David Headley
Encyclopedia
David Coleman Headley, formerly known as Daood Sayed Gilani, (born June 30, 1960) is a Chicago-based Pakistani American
,
who conspired with Lashkar-e-Taiba
and, he claims, Pakistani military officers
to launch the 2008 Mumbai attacks
and other terrorist activity. He changed his South-Asian name to an English
name to hide his Pakistani-Muslim identity
to make travel to India easier.
Between 2002 and 2005, Headley made several trips to Pakistan for terror training, and was in fact working as a Drug Enforcement Administration informant at the same time.
Between 2006 and 2008, he did five spying missions in Mumbai scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attacks
on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani ex-military officers. The attacks killed 168 people. In 2009, Headley traveled to Britain to help plan an attack against a Danish newspaper
that had published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
. He was arrested in October 2009 at O'Hare International Airport
on his way to Pakistan.
Since his arrest and guilty plea, Headley has been cooperating with U.S. and Indian authorities, and has yielded much information about his associates.
There is intense interest in India in Headley's story, as it is the latest discovery in the unfolding saga of the devastating Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008
, known in India as 26/11. U.S. authorities gave Indian investigators direct access to Headley,
but there was suspicion in India about why his name was not shared by the United States.
At the trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana
Headley provided detailed information about heavy involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
in carrying out 2008 Mumbai attacks
. On May 31, 2011, however Headley testified that the Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI) leadership was not involved in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
, where his father, Sayed Salim Gilani, worked for the Voice of America
. His father was also a diplomat who worked in the Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C. for some time. His Maryland-born American mother, (Alice) Serrill Headley (1939–2008), worked as a secretary at the Pakistani embassy in Washington at the time of his birth and was the daughter of former University of Maryland football star L. Coleman Headley. He has a younger sister, Syedah, and half-brother Danyal Gilani, who was formerly the spokesman for the Prime Minister of Pakistan
, Yousaf Raza Gillani
, and presently serves as Pakistan's press attaché in Beijing
.
When his marriage to his American wife broke up in the mid 1960s and he obtained custody of his children, Sayed Gilani returned to Pakistan
, along with his son and daughter. There Daood attended the Cadet College Hasan Abdal
, a preparatory boys' high school for the military. In 1977, after the Pakistani government was overthrown in a coup, Serrill Headley traveled to Pakistan and brought him to live with her in the United States, where he grew up over the bar she owned in Philadelphia, Khyber Pass Pub. In 1985 Gilani married a Pennsylvania State University student, but they divorced in 1987 due to cultural conflicts.
in the late 1980s.
In 1987 he was first arrested on drug charges, and cooperated with the DEA in exchange for a lighter sentence.
In 1997 he was one of two men arrested for smuggling heroin into the country from Pakistan. In exchange for information about his Pakistani drug contacts, he received a considerably lighter sentence than his co-defendant: fifteen months in jail and five years of supervised release. In November 1998, Headley was delivered to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix. However, his supervised release period was never completed. Instead, in November 2001, an assistant U.S. attorney applied to have Headley discharged. Headley traveled to Pakistan multiple times to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration
.
In 2002 and three times in 2003, he attended Lashkar-e-Taiba
training camps in Pakistan.
In August 2005 Gilani was arrested in New York after a fight with his then wife. His wife told federal agents that Gilani was an active member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had trained extensively in its Pakistani camps, and had shopped for night-vision goggles and other equipment.
Gilani trained five times with Lashkar-e-Taiba at a camp in Pakistan. A 2007 court testimony by a fellow militant Willie Brigitte
described the Lashkar training camp, which was guarded and supplied by Pakistan army soldiers.
In October 2010, when it was revealed that Headley's wives had complained in 2005 and in 2007 to U.S. authorities about his terrorist activities to no effect, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr. undertook a review of how Headley had been handled.
's immigration agency. Rana had been in the Cadet College Hasan Abdal with him.
, whose ideology he came to embrace.
Pakistan officially outlawed Lashkar in 2002, but after that and through 2005, Headley did five stints at Lashkar terror camps where officers of the ISI and the Pakistani army helped provide arms, screening and training. Lashkar assigned him to work with a militant chief named Sajid Mir, also known as Sajid Majid, who allegedly became a lead plotter of the Mumbai attacks. Western investigators say that Mir had close ties to the ISI and may be a former military or intelligence officer.
An ISI brigadier general served as handler for Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi
, Lashkar's military chief, while the ISI funds Lashkar and shields Saeed, the spiritual leader, from interference, Headley said.
All of Headley's accusations against the ISI have been denied by unnamed Pakistani officials.
In January 2006, an ISI officer named Major Samir Ali interviewed Headley, then referred him to a Major Iqbal, who became his main handler in Lahore. Major Iqbal
, described as fat, deep-voiced and in his mid-thirties, introduced Headley to a man identified as Lieutenant Colonel Shah, who promised Headley financial support for terrorist operations against India.
At subsequent meetings in safe houses, Major Iqbal gave Headley secret documents on India. He assigned a non-commissioned officer to give the American standard intelligence training. Headley learned techniques for detecting surveillance, developing sources and other skills, then practiced with the lower-ranking officer on the streets of Lahore. The specialized training lasted several months and continued intermittently afterward as Major Iqbal taught Headley how to use cameras and other devices for missions.
Headley said Major Iqbal gave him $25,000 to set up a front company in Mumbai as a cover while conducting reconnaissance for the attacks. Headley spent months scouting the Taj Mahal hotel and other targets for Mir and Major Iqbal, who also sent him on separate missions to gather intelligence on an atomic research center and military sites around India. Major Iqbal contributed advice about tactical issues to the Mumbai plot: escape routes for the gunmen, setting up a safe house, hijacking an Indian vessel at sea. Headley said the major approved of Mir's decision to attack Western targets such as the Chabad House Jewish center directed by an American rabbi.
, 48, were accused by U.S. federal authorities in Chicago, in complaints unsealed on October 27, 2009, of plotting against the employees of a newspaper in Copenhagen
.
Headley is accused of traveling to Denmark to scout the building of the Jyllands-Posten
newspaper, and a nearby Synagogue, for an attack by terrorists.
On December 8, 2009, the FBI additionally accused Headley of conspiring to bomb targets in Mumbai
, India; providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba
, a militant Pakistani Islamist group; and aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in the 2008 Mumbai attacks
.
Headley pleaded guilty to all charges on March 18, 2010. He faces life in prison and a three million dollar fine when he is sentenced.
(NIA) registered a case against Headley and Rana for allegedly plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks
in India. After having interrogated Headley in Chicago for a week, the NIA has requested a Delhi court to issue non-bailable warrants to arrest Headley and others.
Headley's arrest and guilty plea got close media attention in India, with the Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram addressing it in frequent questions from reporters. Chidambaram said the United States authorities have shared "significant information" about the case. U.S. assistant secretary of state Robert O. Blake, Jr.
said India would have "full access" to question Headley in the United States, although the possibility of extraditing him to India appears to be precluded by Headley's plea agreement.
Chidambaram said they would continue to try to get the man extradited.
Headley's admissions, e.g., that he made video recordings of terrorism targets for the LeT, have corroborated other evidence in the ongoing trial of Ajmal Amir Kasab in Mumbai.
A classified Indian report, based on Headley's interrogation by Indian investigators in Chicago, concludes that some of Headley's scouting trips to Mumbai were financed and planned by the ISI. When this report was leaked to U.S. media in October 2010, its conclusions were denied by Pakistani authorities.
, an Islamist militant commander associated with both Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba
. Kashmiri is reported by many sources to be a former Pakistani military commando
,
although he denied this in an interview in October 2009. Headley made contact with the al-Qaeda member when he made two trips to North Waziristan
, in FATA
(a tribal area under limited central government authority).
Another former military officer is suspected as a co-conspirator and identified only by a pseudonym (Individual A) in the first FBI complaint against Headley. He is said to have recently left the Pakistani Army as a Colonel or Brigadier. This second officer, suspected in the complaint as affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, was arrested in 2009 in Pakistan on unspecified charges and later released. He was identified by the FBI in December 2009 as Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed
. Abdur Rehman, also known as "Pasha", is also wanted by the FBI.
An Associated Press story on November 24, 2009 said that five Pakistan army officers, including a retired brigadier and two active lieutenant colonels, had been detained for questioning in Pakistan. They had all been in telephone contact with Headley. But the next day, Pakistan military spokesman Athar Abbas said that "security agencies" had only detained a single former army major in connection with the FBI case.
Separately, Headley told Indian investigators in June 2010 that his trip to Mumbai in 2006 was sponsored by a Pakistani officer of the ISI. This officer, named Maj. Iqbal, handed Mr. Headley $25,000 to open an office and set up a house in Mumbai to be used as a front during his scouting trips. Maj. Iqbal served as the supervisor of Lashkar’s planning, helping to arrange a communications system for the attack, and overseeing a model of the Taj Mahal Hotel, so that gunmen could find their way around.
The FBI investigation into the 2008 Mumbai attacks
focuses on Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir, who are both suspected of being Headley's handlers for Pakistani intelligence. They instructed him to use the money to open a front company and begin reconnaissance in Mumbai.
, gave instructions to Headley on which locations to scout for future attacks, including both the Danish newspaper and locations in India, such as the National Defense College in New Delhi. Indian intelligence officials believe that LeT member A is Sajid Mir, Lashkar's head of international operations. Sajid Mir was a ranking member of the Pakistani army until several years ago, and attended the same military high school, with Headley and Rana.
Court documents allege that Headley corresponded with the Lashkar-e-Taiba associates in coded messages about the “Mickey Mouse Project,” code for the plot against the Danish newspaper. After his visit to Denmark in 2009, Headley allegedly traveled to Pakistan to meet with the LeT associate. After his arrest in October 2009, Headley told federal agents that he received training from LeT.
. He revealed that Major Iqbal has given him $25,000 to set up a front company to do reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks. During his visits to Mumbai, he gathered video footage and GPS coordinates. After each visit, Headley returned to Pakistan and provided Lashkar operatives with videotapes of the potential targets and seaborne landing locations nearby. This information
was used to execute the 2008 Mumbai attacks
.
Headley's visits to India on a business visa were ostensibly to set up an office for First World Services, an immigration agency belonging to Rana
.
Headley posed as a Jew to scout the Jewish center at Nariman House
for attack. Headley made multiple visits to India before and after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, while Rana visited it only once.
A Moroccan woman, Faiza Outalha, believed to be Headley's wife, visited India twice: in 2007 she flew to Mumbai from Karachi
and stayed with Headley in the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi Trident
, both of which were targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2008 she crossed from Pakistan via the road at Wagah
and spent time in Manali. They later divorced.
in Delhi, and of Chabad House
s in various cities in India.
, unlike the Indian one
, does not provide the father's name, and does not require endorsements on name changes by the passport holder.
Indian government officials said that if the name change been noted on his passport, Indian immigration officials would have been alerted during his multiple visits to India.
On his visits to India, Headley befriended several people, including Rahul Bhatt
, the son of a famous movie producer Mahesh Bhatt
,
who said he never suspected Headley of any wrongdoing.
, Pakistan
, and the U.S., and why he was working undercover for the DEA
. Some Indian analysts have speculated that David Headley was a CIA Double agent
within LeT, an accusation denied by the CIA. As soon as Headley was arrested in Chicago, the Indian media had a barrage of questions for the government about him, whose answers were slow in coming.
Among other questions, Indian investigators wanted the FBI to share its tapes of Headley's communications with his Pakistani handlers to match with the voices taped on cell phones during the 2008 Mumbai attacks
.
Following intense coverage and speculation in the Indian press, U.S. ambassador Timothy J. Roemer
told reporters in New Delhi that the United States is working at the "highest level" to provide India access to Headley, even as it is passing along answers to questions in "real time".
News reports in October 2010 revealed that U.S. authorities had plenty of advance knowledge about David Headley's terrorist associations and activities. Headley's American and Moroccan wives had contacted American authorities in 2005 and 2007, respectively, complaining about his terrorist activities. The Moroccan wife told reporters that she had even shown the U.S. embassy in Islamabad photographs of their stay at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, warning them that he was doing something on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
(NIA) has been given access to Headley.
The investigation has confirmed that Lashkar-e-Taiba
terrorists carried out the Mumbai attack under the "guidance" of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI). He stated that the ISI was engaged with the Lashkar commanders responsible for the Mumbai carnage at each and every stage of the plot.
Further, Headley mentioned that Major Sameer Ali, Major Iqbal and Major Haroon Ashique, who are serving officers of the Pakistan Army, collaborated with the LeT.
Headley has also spoken of how post-26/11, ISI wanted LeT to disown the Mumbai attack in order to prevent global attention to the terror group, which Pakistan considers to be an important strategic asset to be used against India. With Ajmal Kasab
as the only terrorist captured, ISI wanted to blame the terrorist act on al-Qaida. It even prepared a list of 4-5 al-Qaida figures who were to be projected as the conspirators. The plan, however, did not work due to resistance from Lashkar leaders, particularly Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi.
Headley also admitted that while he had started off as a Lashkar recruit, he started drifting towards Al Qaida under the influence of Major Abdul Rahman Saeed, who retired in 2002. Headley went high in the retired major's list because of precise inputs Headley provided for the 26/11 attack.
Saeed, with the help of Ilyas Kashmiri, drafted him for the plan to attack Danish newspaper Jylland Posten which published controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. This, when Headley's original handler Sajid Mir wanted him to focus on Lashkar's anti-India mission.
Headley has claimed that Ishrat Jahan, thought to be a case of staged police "encounter killing", was a trained L-e-T suicide bomber.
and the Hindustan Times
referred to Headley. The Hindustan Times stated that Headley had visited Pune in July 2008 and March 2009 and referred to him as a Lashkar-e-Taiba
member. The Hindustan Times also reported that the CCTV footage which has been accessed by the Investigating agency, can, as per The Hindustan Times, help solve the mystery. The Times of India has also reported similar reports, along with The Telegraph
, The Hindu
, The Pioneer and also Indian Express.
Pakistani American
A Pakistani American is any citizen or resident of the United States who has Pakistani heritage.- History in the United States :Muslim immigrants from areas that are now part of Pakistan have been migrating to America and first entered the United States as early as the eighteenth century, working...
,
who conspired with Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
and, he claims, Pakistani military officers
to launch the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
and other terrorist activity. He changed his South-Asian name to an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
name to hide his Pakistani-Muslim identity
to make travel to India easier.
Between 2002 and 2005, Headley made several trips to Pakistan for terror training, and was in fact working as a Drug Enforcement Administration informant at the same time.
Between 2006 and 2008, he did five spying missions in Mumbai scouting targets for the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani ex-military officers. The attacks killed 168 people. In 2009, Headley traveled to Britain to help plan an attack against a Danish newspaper
Jyllands-Posten
Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten , commonly shortened to Jyllands-Posten or JP, is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Viby, a suburb of Århus, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies, it is among the largest-selling newspaper in Denmark...
that had published cartoons of the prophet Muhammad
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
. He was arrested in October 2009 at O'Hare International Airport
O'Hare International Airport
Chicago O'Hare International Airport , also known as O'Hare Airport, O'Hare Field, Chicago Airport, Chicago International Airport, or simply O'Hare, is a major airport located in the northwestern-most corner of Chicago, Illinois, United States, northwest of the Chicago Loop...
on his way to Pakistan.
Since his arrest and guilty plea, Headley has been cooperating with U.S. and Indian authorities, and has yielded much information about his associates.
There is intense interest in India in Headley's story, as it is the latest discovery in the unfolding saga of the devastating Mumbai attacks of November 26, 2008
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
, known in India as 26/11. U.S. authorities gave Indian investigators direct access to Headley,
but there was suspicion in India about why his name was not shared by the United States.
At the trial of Tahawwur Hussain Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani Canadian resident of Chicago, USA who was convicted of providing support to banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and plotting an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten....
Headley provided detailed information about heavy involvement of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
in carrying out 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
. On May 31, 2011, however Headley testified that the Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
(ISI) leadership was not involved in planning the 2008 Mumbai attacks.
Early life
Daood Gilani was born in Washington, D.C.Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, where his father, Sayed Salim Gilani, worked for the Voice of America
Voice of America
Voice of America is the official external broadcast institution of the United States federal government. It is one of five civilian U.S. international broadcasters working under the umbrella of the Broadcasting Board of Governors . VOA provides a wide range of programming for broadcast on radio...
. His father was also a diplomat who worked in the Pakistani embassy in Washington D.C. for some time. His Maryland-born American mother, (Alice) Serrill Headley (1939–2008), worked as a secretary at the Pakistani embassy in Washington at the time of his birth and was the daughter of former University of Maryland football star L. Coleman Headley. He has a younger sister, Syedah, and half-brother Danyal Gilani, who was formerly the spokesman for the Prime Minister of Pakistan
Prime Minister of Pakistan
The Prime Minister of Pakistan , is the Head of Government of Pakistan who is designated to exercise as the country's Chief Executive. By the Constitution of Pakistan, Pakistan has the parliamentary democratic system of government...
, Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yousaf Raza Gillani
Yousuf Raza Gilani is the current prime minister of Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He was nominated as Prime Minister by the PPP, with the support of its coalition partners, Pakistan Muslim League , Awami National Party, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and Muttahida Qaumi Movement, on 22 March 2008...
, and presently serves as Pakistan's press attaché in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
When his marriage to his American wife broke up in the mid 1960s and he obtained custody of his children, Sayed Gilani returned to Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, along with his son and daughter. There Daood attended the Cadet College Hasan Abdal
Cadet College Hasan Abdal
Cadet College, Hasan Abdal is a residential high school located in Hasan Abdal, Attock District, Punjab, Pakistan.-History:Cadet College, Hasan Abdal is the first Cadet College in Pakistan and was established by the government of Punjab at the initiative of General Muhammad Ayub Khan, the then...
, a preparatory boys' high school for the military. In 1977, after the Pakistani government was overthrown in a coup, Serrill Headley traveled to Pakistan and brought him to live with her in the United States, where he grew up over the bar she owned in Philadelphia, Khyber Pass Pub. In 1985 Gilani married a Pennsylvania State University student, but they divorced in 1987 due to cultural conflicts.
Drug conviction and DEA deal
Gilani opened two video rental stores in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
in the late 1980s.
In 1987 he was first arrested on drug charges, and cooperated with the DEA in exchange for a lighter sentence.
In 1997 he was one of two men arrested for smuggling heroin into the country from Pakistan. In exchange for information about his Pakistani drug contacts, he received a considerably lighter sentence than his co-defendant: fifteen months in jail and five years of supervised release. In November 1998, Headley was delivered to the low-security Federal Correctional Institution in Fort Dix. However, his supervised release period was never completed. Instead, in November 2001, an assistant U.S. attorney applied to have Headley discharged. Headley traveled to Pakistan multiple times to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
.
In 2002 and three times in 2003, he attended Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
training camps in Pakistan.
Domestic arrest and terror training
Gilani's 1999 trip to Pakistan was for an arranged marriage, but in 2002, he married his girlfriend of 8 years in New York.In August 2005 Gilani was arrested in New York after a fight with his then wife. His wife told federal agents that Gilani was an active member of Lashkar-e-Taiba, had trained extensively in its Pakistani camps, and had shopped for night-vision goggles and other equipment.
Gilani trained five times with Lashkar-e-Taiba at a camp in Pakistan. A 2007 court testimony by a fellow militant Willie Brigitte
Willie Brigitte
Willie Virgile Brigitte is a French convert to Islam who associated with the al-Qaeda and was possibly involved in a plot to conduct a terrorist operation in Australia....
described the Lashkar training camp, which was guarded and supplied by Pakistan army soldiers.
In October 2010, when it was revealed that Headley's wives had complained in 2005 and in 2007 to U.S. authorities about his terrorist activities to no effect, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper, Jr. undertook a review of how Headley had been handled.
Name change and move to Chicago
In 2006, he changed his name to David Headley so as to make border crossings between the United States and other countries easier. He moved his family to Chicago, where he claimed to work for Tahawwur Hussain RanaTahawwur Hussain Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani Canadian resident of Chicago, USA who was convicted of providing support to banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and plotting an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten....
's immigration agency. Rana had been in the Cadet College Hasan Abdal with him.
Life with Lashkar-e-Taiba and Pakistani intelligence
Headley visited his family home in Lahore in 2000. While there, he befriended Lashkar's spiritual leader, Hafiz Muhammad SaeedHafiz Muhammad Saeed
Hafiz Muhammad Saeed is the amir of Jama'at-ud-Da'wah, a charity organization that is widely considered to be a cover organization for Lashkar-e-Taiba , one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan...
, whose ideology he came to embrace.
Pakistan officially outlawed Lashkar in 2002, but after that and through 2005, Headley did five stints at Lashkar terror camps where officers of the ISI and the Pakistani army helped provide arms, screening and training. Lashkar assigned him to work with a militant chief named Sajid Mir, also known as Sajid Majid, who allegedly became a lead plotter of the Mumbai attacks. Western investigators say that Mir had close ties to the ISI and may be a former military or intelligence officer.
An ISI brigadier general served as handler for Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi
Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi
Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi, sometimes referred to as Abdullah Azam or Zaki ur Rehman Lakhwi, is a founding member of Lashkar-e-Taiba and currently serves as Supreme Commander of operations in Kashmir and as a member of LeT's General Council....
, Lashkar's military chief, while the ISI funds Lashkar and shields Saeed, the spiritual leader, from interference, Headley said.
All of Headley's accusations against the ISI have been denied by unnamed Pakistani officials.
In January 2006, an ISI officer named Major Samir Ali interviewed Headley, then referred him to a Major Iqbal, who became his main handler in Lahore. Major Iqbal
Major Iqbal
Major Iqbal is a Pakistani national who has been indicted in United States district court in Chicago on April 25, 2011 as an alleged conspirator in 2008 Mumbai attacks. Iqbal occasionally went by the name of Chaudhery Khan. The trial started at a time when U.S. relations with Pakistan were strained...
, described as fat, deep-voiced and in his mid-thirties, introduced Headley to a man identified as Lieutenant Colonel Shah, who promised Headley financial support for terrorist operations against India.
At subsequent meetings in safe houses, Major Iqbal gave Headley secret documents on India. He assigned a non-commissioned officer to give the American standard intelligence training. Headley learned techniques for detecting surveillance, developing sources and other skills, then practiced with the lower-ranking officer on the streets of Lahore. The specialized training lasted several months and continued intermittently afterward as Major Iqbal taught Headley how to use cameras and other devices for missions.
Headley said Major Iqbal gave him $25,000 to set up a front company in Mumbai as a cover while conducting reconnaissance for the attacks. Headley spent months scouting the Taj Mahal hotel and other targets for Mir and Major Iqbal, who also sent him on separate missions to gather intelligence on an atomic research center and military sites around India. Major Iqbal contributed advice about tactical issues to the Mumbai plot: escape routes for the gunmen, setting up a safe house, hijacking an Indian vessel at sea. Headley said the major approved of Mir's decision to attack Western targets such as the Chabad House Jewish center directed by an American rabbi.
Accusations by FBI, and guilty plea
David Coleman Headley, 48, and Tahawwur Hussain RanaTahawwur Hussain Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani Canadian resident of Chicago, USA who was convicted of providing support to banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and plotting an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten....
, 48, were accused by U.S. federal authorities in Chicago, in complaints unsealed on October 27, 2009, of plotting against the employees of a newspaper in Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
.
Headley is accused of traveling to Denmark to scout the building of the Jyllands-Posten
Jyllands-Posten
Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten , commonly shortened to Jyllands-Posten or JP, is a Danish daily broadsheet newspaper. It is based in Viby, a suburb of Århus, and with a weekday circulation of approximately 120,000 copies, it is among the largest-selling newspaper in Denmark...
newspaper, and a nearby Synagogue, for an attack by terrorists.
On December 8, 2009, the FBI additionally accused Headley of conspiring to bomb targets in Mumbai
Mumbai
Mumbai , formerly known as Bombay in English, is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the most populous city in India, and the fourth most populous city in the world, with a total metropolitan area population of approximately 20.5 million...
, India; providing material support to Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
, a militant Pakistani Islamist group; and aiding and abetting the murder of U.S. citizens in the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
Headley pleaded guilty to all charges on March 18, 2010. He faces life in prison and a three million dollar fine when he is sentenced.
Accusations by India's NIA
India's new National Investigation AgencyNational Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency is a federal agency approved by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states. The National Investigation Agency Bill 2008 to create the agency was...
(NIA) registered a case against Headley and Rana for allegedly plotting the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
in India. After having interrogated Headley in Chicago for a week, the NIA has requested a Delhi court to issue non-bailable warrants to arrest Headley and others.
Headley's arrest and guilty plea got close media attention in India, with the Home Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram addressing it in frequent questions from reporters. Chidambaram said the United States authorities have shared "significant information" about the case. U.S. assistant secretary of state Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Robert O. Blake, Jr.
Robert Orris Blake, Jr., is a career diplomat and current Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs and former United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and the Maldives. He is the son of Robert O. Blake, retired U.S...
said India would have "full access" to question Headley in the United States, although the possibility of extraditing him to India appears to be precluded by Headley's plea agreement.
Chidambaram said they would continue to try to get the man extradited.
Headley's admissions, e.g., that he made video recordings of terrorism targets for the LeT, have corroborated other evidence in the ongoing trial of Ajmal Amir Kasab in Mumbai.
A classified Indian report, based on Headley's interrogation by Indian investigators in Chicago, concludes that some of Headley's scouting trips to Mumbai were financed and planned by the ISI. When this report was leaked to U.S. media in October 2010, its conclusions were denied by Pakistani authorities.
Associations with current and former Pakistani military officers
Both Headley and Rana are accused in the FBI complaints of reporting to Ilyas KashmiriIlyas Kashmiri (militant)
Ilyas Kashmiri, also referred to as Maulana Ilyas Kashmiri and Muhammad Ilyas Kashmiri , was a senior al-Qaeda member and leader of the Harkat-ul-Jihad al-Islami He was also connected with the Soviet-Afghan war, the Kashmir conflict and attacks against India, Pakistan and the United States...
, an Islamist militant commander associated with both Al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
. Kashmiri is reported by many sources to be a former Pakistani military commando
SSG
- Organizations :* Chief of Naval Operations Strategic Studies Group, within the United States Navy* Safesoft Global, former name of Seioglobal, a Chinese IT company* Särskilda Skyddsgruppen, a special forces unit of the Swedish Defence Forces...
,
although he denied this in an interview in October 2009. Headley made contact with the al-Qaeda member when he made two trips to North Waziristan
Waziristan
Waziristan is a mountainous region near the Northwest of Pakistan, bordering Afghanistan and covering some 11,585 km² . The area is entirely populated by ethnic Pashtuns . The language spoken in the valley is Pashto/Pakhto...
, in FATA
Fata
The FATA or FC-ATA is a type of computer hard disk drive. FATA is simply the low cost ATA or SATA disk drive equipped with a small external converter, that changes the interface to Fibre Channel...
(a tribal area under limited central government authority).
Another former military officer is suspected as a co-conspirator and identified only by a pseudonym (Individual A) in the first FBI complaint against Headley. He is said to have recently left the Pakistani Army as a Colonel or Brigadier. This second officer, suspected in the complaint as affiliated with Lashkar-e-Taiba, was arrested in 2009 in Pakistan on unspecified charges and later released. He was identified by the FBI in December 2009 as Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed
Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed
Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, also known as Pasha, is a retired Major in the Pakistan army, accused of involvement with terrorism.-Biography:Abdur Rehman retired in 2007 from the Pakistan army as a Major....
. Abdur Rehman, also known as "Pasha", is also wanted by the FBI.
An Associated Press story on November 24, 2009 said that five Pakistan army officers, including a retired brigadier and two active lieutenant colonels, had been detained for questioning in Pakistan. They had all been in telephone contact with Headley. But the next day, Pakistan military spokesman Athar Abbas said that "security agencies" had only detained a single former army major in connection with the FBI case.
Separately, Headley told Indian investigators in June 2010 that his trip to Mumbai in 2006 was sponsored by a Pakistani officer of the ISI. This officer, named Maj. Iqbal, handed Mr. Headley $25,000 to open an office and set up a house in Mumbai to be used as a front during his scouting trips. Maj. Iqbal served as the supervisor of Lashkar’s planning, helping to arrange a communications system for the attack, and overseeing a model of the Taj Mahal Hotel, so that gunmen could find their way around.
The FBI investigation into the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
focuses on Major Iqbal and Sajid Mir, who are both suspected of being Headley's handlers for Pakistani intelligence. They instructed him to use the money to open a front company and begin reconnaissance in Mumbai.
Association with Lashkar-e-Taiba
Another individual named in the complaint as "LeT member A", a member of Lashkar-e-TaibaLashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
, gave instructions to Headley on which locations to scout for future attacks, including both the Danish newspaper and locations in India, such as the National Defense College in New Delhi. Indian intelligence officials believe that LeT member A is Sajid Mir, Lashkar's head of international operations. Sajid Mir was a ranking member of the Pakistani army until several years ago, and attended the same military high school, with Headley and Rana.
Court documents allege that Headley corresponded with the Lashkar-e-Taiba associates in coded messages about the “Mickey Mouse Project,” code for the plot against the Danish newspaper. After his visit to Denmark in 2009, Headley allegedly traveled to Pakistan to meet with the LeT associate. After his arrest in October 2009, Headley told federal agents that he received training from LeT.
Scouting target locations
Headley traveled five times to India to scout locations for terrorist attacks on behalf of Lashkar-e-TaibaLashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
. He revealed that Major Iqbal has given him $25,000 to set up a front company to do reconnaissance for the Mumbai attacks. During his visits to Mumbai, he gathered video footage and GPS coordinates. After each visit, Headley returned to Pakistan and provided Lashkar operatives with videotapes of the potential targets and seaborne landing locations nearby. This information
was used to execute the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
Visits to India
Tahawwur Hussain Rana
Tahawwur Hussain Rana is a Pakistani Canadian resident of Chicago, USA who was convicted of providing support to banned militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba and plotting an attack on Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten....
.
Headley posed as a Jew to scout the Jewish center at Nariman House
Nariman House
The Nariman House , renamed as Chabad House , is a five-story landmark in the Colaba area in southern Mumbai, India. The building was home to a Chabad house, a Jewish outreach center run by Gavriel and Rivka Holtzberg, and they have owned the Building since around 2006. The center had an...
for attack. Headley made multiple visits to India before and after the 2008 Mumbai attacks, while Rana visited it only once.
A Moroccan woman, Faiza Outalha, believed to be Headley's wife, visited India twice: in 2007 she flew to Mumbai from Karachi
Karachi
Karachi is the largest city, main seaport and the main financial centre of Pakistan, as well as the capital of the province of Sindh. The city has an estimated population of 13 to 15 million, while the total metropolitan area has a population of over 18 million...
and stayed with Headley in the Taj Mahal Hotel and the Oberoi Trident
Oberoi Trident
The Oberoi and Trident are two brands of five star hotels operated and sometimes owned by the Oberoi Hotels & Resorts located in several cities in India and across the world...
, both of which were targets in the 2008 Mumbai attacks. In 2008 she crossed from Pakistan via the road at Wagah
Wagah
Wagah is the only road border crossing between Pakistan and India , and lies on the Grand Trunk Road between the cities of Lahore, Pakistan and Amritsar, India. Wagah itself is a village through which the controversial Radcliffe Line was drawn. The village was divided by independence in 1947...
and spent time in Manali. They later divorced.
Planning for additional attacks in India
In March 2009, Headley made another trip to India to conduct surveillance of the National Defence CollegeNational Defence College, India
The National Defence College of India, located in New Delhi, is an institution of higher learning of the defence forces of India. The institution was inaugurated on 27 April 1960 and is the only military institution in the country that imparts knowledge on all aspects of national security and...
in Delhi, and of Chabad House
Chabad house
A Chabad house is a centre for disseminating Orthodox Judaism by the Chabad movement. Chabad Houses are run by the local Shaliach , who was sent to that place by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, who founded all Chabad Houses...
s in various cities in India.
Ease of entry with U.S. passport
Indian investigators were surprised at how easily Headley had obtained a visa to enter India, a process that is extremely difficult for Pakistani nationals. Headley's U.S. passport, his new Western and English sounding name, and the fact that the passport and his visa application made no mention of his prior name or his father's nationality, made it easy for him to obtain an Indian visa from the Indian consulate in Chicago. He also falsely stated on his visa application that his father's name was William Headley and that his own name at birth was "Headley", a claim that was difficult to refute since the U.S. passportUnited States passport
United States passports are passports issued to citizens and non-citizen nationals of the United States of America. They are issued exclusively by the U.S. Department of State. Besides issuing passports , also limited use passport cards are issued by the same organization subject to the same...
, unlike the Indian one
Indian passport
Indian passports are issued to citizens of India for the purpose of international travel. They act as proof of Indian nationality. The Consular Passport & Visa Division of the Ministry of External Affairs, functioning as the central passport organisation, is responsible for issuance of Indian...
, does not provide the father's name, and does not require endorsements on name changes by the passport holder.
Indian government officials said that if the name change been noted on his passport, Indian immigration officials would have been alerted during his multiple visits to India.
On his visits to India, Headley befriended several people, including Rahul Bhatt
Rahul Bhatt
Rahul Bhatt , is an Indian fitness trainer and an aspiring film actor. The son of famous film director Mahesh Bhatt and Kiran Bhatt, Rahul gained unwitting notoriety in 2009 following revelations that David Headley, an accused in the 2008 Mumbai attacks, had befriended him.-Biography:The son of...
, the son of a famous movie producer Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt
Mahesh Bhatt , is a prominent Indian film director, producer and screenwriter.Bhatt's early directional career consisted of acclaimed films, such as Arth, Saaransh, Janam, Naam and Zakhm....
,
who said he never suspected Headley of any wrongdoing.
Suspicions in India about U.S. government relationship with Headley
While government officials in India cite full cooperation by U.S. authorities, the opposition parties and others in India have demanded explanations of why Headley was allowed to travel freely for years between IndiaIndia
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, Pakistan
Pakistan
Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...
, and the U.S., and why he was working undercover for the DEA
Drug Enforcement Administration
The Drug Enforcement Administration is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Justice, tasked with combating drug smuggling and use within the United States...
. Some Indian analysts have speculated that David Headley was a CIA Double agent
Double agent
A double agent, commonly abbreviated referral of double secret agent, is a counterintelligence term used to designate an employee of a secret service or organization, whose primary aim is to spy on the target organization, but who in fact is a member of that same target organization oneself. They...
within LeT, an accusation denied by the CIA. As soon as Headley was arrested in Chicago, the Indian media had a barrage of questions for the government about him, whose answers were slow in coming.
Among other questions, Indian investigators wanted the FBI to share its tapes of Headley's communications with his Pakistani handlers to match with the voices taped on cell phones during the 2008 Mumbai attacks
2008 Mumbai attacks
The 2008 Mumbai attacks were more than 10 coordinated shooting and bombing attacks across Mumbai, India's largest city, by Islamist attackers who came from Pakistan...
.
Following intense coverage and speculation in the Indian press, U.S. ambassador Timothy J. Roemer
Timothy J. Roemer
Timothy John "Tim" Roemer is an American political figure, who previously served as U.S. Ambassador to the Republic of India...
told reporters in New Delhi that the United States is working at the "highest level" to provide India access to Headley, even as it is passing along answers to questions in "real time".
News reports in October 2010 revealed that U.S. authorities had plenty of advance knowledge about David Headley's terrorist associations and activities. Headley's American and Moroccan wives had contacted American authorities in 2005 and 2007, respectively, complaining about his terrorist activities. The Moroccan wife told reporters that she had even shown the U.S. embassy in Islamabad photographs of their stay at the Taj Mahal hotel in Mumbai, warning them that he was doing something on behalf of Lashkar-e-Taiba.
Domestic criticism of Indian government
Since Headley's guilty plea, Home Minister P. Chidambaram was repeatedly asked why the U.S. cannot extradite Headley to India. Analysts in some media outlets have speculated that the United States conspired to have Headley work undercover despite knowledge that he was involved in terrorism.Interrogation of Headley by NIA in the US
In June 2010, US National Security Adviser James Jones announced that India's National Investigation AgencyNational Investigation Agency
National Investigation Agency is a federal agency approved by the Indian Government to combat terror in India. The agency is empowered to deal with terror related crimes across states without special permission from the states. The National Investigation Agency Bill 2008 to create the agency was...
(NIA) has been given access to Headley.
The investigation has confirmed that Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
terrorists carried out the Mumbai attack under the "guidance" of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
Inter-Services Intelligence
The Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence , is Pakistan's premier intelligence agency, responsible for providing critical national security intelligence assessment to the Government of Pakistan...
(ISI). He stated that the ISI was engaged with the Lashkar commanders responsible for the Mumbai carnage at each and every stage of the plot.
Further, Headley mentioned that Major Sameer Ali, Major Iqbal and Major Haroon Ashique, who are serving officers of the Pakistan Army, collaborated with the LeT.
Headley has also spoken of how post-26/11, ISI wanted LeT to disown the Mumbai attack in order to prevent global attention to the terror group, which Pakistan considers to be an important strategic asset to be used against India. With Ajmal Kasab
Ajmal Kasab
Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab is a Pakistani Islamic terrorist who was involved in the 2008 Mumbai attacks in India. Kasab is the only attacker captured alive by police and is currently in Indian custody. The Government of Pakistan initially denied that Kasab was from Pakistan, but in January 2009,...
as the only terrorist captured, ISI wanted to blame the terrorist act on al-Qaida. It even prepared a list of 4-5 al-Qaida figures who were to be projected as the conspirators. The plan, however, did not work due to resistance from Lashkar leaders, particularly Zakiur Rahman Lakhvi.
Headley also admitted that while he had started off as a Lashkar recruit, he started drifting towards Al Qaida under the influence of Major Abdul Rahman Saeed, who retired in 2002. Headley went high in the retired major's list because of precise inputs Headley provided for the 26/11 attack.
Saeed, with the help of Ilyas Kashmiri, drafted him for the plan to attack Danish newspaper Jylland Posten which published controversial cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. This, when Headley's original handler Sajid Mir wanted him to focus on Lashkar's anti-India mission.
Headley has claimed that Ishrat Jahan, thought to be a case of staged police "encounter killing", was a trained L-e-T suicide bomber.
Claims relating to 2010 Pune German Bakery blast
In relation to the 2010 Pune blast at the German bakery that injured at least 53 people and killed 15, of whom 4 were foreigners, Indian Home Secretary, G. K. PillaiGopal Krishna Pillai
Gopal Krishna Pillai or G. K. Pillai is an Indian Administrative Service officer and the former Home Secretary of India. He belongs to the Kerala cadre of the 1972 batch of I.A.S...
and the Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times
Hindustan Times is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded in 1924 with roots in the Indian independence movement of the period ....
referred to Headley. The Hindustan Times stated that Headley had visited Pune in July 2008 and March 2009 and referred to him as a Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba
Lashkar-e-Taiba – also transliterated as Lashkar-i-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyaba, Lashkar-e-Tayyiba, Lashkar-i-Taiba, Lashkar Taiba or LeT – is one of the largest and most active militant Islamist terrorist organizations in South Asia, operating mainly from Pakistan.It was founded by Hafiz Muhammad...
member. The Hindustan Times also reported that the CCTV footage which has been accessed by the Investigating agency, can, as per The Hindustan Times, help solve the mystery. The Times of India has also reported similar reports, along with The Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph
The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
, The Hindu
The Hindu
The Hindu is an Indian English-language daily newspaper founded and continuously published in Chennai since 1878. According to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, it has a circulation of 1.46 million copies as of December 2009. The enterprise employed over 1,600 workers and gross income reached $40...
, The Pioneer and also Indian Express.
Review of the handling of Headley by U.S. authorities
The United States Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper Jr. conducted a review of slip-ups in handling Headley's involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. His report was shared with India's Union Home Ministry.See also
- Michael FintonMichael FintonMichael C. Finton, also known as Talib Islam , a convert to Islam and a part-time cook at a fish and chicken restaurant, attempted to bomb the Paul Findley Federal Building and the adjacent offices of Congressman Aaron Schock in downtown Springfield, Illinois, on September 24, 2009...
, American convert to Islam, attempted September 2009 bombing of U.S. target with FBI agent he thought was al-Qaeda member - Sharif MobleySharif MobleySharif Mobley is a suspected al-Qaeda and al-Shabab member who was arrested in Yemen in March 2010 by counter-terrorism officers following a shooting in which he was allegedly the perpetrator. Mobley had moved to Yemen two years prior...
, American suspected al-Qaeda member, arrested in Yemen in 2010 and suspected of killing guard in escape attempt - Faisal ShahzadFaisal ShahzadFaisal Shahzad is a Pakistani American who attempted the May 1, 2010, Times Square car bombing. On , 2010, in Federal District Court in Manhattan he confessed to 10 counts arising from the bombing attempt...
, Muslim Pakistani-American who confessed to the 2010 Times Square car bomb attempt - Aafia SiddiquiAafia SiddiquiAafia Siddiqui is an American-educated Pakistani cognitive neuroscientist who was convicted of assault with intent to murder her U.S. interrogators in Afghanistan. The charges carried a maximum sentence of life in prison; in September 2010, she was sentenced by a United States district court to 86...
, alleged al-Qaeda member, former U.S. resident, convicted in 2010 of attempting to kill U.S. personnel - Bryant Neal VinasBryant Neal VinasBryant Neal Vinas is a Hispanic Muslim American convicted of participating in and supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S....
, American convert to Islam, convicted in 2009 of participating in/supporting Al-Qaeda plots in Afghanistan and the U.S. - Najibullah ZaziNajibullah ZaziNajibullah Zazi is an Afghan-American who was arrested in September 2009 as part of the 2009 U.S. Al Qaeda group accused of planning suicide bombings on the New York City subway system, and has pled guilty as have two other defendants. U.S...
, al-Qaeda member, U.S. resident, pleaded guilty in 2010 of planning suicide bombings on New York City subway system - Detention of five Americans in Pakistan (Dec. 2009)
- Naser Jason AbdoNaser Jason AbdoNaser Jason Abdo is a Muslim US Army Private First Class who is currently being held without bond for possession of an unregistered firearm and allegedly planning to attack a restaurant frequented by soldiers from Fort Hood.-Early life:Abdo grew up in Garland, Texas and attended Richardson Terrace...
Allegedly attempted to bomb a Fort Hood restaurant in 2011. - Nidal Malik HasanNidal Malik HasanNidal Malik Hasan, USA is a United States Army officer and sole suspect in the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood shooting, which occurred less than a month before he would have deployed to Afghanistan....
American Fort Hood shooter; 2009 - Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
American born Islamist cleric.
External links
- A Perfect Terrorist from Frontline and ProPublicaProPublicaProPublica is a non-profit corporation based in New York City. It describes itself as an independent non-profit newsroom that produces investigative journalism in the public interest. In 2010 it became the first online news source to win a Pulitzer Prize, for a piece written by one of its...
- originally aired November 22, 2011 - The Case of David Headley: Pakistani American DEA Informant at Center of 2008 Mumbai Attacks - video report by Democracy Now!Democracy Now!Democracy Now! and its staff have received several journalism awards, including the Gracie Award from American Women in Radio & Television; the George Polk Award for its 1998 radio documentary Drilling and Killing: Chevron and Nigeria's Oil Dictatorship, on the Chevron Corporation and the deaths of...