Evidence May Not Support NSA Claims About Stock Exchange Plot

Smells like BS

Did the government really disrupt a bomb plot targeting the New York Stock Exchange?

The FBI deputy director said that today in a Spygate hearing where the government for the first time said the secret spy techniques publicly disclosed two weeks ago had halted some 50 terror attacks in 20 countries.

Sean Joyce, the bureau's deputy director, identified Khalid Ouazzani as the culprit. "Ouazzani had been providing information and support to this plot," Joyce testified to the House Select Committee on Intelligence.

The Kansas City man's attorney today said that Joyce's comments were news to him. Among other things, his client pleaded guilty in 2010 to providing money — $23,000 in "material support" to Al-Qaida. He also pleaded to a count of money laundering and bank fraud, and is set for sentencing next month.

"Khalid Ouazzan was not involved in any plot to bomb the New York Stock Exchange," Robin Fowler, the defendant's defense attorney, said in a telephone interview.