FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list

The FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list is the third major "wanted" list to have been created by the United States Department of Justice's Federal Bureau of Investigation to be used as a primary tool for publicly identifying and tracking down suspected terrorists operating against United States nationals at home and abroad. The first preceding list for this purpose was the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. In 2001, after 9/11, that list was supplanted by the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, for the purpose of listing fugitives who are specifically wanted for acts of terrorism.

Since inception in January 2002, the Seeking Information list also serves this purpose, but with the big difference from the two earlier lists being that the suspected terrorists on this third list need not be fugitives indicted by grand juries in the United States District Courts. Such lower level guidelines now allow for a much quicker response time by the FBI to deliver the early known information, often very limited, out to the public as quickly as possible. As the name of this list implies, the FBI's intent is to acquire any critical information from the public, as soon as possible, about the suspected terrorists, in order to prevent any future attacks which may be in the current planning stages.

All three of the major wanted lists now appear on the FBI web site along with several other types of wanted lists as well. All such FBI lists are grouped together under the heading "Wanted by the FBI." [ [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted.htm Wanted by the FBI] , official web page featuring all the FBI wanted lists.]

Precedents and early versions

The FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism list has roots in the two earlier fugitive tracking FBI lists. During the 1990s decade in particular, the FBI began using the Ten Most Wanted list to profile some major terrorists, including Ramzi Yousef and Osama bin Laden Karan Vadher, among others, such as the 1988 mass murder bombers of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland.

In addition to these Justice Department fugitive programs, an even earlier method of terrorist tracking was created by the United States Department of State, in the Bureau of Diplomatic Security. This DoS effort is known as the "Rewards for Justice Program," which began in 1984, and originally paid monetary rewards of up to $5 million for information countering terrorism.

After 9/11, in 2001, the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list was created, as a companion list to the extant FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives Program, and to the State Department's Rewards for Justice Program.

Original list of 5 in videos from Atef rubble

After January 14, 2002 five suspected al-Qaeda members delivering what United States Attorney General John Ashcroft described as "martyrdom messages from suicide terrorists" were found on five discovered videos, recovered from the rubble of the home of Mohammad Atef outside of Kabul, Afghanistan. NBC News said that the five videos had been recorded after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.

In response, on January 17, 2002 the FBI released to the public the first Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information list (now known as the FBI's "Seeking Information - War on Terrorism" list), in order to profile the five wanted terrorists about whom very little was known, but who were suspected of plotting additional terrorist attacks in martyrdom operations. [ [http://www.fbi.gov/mostwant/seekinfo/seek.htm Most Wanted Terrorists Seeking Information] , January 17, 2002, (dead link)] (see current version displaying photos of five terrorists on the remaining martyrdom videos FBI list, as of June 2006) [ [http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terseekinfomartyr.htm Martyrdom Messages/video, Seeking Information Alert] video clips published by the FBI January 17, 2002, and photos of remaining 5 terrorists, FBI archival after September 2002] The videos were shown by the FBI without sound, to guard against the possibility that the messages contained signals for other terrorists.

Ashcroft called upon people worldwide to help "identify, locate and incapacitate terrorists who are suspected of planning additional attacks against innocent civilians." "These men could be anywhere in the world," he said. Ashcroft added that an analysis of the audio suggested "the men may be trained and prepared to commit future suicide terrorist acts."

On that day, "Ramzi Binalshibh" was one of the only four known names among the five. Ashcroft said not much was known about any of them except Binalshibh. The other initial known three are still featured in compiled video clips on the FBI site, in order of appearance, "Muhammad Sa'id Ali Hasan, Abd al-Rahim", and "Khalid Ibn Muhammad Al-Juhani". [ [http://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons.mpg FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert] , VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, mpg (29.1 mb)] [ [http://mfile.akamai.com/6066/rm/www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons.rm FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert] , VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, rm (229 kb - stream)] [ [http://www.fbi.gov/mpg/persons_asf.asf FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism, Martyrdom Messages/video Seeking Information Alert] , VIDEO 2 minutes 11 seconds, asf (371 kb - stream)] The fifth wanted terrorist was identified a week later as "Abderraouf Jdey", alias: "Al Rauf Bin Al Habib Bin Yousef Al-Jiddi".

The initial five terrorists on videos from the Atef rubble profiled on the list were:

The eleven names who were still being sought on February 14, 2002 in relation to the planned February 12, 2002 Yemen plot were:

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October 8, 2003 alerts

Two new additions to the list were introduced by October 8, 2003. In addition, "Jdey" was also moved on to the main list page, from the earlier archived 2002 group: [ [http://web.archive.org/web/20031008111916/http://www.fbi.gov/terrorinfo/terrorismsi.htm FBI Seeking Information - War on Terrorism Archive] , Internet Archive Wayback Machine, October 8, 2003]

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Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and Kenya and Indonesia attacks

The very next day, on February 24, 2006, the FBI added an additional three names to the Seeking Information – War on Terrorism list, most notably, "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi", the notorious leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq. [http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel06/mostwantedterrorists022406.htm FBI Updates Most Wanted Terrorists and Seeking Information – War on Terrorism Lists] , "FBI national Press Release", February 24, 2006] This marked the first time that al-Zarqawi had appeared on any of the three major FBI wanted lists. On June 08, 2006, ABCNEWS reported that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was confirmed to have been killed in Baghdad in a bombing raid the day before by a United States task force. His death was confirmed by multiple sources in Iraq, including the United States government. Al-Zarqawi has often been confused with Ayman al-Zawahiri, who is one of the original FBI Most Wanted Terrorists on the list since 2001.

"Saleh Nabhan" was wanted for questioning for attacks in Kenya in 2002. "Noordin Top" is allegedly a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah group which was involved in bombings in Indonesia between 2002 and 2004. With these three additions, as of February 24, 2006 the total count on the outstanding Seeking Information list stood at ten.

As of September 2006, al-Rimi had been removed, but al-Zarqawi still remained listed, but as deceased, with the total profile list count then outstanding at nine.

As of October 11, 2006, with the move of Gadahn to the Most Wanted Terrorists list, the total Seeking Information profile list count stood at eight, including the deceased al-Zarqawi.

On October 12, 2006, the FBI removed the deceased al-Zarqawi profile, and the total profile list count now stands at seven.

Not on the list, but in BOLO alerts

In addition to the official "wanted" persons who are counted by the FBI on the "Seeking Information" list, the Justice Department also on occasion issues separate "Be On the Lookout for" (BOLO) alerts for individuals wanted for questioning in relation to suspected terrorist plots. Among these have been:

* Saud A.S. Al-Rasheed - BOLO alert issued August 20, 2002 [ [http://www.fbi.gov/pressrel/pressrel02/alrasheed082002.htm FBI issued a BOLO (Be On The Lookout) for an individual by the name of Saud A.S. Al-Rasheed] , FBI national Press Release, August 20, 2002] ; Saudi Arabia prisoner August 22, 2002

References

External links

* [http://www.rewardsforjustice.net/ Rewards for Justice]
* [http://www.fbi.gov/wanted/terrorists/fugitives.htm FBI Most Wanted Terrorists currently listed page]