Man Who Conned the Pentagon

Biff Starbuck

Critical Thinker
Biff Starbuck
Joined
Jan 28, 2007
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Has anyone else read the article published in Playboy about Dennis Montgomery, who is accused of making up a fake software that he claimed could decipher secret al Qaeda attack messages hidden in al Jazeera signals? Apparently he made it all up, faked demonstrations, and refused to share his methodology. Yet the government paid for the information and acted on it. Only long after did the CIA let their science and technology division check on the claims and find them fraudulent. But in the hush-hush world of classified government contracts, they didn't warn anyone or shut down the business, so several other government agencies ended up paying millions more over the past 6 years to this con artist.

This excerpt is a bit long, but a great teaser for the entire story which is pages long. If you want a safe for work version not on the Playboy site, is copied on other sites like Michael Moore's: Article

The Man Who Conned The Pentagon
Aram Roston / Playboy
The weeks before Christmas brought no hint of terror. But by the afternoon of December 21, 2003, police stood guard in heavy assault gear on the streets of Manhattan. Fighter jets patrolled the skies. When a gift box was left on Fifth Avenue, it was labeled a suspicious package and 5,000 people in the Metropolitan Museum of Art were herded into the cold.

It was Code Orange. Americans first heard of it at a Sunday press conference in Washington, D.C. Weekend assignment editors sent their crews up Nebraska Avenue to the new Homeland Security offices, where DHS secretary Tom Ridge announced the terror alert. “There’s continued discussion,” he told reporters, “these are from credible sources—about near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experienced on September 11.” The New York Times reported that intelligence sources warned “about some unspecified but spectacular attack.”

The financial markets trembled. By Tuesday the panic had ratcheted up as the Associated Press reported threats to “power plants, dams and even oil facilities in Alaska.” The feds forced the cancellation of dozens of French, British and Mexican commercial “flights of interest” and pushed foreign governments to put armed air marshals on certain flights. Air France flight 68 was canceled, as was Air France flight 70. By Christmas the headline in the Los Angeles Times was "Six Flights Canceled as Signs of Terror Plot Point to L.A." Journalists speculated over the basis for these terror alerts. “Credible sources,” Ridge said. “Intelligence chatter,” said CNN.
But there were no real intercepts, no new informants, no increase in chatter. And the suspicious package turned out to contain a stuffed snowman. This was, instead, the beginning of a bizarre scam. Behind that terror alert, and a string of contracts and intrigue that continues to this date, there is one unlikely character.

The man’s name is Dennis Montgomery, a self-proclaimed scientist who said he could predict terrorist attacks. Operating with a small software development company, he apparently convinced the Bush White House, the CIA, the Air Force and other agencies that Al Jazeera—the Qatari-owned TV network—was unwittingly transmitting target data to Al Qaeda sleepers....
(page 1 of 10)
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Original article on Playboy, some NSFW images are on the margins.
http://www.playboy.com/articles/the-man-who-conned-the-pentagon-dennis-montgomery/index.html?page=1

This article shows the absolute need for the JREF to keep pushing critical thinking so future government officials will learn to ask the right questions before wasting millions of dollars, affecting millions of lives, and impacting the civil rights of the innocent based on the groundless claims of a con-artist.
 
The most brilliant thing that Hugh Hefner did with Playboy was to hire highly respected authors and journalist to write stories and articles for Playboy to giver "respectable" cover for people to buy it who normally would not be caught dead with waht used to be called a "girlie" magazine.
 
And, this is not the first time Playboy has had an article that covered a flaw in govenment intelligence involving the Pentagon.
 
I found the article on Gizmodo.com. I am amazed Playboy has survived VHS, DVD, and the Internet, so maybe the articles actually do keep a few subscribers.


I am still bothered by how long this guy was able to scam the US government. It was bad enough he did it in 2003, but at least that was in the wake of 9/11. His most recent contract with the Air Force was in early 2009! AFTER others of his scams had been detected! This guy was given a security clearance? And retained it despite his gambling addiction and absolute sketchy and criminal behavior? Doesn't the Agency have an OIG who could have pursued him for fraud in his contract with them? Did they just sweep it under the rug since it would embarrass the bosses who accepted the information blindly at first? The fact he was able to continue his crimes for so long is a disgrace.
 
Biff Starbuck said:
I found the article on Gizmodo.com. I am amazed Playboy has survived VHS, DVD, and the Internet, so maybe the articles actually do keep a few subscribers.


I am still bothered by how long this guy was able to scam the US government. It was bad enough he did it in 2003, but at least that was in the wake of 9/11. His most recent contract with the Air Force was in early 2009! AFTER others of his scams had been detected! This guy was given a security clearance? And retained it despite his gambling addiction and absolute sketchy and criminal behavior? Doesn't the Agency have an OIG who could have pursued him for fraud in his contract with them? Did they just sweep it under the rug since it would embarrass the bosses who accepted the information blindly at first? The fact he was able to continue his crimes for so long is a disgrace.
Click to expand...

This one mostly, I expect.

For some reason Defense procurement seems to be particularly rife with this sort of shenanigans. I suppose it's a combination of the staggering sums of money involved. the power and position of the people likely to be embarrassed, and the ability to play the "National Security" card when someone starts sniffing too close to the truth.

When I read about things like this I'm always reminded of the Navy MK14 torpedo fiasco which cost so many utterly needless lives at the beginning of WWII. In addition to needless deaths the careers of honorable officers were trashed for having the temerity to speak up.
 
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