oncethe world's most famous terrorist.

Watson recently retired from his post as assistant director ofthe FBI's counterterrorism division.

—The Associated Press

Judge: ‘Shoe Bomb’ Suspect’s E-Mail Can Be Used at Trial

B O S T O N, Sept. 26 — E-mail from the man accused of trying to blow up atrans-Atlantic flight — including one note in which he described aduty to "remove the oppressive American forces" — can be used athis trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Attorneys for "shoe bomb" suspect Richard Reid had argued thesearch of Reid's electronic mail account was illegal because thesearch warrant was overly broad.

But U.S. District Judge William Young ruled that federal agentsneeded to search Reid's entire Hotmail account because theybelieved he could have communicated with co-conspirators in code.

Reid, a British citizen, is charged with attempting to blow upan American Airlines flight from Paris to Miami on Dec. 22 withexplosives hidden in his shoes. Passengers and crew membersrestrained him after he allegedly tried to light a fuse. The flightwas diverted to Boston.

After his arrest, the FBI obtained a search warrant for Reid'se-mail accounts. Excerpts from his e-mail were included in courtdocuments filed by federal prosecutors.

"What I am doing is part of the ongoing war between Islaam anddisbelief," he wrote to his mother two days before his arrest.

"I see it as a duty upon me to help remove the oppressiveAmerican forces from the Muslim land and that this is the only wayfor us to do so as we do not have other means to fight them," hewrote.

Reid's lawyer, Tamar Birckhead, said that when investigatorsapplied for the search warrant, they had no evidence that Reid usedhis e-mail account for anything except communicating with hismother. The judge said he reserved the right to revise his decisionafter he reviews new arguments from the defense.

Reid faces eight counts, including a charge of attempting tomurder the 197 passengers and crew members on the flight. Trial isset to begin Nov. 4.

The FBI has said it believes Reid had help making the shoe bombfrom "an al Qaeda bomb maker."

—The Associated Press

Protesters Pledge to Shut Down Nation’s Capital

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 26 — Protesters are pledging to shut down thenation's capital Friday with demonstrations that will "disrupttraffic and convey a symbolic message" against capitalism and war.

The protests are a prelude to even larger demonstrations plannedfor the weekend during meetings of the World Bank and InternationalMonetary Fund.

The FBI issued a warning this week that computer hackers mayconduct "cyber protests" during the financial meetings.

"A small group that intends to disrupt the meetings with aphysical attack may use cyber means to enhance the effects of thephysical attack or to complicate the response by emergencyservices," the agency said in a statement.

The Anti-Capitalist Convergence, a group that wants to abolishthe global financial institutions, said Wednesday that they wouldhold several nonviolent demonstrations during Friday morning's rushhour. The events include a mass bike ride to protest the Bushadministration's environmental policies and a march opposing"corporate greed" that will target the headquarters of variouscompanies.

The demonstrators said they do not have permits for theseevents, which would wind through Washington's downtown businessdistrict.

Police plan to block off streets in the area around thefinancial institutions, located just a few blocks from the WhiteHouse, and are bringing in 1,700 officers from neighboringcommunities to help local law enforcement.

On Wednesday, U.S. Park Police officers practiced crowd controlmaneuvers, including drills on removing people who obstruct roadsand buildings — things protesters are threatening to do Friday.

Deputy Chief Dwight Pettiford said his officers will be "kindand gentle" with protesters, but they'll also be very firm withthose who practice disobedience.

Further disruption could be caused by demonstrator "affinitygroups," small clusters of protesters working independently.

"They will be staking out strategic and political targets todisrupt traffic and convey a symbolic message to the city to drawattention to the issues they think are important," ACC organizerAndrew Willis said. He said affinity groups will converge from allover the United States and Canada, bringing thousands ofdemonstrators to Washington.

"The people who are coming here on Sept. 27 do not considerthemselves violent nor do they consider their tactics to beviolent," Willis said. He said the demonstrators want an end toall debts, including personal debt, and universal access to food,water and housing.

Many members of the ACC call themselves "anarchists." Policehave blamed anarchists for much of the violence during pastprotests against the global financial institutions.

In April 2000, Washington police arrested about 1,300 peopleduring demonstrations against the IMF and World Bank.

Confrontations last year outside the Group of Eight summit inGenoa, Italy, caused extensive property damage, hundreds of arrestsand injuries and the death of one Italian protester who was shot bypolice.

Last year's IMF and World Bank meeting was canceled after theSept. 11 terror attacks, so protesters called off their plans, withmany holding anti-war demonstrations instead.

Protests in Washington during the April meetings of the IMF andWorld Bank were peaceful and focused on issues ranging from the waragainst terrorism to U.S. Mideast policy.

This year, the global financial institutions have scaled backtheir annual meeting, from a week to two days, in an effort to trimsoaring security costs.

Mobilization for Global Justice, which advocates nonviolentprotests and serves as an umbrella organization for a number ofactivist groups, is the main organizer of planned protests to takeplace outside the World Bank on Saturday. Protest organizers saythey expect thousands to turn out to demand that the financialinstitutions open their meetings to the public, end harmfuleconomic policies and cancel Third World debt.

Protesters from around the world plan a series of teach-ins andworkshops leading up to the weekend demonstrations.

—The Associated Press

Man Accused of Interfering With Flight Crew Freed

F O R T S M I T H, Ark., Sept. 26 — A New Jersey man accused of interferingwith a flight crew while the nation remembered the terror attackson Sept. 11 has been freed under a judge's order that he stay outof trouble for a year.

Gurdeep Wander, 48, was released from jail Sept. 19 under apretrial diversion program that prosecutors agreed to, U.S.Attorney Tom Gean said Wednesday. The Washington (Warren County)man was put on 12 months' probation and must also pay a $1,000civil penalty, Gean said.

"I call this a common-sense conclusion to this matter. Mr.Wander spent eight days in jail for the actions that he took onthat airplane," Gean said.

The federal charges available to prosecutors did not fit thecrime in Wander's case, Gean said.

"This guy basically disobeyed the flight attendants and shavedand he is looking at 20 years," Gean said. "Federal prosecutorsneed a law that addresses conduct that possibly does not rise tothe level of [felony charges]. We are going to have to give federalprosecutors greater latitude in addressing these [matters]."

Wander's attorney, Matt Ketcham, of Fort Smith, said the dealsaves his client from the stress and high cost of going to trial.

"We felt very good about the case. We felt that if it went totrial we could have got him acquitted," Ketcham said Wednesday."But there are also risks of going to trial. Trying an East Coastman of Indian descent in ... Arkansas, we just didn't know how thatwould play."

Wander was jailed after a Northwest Airlines flight attendantsaid he interfered with her work during a trip between Memphis,Tenn., and Las Vegas. She testified at a hearing last week thatWander refused to leave a restroom and return to his seat.

He was among four men detained when Flight 979 was diverted toFort Smith and was released after a probable cause hearing in lieuof a $25,000 signature bond and allowed to return to New Jersey.

Crew members aboard the flight said they were suspicious ofWander and the three other men, especially after Wander spent aconsiderable amount of time shaving in a restroom.

Two men were released after the incident and not charged.Harinder Singh, 41, of Saylorsburg, Pa., was released Sept. 18 onthe condition that he avoid trouble for six months. Like Wander, heentered a pretrial diversion program. Family members said Singh and Wander were flying together to anExxon convention in Las Vegas. At Minneapolis, the men missed aSept. 10 connection on their New York LaGuardia-to-Las Vegasitinerary and were booked through Memphis the next morning.

—The Associated Press

9/11 Attacks Contributed to Spike in Job Fatalities

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 26 — The number of people killed on the job lastyear soared by one-third because of the terrorist attacks, theLabor Department reported Wednesday.

A total of 8,786 people died at work last year. Of those, 2,886were related to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Excluding thevictims of attacks, the overall workplace death count was 5,900,which would have been the third-straight annual drop. In 2000,there were 5,920 people killed on the job.

Most of the attack victims were killed while at work — includingjobs at the World Trade Center or the Pentagon, on business travelor as a crew member of an airliner or as a rescue worker.

Job descriptions were wide-ranging, though more managers,executives and administrative workers were killed than any otherposition, at 1,072. Of the rescue workers killed, 335 werefirefighters and 61 were police officers or detectives.

Three-quarters of the attack victims were men.

"Today's report demonstrates that workers need more protection,not less," said John Sweeney, president of the AFL-CIO, thefederation of 65 labor unions. "The Bush administration and theCongress should be fighting for increased worker protections, notcutting federal funding for safeguards and job safety budgets."

Other findings:

Of the workers killed at the World Trade Center, two-thirdswere between ages 25 and 44. Nine percent were black, 10 percentwere Hispanic and 26 percent were women. Of the rescue workers whodied there, seven out of 10 were between ages 25 and 44, and nearlyall were male.

Of workers at the Pentagon, over half were between ages 25 and44. Thirty-three percent were black, 4 percent were Hispanic and 37percent were women.

Two-thirds of the workers who died in the attacks were over age34. Almost 20 percent of the workers were foreign-born.

Excluding workers killed in the attacks, the constructionindustry continued to have the highest number of worker fatalities,increasing to a record high of 1,225.

Transportation-related deaths dropped for the third straightyear. Highway incidents, however, increased slightly and continuedto be the leading cause of on-the-job fatalities.

Non-highway fatal incidents, which include tractor and forkliftoverturns, were at their lowest levels since records started beingkept in 1992.

Work-related homicides fell to the lowest level since 1992, to639. Homicides among technical, sales, and administrative supportworkers decreased, though homicides increased sharply among workersin service occupations, which include police and detectives, foodpreparation workers, barbers, and hairdressers.

The number of workplace suicides and fatal assaults by animalsalso increased slightly.

Deaths from falls increased 10 percent between 2000 and 2001 to808, the highest total since 1992. Fatal falls in the constructionindustry increased 13 percent and accounted for over half of allfatal falls.

—The Associated Press