Following the falafel trail

November 6, 2007

Tensions between the United States and Iran have been running high for quite a while. With lingering questions about Iran’s intentions on the minds of U.S. officials, it stands to reason that intelligence agencies would be doing everything possible to acquire as much information as possible.

But this very well might be the dumbest national-security exercise in quite a while. (via Laura Rozen and Christy Hardin Smith)

Like Hansel and Gretel hoping to follow their bread crumbs out of the forest, the FBI sifted through customer data collected by San Francisco-area grocery stores in 2005 and 2006, hoping that sales records of Middle Eastern food would lead to Iranian terrorists.

The idea was that a spike in, say, falafel sales, combined with other data, would lead to Iranian secret agents in the south San Francisco-San Jose area.

The brainchild of top FBI counterterrorism officials Phil Mudd and Willie T. Hulon, according to well-informed sources, the project didn’t last long. It was torpedoed by the head of the FBI’s criminal investigations division, Michael A. Mason, who argued that putting somebody on a terrorist list for what they ate was ridiculous — and possibly illegal.

In all sincerity, I’d assume this was some made-up story, possible a satirical item from The Onion, if it weren’t published by Congressional Quarterly, which is a pretty serious news outlet, and written by Jeff Stein, who is a very reliable reporter.

I’ve heard plenty of talk about data mining in recent years, but as a rule, the data doesn’t include falafel sales.

As ridiculous as it sounds, the groceries counting scheme is a measure of how desperate the FBI is to disrupt domestic terrorism plots.

The possibility of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in the United States has drawn major attention from the FBI because of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.

“Because of the heightened difficulties surrounding U.S.-Iranian relations, the FBI has increased its focus on Hezbollah,” Bresson said 16 months ago. “Those investigations relate particularly to the potential presence of Hezbollah members on U.S. soil.”

OK, but falafel sales? Seriously?

This looks like a job for Bill O’Reilly!

  • Holy Freakin’ Crap. Time to kill two birds with one stone: use cash only. You can (1) help undermine the credit card companies AND (2) thwart the data-miners. At the register, when they ask for your zip code, for “marketing purposes,” refuse.

  • of course, the fact that it would just as likely lead you to harass a small community of Iranian refugees who are there because they don’t like the current Iranian government seems to have never occurred to any of the brainiacs at BushCo.

  • “ridiculous — and possibly illegal”

    Forgive me but I think you stumbled on to the best description of our Iraq policy I have ever heard.

  • “The possibility of Iranian-sponsored terrorism in the United States has drawn major attention from the FBI because of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program.”

    Possibly, but I would say it’s obvious that any Iranian-sponsored domestic terrorism would draw an immediate military response from the U.S., which is almost certainly something Iran would like to avoid right now. The only other reason they might do such a thing is if we strike them first. I’d say these preparations say more about our intentions than about Iran’s.


  • …the groceries counting scheme is a measure of how desperate the FBI is to disrupt domestic terrorism plots.

    Or to better market the case for attacking Iran by scaring the base into believing the Iranians have infiltrated us and are plotting to attack us from within… using San Fransisco as their headquarters (of course).

  • “Domain management experiments”

    Doesn’t that sound lovely.

    They really want to apprehend people here who know about terrorist plots, right?

    Wrong.

    …three of these guys were seen on the morning of September 11, just after the first plane hit the North Tower, quote-unquote, “celebrating” on the New Jersey waterfront. Now, that’s — I put the quotes around that, because it comes from a FBI BOLO, or “be on lookout,” an alert that was put out regarding these men that day. The celebration apparently consisted of high-fiving, according to one FBI official, of holding up cigarette lighters, as if they’re at a rock concert. So, remember, the plane has just hit the tower, exploded in the tower, and these three men are behaving rather oddly.

    Later in the day, they were picked up. Two other men apparently joined them in a van. They were — the case was immediately handed over to FBI counterintelligence. The men were held for 71 days. They were repeatedly interrogated. They repeatedly failed lie detector tests. And then, after those 71 days was up, they were sent home, apparently under pressure or because of pressure brought by the Israeli government and by certain players in the US government. And the story sort of disappeared from there…

    …“We are Israeli. We are not your problem. Your problems are our problems. The Palestinians are the problem.”…

    …they actually told the FBI that the reason they were celebrating was because the attacks would be beneficial to Israel, that it was, quote, “a good thing for Israel” — that’s according to the FBI spokesman who spoke on the record about this…

    http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/08/1610254

  • so using that ‘discount’ card most grocery stores require to get the ‘absolute lowest’ prices isn’t just to allow the RNC to data-mine for voters…

  • Perhaps progressives could HELP the FBI by suggesting other lines of pursuit if this one doesn’t pan out. Maybe the excerpt below will help. We can suggest one ingredient at a time to help them succeed in their pursuit of terrorists within our own borders (despite Bush’s promise that if we fought them “over there”, we wouldn’t have to fight them “over here”) who are apparently revealing themselves by their grocery shopping habits.

    [From Wikipedia] The cuisine of Iran is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, as well as culinary traditions and styles, distinct to their regions. It includes a wide variety of foods ranging from chelow kabab (barg, koobideh, joojeh, shishleek, soltani, chenjeh), khoresht (stew that is served with white Basmati or Iranian rice: ghormeh sabzi, gheimeh, and others), aash (a thick soup), kookoo (vegetable omellettes), pollo (white rice alone or with addition of meat and/or vegetables and herbs, including loobia pollo, albaloo pollo, zereshk pollo, and others), and a diverse variety of salads, pastries, and drinks specific to different parts of Iran. The list of Persian recipes, appetizers and desserts is extensive.

    Herbs are used a lot, as is fruit from plums and pomegranates to quince, prunes, apricots, and raisins. The main Persian cuisines are combinations of rice with meat, chicken or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian spices such as saffron, diced limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.

    So the CIA should start with rice and see how many terrorists they can track down by spying on the sales of grocery stores, not just on the west coast. Why limit it to just one local area? Review the sales of every grocery store in the US. Then after success in this gastronomic terrorist roundup, maybe move on to pomegranates, cinnamon, and parsley to find those they missed before.

    Jesus Christ, our money is being spent on tracking down falafel purchases?

  • The only silver lining to this is if Bill O’Reilly is now on some terrorist watch list for his lust for falafel.

    This is exactly why normal everyday Americans should be very, very concerned about these government surveillance plans. When a couple of agents come up with some ill-conceived and capricious marker that they feel will net some terrorist suspects, ordinary Americans can become ensnared in their dragnet. Lord knows what purchases we have made at hardware, book or food stores that may have tagged any of us Americans as suspects because of some counter-terrorism theory about what terrorists are puchasing.

  • Anney said: “To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian spices such as saffron, diced limes, cinnamon , and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.”

    I can see the headlines now: “Massive FBI raids of Cinnabon outlets in search of terrorists”

  • But what if they hate falafels? I enjoy a falafel from time to time. Does this mean I’m being watched?

    “The main Persian cuisines are combinations of rice with meat, chicken or fish and some onion, vegetables, nuts, and herbs. To achieve a balanced taste, characteristic Persian spices such as saffron, diced limes, cinnamon, and parsley are mixed delicately and used in some special dishes.”

    Gee, sounds like pretty much any central Asian cuisine up to and including certain Chinese, Vietnamese or Thai foods.

    What does the FehBee guys do if it’s an Xtian nutjob? Follow the trail of Hoho wrappers and empty Budweiser cans?

  • Or to better market the case for attacking Iran by scaring the base into believing the Iranians have infiltrated us and are plotting to attack us from within… using San Fransisco as their headquarters (of course). -JTK

    Absolutely agree.

    This is the real danger of Kyl-Lieberman. We’ve heard Bush and Cheney beating the same war drums against Iran that they beat against Iraq. I knew back then they were full of baloney and Iraq was a distraction from Osama, but America, for the most part, all the way up to Hillary and Edwards bought it.

    Now I have that same sickening feeling again that we’re about ready to enter another costly distraction and that too many innocent lives will be wasted and agian, Hillary has bought into it.

    Of course, yesterday a Clinton supporter told me I was wrong for interpreting Kyl-Lieberman this way and that the surge was working, the Patriot act is a nifty tool, and I should have ‘666’ carved into my forehead, but I guess that’s the kind of support Hillary is counting on.

  • I just realized Iranian “terrorists” don’t cook — that’s women’s work in Persian culture. Man, you FBI agents are surveilling the wrong places. Use your noodle, dummies! Go check out restaurants that use ingredients found in Persian foods. Jeez, you guys can’t do ANYTHING right.

  • One stupid thought occurred to me.

    Will Bush go on alert faster if the memo read: “Falafel sales unexpectedly spike in SF” rather than “Bin Laden determined to attack US” ?

    Sadly, I suspect the answer will be Yes.

  • Former Dan

    An aside, here. Have you seen the recent resurgence of reports that the FBI has no evidence that bin Laden was responsible for 911? There IS evidence that he was involved in the first Trade Center bombings and he’s on the FBI wanted list for that crime, but not for 911.

    Now I’m wondering if the government even knows who actually WAS responsible for 911 at all. We’re told who the hijackers were but how does anyone know? No bodies were recovered from the disasters, and the hijackers’ names weren’t on the passenger lists. I’m really reluctant to go with the conspiracy theories bouncing around out there (though one of my son absolutely believes it was a US setup), but I certainly could believe that the Bush administration doesn’t know who did the awful deeds and just made up stuff to make everybody think they knew what they were doing. Maybe Bush knew Osama wasn’t involved and that’s why he had all those Saudis spirited away the next day.

    Anyway, there are lots of questions about 911 and bin Laden’s part in those hijackings.

  • San Francisco is accused of harboring terrorists. You just know the right has been looking for an excuse to bomb San Francisco. Heck, Hannity said as much!

  • Data-mining my own buying patterns indicate a fondness for Spanish peanuts, German beer & Irish whiskey; does this indicate then, that I’m for or against say, Asians?

  • Ah the BushAdmin. Where else can you find bigotry and incompetence wrapped up in a tidy bow?

    Has anyone else here read Jingo by Terry Pratchett? I wonder if the FBI is also look out for large piles of sand and stray camels.

  • Look, it doesn’t matter if you use cash or not, the store still knows it sold product, and where it sold it – and police can still question checkout clerks and store staff to get people’s descriptions.

    Discount cards could be used to track your purchases, but the fact that every purchase is recorded on video tape and register tape is far more damning.

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