LOS ANGELES, Dec 8: Federal agents searched a Boston-based Saudi-owned computer software firm looking for evidence that the company, which provides network software to key government agencies including the FBI, might have links to Osama bin Laden’s terror network.
Ptech Inc., is allegedly secretly owned by billionaire Qassin al-Kadi, one of 12 Saudi businessmen suspected of funnelling millions of dollars to Al Qaeda.
US government investigators told ABCNEWS there are fears that Al Qaeda may have had access to some of the government’s most closely-held secrets about agency computer systems through the company, which provided software for the FBI, the Navy, the Air Force and the agency that handles nuclear weapons security.
Customs agents told ABCNEWS they did not want to risk tipping off employees who might destroy records or activate a hidden computer virus.
The search was the result of a six-month-long, top-secret investigation by the Customs Service, coordinated by the National Security Council at the White House amid concerns that the company was secretly owned and controlled by Al Qaeda activists or sympathizers.
A White House official said that while the White House was informed, it did not play an active role in the probe.
The company’s Web site reveals a list of customers that is a who’s-who of sensitive government agencies, including the Naval Air Systems Command, NATO, the House of Representatives, and the Department of Energy, which handles security for nuclear weapons and material.
Experts said Ptech had easy access to the computer systems of those agencies and that a link to terror groups could signal a breakdown in national security.
“They (Ptech officials) know what kind of information is stored. They know what kind of equipment that information is stored on at a given branch,” said Robert Richardson, a security analyst with the Computer Security Institute. “They may even know something about the vulnerability of those systems.”
Director of Homeland Security, Tom Ridge, said the Ptech documents and files are not a threat to national security.
“The software in no way jeopardizes the security of our country, and we’ll leave it at that,” he said.
In a statement, Ptech said that the search was consensual and that the company had assisted and was cooperating with the investigation