Brent Astley bristles at the suggestion that his organization is an amateur group of terrorist hunters.
True, they aren’t paid. But they know their way around a computer and thousands of Web sites around the world that could leave cyber clues about national security threats, he said.
“I think our abilities are anything but amateur,” Astley said. “Among the seven of us, there’s quite a variety of positions and academic backgrounds.”
The seven are members of a loose-knit worldwide group associated with 7-Seas Global Intelligence, a private organization of volunteers who probe Web sites for information about the next bombing or assassination attempt.
A deliberately shadowy group, most people haven’t heard of 7-Seas. More know it by the fruits of its labors.
It was a 7-Seas associate in Montana who last fall set the bait for National Guard Spec. Ryan Anderson of Lynnwood. The guardsman faces a general court-martial for allegedly trying to defect and turn over military secrets to the al-Qaida terrorist network. The military announced Wednesday that it would not seek the death penalty against Anderson.
7-Seas group members spend dozens of hours a week on their computers in four countries, coordinating their interests and findings, and sometimes alerting authorities if they sniff something awry.
Many seemingly innocuous Web site postings could be coded messages designed to alert underground terrorists to spring into action. It’s not so much what’s written, but who’s doing the posting, said Astley, who lives in Ontario, Canada.
A number of private organizations do amateur terrorist sleuthing, said Daniel Byman, a professor in the Georgetown University Security Studies program and a national expert on terrorism. Byman said he is not familiar with 7-Seas, but several organizations like it augment police and the FBI.
They generally provide free manpower and offer strong Internet skills, an area where the FBI is not strong, Byman said. The potential danger of such activities could result in “neighbor-on-neighbor spying,” he said.
The FBI office in Seattle said it would not comment on its dealings with 7-Seas or similar organizations.
The group’s worth came to light in May during a military hearing for Anderson, a Cascade High School graduate who converted to Islam.
Shannen Rossmiller, a part-time municipal court judge in Conrad, Mont., and a 7-Seas member, testified that she found suspicious postings in October from someone who identified himself as Amir Abdul Ralshid. The postings were on a Web site that caters to terrorist ideologies. She later traced the name through the Internet to Anderson and began communicating with him, posing as an al-Qaida member, she testified.
U.S. Army agents took over in February, setting up a sting operation that caught Anderson on video talking with people the government says were pretending to be terrorists.
A military judge May 13 recommended that Anderson face a general court-martial. The Fort Lewis base commander Wednesday referred the charges for a court-martial, but said the Army won’t seek the death penalty.
Rossmiller, who said she has been told by the Army not to discuss the Anderson case, declined to talk to The Herald, even about the general workings of 7-Seas. Astley also declined to discuss Anderson, but consented to talk about the group’s work.
Group members met via an Internet discussion forum following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Rossmiller testified she was moved by the tragedy and hit the Internet looking for more information.
Astley said his experience was similar. Members have backgrounds in disciplines ranging from physics to police work and social work. They live in Canada, Australia, Singapore and the United States.
The organization is somewhat shadowy by design, keeping most members’ identities secret for safety reasons, Astley said.
“A lot of what we do involves direct contact with suspected terrorists, and we really don’t want them to know who we are,” he said. Rossmiller’s name was made public during the hearing, and Astley said he decided to go public partly to take the pressure off her.
Although members have different language skills, the group is somewhat hamstrung because the bulk of the “worthwhile material” is posted in Arabic, Astley said. He wouldn’t say how it’s translated, but added that costly software to translate Arabic would help the group.
“We’re looking for private sponsors,” he said. “None of us is exactly wealthy.”
He keeps something like a chalkboard near his computer containing about 50 screen names. “In very few cases have we identified who they really are,” he said, adding that Anderson was an exception.
Tracking down the identity of people is a laborious process that involves comparing many Internet messages. “There’s a lot of finger clicking and sweat over it,” Astley said. “There’s no question it’s a labor of love. All of us are doing what we want to do.”
It’s worth the hours of cyber hunting.
“We’re pretty sure through some of the things we’ve done we’ve saved lives,” he said. “That’s the prime motivation.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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