Counterterrorism Blog

Today, after British Crown Prosecutors finished wrapping up their lengthy case against three defendants from London accused of using the Internet to facilitate acts of terrorism in Europe, North America, and the Middle East, two of those defendants -- Younis Tsouli (a.k.a. "Terrorist 007") and Wasim Mughal -- suddenly reversed their legal course and pled guilty to charges of inciting the commission of an overseas act of terrorism, specifically murder. For those who have forgotten, Tsouli is the unassuming son of a low-level Moroccan diplomat who won a notorious reputation for himself as arguably the "godfather" of Al-Qaida activity on the Internet. Using only his computer and a web connection, Tsouli established himself as a webmaster and key propagandist for Al-Qaida's network in Iraq--even serving as a communications "operator" to secretly connect homegrown would-be suicide bombers arriving in Syria with official jihadi recruiters working for Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. At the time of his arrest in October 2005, Tsouli's computer contained original digital video recordings of what appeared to be vetting missions eyeing potential terrorist targets in Washington D.C. Allegedly, the videos were filmed by a pair of Tsouli's online associates living in Atlanta, Georgia, and copies of those same terror reconnaissance videos have subsequently surfaced in multiple locations searched by authorities across the United Kingdom. Tsouli is expected to receive his sentence back in court later this week on Thursday or Friday.

[In the interests of full disclosure, I acknowledge that I have worked for over a year as a paid consultant to New Scotland Yard in this particular matter, culminating in my recent witness testimony on behalf of Crown Prosecutors at Woolwich Court in London against Mr. Tsouli and his co-defendants. I was responsible for independently gathering a significant amount of forensic evidence later used by British authorities to help prove their criminal case.]