An FBI search-warrant application alleges that an ISIS operative plotted to assassinate George W. Bush with a plan that included smuggling a kill team into the country via Mexico.
The application was filed on March 23 and briefly unsealed this week in the Southern District of Ohio
It describes how the suspect, Shihab Ahmed Shihab, an Iraqi asylum seeker, visited Dallas in November and took video footage of the area around the former president's home.
The FBI said its evidence came through two confidential informants and surveillance of messages sent to and from the suspect's WhatsApp account, according to Forbes, which was the first to report on the warrant.
The alleged ISIS member reportedly claimed he wanted to kill Bush because of his role in launching the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.
The plot, with international links and claims of high-powered connections, sounds sophisticated and far-reaching.
But the reliance on confidential informants - who often themselves face charges and who can earn tens of thousand of dollars for their information - will also trigger concerns that the details will not stand up to scrutiny following the collapse of other high-profile cases.
One of the informants reportedly offered help to people wanting false immigration and identification documents, while the other allegedly used people smuggling services.
NBC reported that the suspect was in custody on Tuesday.
Freddy Ford, chief of staff for the Office of George W. Bush, told Forbes: 'President Bush has all the confidence in the world in the United States Secret Service and our law enforcement and intelligence communities.'
The warrant reportedly says that the suspect told an informant in November last year of his plot and asked how to 'obtain replica or fraudulent police and/or FBI identifications and badges' to help carry out the killing, and whether it was possible to smuggle the plotters back out of the U.S. afterwards.
He also asked the informant for details about security at Bush's home in Dallas and at his Crawford, Texas, ranch.
He also planned to find and kill a former Iraqi general now living in the U.S. under a new identity after working with American forces during the war.
His plan, according to the warrant, was to use Mexican visitor visas for four Iraqi nationals to enter Mexico before smuggling them over the border.
Shihab said two of them were former Iraqi intelligence agents.
Notice it said they got evidence via "surveillance of messages sent to and from the suspect's WhatsApp account".
Guess that end to end encryption didnt work too well huh? I think its reasonable to assume they have a backdoor in most major communication products, and possibly even into certain supporting technologies themselves, such as openssl, giving them access to damn near everything.
invite response
Notice it said they got evidence via "surveillance of messages sent to and from the suspect's WhatsApp account".
Guess that end to end encryption didnt work too well huh? I think its reasonable to assume they have a backdoor in most major communication products, and possibly even into certain supporting technologies themselves, such as openssl, giving them access to damn near everything.