Ex-Navy Sailor Arrested on Terrorism Charges

A former Navy enlisted man was arrested and charged with violating terrorism and espionage laws by passing along sensitive information about the vulnerability of Navy ships to al-Qaida associates, sources told NBC News on Wednesday.

Officials already knew naval information had been relayed but just recently named a suspect.

Paul R. Hall, now known as Hassan Abujihaad, 31, was arrested Wednesday in Phoenix, Ariz., said the sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He is accused of sending classified information about the movements of a Navy battle group deployed to the Persian Gulf in the spring of 2001. The document discussed potential vulnerabilities to attack. It was sent to the operators of a London Web site, Assam Publications, who have since been arrested on terrorism charges. Their arrests in 2004 first exposed the contacts.

Abujihaad (translated to English means son of Jihad) had access and contacts.

So, if this case pans out, it would appear that the laws enabling the listening in on communications from outside the US to US contacts successfully uncovered a threat to national security.

This is the same kind of program that the NYT and other leftists opposed because they claimed it would violate civil rights. Ponder that a moment.

And apparently that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Ahmad was arrested in 2004 but the case against Abujihaad apparently received a boost in December following the arrest of Derrick Shareef, 22, of Genoa, Ill., near Chicago, who was accused of planning to use hand grenades to attack holiday shoppers at a mall.

According to the affidavit, Shareef and Abujihaad lived together in 2004 when Ahmad was arrested. After reading news reports of the case, Abujihaad became upset and said, "I think this is about me," Shareef told investigators.

Authorities then taped a phone conversation between Abujihaad and an informant in which Abujihaad appeared nervous. Though Abujihaad didn't say outright that he was involved in the leak of classified information, the affidavit provided enough evidence for an arrest warrant.

Abujihaad received an honorable discharge from the Navy in 2002, according to the affidavit.

Derek Shareef was arrested on charges to attack a mall at Christmas time - hoping to maximize kills. At the time, he was considered a lone wolf. That characterization should certainly change in light of this new evidence.

This is all about connecting dots. Sometimes they're easy to discern. Sometimes they take time to develop. However, these threats are continuing to pop up.