The FBI is warning police nationwide to be alert for people carrying almanacs, cautioning that the popular reference books covering everything from abbreviations to weather trends could be used for terrorist planning.
In a bulletin sent Christmas Eve to about 18,000 police organizations, the FBI said terrorists may use almanacs "to assist with target selection and pre-operational planning." It urged officers to watch during searches, traffic stops and other investigations for anyone carrying almanacs, especially if the books are annotated in suspicious ways. "The practice of researching potential targets is consistent with known methods of al-Qaida and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning," the FBI wrote. (DOESN'T ANYONE QUESTION HOW OUT OF CONTROL THE WAR ON TERRORISM HAS BECOME?)
"For local law enforcement, it's just to help give them one more piece of information to raise their suspicions," said David Heyman, a terrorism expert for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies "It helps make sure one more bad guy doesn't get away from a traffic stop, maybe gives police a little bit more reason to follow up on this." (this is ludicrous, total B/S it's just another reason for police to search you under a made-up pretense)
How did almanacs suddenly come to be included among the tools of the terrorism trade? According to the FBI, their contents typically include "profiles of cities and states and information about waterways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, buildings and landmarks," often accompanied by photographs and maps. All of which would be consistent with "known methods of al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations that seek to maximize the likelihood of operational success through careful planning."
The FBI noted that use of almanacs or maps may be innocent, "the product of legitimate recreational or commercial activities." But it warned that when combined with suspicious behavior -- such as apparent surveillance -- a person with an almanac "may point to possible terrorist planning."
"Our almanac is about as far away as you can get from terrorism and about as close as you can get to what you would think of as Americana," said Peter Geiger, editor of the Farmers' Almanac.
"I don't think anyone would consider us a harmful entity," said Kevin Seabrooke, senior editor of the Old Farmers Almanac.
The publisher for The Old Farmers Almanac said terrorists would probably find statistical reference books more useful than the collections of Americana in his famous publication of weather predictions and witticisms.
"While we doubt that our editorial content would be of particular interest to people who would wish to do us harm, we will certainly cooperate to the fullest with national authorities at any level they deem appropriate," publisher John Pierce said.
The FBI said information typically found in almanacs that could be useful for terrorists includes profiles of cities and states and information about waterways, bridges, dams, reservoirs, tunnels, buildings and landmarks. It said this information is often accompanied by photographs and maps.
(authorities use the old standby: taking photos is a suspicious act. Does having or using a GPS make us terrorists? WAKE UP!)
http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/FBI-urges-police-to-watch-for-people-with-almanacs-2544495.php
http://fnk.ca/board/coffee-lounge/40056-fbi-urges-police-watch-people-carrying-books.html
http://seattletimes.com/html/nationworld/2001825885_almanac30.html
http://articles.philly.com/2004-01-06/news/25366258_1_almanacs-fbi-issues-terrorists
http://www.foxnews.com/story/2003/12/29/fbi-links-almanacs-with-terror-planning/
http://boingboing.net/2003/12/29/fbi-warns-of-terrori.html
In 2009 the FBI claimed an alleged terrorist Ali Al-Marri used an Almanac
"Ali Al-Marri agrees that the government would prove at trial that an almanac recovered in his residence was bookmarked at pages showing dams, waterways and tunnels in the United States, consistent with al Qaeda attack planning regarding the use of cyanide gases."
http://www.fbi.gov/springfield/press-releases/2009/si043009.htm