FBI Investigates Message Warning

by Chris Griffith
The Courier Mail [Brisbane, Australia newspaper]
November 20, 2001

The FBI is investigating text messages warning of catastrophe sent to two Israeli workers two hours before the first Twin Tower attack on September 11.

The investigation follows confirmation by Odigo, an instant messaging service in US with a branch in Israel, that two of its workers received the warning message about the attacks. Details were passed to Israeli intelligence services and the FBI, and the company was co-operating in trying to find the sender, who was unknown to the workers.

Odigo president Micha Macover yesterday would not comment on the investigation, but he confirmed to The Courier-Mail that a report of the incident in the Israeli publication Ha'Aretz was authentic.

It appears Odigo did not contact authorities until immediately after the World Trade Centre attack.

Yesterday in Washington, the FBI said it was not its policy to confirm a specific investigation, but a spokesman said the FBI was investigating all material linked to the September 11 attacks.

"If that information was received, it would have been investigated to the fullest extent," he said.

He said the FBI had received 400,000 leads from the public.

It is understood the messages did not specifically name the World Trade Centre towers. Mr Macover told Ha'Aretz he had no idea why the message was sent and the two workers did not know the sender.

"It may just have been someone joking and (it) turned out they accidentally got it right," he said.

"I don't know if our information was useful in any of the arrests the FBI has made."

Odigo is a New York-based company with offices in Israel.

Copyright 2001 Nationwide News Pty Limited

FAIR USE NOTICE: This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of criminal justice, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.