Turns out the NSA warned the Indians that something was coming down back in October... and yet the Indians weren't on alert.

U.S. intelligence agencies warned their Indian counterparts in mid-October of a potential attack "from the sea against hotels and business centers in Mumbai," a U.S. intelligence official tells ABCNews.com.

A second government source says specific locations, including the Taj hotel, were listed in the U.S. warning.

One month later, Nov. 18, Indian intelligence also intercepted a satellite phone call to a number in Pakistan known to be used by a leader of the terror group, Lashkar e Taiba, believed responsible for the weekend attack, Indian intelligence officials say.

The Indian intercept also revealed a possible sea-borne attack, the officials say.

The chairman of the company that owns the hotel, Ratan Tata, told CNN that security was temporarily increased following a warning.

Tata told CNN Sunday that the enhanced measurers were later eased and, in any case, "could not have stopped what took place."
Since Friday, U.S. intelligence agencies have been tracking the phones and SIM cards recovered by Indian authorities from the Mumbai terrorists leading to a "treasure trove" of leads in Pakistan and several possible connections to the United States, officials say.

Officials say one of the cell phone SIM cards may have been purchased in the United States but would not provide any more details because of the ongoing nature of the investigation.

The phones also include the same Thuraya satellite phone intercepted in November by the Indian spy agency RAW, the Research and Analysis Wing, which runs an extensive electronic intercept operation.

NSA, the National Security Agency, has the technical means to retrieve all calls made from satellite and cell phones in the south Asia region.

Officials say one of the phones recovered was a Thuraya satellite phone.

"Once we have the number we will be able to know everyone who was called and where the calls were made from," one former intelligence office says.

A US counter-terrorism official says all leads continue to point Lashkar e Taiba, a Kashmir separatist group with strong ties to al Qaeda.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=6368013&page=1

I'll post the same response as on the other thread

It's fallacious to fault them for not being "prepared" after receiving that warning...just like it's fallacious to say that people knew 9/11 could happen.

A government gets thousands of dire warnings each year. Natural disasters, terrorism, individual threats. No-one can possible react to them all, nor would you want to. Fortunately most don't come true...many others can be prioritized and appropriately prepared for...but occasionally, and tragically, one slips through.

But, to expect government to be omniscient and omnipresent...that's where Utopia and Dystopia meet. It can't be done, and folks, especially the news media, need to stop casting blame when there is none.

DrTorch Wrote:I'll post the same response as on the other thread

It's fallacious to fault them for not being "prepared" after receiving that warning...just like it's fallacious to say that people knew 9/11 could happen.

A government gets thousands of dire warnings each year. Natural disasters, terrorism, individual threats. No-one can possible react to them all, nor would you want to. Fortunately most don't come true...many others can be prioritized and appropriately prepared for...but occasionally, and tragically, one slips through.

If the NSA came to my government and said that we had hard evidence that was later verified by Indian Intelligence, NOBODY would be getting within 100 yards of that hotel without a pat down, and there certainly wouldn't be a "back door" open to allow someone in to avoiud security.

And I would be having my coast guard right off shore 24/7 boarding every boat.

The Indians don't have any laws about "illegal search and seizure" etc , probable cause, etc.

WMD Owl Wrote:If the NSA came to my government and said that we had hard evidence that was later verified by Indian Intelligence, NOBODY would be getting within 100 yards of that hotel without a pat down, and there certainly wouldn't be a "back door" open to allow someone in to avoiud security.

And I would be having my coast guard right off shore 24/7 boarding every boat.

The Indians don't have any laws about "illegal search and seizure" etc , probable cause, etc.

I'll take a step back on what I wrote earlier. Certainly somoene may have made a mistake...a grave mistake. Maybe that's what happened.

But what isn't clear is that it's possible the NSA might go to them every month with credible intelligence re: 3 or 4 potential events. Even 1 or 2 every 6 months is a lot to deal with.
Eventually, everyone prioritizes which leads to risk.

WMD Owl Wrote:If the NSA came to my government and said that we had hard evidence

Not the NSA, but I'm sure they play a part in it, and I'm sure any hard evidence will be classified, but a report is due out tomorrow saying our threat level higher than ever.

Nuclear or Bioterror Attack on U.S. Likely by 2013

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,459927,00.html

WASHINGTON — The United States can expect a terrorist attack using nuclear or more likely biological weapons before 2013, reports a bipartisan commission in a study being briefed Tuesday to Vice President-elect Joe Biden.

It suggests the Obama administration bolster efforts to counter and prepare for germ warfare by terrorists.

"Our margin of safety is shrinking, not growing," states the report, obtained by The Associated Press. It is scheduled to be publicly released Wednesday.

The commission is also encouraging the new White House to appoint one official on the National Security Council to exclusively coordinate U.S. intelligence and foreign policy on combatting the spread of nuclear and biological weapons.

The report of the Commission on the Prevention of WMD Proliferation and Terrorism, led by former Sens. Bob Graham of Florida and Jim Talent of Missouri, acknowledges that terrorist groups still lack the needed scientific and technical ability to make weapons out of pathogens or nuclear bombs. But it warns that gap can be easily overcome, if terrorists find scientists willing to share or sell their know-how.

"The United States should be less concerned that terrorists will become biologists and far more concerned that biologists will become terrorists," the report states.


The commission believes biological weapons are more likely to be obtained and used before nuclear or radioactive weapons because nuclear facilities are more carefully guarded. Civilian laboratories with potentially dangerous pathogens abound, however, and could easily be compromised.

"The biological threat is greater than the nuclear; the acquisition of deadly pathogens, and their weaponization and dissemination in aerosol form, would entail fewer technical hurdles than the theft or production of weapons-grade uranium or plutonium and its assembly into an improvised nuclear device," states the report.

It notes that the U.S. government's counterproliferation activities have been geared toward preventing nuclear terrorism. The commission recommends the prevention of biological terrorism be made a higher priority.

Study chairman Graham said anthrax remains the most likely biological weapon. However, he told the AP that contagious diseases — like the flu strain that killed 40 million at the beginning of the 20th century — are looming threats. That virus has been recreated in scientific labs, and there remains no inoculation to protect against it if is stolen and released.

Graham said the threat of a terrorist attack using nuclear or biological weapons is growing "not because we have not done positive things but because adversaries are moving at an even faster pace to increase their access" to those materials.

He noted last week's rampage by a small group of gunmen in Mumbai.

"If those people had had access to a biological or nuclear weapon they would have multiplied by orders of magnitude the deaths they could have inflicted," he said.

Al Qaeda remains the only terrorist group judged to be actively intent on conducting a nuclear attack against the United States, the report notes. It is not yet capable of building such a weapon and has yet to obtain one. But that could change if a nuclear weapons engineer or scientist were recruited to Al Qaeda's cause, the report warns.

The report says the potential nexus of terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons is especially acute in Pakistan.

"Were one to map terrorism and weapons of mass destruction today, all roads would intersect in Pakistan," the report states.

In fact, commission members were forced to cancel their trip to Pakistan this fall. The Islamabad Marriott Hotel that commission members were to stay in was blown up by terrorist bombs just hours before they were to check in.

"We think time is not our ally. The (United States) needs to move with a sense of urgency," Graham said.

Another aspect is that al Qaeda is known to "leak" intelligence and sit back and observe the security response as a way to probe how and where intelligence services get their information and how they respond to security threats.

Indian security services may deserve blame for not providing adequate protection, but they did not execute and beat women and children - Islamists did.