Northeast Intelligence Network

The Northeast Intelligence Network runs a website at http://www.homelandsecurityus.com focused on potential terrorist threats. It claims to be "of a network of veteran, licensed professional investigators, analysts, military affairs specialists and researchers". The group was set up by Douglas Hagmann who also runs Hagmann Investigative Services.

Exaggerating vague threats

In late September 2008 in the run up to the Presidential election, Northeast Intelligence Network's website HomelandSecurityUS.com posted a 'Special Report' based on an internet posting, which warned of an imminent terrorist attack against the United States. The first three paragraphs of the report are below:

24 September 2008: A posting uncovered in an Arabic language Internet forum is currently raising a few eyebrows in the intelligence community. The single posting, which is presently being scrutinized by intelligence officials, appears to provide detailed instructions for Muslims living within the United States, giving them specific actions to take before, during and after an upcoming attack in the U.S. The communication was discovered by "Archangel," a well-known independent intelligence analyst active within the intelligence community.

The post was initially published on August 2, 2008 under the title “Commandments [Directives] Before the Strike,” and appears to be a sort of a conflict management guide, or instructions on what Muslims should do prior to the attack, actions that should be undertaken concurrent with the attack, and well as additional instructions following the attack.

The text addressing the nature, location and timing of the planned attack, although specific to the U.S., appears otherwise ambiguous. For instance, the timing appears to focus on the Tuesday following the end of Ramadan, which would be October 7, 2008.

The report was subsequently dismissed by intelligence professionals. NBC News obtained a note distributed on 7 October (the day of the supposed attack) to thousands of U.S. law-enforcement officials, authored by the Extremism and Radicalization Branch of the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI's Threat Analysis Unit. According to cable TV channel MSNBC, the note said:

A privately-run U.S. website that comments on Homeland security issues on 24 September posted an article describing an alleged 2 August posting to an Arabic language Internet forum suggesting that a large-scale attack against the U.S. Homeland would be forthcoming in early October. Subsequently, the same U.S. website warned that the threat window could be anytime from the present into early November...DHS/I&A, the FBI, and JRIC have no credible, specific intelligence to suggest an imminent threat to the Homeland and assess these election-related threats to be non-credible. Nothing in the purported Arabic-language message is unique among the hundreds of vague threats posted online each day. Moreover, it is unlikely that al-Qa‘ida or its affiliates would provide specifics regarding the time, dates, or locations of proposed attacks.