On the eve of the 9/11 anniversary and in an eerie repeat of Israeli “art student” activity a year and a half prior to the 9/11 attack at the offices and homes of federal government, U.S. military, and even federal judges, WMR has been informed of an increase in similar renewed activity at the homes of current and former federal officials.
In the most recent incident, federal officials of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) report Israeli “art students” visiting their homes in Brea, California, in Orange County. Similar to the art student activity in late 2000 and early 2001, one Israeli, accompanied by one or two others, including a driver, canvassed the neighborhood offering Israeli paintings door-to-door. The TSA individuals in the area are not airport screeners but more senior officials of the aviation security agency, part of the Department of Homeland Security. In 2000 and 2001, it was the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that initiated an investigation of the activity as an intelligence operation by Israel but the investigation was eventually halted a few months prior to 9/11 on the orders of Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI director Louis Freeh. After 9/11 and the revelation of the Israeli operation in the media, FBI director Robert Mueller continued the “hands-off” approach to the Israeli activity.
