A Homeland Security officer assigned to the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston was alerted by email that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was traveling to Russia in January 2012, according to a U.S. counterterrorism official and a congressional investigator briefed on the investigation.

But the email — sent because Tsarnaev's name was on a Homeland Security watch-listing database — generated no further scrutiny of Tsarnaev. The officer has told officials he receives hundreds of such emails and doesn't remember getting the alert about Tsarnaev's travel to Russia, said the U.S. counterterrorism official who has been briefed on details on the probe. 

Federal officials who have been reviewing the government's handling of Tsarnaev say that it is still not clear that any further steps could have been taken to monitor Tsarnaev's activities. But congressional investigators are now questioning whether there were breakdowns in communications among the agencies — in part because of different spellings used for his name — that prevented officials from piecing together clues and sharing information. 

---

A government-wide review has found that information about Tsarnaev had been entered into three classified counterterrorism databases: a Guardian file maintained by the FBI on all potential terror suspects, a TECS watch-listing database maintained by Homeland Security and a master TIDE list of potential or suspected terrorists maintained by the National Counterterrorism Center, according to the sources and public statements by U.S. government officials.

But not all the entries were identical, using different spellings and dates of birth that government computer programs failed to match up, said the U.S. official briefed on the probe.

The first entry in the FBI's Guardian file was generated because of the original Russian request in early 2011 reporting that Tamerlan Tsarnaev was a follower of radical Islam with possible connections to "underground" groups. That triggered his entry into the TECS watch listing database and an investigation by the FBI"s Joint Terrorism Task Force — including interviews with Tsarnaev and members of his family. But agents found no negative information and closed the case. The FBI asked the Russians for more details and never got a response.

U.S. officials say that the CIA received its own report from the Russian FSB about Tsarnaev in September 2011 — and entered him into the TIDE terrorism database. Officials say the CIA, using the information it got from the Russians, entered two different spellings of his name and two different dates of birth into the TIDE system.

A U.S. intelligence official said: "The CIA shared all the information provided by the foreign government. including two possible dates of birth, his name and a possible name variant as well. No information was incorrectly entered in the watch listing system, all the information was shared precisely as the foreign government provided it."

But the counterterrorism official briefed on the probe say this may have created confusion because the primary entry was made under a spelling that was different than that used by Tsarnaev — one letter was off — and which had been entered into the FBI's Guardian database.

When Tsarnaev showed up at the airport for his January 2012 trip to Russia, Customs and Border Patrol officers noticed his entry in the TECS system, triggering the email to the CBP agent assigned to the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Boston. But while Tsarnaev was subjected to some extra questioning, agents had no grounds to prevent him from traveling. "It's not like he was going to Yemen or Somalia," said the official briefed on the probe.

By the time Tsaernaev returned, his name had been purged from the TECS watch-listing database because of time limits on how long "U.S. persons" can stay in the database when there is no additional derogatory information, the official said. The FBI also took no further steps to question Tsarnaev about the reasons for his trip or who he met with overseas, officials say. 

More from Open Channel:

• Ties that blind? Family connections can be key in journey down terrorism path
• Return to normalcy on the street where Boston suspects fought police
• What did FBI and CIA know about bombing suspect, and when?
• Warm weather helps drive surge in motorcycle deaths

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook 

 

BOSTON – The deadly explosions at the Boston Marathon were caused by pressure cooker bombs placed to act like a "homemade claymore," a powerful, directional anti-personnel device, sources involved in the investigation told NBC News on Tuesday.

These and other sources say that the bombs appear to have included a battery pack and a circuit board, the elements they said of a sophisticated triggering mechanism. Both of those elements were recovered at the scene, they said.

"It appeared to be built from scratch but with a sophisticated triggering mechanism. And frankly, at the end of the day, all bombs are crude devices, and it is the way they are triggered that can be sophisticated," said one official with strong knowledge of explosives. "They functioned as designed."

A day into the investigation of the terrorist attack, authorities were beginning to piece together clues that they hope will eventually lead to the perpetrators.

---

Publicly, authorities said little about possible leads at morning and afternoon briefings, providing definitive information only on the number of casualties and the fact that only two bombs had been planted, rather than three or more as some early reports had suggested.

In their first discussion of the makeup of bombs at the afternoon briefing, they said investigators had recovered forensic evidence that led them to tentatively conclude that they consisted of an explosive and shrapnel -- BBs and pieces of nails -- packed inside metal containers. One container was definitely a pressure cooker, and the other is similar but there was not yet sufficient evidence to determine conclusively that it was also a pressure cooker. 

The devices were believed to have been placed inside black nylon backpacks or sacks, which were used to transport them to the scene, said the officials. A person assigned to the case later told NBC News that the devices appear to have been delivered to the scene in duffel bags.

An image from a law enforcement bulletin showed a twisted piece of metal that the FBI said was from a pressure cooker that held one of the devices. Another image showed a fragment of material from the bag or sack that had held one of the bombs, according to the bulletin.

The evidence was being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico, Va., for analysis, after which a final determination on its composition would be made, said FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers. 

Separately, law enforcement officials told NBC News that the explosive is believed to be a "low explosive" – likely black powder or smokeless powder. That means the charge unleashes energy that travels at under 3,300 feet per second when detonated and, as a result, does not create a "blast wave" effect that causes often-fatal injuries from compression and massive blast damage, such as broken windows and building facade damage at a considerable distance. That does not mean a low-power device, one official explained, noting that such devices have the power to propel shrapnel a great distance, injuring and potentially killing victims many yards from the "seat of the blast," as the spot where the bomb is placed is known.

According to federal officials, there currently is no indication of any overseas involvement or direction in the attack, and although the case is being handled by the International Terrorism section of the FBI, that is simply a matter of resources, and if it turns out to be domestic the command of the incident will simply be switched.

Crime scene processing continues and hundreds of hours of video are simultaneously being viewed, a federal official said. At some point FBI behavioral profilers will join in the analysis, officials said, as they begin their effort to put together who the person or persons were who launched the attack.

While determining the makeup of the device is a significant first step, DesLauriers seemed to acknowledge that a long road lay ahead of investigators in an opening statement at the morning briefing.

"The American public wants answers,” he said. “The citizens of the city of Boston and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts want and deserve answers. This group of dedicated men and women standing before you today pledge to do everything possible to get those answers.”

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick put to rest one piece of bad information, saying at the outset of the briefing that only two bombs were found at the scene, contrary to early reports that unexploded bombs had been discovered nearby and detonated. Officials also said a fire at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum apparently was unrelated.

And Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis set the number of casualties in the attack at 176, including three fatalities and 17 critically injured victims still being treated. Officials also said that at this point, none of the victims is considered a suspect.

But many other questions remained unanswered, or at least unrevealed as of late Tuesday, including:

-- Were the bombs made and planted by one individual? What motivated the attack? Why has no one taken credit? All are questions officials are attempting to answer. Officials asked the public at the briefing to submit photos and videos of the area around the finish line, but gave no indication that they were looking for a specific individual. What is known is that they are using forensic techniques, witness accounts and video from numerous points of view to attempt to re-create what occurred. 

-- When were the bombs placed? Police officials said the finish line area was swept by security for explosives on the morning of the race and again an hour before the first runners crossed. The elite women began crossing just before noon, and the bombing occurred about 2:50 p.m. ET, leaving nearly three to four hours since the last sweep. 

-- Is there any connection between the bombing and the overnight search of an apartment in Revere, Mass., five miles north of Boston? Federal officers left just after 2 a.m., and reporters saw them carrying two black trash bags, a duffel bag and a grocery paper sack of unidentified material out of the apartment. They also questioned two men who arrived during the search. 

-- Is the attack connected either to a man seen leaving the blast scene wearing dark clothing and a hood or to a rental truck seen attempting to enter then area near the finish line before the blasts? Both were the subject of BOLOs – acronym for “Be On the Look Out” alert – issued by police after the bombings.

Richard Esposito is senior executive producer for investigations for NBC News; Pete Williams is NBC News' chief justice correspondent; Bill Dedman is an investigative reporter for NBC News.

Related stories

'Adorable' boy, 8, mourned after Boston Marathon blasts

Amid the chaos and carnage in Boston, heroes emerge

'Please pray for them,' says mom of brothers who each lost a leg

For the FBI, the word "investigating" is a term of art – just look at a federal official's statement on Sen. Mitch McConnell's allegations that a meeting in his campaign offices in February was illegally recorded, with a copy of the recording ending up in the hands of Mother Jones magazine.

It would appear, from the official's statement, that the case has not reached the point of an investigation: It's worth noting that the official says the FBI "is looking into" the allegations.

As a general matter, it would be a federal crime to plant a bug in someone's office to record their conversations. It would not be a crime, however, if someone who was taking part in the campaign staff meeting was the person who made the recording. 

Mother Jones, which on Tuesday published a story based on the recording, hints at that possibility in its most recent statement, when it says, "It is our understanding that the tape was not the product of a Watergate-style bugging operation."

---

As for the magazine's potential legal liability, the federal wiretap law appears to make it a crime to disclose the contents of a bugged conversation "knowing or having reason to know that the information was obtained" illegally.

However, in 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court held, in a case involving a recording obtained under somewhat similar circumstances, that the First Amendment protects the public discloser. The recording in that case was of an intercepted phone call between the president and the chief negotiator of a Pennsylvania teachers' union during contentious contract talks with the local school board.  A radio talk show host played the tape and was sued, but the court held, by a vote of 6-3, that the disclosure was protected by the First Amendment because it involved an issue of public importance.

"A stranger's illegal conduct does not suffice to remove the First Amendment shield from speech about matters of public concern," said Justice John Paul Stevens, who wrote the court's opinion. 

More reporting from Open Channel:

• Disputes over environmental impact of 'fracking' obscure its future
• Sorting through the claims, counterclaims about environmental impact of 'fracking'
•  Manhattan DA keeps high-profile murder conviction intact after review
•  How the US oil, gas boom could shake up global order

 

A former student candidate at California State University San Marcos has been arrested after being accused of attempting to manipulate votes, according to officials.

Matthew Weaver, who ran for president of the Associated Students last year, is suspected of casting hundreds of fake votes.

Weaver used "keystroke-logging" technology to steal user-names and passwords from other students, according to a criminal complaint.

The FBI led a yearlong investigation of Weaver on suspicion of wire fraud and access device fraud.

---

Last year, Weaver had four friends run for vice president positions, according to the complaint. He then allegedly cast hundreds of online votes for himself and his friends. But just hours before the voting ended, college employees found evidence of the alleged fraud.

If the plan had succeeded, Weaver and his friends would have received a total stipend of $36,000 for their work in the student government.

A spokesperson for the FBI said this case sends a strong message about computer hacking.

“They may think that that's not a big thing. It won't get them in trouble,” said the FBI’s Darrell Foxworth. “And I'm here to tell you that it can get you in trouble. It can create big problems for you.”

Weaver was also charged with unauthorized access of a computer. He appeared Friday in federal court, where a federal judge set his bond at $20,000, and ordered him to return to court later this month.

NBC 7 San Diego could not reach Weaver for comment and a CSUSM spokesperson declined to speak about the situation because the FBI’s investigation is ongoing.

At least one anonymous email sent to Gen. John Allen, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, was among those turned over by Tampa, Fla., socialite Jill Kelley to the FBI in June, a senior law enforcement official and a source close to Kelley tell NBC News. Kelley’s complaint to an FBI agent with whom she was acquainted triggered the investigation that ultimately led to the resignation of CIA Director David Petraeus.

The law enforcement official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Wednesday that Kelley turned over fewer than a dozen emails to the FBI agent, including at least one that Allen had received and forwarded to her.  The emails were ultimately traced to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer and the woman with whom he had an extramarital affair, multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News.

---

The official said it is not clear who received email from Broadwell first -- Kelley or Allen – but a person close to Kelley told NBC News on Wednesday that Allen received the first email in mid-May. According to the source, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, the email sent from an account called "kellypatrol" said , in essence, “Beware of Jill Kelley. She's the kind of person who could ruin you.” It also referred to a meeting Kelley and her husband were planning in Washington with Allen, the source said.

Allen forwarded the e-mail to Kelley, thinking it was a joke from her. She replied that she hadn’t sent it, the source said.

The law enforcement official said Allen also forwarded the email to a “military authority” within the Department of Defense. The official did not specify which office or individual was notified.

Kelley herself began receiving similar emails in early June, the source close to her said, sent from four or five alias accounts. They contained words to the effect of, “What kind of person are you.” And passages directed to her husband, asked, in essence, “Do you know what your wife is up to?” the source said.

As reported previously by NBC News, Kelley took the emails – including at least one from Allen – to the FBI agent she knew because they made reference to meetings she had planned with both Allen and Petraeus, the source said. Kelley wondered why an anonymous e-mailer would know that kind of detail and became concerned that someone was cyberstalking her or hacking into her e-mails, the person said.

Federal officials confirmed Wednesday that the agent who first took the complaint from Kelley is Frederick Humphries, a counter-terrorism agent who worked on the millennium bomb plot case. His name was first revealed by the New York Times.

A senior defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Allen had received an anonymous email “some time ago” warning him to be careful around Kelley. The official, who had not seen the email but was generally familiar with its contents, said the general forwarded it to “proper authorities” within the military.

“He did the right thing,” the official said.

The defense official confirmed that the email also was forwarded to Kelley and her husband, Scott, but said it was not certain that Allen was the one who sent it to them. Allen did send Kelley an email referencing the anonymous note he had received, the official said.

The source close to Kelley and several law enforcement officials tell NBC News that Broadwell used multiple anonymous accounts to send the emails to Kelley and Allen. She “covered her tracks” by sending them from cybercafés, the source said.

Meanwhile, defense officials tell NBC News that while there is no evidence that Allen and Jill Kelley engaged in an extramarital affair, there was enough “inappropriate” language in emails they exchanged to warrant an investigation by the Pentagon’s inspector general.

According to one official, who like the others spoke on condition of anonymity, a small number of emails contained language that could be considered “inappropriate” or even “suggestive.” 

But even without those, an investigation of the email correspondence between Allen and Kelley was inevitable given the circumstances, the officials said.

“We had no idea what was going on,” one said. “The last thing we want is to be accused of a cover-up,” regarding the Allen emails. 

Courtney Kube and Mike Brunker of NBC News contributed to this report.

More from Open Channel:

 

As FBI investigated Petraeus, he and Allen waded ino nasty child custody fight

From suburb to basket case: How California city traveled the road to ruin

Infidelity, intrique and politics: a timeline of the David Petraeus case

Emails on 'comings and goings' of Petraeus, other officials alarmed FBI

Petraeus probe began as cyber-harassment case, ended 4 days before election

Lost to history: Missing war records block benefits for Iraq, Afghan vets

See which industries funneled the most money into presidential race

Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumb noses at IRS

Election's enigmatic biggest corporate donor has contributed $5.3 million

 

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

 

What began with David Petraeus’ surprise resignation as CIA director on Friday resulting from an extramarital affair has now spiraled into a complicated story of infidelity, intrigue and politics.

Petraeus’ admission of an extramarital affair quickly led to his biographer, Paula Broadwell, and an examination of her relationship with the decorated war hero. The length of the FBI’s investigation of “menacing” emails sent to Petraeus’ family friend Jill Kelley, and the timing of the announcement of his departure from the Obama administration fueled conspiracy theories. Then Gen. John Allen, Petraeus’ successor as military commander in Afghanistan, was embroiled in the scandal, accused by U.S. officials of sending “inappropriate” emails to Kelley.

To help you keep the facts straight, NBC News has compiled this timeline, based on reporting by NBC News and other published accounts:

---

Spring 2006 -- Paula Broadwell meets Gen. David Petraeus, when she introduces herself after he gave a speech at Harvard's Kennedy School, where Broadwell was working on a master's degree, the Wall Street Journal reported. 

October 2008 -- Petraeus takes over as head of U.S. Central Command, based at MacDill Air Force Base. While serving there, he reportedly meets Jill Kelley and her husband, Dr. Scott Kelley. She is described in various accounts as a volunteer “social liaison” between the community and the base.

2008 -- Broadwell begins her doctoral dissertation, "a case study of General Petraeus’ leadership," according to Rolling Stone magazine.  

June 2009 -- Broadwell and her husband, Scott, purchase a home in Charlotte, N.C., the Charlotte Observer reports. 

June 2010 -- Petraeus is named as replacement for Gen. Stanley McChrystal as the top commander in Afghanistan after the latter makes impolitic remarks to a Rolling Stone reporter. Broadwell decides to turn her dissertation into a book.  

July 2010-July 2011 – According to an online biography of Broadwell that was taken down after Petraeus’ resignation, she made multiple trips to Afghanistan during this period, where she “embedded with the general, his headquarters staff and his soldiers on the front lines of fighting across Afghanistan to chronicle the experiences of this American general as they are brought to bear in the terrible crucible of war.”  

Aug. 31, 2011 -- Petraeus retires from the U.S. Army, departs Afghanistan.

Sept. 6, 2011 -- Petraeus takes over as director of the CIA.

Early November 2011 – According to former Petraeus spokesman Steve Boylan, who had spoken to his former boss after his resignation, Petraeus' affair with  Broadwell began around this time, approximately two months after he took the CIA job.  

January 2012 – “All In, The Education of General David Petraeus,” by Paula Broadwell with Vernon Loeb is published by Penguin Press.

May 2012 – “Menacing” emails – five to 10 of them, according to the Wall Street Journal -- began arriving in Jill Kelley's inbox, NBC’s Michael Isikoff and Pete Williams report. 

Emails on 'comings and goings' of Petraeus, other military officials escalated FBI concerns

June 2012 – The FBI investigation begins. A source close to Kelley tells Isikoff that she took the emails, which she viewed as harassing or menacing, to the FBI. The source said the anonymous emails didn’t mention Petraeus by name, but subsequent emails – sent from multiple alias accounts -- contained references to the "comings and goings" of high-level military officials -- including events that were not on any public schedule. This raised the question as to whether somebody had access to sensitive -- and classified -- information about the CIA director. 

July 2012 – Approximate end of the affair between Broadwell and Petraeus, according to former Petraeus spokesman Steve Boylan, who  tells NBC’s Kristen Welker in early November that it ended “about four months ago.” 

Late  summer -- Attorney General Eric Holder is told that agents have discovered an email link between Petraeus and Broadwell, which included exchange of “explicit details of a sexual nature,” according to the Wall Street Journal. 

September – FBI agents interview Paula Broadwell for first time, NBC’s Pete Williams reports.

Oct. 27  -- House Majority Leader Eric Cantor speaks to an FBI agent who had worked on the Petraeus investigation, according to Cantor spokesman Doug Heye. The agent-- who had originally contacted Rep. Dave Reichert, a Republican from Washington -- raised concerns that "sensitive information" relating to Petraeus may have been "compromised," Heye said. The timing of the tip to Reichert is not clear.

Week of Oct. 29 – FBI agents interview Petraeus and Broadwell (for a second time), according to NBC’s Michael Isikoff.

Approximately Oct. 30-31 – Somewhere around this time frame, Petraeus traveled to Tripoli to conduct his own personal inquiry into Benghazi, according to author Bob Woodward, appearing on "Meet the Press" on Nov. 11. NBC’s Andrea Mitchell confirmed that Petraeus had recently traveled to Libya.

Oct. 31 – After conferring with his chief of staff, Steve Stombres, and Richard Cullen, a former attorney general of Virginia, Cantor had Stombres call the FBI chief of staff to relay the information he had received from the FBI agent, NBC News has reported.

Nov. 1 -- Cantor aide Steve Stombres is told by the FBI that it cannot confirm or deny an investigation, but the bureau official assured the leader's office it was acting to protect national security.

Nov. 2 – The FBI concludes its investigation, according to NBC News’ Michael Isikoff, citing senior U.S. law enforcement official; the  last FBI interviews with both Broadwell and Petraeus also took place this day, NBC’s  Pete Williams reports, citing federal officials.

Nov. 6 – Justice Department informs Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.

Nov. 7 – Clapper informs the White House.

Nov. 8 –  Petraeus calls White House Deputy Chief of Staff Thomas Donilon and asks to see the president, NBC’s Andrea Mitchell reports. The White House tells Obama of the FBI investigation of Petraeus and his admission of an extramarital affair.

Nov. 9 – Obama accepts Petraeus’ resignation; Senate and House leaders first learn of it from media calls. They then speak to Petraeus, but don’t hear directly from the president, Mitchell reported.

Nov. 11 – Jill Kelley and her husband, Scott, issue statement: "We and our family have been friends with Gen. Petraeus and his family for over five years. We respect his and his family's privacy and want the same for us and our three children."

Afghanistan military commander Gen. John Allen investigated for 'inappropriate' emails

Nov. 12 – In a surprise statement during a trip to Australia, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announces that U.S. General John Allen, who succeeded Petraeus as military commander in Afghanistan, is under investigation over allegations he exchanged “inappropriate” emails with Kelley, the woman who triggered the investigation of Petraeus. Meanwhile, FBI agents carry out a four-hour “consensual search” of Broadwell’s home in Charlotte, N.C., leaving with eight to 10 cardboard boxes.

More from Open Channel:

 

Emails on 'comings and goings' of Petraeus, other military officials alarmed FBI

Petraeus probe began as cyber-harassment case, ended 4 days before election

Lost to history: Missing war records block benefits for Iraq, Afghan vets

See which industries funneled the most money into presidential race

Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumb noses at IRS

Election's enigmatic biggest corporate donor has contributed $5.3 million

Delphi retirees say Obama administration betrayed them

Wind, flames, Our Fathers: the inside story of Breezy Point's terrible night

Ex-Penn State President Graham Spanier charged in child sex abuse scandal

 

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

 

New in this version: FBI search Paula Broadwell's home Monday night; officials say the FBI agent who worked with Jill Kelley, the Tampa, Fla. woman who received anonymous emails from Broadwell, was dismissed from case because he became obsessed with Kelley.

Updated at 11:36 p.m. ET: “Menacing” anonymous emails that launched the FBI investigation which ultimately brought down CIA Director David Petraeus contained references to the “comings and goings” of high-level U.S. military officials, raising concerns that someone had improperly gained access to sensitive and classified information, a source close to the recipient tells NBC News.

The first email sent anonymously to Jill Kelley, the Tampa, Fla., woman who reported the threatening emails to the FBI, in May referred to Kelley socializing with other generals in the Tampa area and suggested it was inappropriate and should stop, according to the source close to Kelley, who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity.

After Kelley alerted the FBI, agents began pursuing it as a possible case of cyber harassment or stalking. "The thought was she was being followed," the source said.

---

The anonymous emails continued -- sent from multiple alias accounts -- and some later ones in the sequence contained references to Petraeus, though not by name, the source said.

What most alarmed Kelley and the FBI, the source said, were references to "the comings and goings" of high-level generals from the U.S. Central Command, which is based at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, and the U.S. Southern Command, as well as Petraeus -- including events that were not on any public schedule. This raised the question as to whether somebody had access to sensitive -- and classified -- information.

Moreover, the sender of the emails had "covered her tracks pretty well," the source said.

Multiple government and law enforcement officials have told NBC News that FBI agents traced the emails to Paula Broadwell, Petraeus’ biographer. In the course of the investigation, the agents also discovered emails between Petraeus and Broadwell that were indicative of an extramarital affair, they said.

The source close to Kelley said that she had never met Broadwell and had no idea who she was. The source also stressed that Kelley has been active in multiple social events in the Tampa area and is purely a social friend of the Petraeus family.

Meanwhile, it has come to light that the FBI agent contacted by Kelley about the emails she received from Broadwell was removed from the case. According to officials, the agent’s supervisors said he had become infatuated with Kelley and had sent her shirtless photos of himself.

The FBI remains involved in the case, however. On Monday evening, plain-clothed FBI agents arrived at Broadwell’s home in Dilworth, N.C. around 9 p.m. Monday night for what a senior law enforcement official called a “consensual search.” The official said the search is not a raid and “not a game changer.”

Rather, the official said that the FBI is being thorough as it finishes its investigation into Broadwell and whether she violated cyber-stalking or cyber-bullying laws.

The investigation of Petraeus has concluded. Law enforcement sources tell NBC News that Petraeus is not under investigation and that they don't expect their inquiry will result in criminal charges.

The search of Broadwell's home is not expected to yield information that would lead to charges against her, the official said. At the house, agents did not respond when reporters asked for their affiliation, although WCNC in Charlotte, N.C. confirmed they were with the FBI.

NBC News has been unable to reach Broadwell for comment.

The new information offers clues about how federal investigators could connect a handful of anonymous emails to Broadwell, a trained intelligence officer who spent years working with some of the most secretive agencies in the world.

Federal officials who spoke with NBC News on condition of anonymity on Monday said it took agents a while to figure out the source. They did that by finding out where the messages were sent from -- which cities, which Wi-Fi locations in hotels. That gave them names, which they then checked against guest lists from other cities and hotels, looking for common names. 

That led them to Broadwell, they said, noting that the pattern coincided with her travel to promote her book.

Finding the location from which the emails emanated would not have been difficult, experts say.

Some webmail services, including Yahoo and Microsoft's Outlook.com, send user IP addresses across the Web with every note, according to privacy researcher Chris Soghoian, a senior policy analyst at the American Civil Liberties Union. Those IP addresses can be used to track the physical location of a computer user connected to the Internet, sometimes without the help of an Internet service provider.

Broadwell had used a Yahoo account publicly in the past. If she used a new, fake Yahoo account for some of those anonymous emails, agents would have had an easy time gathering a list of IP addresses from the threatening emails Kelley provided to them. And even if she had used Gmail or another service that doesn't "leak" IP information, an FBI agent could have obtained such information by calling Google with a subpoena, the experts said.

Once there was evidence to link Broadwell to the emails, agents would have had little trouble proving probable cause and getting a warrant under the provisions of the Stored Communications Act, which would allow them to access any emails sent or received during the prior 180 days. Agents could also have sought a wiretap order and monitored Broadwell’s email in real time, though wiretaps are more challenging to obtain, and there is no indication that agents took that step.

Soghoian said the successful cyberhunt for Broadwell shows anonymity is much harder to preserve than many Internet users realize.

"We see this again and again. We saw it with the Anonymous (hacker) arrests last year.  The lesson for the rest of us here us you have to go through a lot of steps to maintain anonymity, and you only have to screw up once," said Soghoian. "The FBI was able to pierce the veil of anonymity even for someone who's been trained. The government only has to get one clue. You have to be successful 100 percent of the time (when trying to hide)."

NBC News Justice correspondent Pete Williams contributed to this report.

More from Open Channel:

 

 

 

 

Petraeus probe began as cyber-harassment case, ended 4 days before election

Lost to history: Missing war records block benefits for Iraq, Afghan vets

See which industries funneled the most money into presidential race

Pulpit politics: Pastors endorse candidates, thumb noses at IRS

Election's enigmatic biggest corporate donor has contributed $5.3 million

Delphi retirees say Obama administration betrayed them

Wind, flames, Our Fathers: the inside story of Breezy Point's terrible night

Ex-Penn State President Graham Spanier charged in child sex abuse scandal

 

 

 

Follow Open Channel from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

 

 

After investigating a potential case of "cyber-harassment" for several months, the FBI wrapped up its case after interviewing Paula Broadwell -- the biographer of former CIA director David Petraeus -- on Friday, Nov. 2, four days before the presidential election, a senior U.S. law enforcement official told NBC News.

It was the second time that FBI agents had questioned Broadwell in the probe and during both interviews she acknowledged having had an affair with Petraeus, the official said. Petraeus himself had been questioned a few days earlier and also acknowledged the affair, the first official said.

The dual interviews the week of Oct. 29 -- among the last to be conducted by the FBI in the case -- allowed the FBI to formally conclude there was no basis for criminal charges in the matter. This explains why the Director of National Intelligence James Clapper wasn't told about the probe until the following Tuesday, Nov. 6, election day, the official said.

---

The official offered new details about the FBI investigation -- and a more precise timeline of key events-- in order to rebut suggestions that senior law enforcement officials held back key information about the Petraeus matter until after the election.

The FBI and Justice Department's decisions on the case were not governed by the political calendar, the official asserted. Nor, the official said, were they influenced by a phone call from House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's office to the FBI on Oct. 31 asserting that it had heard from a FBI whistleblower who raised concerns that the Petraeus matter was being covered up or not being taken seriously.

Lawmakers question timing of Petraeus resignation

"I was contacted by an FBI employee concerned that sensitive, classified information may have been compromised and made certain (FBI Director Robert) Mueller was aware of these serious allegations and the potential risk to our national security,” Cantor said in a statement.

According to reporting by NBC’s chief justice correspondent Pete Williams, a senior law enforcement official said a call to a congressional staffer came from an agent who was initially involved in the investigation but who was later removed from the case because he knew an associate of one of the people being investigated.  The agent knew someone on the Hill and called that person, a Republican staffer, according to the official. But that phone call had no effect on either the course of the investigation, the involvement of Mueller -- who was following it closely long before Cantor called him -- or the decision to notify Clapper, the official says.

"This had nothing to do with the election," the official said. Moreover the official added, Cantor's office was told that the case was being actively investigated by the FBI when it raised the matter on Oct. 31, and so it would have been wrong for the FBI or Justice Department to inform higher level officials in the administration about the probe earlier -- because they were unsure at that point what they were dealing with. In the end, according to multiple officials, investigators determined there was no criminal wrongdoing.

According to the senior official, the investigation began several months ago when a woman reported to the FBI she had received anonymous-- and harassing -- emails from a person she didn't know. Multiple government officials tell NBC News that the woman was Jill Kelley, who lives in Tampa, Florida. Kelley and her husband, officials say, are close friends of the Petraeus family. Kelley was a volunteer social liaison to the MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa.

The FBI viewed the matter as a potential case of "cyber-harassment" and it was handled "regionally" with federal prosecutors working with the FBI on the matter, the official said. At first, neither Kelley nor the FBI knew who was sending the harassing emails-- because they came from accounts that were not immediately identifiable. But the FBI was eventually able to determine they came from Broadwell and then obtained access to her regular email account. It was only then that the FBI discovered, through her email exchanges with Petraeus, an apparent relationship between the two of them, the official said.

The FBI continued investigating the matter and was close to wrapping up the case late in October, the official said. Agents finally interviewed Petraeus the week of Oct. 29 and then re-interviewed Broadwell, allowing them to complete their investigation, according to multiple officials. It was only at that point that the decision was made to pass along information about the case to Clapper, the senior law enforcement official said, setting in motion the chain of events that led to Petraeus' resignation.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Woman fired over racist anti-Obama Facebok post
• Obama lays wreath, honors nation's veterans
• Officials: Complaint about Broadwell sparked FBI inquiry that indicated Petraeus affair
• Earthquake rattles eastern Kentucky
• Video: Sandy victims call ordeal ‘a horror movie’

Follow US news from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

NBC's Kristen Welker contributed to this report.

An investigation of the FBI's handling of the events leading up to the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009, concludes that agents made a series of mistakes, failing to follow up on important questions and to share information widely enough.

"We do not find, and we do not suggest, that these mistakes resulted from intentional misconduct or the disregard of duties," concluded William Webster, the FBI's former director who led the investigation. "Indeed, we find that each special agent, intelligence analyst, and task force officer who handled the information acted with good intent."

Click here to read the full report (pdf)

Most of the shortcomings have been previously disclosed, and some resulted from a lack of training and of understanding military nomenclature. For example, agents in San Diego, who were investigating al-Qaida propagandist Anwar al-Awlaki, noticed on December 17, 2008, that Nidal Hasan, who would become the Fort Hood shooter, sent al-Awlaki an e-mail asking about soldiers who kill fellow military personnel with the aim of "helping muslims fighting jihad."

---

Related: Judge delays Fort Hood shooting hearing over Hasan's beard

The San Diego agents decided against sending out a broadly disseminated message that would have alerted the system that a member of the US military was communicating with a known al-Qaida terrorist. The agents noticed that a summary of his military records said Hasan was a "Comm Officer," and they assumed it meant he was a communications officer and might have access to the system that would contain such an alert message. In fact, the abbreviation meant Hasan was a commissioned officer.

Stay informed with the latest headlines; sign up for our newsletter

The report also says agents in the FBI's Washington field office failed to follow through more aggressively to the leads developed in San Diego. Part of the problem, the report said, was that the FBI received only glowing accounts from the Department of Defense about Hasan's career. Agents were never told that he was actually considered a poor performer who was often on probation.

More content from NBCNews.com:

• Foundation repair business soars as drought hits homes
• 55 years ago, 6 stood under atomic bomb blast — on purpose
• Report: 'Lazy' summers may undermine military readiness
• Mortgage woes afflict high rate of active troops, veterans
• Is liberal Christianity signing its own death warrant?

Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook

With the death in Pakistan of al-Qaida No. 2 Abu Yahya al-Libi in a Predator attack early Monday, the terrorist group’s highest councils once again face the daunting task of filling both a leadership void and selecting a next-generation jihadist capable of succeeding current leader Ayman al-Zawahiri.

But despite the obvious dangers that go with a prominent al-Qaida post, counterterrorism experts inside and outside the U.S. government have identified at least five potential next-generation leaders -- three of them former U.S. residents and one an American citizen.

---

“It would be a mistake for anyone to conclude there is no one on the bench,” said one U.S. official familiar with counterterrorism strategy, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “It’s a thinning bench, but there are still bad guys, with bad aspirations in al-Qaida’s core group in Pakistan.  However, these individuals are not as capable and don’t have the profile or following in the wider extremist movement that Abu Yahya or his predecessor, Abu Atiyah, had.”

Deputy al-Qaida leader killed in Pakistan, White House confirms

But Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counter Terrorism Center and an NBC News analyst, said the candidates to move up into al-Qaida’s senior ranks in the wake of al-Libi’s death all lack his seasoning.

“The real answer is NONE of them are serious by comparison with Abu Yahya across a very wide range of skills and respect,” he said.

Indeed, the U.S. has killed four of the five al-Qaida operatives identified as possible successors to Osama bin Laden at the time of his death on May 1, 2011. The only one who remains alive is Zawahiri, al-Qaida’s longtime No. 2 who assumed command shortly after bin Laden was killed by U.S. Navy SEALs in Abbottabad, Pakistan..

The next generation of al-Qaida leaders, say counterterrorism officials, is an eclectic mix of fighters, propagandists, clerics and administrators.

Those identified as potential next-generation successors are:

-- Adnan Gulshair el Shukrijumah. The 36-year-old Saudi is known as “Jaffar the Pilot” because he has a pilot’s license. Reportedly the director of operations for al-Qaida. Shukrijumah spent his teenage years in Brooklyn, N.Y., and Broward County, Fla., where he earned a degree in computer science. He is reported to have had roles in the 2009 plot to bomb the New York City subway and was put on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list a year later. He has been sought by the U.S. since 2003.

-- Jaber A. El-Baneh. A 45-year-old Yemeni known as Jubair, el-Baneh emigrated to New York where he settled for a time in Buffalo.  He was viewed as the mastermind of the Lackawanna Six plot in 2003, having financed and recruited other members. After escaping to Yemen, he was jailed there but sprung in a jailbreak. A senior Obama administration official said last month that el-Baneh has risen to a leadership position in the Yemen-based Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).  “I do see, more and more, el-Baneh being a real concern,” said the official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity. “He has longtime connections, including to Egyptian extremist elements. And he does seem to be more engaged in trying to support attacks.”

But Leiter, the former director of the National Counter Terrorism Center, said that whoever succeeds al-Libi will have to be a member of al-Qaida central, not one of its affiliate terror groups, meaning el-Baneh would not be considered.

-- Adam Gadahn. A 33-year-old American known as Azzam al Amriki, or “Azzam the American,” Gadahn, formerly regarded as an al-Qaida propagandist, is now viewed as a strategist. Materials found in bin Laden’s Abbottabad compound included correspondence between the al-Qaida leader and the American jihadi. “Bin Laden took his mail,” the U.S. official said of Gadahn. “He’s not just a propagandist --more a strategist-- clearly someone who is not a crazy person. There are a number of people who were there on 9-11.  That clearly gives him some standing.” Gadahn has been charged in California with treason, a capital crime, and giving material aid to terrorism.

-- Sheikh Khalid Abdur Rahman al-Hussainan. A 45-year-old Kuwaiti, known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, al-Hussainan is one of al-Qaida’s newest faces. He’s a charismatic cleric and teacher who’s responsible for “the religious training and the salvation of the soldiers of the al-Qaida network,” according to an al-Qaida publication. Educated at Saudi-Arabian universities, he worked for a time as a scholar at Kuwait´s Ministry for Religious Affairs. He’s considered less doctrinaire than the older generation trainers.  In an interview with an al-Qaida publication, he said he would “converse with them (his students) in an exciting way. We would make them laugh and kid around with them.”  

Evan Kohlmann, an NBC News counterterrorism analyst, notes, “Nobody talks about him, but he appears as a featured speaker on as-Sahab videos nowadays more often than Zawahiri and Abu Yahya combined.” (Click here to watch English subtitled video.)

US puts bounties on top Al Shabab leaders in Somalia

--Ali Sayyid Muhamed Mustafa al-Bakri. A 46-year-old Egyptian known as Abd al-Aziz al-Masri, al Bakri is not well known. But the National Counter Terrorism Center, the government’s  primary organization for tracking terrorism,  notes that he is a “member of the al-Qaida Shura council (its governing body) and a close associate of Zawahiri." Al-Bakri is considered dangerous because he has explosives and chemical weapon expertise and has trained al-Qaida operatives as far back as the late 1990s. He attempted to hijack a Pakistani passenger flight in December 2000.  “It is likely that he continues to train al-Qaida terrorists and other extremists,” reports the NCTC.

“Ever since the death of bin Laden, the al-Qaida core we’ve known since 9/11 is the closest it has ever been to a tipping point,” said the U.S. official familiar with counter terrorism strategy.  “This does not mean the group is dead or the threat is gone, but core al-Qaida in Pakistan is on life support, and its chances of recovery are more daunting when they lose a guy like Abu Yahya.

“Undoubtedly, some al-Qaida members will be tapped to try to backfill Abu Yahya’s responsibilities, but in the days that follow, the succession won’t be obvious either to them or Zawahiri.”

Indeed in the past year, mainly through Predator and other drone attacks, the U.S. has been able to “remove from the battlefield” in the words of one senior Pentagon official, one al-Qaida leader after another.

In addition to Abu Yahya, these senior al-Qaida officials have been killed since bin Laden’s death:

• Ilyas Kashmiri, al-Qaida’s director of external operations, killed in a drone strike in Pakistan on June 3;
• Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, mastermind of the East Africa embassy bombings and head of al-Qaida in East Africa, died in a shootout by Somali forces on June 11;
• Abdul Rahman Atiya, bin Laden’s chief of staff,  killed in a drone strike Pakistan on Aug. 22; 
• Anwar al Awlaki, a leader of al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula and an American citizen, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen on Sept. 30;
• Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al Quso, mastermind of the USS Cole bombing, was killed in a drone strike in Yemen on May 6 of this year.

Officials across the spectrum of counter terrorism, in intelligence and special operations, say the last year of operations, starting with the killing of bin Laden, has been the most successful since the war on al-Qaida began following the Sept. 11 attacks.

“We have decimated them, decimated them,” said the senior Pentagon official.

Robert Windrem is a senior investigative producer for NBC News.