Boston Globe September 24, 2003
Guantanamo airman with ties to Syria charged with spying
By Robert Schlesinger
WASHINGTON -- An Air Force translator who worked with suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay has been charged with passing information about the prison camp and its detainees to Syria and enemies in the US war on terrorism, according to military officials and documents filed in the case.
Senior Airman Ahmed I. Al Halabi, who worked for nine months at the controversial US camp before he was arrested in July, could face the death penalty if convicted of espionage and aiding the enemy in a military court. His military attorney denied the charges.
Halabi was the second member of the military stationed at the base on the island of Cuba to be identified as a potential spy in just three days. Air Force Major Michael Shavers said that while US officials do not know whether there is a connection between Halabi and Captain James Yee, a Muslim chaplain who officials alleged also had classified documents, the two were at the base during the same period. "Guantanamo is a small base; pretty much everybody knows everybody else," Shavers said.
Halabi worked as a translator at Guantanamo's Camp Delta from Nov. 15 to July 15. According to documents detailing 32 charges filed in the case, he allegedly tried to pass along information about the identities of detainees, as well as communications from them, including two written notes and 180 electronic versions of written notes "which directly concerned intelligence gathering and planning for the United States' war against terrorists."
He is also charged with trying to pass on documents detailing the transfer of prisoners to and from Camp Delta and layouts of the camp. Other charges included illegally handling classified materials, taking photographs of the facility, communicating with the detainees without permission, lying about his activities, and bank fraud.
Some charges refer to Halabi aiding or communicating with an unnamed "enemy," but at least eight specifically name Syria as a foreign nation that would have benefited from his activities, and one charge said Halabi failed to report a contact with the Syrian Embassy. Officials from the Syrian Embassy could not be reached for comment yesterday. Two other charges mention Qatar, which has been a staunch US ally in the war against Iraq, as being a potential beneficiary of his activities.
Halabi's military attorney, Air Force Major James E. Key III, told the Washington Post, "Airman Halabi is not a spy, and he is not a terrorist." The Post said Halabi is a native of Syria who moved to the United States as a teenager.
The Post reported that relatives of Halabi said investigators are misinterpreting the young man's innocent contacts with the Syrian Embassy in Washington recently, which occurred as he arranged visits to his home country to bring his Syrian-born fiancee to the United States. The woman lives in the Persian Gulf, and Halabi had planned to arrange for her to move to the United States.
Syria is one of seven nations listed by the Department of State as state sponsors of terrorism. Relations between the United States and Syria were strained in the Iraq war. During the major combat of the Iraq war, for example, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld warned the Syrian government against passing military supplies to forces opposing the United States.
"This may just be a classic case of an intelligence agency doing what an intelligence agency does without thinking what the possible consequences might be," said Ian Cuthbertson, director of the counterterrorism project at the World Policy Institute. With 150,000 US troops in neighboring Iraq, "I don't see them rushing to pass the information on to Al Qaeda."
Halabi was arrested on July 23 and charged on Aug. 27. Additional charges were brought on Sept. 12.
Yee, who completed his religious training in Syria, has not been charged with any crime.
Counterterrorism specialists were split over how serious a threat to security the Halabi case represented.
Tim Brown, a senior fellow at GlobalSecurity.org, said such a breach would be "fairly damaging," because not only could Al Qaeda potentially confirm who was being held at the Guantanamo facility, but they could learn what questions the detainees are being asked.
"The questions can be as interesting as the answers," Brown said. "Any of that that got back to Al Qaeda would allow them to know to what degree their organization has been compromised."
But Cuthbertson said that the damage was greater from a public relations perspective.
"It's embarrassing that such a massive security breach happened at what was supposed to be one of the most secure facilities we have," Cuthbertson said.
Globe correspondent Bryan Bender contributed to this report. Robert Schlesinger can be reached at schlesinger@globe.com.
Copyright 2003 Globe Newspaper Company.
