Did you hear the one about Osama Bin Laden...?

Strange stories about Osama Bin Laden have circulated in recent days.

The most striking revelation comes to us by way of the brilliant Larisa Alexandrovna, who references newly-obtained FBI documents revealing that either the Saudi royal family or Osama Bin Laden himself chartered a flight carrying Bin Laden family members from Los Angeles to Orlando, Florida, on September, 19, 2001. The flight went on to Paris.

(It occurs to me that this route gave those fun-loving Bin Ladens a chance to visit three Disney theme parks in the same week.)

One would expect the FBI to have a firmer idea as to just who chartered the flight. After all, if Osama acted on behalf of family members, the actions would disprove their claim to have ostracized him.

Incredibly, the FBI had previously redacted Osama bin Laden’s name from the records in order “to protect privacy interests.”

We've known something about this flight for a while, but this is the first indication that OBL might have chartered it.

The documents became public pursuant to action taken by Judicial Watch. Xymphora has cooked up a particularly inane conspiracy theory about all this -- something about Richard Mellon Scaife working with Michael Moore's agent, or some such twaddle. Whatever ill feelings that you or I or a pseudonymous blogger may harbor toward Judicial Watch are unimportant. Only the authenticity of the documents is of significance, and I know of no-one who has challenged them. Why would the administration gin up fake documents which can only bolster accusations that Dubya protected Osama?

A PROMIS to Osama: Larisa has also scored an interview with former FBI investigator Eric O’Neill, which touches on a story that has made the rounds for some time now: That Osama Bin Laden had acquired a copy of the legendary PROMIS software.

Some background is necessary...

(To read the rest, click "Permalink" below)

PROMIS was a case management system designed by the INSLAW company for use by courts. This super-database program proved of particular benefit to the FBI, and eventually to the intelligence services of various nations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the software became the focus of many news articles after its originator, William Hamilton (an old NSA hand, if I recall correctly) claimed that his brainchild had been, in essence, stolen by Reagan cronies.

PROMIS became a key ingredient in every conspiracy buff's stewpot when alleged spook Michael Riconosciuto claimed, shortly before his arrest on a drug charge, that he had engineered a back door into the software. The back door, we were told, allowed the Americans access to the data stored on copies of PROMIS used by competing services.

I never trusted Riconosciuto, who reminds me of Jack Black's character in The Jackal. After his incarceration, Riconosciuto told so many fibs -- about spies and flying saucers and mind control and God knows what else -- that even his most ardent supporters came to doubt him. (One of these days, I'll tell you about the Ian Spiro whopper.)

In conspiracy-buff folklore, PROMIS was credited with semi-magical powers. This "killer app" soon became connected with so many bizarre things -- spies and flying saucers and mind control and God knows what else -- that I started to tune out every time a new yarn made the rounds. I kept expecting someone to tell me that PROMIS killed Kennedy.

We later learned that someone did plug a back door into PROMIS: Israeli intelligence.

Or so, at least, claims Gordon Thomas in his biography of Robert Maxwell. I've lost my copy of the book, but you can get the gist of what Thomas has to say in this piece from 2003. The plan was to put a Trojan into the software which would send data back to the Israelis, who made sure that both friendly and unfriendly intelligence services got hold of the thing.

I have problems with Thomas' claims, but at present I'm not in a position to outline my concerns in any detail. Maybe when I find my copy of the damned book! I can say that Thomas seems disconcertingly reliant on Israeli spooks. Similarly disconcerting is the fact that the first versions of this "Hanssen and PROMIS" story came to us via the Washington Times and FOX News. That should set off a warning bell or two.

At any rate, the Gordon Thomas version of events holds that FBI man Robert Hanssen, recruited by the KGB, sold PROMIS to the Soviets, who in turn sold it to Osama Bin Laden. This, despite the fact that OBL and the Russians were ancient enemies.

The chronology is uncertain. Thomas writes:

Hanssen, now serving a life sentence, has yet to reveal all he knows about how the KGB sold on a copy of the software to Osama bin Laden for $ 4million shortly before the attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

(Emphasis added.) Which brings me to one of my big problems. "Back door" rumors have circulated around PROMIS since 1991 or thereabouts. Why would anyone pay $4 million for a known Trojan? Even Osama Bin Laden has to be more computer-savvy than that.

Much of the PROMIS info in Thomas' book comes from Ari Ben-Menashe, whose credibility (as we have noted earlier) has been questioned.

(Truth be told, I find it hard to believe that a 1980s vintage application would still be of use. Then again, I make daily use of Photoshop, which was "born" in that decade.)

If PROMIS did indeed contain a Trojan, then making sure that the KGB and Al Qaeda got hold of the thing would be the entire point. We should also keep this in mind about the Hanssen connection:

The government has denied using the Promis software or that Hanssen delivered it to the Russians, but charged in a criminal complaint against the former FBI agent that he made extensive use of the bureau’s computerized case management systems — Field Office Information Management Systems (FOIMS) and Community On-Line Intelligence Systems (COINS) — as part of his activities.

The government also said Hanssen gave his handlers a technical manual on the US intelligence community’s secure network for online access to intelligence databases. Law enforcement authorities said FOIMS and COINS are believed to be upgraded versions of the Promis software.

Mr Hamilton said FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III acknowledged to Inslaw attorney C. Boyden Gray in late 2001 that the FBI system was based on “the Inslaw software,” a fact the bureau had vigorously denied for more than a decade.

(Emphasis added.) Note that nothing here really proves that Hanssen delivered PROMIS or any other program to his Soviet minders. O'Neill says he really does not know if Hanssen delivered PROMIS. And just to add another layer of confusion to the issue, Thomas also claims that Robert Maxwell handed PROMIS over the the Russians before Hanssen did.

In short and in sum, this story simply does not add up.

Still, the possibilities are intriguing. What if Bin Laden did acquire the software? And what if the old bastard really was ignorant of the decade-old rumors of a back door? The Israelis would have been able to peep in on his every move. That possibility places some of the infamous "Israeli mover" tales in an interesting light.

Added note: A thought suddenly hit me. American or Israeli intelligence might have deliberately over-hyped the capabilities of PROMIS to protect information derived from agents in place. One of the problems with "turning" someone who works for a foreign government is the inability to use data supplied by that insider without exposing him. The mysterious, magical PROMIS could provide cover.

Also, and for what it is worth, Riconosciuto is the fellow responsible for the claim that Osama Bin Laden toured U.S. military bases under the name "Tim Osman." Being older than eight, and knowing what I know about Mikey and his antics, I don't take that story very seriously.