FBI receives Oahu
terrorism threat

A letter from a purported al-Qaida member
warns of an attack on a Navy base

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By Rod Antone
rantone@starbulletin.com

FBI and naval investigators are looking into a "highly questionable" letter that warns of a terrorist attack at a Honolulu Navy base in December.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service in Washington, D.C., warned local naval officials of the threat.

Navy officials had no comment and referred inquiries to the local FBI office.

According to an NCIS e-mail to top Navy officials at Pearl Harbor, the letter was sent to the Honolulu FBI office on Tuesday, from a "self-proclaimed former al-Qaida member." The letter had a postmark from Boulder, Colo.

The e-mail noted that the "veracity of such write-in threats are usually highly questionable" but that the credibility of the threat could not be determined without "additional investigation."

FBI officials in Honolulu were also limited in their response and would not discuss the contents of the letter.

"A letter was received," said FBI Agent Jim Stern. "The FBI Honolulu Joint Terrorism Task Force is investigating the matter. The task force will always investigate any letter or threat that relates to Hawaii in order to determine if it's legitimate or not."

When asked how often the FBI receives such letters, Stern said, "We do receive letters, and every one of them is taken seriously."