November 14, 2007

Lebanese National Convicted Of Stealing FBI Secrets

A new window into problems at the nation's intelligence agencies popped up recently: Nada Nadim Prouty, a Lebanese woman who used a fake marriage to obtain citizenship and got jobs at the CIA and the FBI. She used her positions to access classified information about an investigation of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based militant Islamic group the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization.

Prouty also used her position to find information about her brother-in-law Talal Chahine, who fled to Lebanon more than two years ago to avoid prosecution for tax evasion connected to his La Shish restaurant chain. Prouty's sister was convicted in May on charges of helping Chahine and is serving an 18-month prison term.

In a Detroit courtroom yesterday, Prouty pleaded guilty to charges of illegally using the FBI's computer system, naturalization fraud and conspiring to obtain U.S. citizenship. As part of her sentence, she will give up her citizenship and may face fines and jail time.

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Posted at 9:01 AM
Posted to: Hezbollah, Lebanon, Middle East
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May 09, 2007

Terrorism Across The Border

A joint investigation by NBC News and Telemundo, its Spanish-language corporate sibling, has unearthed a "well-financed" Hezbollah base in South America.

"From its Western base in a remote region divided by the borders of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina known as the Tri-border, or the Triple Frontier, Hezbollah has mined the frustrations of many Muslims among about 25,000 Arab residents whose families immigrated mainly from Lebanon in two waves, after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war and after the 1985 Lebanese civil war," NBC News reports on its Web site.

Washington has long suspected Islamic terrorists may be setting up camp in South America, but the new NBC-Telemundo report indicates Hezbollah is running a flush and healthy operation just a few porous borders away from American soil.

In February, Newsweek reported on South and Central American governments' reluctance to respond to evidence of terrorist money-laundering in their countries, and CBS News sounded the alarm last year.

Posted at 7:00 PM
Posted to: Hezbollah, Terrorism
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