Author Topic: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine  (Read 9516 times)

MicroBalrog

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Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« on: February 11, 2009, 01:13:31 PM »
BELFAST, Maine — James G. Cummings, who police say was shot to death by his wife two months ago, allegedly had a cache of radioactive materials in his home suitable for building a “dirty bomb.”

According to an FBI field intelligence report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that posts leaked documents, an investigation into the case revealed that radioactive materials were removed from Cummings’ home after his shooting death on Dec. 9.

The report posted on the WikiLeaks Web site states that “On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased [person] James Cummings.”

The section referring to Cummings can be read here.

It says that four 1-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon were found in the home.

Also found was literature on how to build “dirty bombs” and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials. The FBI report also stated there was evidence linking James Cummings to white supremacist groups. This would seem to confirm observations by local tradesmen who worked at the Cummings home that he was an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler and had a collection of Nazi memorabilia around the house, including a prominently displayed flag with swastika. Cummings claimed to have pieces of Hitler’s personal silverware and place settings, painter Mike Robbins said a few days after the shooting.

An application for membership in the National Socialist Movement filled out by Cummings also was found in the residence, according to the report. Cummings’ wife, Amber B. Cummings, 31, told investigators that her husband spoke of “dirty bombs,” according to the report, and mixed chemicals in her kitchen sink. She allegedly told police that Cummings subjected her to years of mental, physical and sexual abuse. She also said that Cummings was “very upset” when Barack Obama was elected president.

A “dirty bomb” is a type of “radiological dispersal device” that combines a conventional explosive such as dynamite with radioactive material, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Web site. “Most RDDs would not release enough radiation to kill people or cause severe illness,” the NRC says, adding that “a dirty bomb is in no way similar to a nuclear weapon” because its effects occur in a very limited area compared to a nuclear explosion.

The report noted that “uranium, thorium, cesium-137, stontium-90 and cobalt-60 are radioactive isotopes and 35 percent hydrogen peroxide is a necessary precursor for the manufacture of peroxide-based explosives. Lithium metal, thermite and aluminum are materials used to sensitize and amplify the effects of explosives.”

The report stated that the uranium component was bought online from a U.S. company that was identified in the investigation, but not in the report.

John Donnelley, an agent at the FBI’s Boston office, declined Tuesday to comment on the report. Donnelley said some FBI reports are provided to law enforcement agencies and sometimes get released to media outlets.

“I wouldn’t be prepared to speak on that,” Donnelley said. “I have no comment.”

The Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center is an intelligence gathering office affiliated with Washington, D.C., law enforcement. Telephone and e-mail messages left with the center Tuesday were not returned.

State police have identified Amber Cummings as the person who shot James Cummings. The couple’s 9-year-old daughter was present the morning of the shooting in what police have described as a domestic violence homicide.

Amber Cummings, who is staying in the Belfast area, has not been charged in the case, although the Waldo County grand jury currently meeting in Belfast could take up the matter during its session this week. While state police have acknowledged that the 29-year-old Cummings was killed by a gunshot, the results of the autopsy have been impounded, as have the search warrants executed at Cummings’ High Street home following the shooting. Authorities spent days searching the home, according to neighbors.

Lt. Gary Wright, who heads up the Maine State Police Criminal Investigation Division team working the case, declined to comment on any aspects of the case when contacted Tuesday.

“We’re not going to comment on anything,” Wright said Tuesday evening. “It’s an open homicide investigation and we’re not going to comment. That’s our standard policy.”

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, also had no comment on the report. “This is an active, open homicide investigation,” he said Tuesday evening, “and as a result, it’s inappropriate to get into confirming or denying aspects of that.”

Maine Deputy Attorney General William Stokes also declined to comment on the report Tuesday.

David Farmer, spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci, said Tuesday that it was inappropriate for the governor to comment on an open investigation. When asked about the copy of the field report sent to him by the Bangor Daily News, he said, “At this point, I have been unable to confirm the authenticity of the documents you sent to us.”

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ staff said there was no one able to comment on the report Tuesday night.

Telephone messages left with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not returned Tuesday evening. Robbins, who worked on the house for a month last summer, described Cummings as an angry person who was verbally abusive to his wife. He said Cummings apparently was independently wealthy and did not work. Robbins said Cummings talked incessantly about his love of guns and his fascination for Hitler. He said Cummings repeatedly berated his wife about home-schooling their daughter. He said Cummings had a controlling personality and wanted to know his wife and child’s every move.

Cummings grew up in California and lived in Texas before moving to Maine in August 2007. Although Robbins said Cummings told him he made his money in Texas real estate, it appears that the actual source of his wealth was a trust fund established by his father, a prominent landowner in the Northern California city of Fort Bragg. An Internet search of the James B. Cummings Trust indicated that it has an annual income of $10 million.

The FBI field intelligence report was apparently first reported on by unattributable.com, an online magazine which covers and blogs on current events.

BDN writer Dawn Gagnon in Bangor contributed to this report.

http://bangornews.com/detail/99263.html

Micro sez:

And it wasn't even an Islamic terrorist. Had he lived for a month or two longer, we might have had a real problem on our hands.
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Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #1 on: February 11, 2009, 01:18:32 PM »
And for every one of these nuts, there's a dozen Islamists in a sleeper cell, I think.

This pales as a threat.

Jocassee

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #2 on: February 11, 2009, 01:22:48 PM »
It's worth mentioning that this is almost to the letter the same type of incident as described in EFAD. The difference, of course, is that it had not yet been carried out.

I am certainly not saying that this is a false or trumped-up charge, merely that events will influence Liberal Yankee opinion toward WASPs.
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Scout26

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #3 on: February 11, 2009, 01:29:33 PM »
Lesson learned.

Do not use the misses sink to mix the chemicals for your dirty bomb.
Some days even my lucky rocketship underpants won't help.


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AJ Dual

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #4 on: February 11, 2009, 01:29:57 PM »
He did not have the cesium-137, strontium-90 or the real bad-boy, the cobalt-60.

You can't get that from United Nuclear in the mail. He had unenriched uranium and thorium ore from them most likely. http://www.unitednuclear.com/high.htm  :rolleyes: You can poke around on BLM land out west with a geiger counter and dig up rocks like this on your own right out of the ground. He didn't have anything highly radioactive at all.

As to the other isotopes, unless he had white supremacist accomplices working at a food irradiation plant, or a reactor/lab that specializes in making industrial and medical radioactives, he was never going to get them.

The peroxide tells me he was working on making Acetone Peroxide http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone_peroxide

This guy was more of a *expletive deleted*bag working on the high end of the Walter Mitty scale who mistreated his wife.
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Nick1911

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #5 on: February 11, 2009, 01:30:40 PM »
This kind of crap will put an end to United Nuclear.

jackdanson

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #6 on: February 11, 2009, 01:37:39 PM »
Quote
And for every one of these nuts, there's a dozen Islamists in a sleeper cell, I think.

This pales as a threat.

How do you figure?  Source?

Not saying islamists aren't a threat, but it is my opinion that we are just as likely to be struck by a right wing or left wing extremist.  Oklahoma city anyone?  Atlanta olympics?  Unabomber?

Quote
This pales as a threat.

How does it "pale as a threat"?  I have a feeling if this had been found in an Islamic person's house you would be running around screaming "they're going to get us!!arghhhh!!!!"

Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #7 on: February 11, 2009, 01:40:54 PM »
How do you figure?  Source?

Not saying islamists aren't a threat, but it is my opinion that we are just as likely to be struck by a right wing or left wing extremist.  Oklahoma city anyone?  Atlanta olympics?  Unabomber?

9/11?

Let's see. One average-sized truck bomb, one pipe bomb, one nut in the woods.

3000 people, two 110-story landmark towers, (and an empty 40-something story one) four airliners, big hole in Pentagon.

Yeah, there's an equivalent ratio, alright.

jackdanson

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2009, 01:56:15 PM »
Quote
9/11?

Let's see. One average-sized truck bomb, one pipe bomb, one nut in the woods.

3000 people, two 110-story landmark towers, (and an empty 40-something story one) four airliners, big hole in Pentagon.

Yeah, there's an equivalent ratio, alright.

No, that has nothing to do with the number of terrorists or the number of "sleeper cells".  One incident does not a trend make.  I am speaking to the likeliehood of attack, not the "sucess level".  I would like to know exactly how you gained knowledge that there are 12 islamic terrorists for every one domestic terrorist.  The facts don't support that comment.  I stand by my statement that there is just as likely to be an attack by domestic terrorists as there is islamic terrorists.

I'm not, by any means, saying islamists aren't a threat.  I'm stating that ignoring the obvious threat from domestic terrorists is bad mojo.

MicroBalrog

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #9 on: February 11, 2009, 01:59:27 PM »
9/11 does not a trend make.
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Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #10 on: February 11, 2009, 02:35:35 PM »
9/11 does not a trend make.

Only because the Bush administration successfully prevented repeats of it for the last eight years.

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #11 on: February 11, 2009, 02:51:17 PM »
How about 2/93 + 9/11?  What does that equal? =D

(Answer:  jihad)
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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #12 on: February 11, 2009, 02:57:46 PM »
I agree Islamic radicals are a significant and on-going threat. But I do not understand dismissing other threats with a hand wave and a "Oh well they aren't Muslim so it's not a big deal."
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Standing Wolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #13 on: February 11, 2009, 03:13:23 PM »
Quote
This guy was more of a *expletive deleted*bag working on the high end of the Walter Mitty scale who mistreated his wife.

Well said, AJ!
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MicroBalrog

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #14 on: February 11, 2009, 03:27:05 PM »
Only because the Bush administration successfully prevented repeats of it for the last eight years.

And I have a tiger-repellent rock for you.
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Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #15 on: February 11, 2009, 03:28:17 PM »
I agree Islamic radicals are a significant and on-going threat. But I do not understand dismissing other threats with a hand wave and a "Oh well they aren't Muslim so it's not a big deal."

Nobody's dismissing them, but the threat of a few homegrown nutcase white supremacists is admittedly far less than that of massive international networks of Islamist extremists funded by oil money. That's all.

Backwoods bomb makers do not have the backing of Saudi oil sheiks, or the entire state of Iran...

Seenterman

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #16 on: February 11, 2009, 03:34:38 PM »
Quote
And for every one of these nuts, there's a dozen Islamists in a sleeper cell, I think.

This pales as a threat.

I belive his "I think" is the disclaimer for "I really have no idea" because if he had any proof what so ever to this the FBI would already be speaking to him. I dont know how a bombing "pales as a threat" maybe the Oklahoma city thing wasn't really that big of a deal after all.  ;/

I would consider domestic terrorists more of a threat than Islamic terrorist. Why you might ask is because domestic terrorists could sprout up anywhere, look like anyone, and do pretty much the same thing. Islamic terrorist are usally foeign born, that has to move into the country get a green card and then set up shop to do his evil deeds.

Seenterman

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #17 on: February 11, 2009, 03:50:41 PM »
Quote
Nobody's dismissing them, but the threat of a few homegrown nutcase white supremacists is admittedly far less than that of massive international networks of Islamist extremists funded by oil money. That's all.

Backwoods bomb makers do not have the backing of Saudi oil sheiks, or the entire state of Iran


Last I heard I though the CIA was saying that Al-Queda in Iraq was damn near crippled, they are still launching disorganized attacks again our troops, and bombings but is no where near pre 9/11 levels of orginization.

Keep in mind there are multiple break off groups of terrorists, and other independant groups that hate us, and our troops but I dont think it rises to the level of an "massive international networks of Islamist extremists".

The Saudi's are our allies last I checked, I think 9 of the 13 hijackers on 9/11 were Saudi, but not affiliated with their government. He'll Bush actually vacations with the Saudi Princes, heck look up his best friend Bandar Bin Sultan or "Bandar Bush".I doubt Iran is much of a threat to us since all intelligence reports state their still not nuclear capable. A threat to Isreal, YES. To us not really.

MicroBalrog

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #18 on: February 11, 2009, 04:03:17 PM »
Iran already fought America once. Remember how that ended up?
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Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #19 on: February 11, 2009, 04:03:31 PM »
I belive his "I think" is the disclaimer for "I really have no idea" because if he had any proof what so ever to this the FBI would already be speaking to him. I dont know how a bombing "pales as a threat" maybe the Oklahoma city thing wasn't really that big of a deal after all.  ;/

I would consider domestic terrorists more of a threat than Islamic terrorist. Why you might ask is because domestic terrorists could sprout up anywhere, look like anyone, and do pretty much the same thing. Islamic terrorist are usally foeign born, that has to move into the country get a green card and then set up shop to do his evil deeds.

What bombing? There was no bomb. And...um...wrong. Ever hear of recruitment and brainwashing? Going on in the UK especially, radical imams recruiting youth.

ilbob

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #20 on: February 11, 2009, 04:06:28 PM »
why do these people think that the best solution to terrorists of all persuasions is to pretend they do not exist?
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Seenterman

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #21 on: February 11, 2009, 04:10:28 PM »
Quote
What bombing? There was no bomb. And...um...wrong. Ever hear of recruitment and brainwashing? Going on in the UK especially, radical imams recruiting youth.

Umm, ok I'll play. He was assembeling parts for his EZ Bake Oven, and cup cake mix!

Umm yea and isn't that the UK not America!? They would still have to get here, get supplies, assemble said supplies, and then carry out an attack, there not going to teleport here with their bombs.

MicroBalrog

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #22 on: February 11, 2009, 04:10:58 PM »
Why do some people think that the only two options are to believe terrorists don't exist or to fear them as if they were The Biggest Threat to Civilized Humanity?
Destroy The Enemy in Hand-to-Hand Combat.

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Manedwolf

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #23 on: February 11, 2009, 04:13:16 PM »
Umm, ok I'll play. He was assembeling parts for his EZ Bake Oven, and cup cake mix!

Umm yea and isn't that the UK not America!? They would still have to get here, get supplies, assemble said supplies, and then carry out an attack, there not going to teleport here with their bombs.


Because nobody can make things like TATP...

...or fly a plane into a building. Oh, yeah! That's right. THEY DID.

Seenterman

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Re: Dirty Bomb plot uncovered in Maine
« Reply #24 on: February 11, 2009, 04:19:59 PM »
Quote
Because nobody can make things like TATP...
..or fly a plane into a building. Oh, yeah! That's right. THEY DID.

Because our Government produced the most epic intelligence failure EVER IN HISTORY.

"Bin Laden Determined to Strike America."

Can TATP be made in England, and somehow teleported to a NYC bridge or tunnel? Or would a human have to bring it? Have the terrorists recruited Hiro Nakamura!?!?!?!

Yea like anyone ever trying to do that again would succeed. (Plane thing)