This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/25/us/tamerlan-tsarnaev-bomb-suspect-was-on-watch-lists.html

The article has changed 6 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
2 U.S. Agencies Added Boston Bomb Suspect to Watch Lists 2 U.S. Agencies Added Boston Bomb Suspect to Watch Lists
(about 1 hour later)
WASHINGTON — Information about one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings was entered into two different government watch lists in 2011, but no action was taken after an F.B.I. review concluded that he had no links to extremist groups, American officials said Wednesday. WASHINGTON — Despite being told in 2011 that an F.B.I. review had found that a man who went on to become one of the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings had no ties to extremists, the Russian government asked the Central Intelligence Agency six months later for whatever information it had on the man, American officials said Wednesday.
The picture emerging was of an American counterterrorism bureaucracy that stored information on the suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but never found reason to investigate after an initial review by the F.B.I., requested by the Russia government, found no information that tied him to extremist groups. After its review, the C.I.A. also told the Russian intelligence service that it had no derogatory information on the man, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who was killed in a shootout with the police last Friday. It is not clear what prompted the Russians to make the request of the C.I.A.
The Central Intelligence Agency replied to a request from Russia’s intelligence service in September 2011 that it had no derogatory information about Mr. Tsarnaev, but asked the main United States counterterrorism agency to add his name to a watch list, an American intelligence official said Wednesday. The upshot of the American inquiries into Mr. Tsarnaev’s possible links to violent extremism was that even though he was found to have no connections to terrorist groups, his name was entered into two different government watch lists in late 2011 that were designed to alert American authorities if he traveled overseas.
That database, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, is the main database from which other government watch lists are drawn, including the F.B.I.'s Terrorist Screening Database and the Transportation Security Administration’s “no-fly” list. The picture emerging Wednesday was of an American counterterrorism bureaucracy that had at least four different contacts with Russian spy services about Mr. Tsarnaev in the year before he took a six-month trip to Russia in 2012, but which never found reason to investigate him further after he returned from the trip, or any time before last week’s attacks in Boston that killed 3 people and injured more than 260.
Six months before the request to the C.I.A., the Russians had made a similar request of the F.B.I., claiming Mr. Tsarnaev “was a follower of radical Islam and a strong believer,” according to a statement released last week by the F.B.I. The bureau reviewed criminal data bases and interviewed Mr. Tsarnaev and family members, and found no information that tied him to militants. After the C.I.A. cleared Mr. Tsarnaev of any ties to violent extremism in October 2011, it asked the National Counterterrorism Center, the nation’s main counterterrorism agency, to add his name to a watch list as a precautionary measure, an American intelligence official said on Wednesday. Other agencies, including the State Department, the Homeland Security Department and the F.B.I., were alerted.
In closing out its report, the F.B.I.'s field office in Boston added Mr. Tsarnaev’s name to a second watch list, the Treasury Enforcement Communications System, that was set up to send an electronic message to United States customs officials when Mr. Tsarnaev left the country. That database, the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment, or TIDE, which contains about 700,000 names, is the main repository of information from which other government watch lists are drawn, including the F.B.I.’s Terrorist Screening Database and the Transportation Security Administration’s “no fly” list.
When Mr. Tsarnaev left on Jan. 12, 2012, for a six-month trip Dagestan and Chechnya, predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus region of Russia, his flight reservation set off a security alert to customs authorities when he departed, the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, told a Senate committee on Tuesday. The information conveyed to the watch list included a transliteration of Mr. Tsarnaev’s name in Cyrillic letters — “Tamerlan Tsarnayev” — two dates of birth (one of which was incorrect, officials said), and one possible variant spelling of his name.
But Mr. Tsarnaev’s departure did not trigger a similar alert on the TIDE watch list because the spelling variants of his name and birthdates entered into the system – exactly how the Russian government had provided the data months earlier – were different enough from the correct information to prevent an alert, a United States official said. The first Russian request for information about Mr. Tsarnaev came to the F.B.I. in March 2011 through the bureau’s office in the United States Embassy in Moscow.
The one-page request said that Mr. Tsarnaev “had changed drastically since 2010” and was preparing to travel to a part of Russia “to join unspecified underground groups.”
In response, counterterrorism agents in the F.B.I.’s field office in Boston, near where Mr. Tsarnaev was living, began a review of him to determine whether he had extremist tendencies or ties to terrorist groups. The review included examining criminal databases and conducting interviews with Mr. Tsarnaev and his family members.
The agents concluded by June 2011 that they could not find any connections to extremists and in August the results of the assessment were provided to the Russians by F.B.I. officials, according to the senior United States official. At the time the F.B.I. provided the results, bureau agents requested additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev and also asked to be informed of any further developments.
Shortly thereafter, the F.B.I. reiterated its request to the Russians for more information. The Russians, however, did not respond with anything new.
But a month later, the Russians sent the same request for information on Mr. Tsarnaev to the C.I.A. that they had sent to the F.B.I. months earlier.
That request prompted the C.I.A. to review its databases for information on Mr. Tsarnaev, but the agency came to a similar conclusion as the F.B.I. Around that time, the F.B.I. learned of the request to the C.I.A. and for the second time since providing its findings to the Russians in June, went back and asked them for additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev, according to the official.
The official said the Russians never provided any additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev until after he was killed last Friday as he and his brother tried to evade police officers who were chasing them in Watertown, Mass.
When Mr. Tsarnaev left the country on Jan. 12, 2012, for a six-month trip Dagestan and Chechnya, predominantly Muslim republics in the North Caucasus region of Russia, his flight reservation set off a security alert to customs authorities when he departed, the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, told a Senate committee on Tuesday.
But Mr. Tsarnaev’s departure apparently did not trigger a similar alert on the TIDE watch list because the spelling variants of his name and birth dates entered into the system — exactly how the Russian government had provided the data months earlier — were different enough from the correct information to prevent an alert, a United States official said.
When Mr. Tsarnaev returned in July last year, the travel alert “at that point was more than a year old and had expired,” Ms. Napolitano said.When Mr. Tsarnaev returned in July last year, the travel alert “at that point was more than a year old and had expired,” Ms. Napolitano said.
The F.B.I. initially received a one-page request from the Russian government in March 2011 that stated Mr. Tsarnaev “had changed drastically since 2010,” and was preparing to travel to a part of Russia “to join unspecified underground groups.” The new details about the investigation and the coordination between American intelligence emerged as the deputy F.B.I. director, Sean Joyce, and other top counterterrorism officials briefed lawmakers for a second day Wednesday.  But members of the House Intelligence Committee left closed briefings on Capitol Hill with many unanswered questions about what or who radicalized the suspects.
In June 2011, the F.B.I. concluded that it could not find any connections to extremists and in August provided its results to the Russians, according to the official. When the F.B.I. provided the results to the Russians, it requested additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev and also asked to be informed of any further developments.
Shortly thereafter, the F.B.I. reiterated its request to the Russians for more information. The Russians, however, did not respond with anything new. A month later, the Russians sent the same request for a check on Mr. Tsarnaev to the C.I.A.
That prompted the C.I.A.'s review, which came to a similar conclusion as the F.B.I’s. Around that time, the F.B.I. learned of the request to the C.I.A. and went back to the Russians once again to see if they had additional information on Mr. Tsarnaev, according to the official.
The official said the Russians never provided additional information.