The devices had suspicious-looking packaging, at least one had a timer easily bought for a few dollars online, and they were easily detected when mailed or delivered, experts said.
The images of two devices -- one found Monday at the home of billionaire investor and philanthropist George Soros and one package sent to CNN's New York office on Wednesday -- had the appearance of a real device that would cause serious bodily injury or death, said Ryan Morris, founder of Tripwire Operations Group, a company that provides explosives training to law enforcement and military officials.
"Whoever is doing this is just trying to elicit a fear or disrupt something," Morris said. "There are a multitude of more sophisticated methodologies that would have worked if they really wanted this to work."
"This was so basic. It's almost like the person that mailed these out ... wanted to be caught," James Gagliano, a CNN law enforcement analyst and a retired FBI supervisory special agent said, pointing to the excessive postage and tape on the packages.
"It just doesn't look like the signature of an experienced bomb maker -- somebody that knew what they were doing," he said of the device found at CNN.
The explosive device discovered at the Bedford, New York, home of Soros, a Democratic donor who is a subject of right-wing conspiracy theories, was put it the mailbox, according to a separate law enforcement source; it was not mailed.
The packages mailed Wednesday were in manila envelopes with bubble wrap interior, the FBI said. They were affixed with computer-printed address labels and six Forever stamps.
The Secret Service intercepted packages intended for Obama's Washington D.C. office and Clinton's home in Chappaqua, north of New York City.
The package sent to CNN's New York office in the Time Warner Center was delivered by courier, law enforcement sources told CNN. It was addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan.
In addition, sources said a suspicious package intended for California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters was intercepted at a congressional mail screening facility in Maryland.
Devices were rudimentary but functional
The FBI's counter terrorism investigators are leading this investigation into the devices, and are handling it as a domestic terror matter, which is the assumption based on the absence of other information, according to a law enforcement official.
The devices were rudimentary but functional.
"They're not very sophisticated but even an unsophisticated device can kill people," CNN's Evan Perez said on "The Lead with Jake Tapper."
The packages, including ones addressed to Clinton, Brennan and Obama, had a return address of "DEBBIE WASSERMAN SHULTZ" [sic] in Florida, the FBI said. Schultz is a Democratic congresswoman in Florida.
Excess postage, tape or binging and poorly written and misspelled words are signs the US Postal Service and government agencies look for to indicate suspicious packages.
The packages could have prematurely detonated in the mail or the with the courier, said Morris, a former bomb squad commander for the Penn State University police who is not involved in the investigation into the packages.
"There are too many ways in which it could get detected prior to getting to its destination," Morris said. If you're a bomb maker, you want to take it there, drop it off and leave, like in the Boston bombing."
Morris said he was able to recreate a device similar to the one sent to CNN in about 10 minutes. He used a similar timer that could be bought on Amazon for about $9. That device had red and black wires -- like in the movies, and the bomb maker didn't go to great lengths to disguise the device, Morris said.
"A bomb maker is going to fashion a container for the bomb to disguise it in such a way that it's not readily found," Morris said.
No comments:
Post a Comment