Detroit suspect watched since 2006

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LONDON – Detroit bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was identified for his extreme views as early as 2006, but MI5, the Security Service in Britain, was ordered by its legal advisers not to provide that information to U.S. intelligence, according to a report from Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin.

Director-general Jonathan Evans was told by MI5's top attorney that to pass on details about "a mere suspect" could have "jeopardized his human rights and privacy."

At that time, MI5's counter-terrorism division listed Abdulmutallab as "a suspect holding radical views." There are more than 4,000 such listings of persons having radical views on MI5 computers.

It was only days after the Christmas Day near-successful attack on a Detroit-bound jet that a search of those computers revealed that Abdulmutallab was more than only a "person of interest" to the Security Service.

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Only then was his name transferred to a smaller category reserved on MI5 computers for "violent extremists."

It has now emerged that after a meeting with Evans, described as "short and sharp," the service's legal adviser agreed that the full MI5 file on Abdulmutallab should be sent over a high-security computer to Washington.

The information includes details that MI5's counter-terrorism department had picked up during "multiple communications between the 23-year-old Nigerian and suspected terrorists in Britain."

The interceptions were made by the Watchers – the service's surveillance experts. Among the Watchers' interceptions were the bomber's phone conversations with Pakistanis, Tunisians, Moroccans and Algerians – all united in a common hatred of the West.

They also had trailed Abdulmutallab to various meetings after he attended Friday prayers in London mosques.

The file opened on the Nigerian included a copy of an al-Qaida tactical manual. Inside was a handwritten note, "to be used when recruiting at universities."

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