Rita Katz

Rita Katz (born 1963, Basra, Iraq) is an American intelligence specialist and co-founder of the SITE Institute, a private intelligence firm based in Washington, DC which focuses on tracking global terrorist networks, and intercepting and distributing secret messages, videos and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications networks. [cite web |url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20697164/site/newsweek/ |title=Keeping an Eye on Al Qaeda |publisher= Newsweek |date= Sept. 11, 2007|accessdate= |format= |work= ] cite news |first= |last= |authorlink= |author=Joby Warrick |coauthors= |title=Bin Laden, Brought to You by ... |url=http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/11/AR2007091102465.html |format= |work= |publisher=The Washington Post |pages=p.A01 |page= |date=Sept. 12, 2007 |accessdate= |language= |quote= ]

In October, 2007, it was revealed that Katz had discovered, and issued to the Bush Administration a copy of an Osama bin Laden video which had yet to be released by Al-Qaeda. Katz issued the video via a private link to a SITE web page to White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, and Joel Bagnal, deputy assistant to the president for homeland security. Within minutes, computers registered to various parts of the Executive Branch began downloading the video, and within hours a transcript referencing SITE had appeared on FOX News. Katz had requested the web page remain confidential, and has reported that dissemination of this information tipped off her Al-Qaeda supporters who had since eliminated the ability of SITE to gather such information. cite web | last = | first = | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets | work = | publisher =The Washington Post | date =Oct. 9, 2007 | url =http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/10/08/AR2007100801817.html? | format = | doi = | accessdate =2007-10-09 ]

Background

Katz, a fluent Arabic speaker, was born in Basra in 1963 to a wealthy Iraqi Jewish family. In 1968 her father was arrested on charges of spying for Israel and the rest of the family put under house arrest. The following year Katz's father was convicted and executed in a public hanging and Katz's mother managed to escape with the children to Israel.cite web | last =Wallace-Wells | first =Benjamin | authorlink = | coauthors = | title =Private Jihad: How Rita Katz got into the spying business | work = | publisher =The New Yorker | date =May 29, 2006 | url =http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/29/060529fa_fact | format = | doi = | accessdate =2007-10-09 ]

While in Israel, Katz served in the Israeli Defense Forces and studied politics and history at Tel Aviv University. She later married a medical student and in 1997 came to the United States with her husband who received a National Institutes of Health fellowship.

Published works

* "Terrorist Hunter: The Extraordinary Story of a Woman Who Went Undercover to Infiltrate the Radical Islamic Groups Operating in America" (as Anonymous). Ecco, May 6, 2003. ISBN 0060528192

ources

* [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/05/29/060529fa_fact "Private Jihad: How Rita Katz got into the spying business,"] "The New Yorker", May 29, 2006.

References