{
  "id": "2002-february-tracking-a-suspect",
  "slug": "2002-february-tracking-a-suspect",
  "url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-february-tracking-a-suspect.html",
  "year": 2002,
  "month": "February",
  "monthNum": 2,
  "headline": "Tracking a suspect",
  "kicker": "SPOTLIGHT: TERRORISM",
  "author_name": "Phil Williams",
  "author_title": "",
  "affiliation": "WTVF-TV",
  "summary": "A journalist uses computer-assisted reporting techniques, including databases and online searches, to investigate a potential terrorist suspect with connections to Nashville and discover security lapses at the airport.",
  "keywords": [
    "investigation",
    "database",
    "security"
  ],
  "topics": [
    "Investigative Methods",
    "Public Safety",
    "Technology"
  ],
  "technologies": [
    "Windows",
    "Google",
    "AutoTrack",
    "IRE-L",
    "anywho.com",
    "landings.com"
  ],
  "full_text": "Tracking a suspect\n\nIt was a phone call that brought an amusing reminder of the value of computer-assisted reporting.\n\nFor days, my photographer and I had been chasing down leads and reporting on a possible terrorist suspect who had operated in and out of the Nashville area. So, when the cell phone rang, we thought it might be someone with new information.\n\nInstead, it was an investigator with a top law enforcement agency who had a question for us: Where were we getting our information?\n\nIn fact, in the days following the Sept. 11th terrorist attack, I would be repeatedly reminded of how many doors - or, should I say, Windows-have been opened by these CAR techniques.\n\nRight after the attack, our first quick-turn investigation focused on the company in charge of security at Nashville International Airport. Argenbright Security also held contracts at the airports in Boston, Washington and Newark used by the terrorists.\n\nA quick Google search pulled up years of news stories documenting the company's long history of security lapses. Combined with information that Tennessee regulators had caught the company using a security guard with a criminal history, we had our first story on the company's lackluster reputation.\n\nQuestions about Argenbright's background aside, that story still didn't answer the question about how well or poorly the company had actually performed at our airport.\n\nSlicing the data\n\nTo get at that question, I downloaded the Federal Aviation Administration's enforcement database from NICAR and immediately sliced out only the data dealing with security violations at Nashville International Airport.\n\nIn analyzing the results and comparing notes with other NICARians, it became clear that there was lots of information that could easily be misinterpreted. That was especially true, given the FAA's refusal to help interpret the data.\n\nFor example, I pulled out the raw number of \"security violations\" at the airport. But many were cases where individuals were caught with weapons and other contraband. In fact, those violations might be an indicator of good security.\n\nSo, I decided to focus on a narrow snapshot - violations where security personnel had failed to detect weapons. The result was a story that the security forces had repeatedly flunked tests involving handguns, hand grenades and dynamite bombs.\n\nFinding people\n\nOver the coming days, we would use AutoTrack to background individuals whose names emerged as possible suspects.\n\nBut the most interesting development came from a post to the IRE-L listserv by an international colleague. The post was a list of 370 individuals with possible terrorist ties that Finnish banking authorities had inadvertently released.\n\nOne of those names, Khaled Alzeedi, had a Tennessee address and phone number, as well as an e-mail address for a company at zidiaviation.com.\n\nA quick search of anywho.com linked the address to an aircraft sales company in nearby Clarksville, Tenn. The phone number belonged to a Hilton Suites in downtown Nashville.\n\nFrom computer-assisted reporting to plain gumshoe work, we discovered that the Saudi pilot had come to Tennessee in August to buy two Tampico aircraft that would be used to train pilots. Hotel workers recalled that he had claimed to be an Iranian diplomat, and restaurant employees insisted he had been back since the Sept. 11 attacks.\n\nKeep searching\n\nWith each new development, I returned to the computer to conduct new searches to see where those threads might lead.\n\nFor example, a search of aircraft registrations at landings.com confirmed that two Tampicos had been registered to Zidi Aviation in mid-August. Then, with those tail numbers, I went to the Web site for the aircraft sales company and discovered the sale information for the two aircraft - and photos of the actual planes!\n\nAnother Google search for Zidi Aviation led to the discovery that the company had been an authorized distributor for flight simulation software manufactured by Jeppesen, a Boeing subsidiary. A Jeppesen attorney refused to comment on the relationship with Zidi, saying she couldn't discuss \"anything related to terrorism.\"\n\nI also came across a reference for another Zidi Aviation e-mail address at zidinet.com. But the Web page for zidinet.com was nothing more than white type on a black screen, with no links. Our Webmaster suggested that I try a bit of simple hacking and add a \"/images\" to the URL. Then - Voila! - that led to a prototype Web page that showed pilots training to fly jumbo jetliners.\n\nLocal police followed our stories, but they reported back to me that they had checked with the local FBI office, and agents insisted they were not looking for Alzeedi. That had other media virtually ignoring our reporting.\n\nSo, it came as a relief when The Associated Press, following up on our stories, got confirmation from an assistant FBI director that the agency was indeed searching for Alzeedi.\n\nPhil Williams can be reached by e-mail at pwilliams@newschannel5.com",
  "provenance": {
    "extracted_by": "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4-6",
    "extracted_at": "2026-07-05",
    "verified": true
  },
  "similar": [
    {
      "slug": "2002-february-security-problems",
      "score": 0.37
    },
    {
      "slug": "2002-february-poor-airport-security",
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      "score": 0.248
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  ],
  "html_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-february-tracking-a-suspect.html",
  "json_url": "https://dwillis.github.io/uplink/article/2002-february-tracking-a-suspect.json"
}