Terrorist Surface to Air Missiles Possibly in U.S.

Government is in "No Comment" Mode

by

Michael C. Ruppert

[© Copyright 2001, Michael C. Ruppert and From The Wilderness Publications. All Rights Reserved. - May be recopied or distributed for non-profit purposes only.]

(Editorial Note: Although FTW has received many reports pertaining to the likely nature of future terrorist attacks we have refrained from publishing them because we either felt that they were unsubstantiated or risked causing unnecessary alarm. This story is the first such story that we have felt it essential to report. We view the anthrax outbreaks of recent weeks as a distracting form of psychological warfare, which do not pose an immediate risk to any large numbers of people.)

FTW, October 19, 2001, 1400 PDT - Credible information received by FTW from a source long connected to intelligence operations, and circumstantially supported by recent but little publicized events - including government alerts - indicates that a number of hand-held surface-to-air missiles, perhaps as many as 35, may have been smuggled into the U.S. from Canada. 

Events in the last two days at U.S. and French nuclear generating plants lend credibility to the sourceÕs claims.

On October 15 Michael Riconosciuto, a computer programmer connected by government documents to CIA and FBI intelligence operations involving Promis software, made contact with a radio talk show host who has requested anonymity. Riconosciuto passed on a warning that as many as 35 Russian-made surface to air missiles had been smuggled across the Canadian border into the U.S. The movement of the missiles reportedly occurred within the last week to ten days. According to the broadcaster the missiles were part of a two-phase attack on the United States that began with the World Trade Center attacks on September 11. The second phase of the plan was to shoot down large aircraft over population centers and/or "high value" targets.

Although Riconosciuto is currently an inmate in the federal penitentiary at Allenwood, PA - serving a sentence on a drug conviction - he has repeatedly been the source of highly accurate information as documented in a number of press stories, even while in prison. His status as a credible intelligence source, both for U.S. and foreign agencies was confirmed last year in an investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) national security staff. During that investigation, members of the RCMP - tracking developments around an intelligence software program known as Promis - visited FTW editor Michael Ruppert and acknowledged that Riconosciuto was a key player with highly sensitive intelligence knowledge. However, both the RCMP investigators and Ruppert shared the opinion that RiconosciutoÕs information was not always 100% accurate. (To read a fuller description on the RCMP/Promis investigation please visit

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/
pandora/052401_promis.html.)

In a recent and unrelated development, United States government agencies, including the Department of Justice and the FBI, acknowledged in FOX News reports on October 17, that they had stopped using Promis. FTW has confirmed that the FBI now admits use of the software. These sudden reversals came after years of denials - including court testimony - from those agencies that they had ever used the software. These confirmations support longstanding claims made by Riconosciuto.

On the evening of October 17, as confirmed by brief but unpublicized stories by the Associated Press and in direct interviews by FTW, the Three Mile Island (TMI) nuclear plant outside of Harrisburg, PA was put on a state of high alert. At the same time the FAA ordered an immediate and unexplained shutdown of the Harrisburg airport located just a few miles from the plant.

On October 19, an AP report disclosed that France had suddenly set up a radar system in northwest France to "sweep the skies above EuropeÕs largest nuclear reprocessing plant as a precaution against airborne suicide attacks." Taken at its face the AP story seems to indicate preparations for a different kind of attack. However, it raises questions about why military and civilian radar systems currently in operation would not detect an aircraft moving off course toward the plant and might possibly be a cover to disguise other kinds of preparations. There are too many operational variables to determine, one way or another, if the French move is connected to events at TMI.

Harrisburg airport spokesperson, Scott Miller, told FTW that he had no knowledge of why the FAA ordered the shutdown of the Harrisburg airport on Wednesday night. "We were just following orders from the FAA."

FAA Eastern Regional spokesperson Jim Peters told FTW, "Even if I knew, IÕd have to refer you to the FBI.

An unidentified spokesperson at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C. told FTW, "No comment."

The Harrisburg airport reopened yesterday morning.

What is clear is that nuclear facilities have become a very clear priority for defensive precautions since September 11.

There are 103 nuclear power plants in the United States. The French facility at La Hague is a reprocessing facility that handles highly radioactive nuclear waste from reactors in Europe and Asia, according to the AP story. France is almost totally dependent on nuclear energy.

Dave Carl, speaking for the TMI plantÕs owner, Exelon Nuclear, told FTW, "The events of Wednesday night began when the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) notified TMI that a security threat had been made against the plant. The good news was that nothing happened. We are taking extra security measures." Carl declined to state whether there was a known direct connection between events at TMI and the Harrisburg airport. According to Carl, TMI is currently undergoing a scheduled refueling and maintenance period. The plant is currently shut down and scheduled for a restart in early November.

Riconosciuto allegedly told the talk show host who forwarded the information that he has been warning the FBI of terrorist-related surface-to-air missile attacks for months and that the FBI has attempted to silence him. The talk show host told FTW that Riconosciuto fears direct reprisals for having issued a warning to the media.