News Blog

Rewards for Justice Program Offers $5 Million for al Shabaab Terrorists

The State Department’s Rewards for Justice program is offering up to $5 million each for information on al Shabaab terrorists Omar Shafik Hammami (left) and Jehad Serwan Mostafa.

A reward of up to $5 million each for information leading to the apprehension or conviction of two American citizens on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list was announced today by the U.S. Department of State’s Rewards for Justice program.

Omar Shafik Hammami and Jehad Serwan Mostafa moved to Somalia in 2006 to join al Shabaab, the Somalia-based, al Qaeda-affiliated terrorist organization. Both are wanted for conspiracy to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, which includes their significant contributions to al Shabaab’s media and military activities. Both men are currently believed to be in Somalia.

Anyone with information about these individuals should contact the Rewards for Justice office in one of the following ways:

• www.rewardsforjustice.net
• RFJ@state.gov
• 1-800-877-3927
• Rewards for Justice, Washington, D.C., 20520-0303, USA
  

All information will be kept strictly confidential.

Since its inception in 1984, the Rewards for Justice program has paid in excess of $125 million to more than 80 people who provided actionable information that put terrorists behind bars or prevented acts of terrorism worldwide.

- Hammami: FBI wanted poster | Rewards for Justice poster
- Mostafa: FBI wanted poster | Rewards for Justice poster
- FBI Most Wanted Terrorists page
- Wanted by the FBI podcast

$5 Million Reward Offered for Stolen Gardner Museum Artwork

An empty frame in the Dutch Room of the Gardner Museum, where Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee and A Lady and Gentleman in Black once hung.

On March 18, 1990, two men disguised as police officers gained access to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Once inside, they tied up the security guards and proceeded to steal 13 objects, including rare paintings by Rembrandt, Degas, and Vermeer, valued at approximately $500 million. The case represents the largest property crime in U.S. history.

At a press conference this afternoon in Boston on the 23rd anniversary of the theft, officials hoped to get the attention of those who might have or know the whereabouts of the 13 stolen works of art—including rare paintings by Rembrandt and Vermeer—by publicly restating a $5 million reward.

For more information, including a story, press release, video, podcast, and gallery of the stolen art, visit www.fbi.gov/gardner.

Remembering ‘Deke’ DeLoach

Cartha “Deke” DeLoach, center, joins FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover and Roy Moore, special agent in charge of the Jackson Field Office, during a ceremony in Jackson, Mississippi on July 10, 1964.

Special Agent Cartha “Deke” DeLoach, a trusted adviser to FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover who oversaw the investigation into the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and served as the Bureau’s liaison to President Lyndon B. Johnson after John F. Kennedy’s assassination in 1963, died Wednesday evening in South Carolina. He was 92.

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New Top Ten Fugitive Added to List

Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias has been added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

Edwin Ernesto Rivera Gracias, wanted for the murder of a 69-year-old Colorado man who was dumped on the side of the road after being brutally beaten and stabbed, has been named to the Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list.

A reward of up to $100,000 is being offered for information leading directly to the arrest of Rivera Gracias, who is a member of the violent Mara Salvatrucha gang—MS-13—and is believed to be in El Salvador.

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FBI Cyber Exec Testifies on 21st Century Threats

Deputy Assistant Director John Boles testifies.

John Boles, deputy assistant director of the FBI’s Cyber Division, spoke to the House Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security today on the nature of the current cyber threat, our response to it, and how we are using our resources and partnerships to combat it.

“We see four primary malicious actors in the cyber world: foreign intelligence services, terrorist groups, organized crime enterprises, and hacktivists,” said Boles. “With these diverse threats, we anticipate that cyber security may well become our highest priority in the years to come,” he added.

To help combat the threat—and especially to prevent attacks—the FBI launched the Next Generation Cyber Initiative last year, which allows for greater focus on intrusions, the hiring of additional computer scientists, the creation of Cyber Task Forces in each of our 56 field offices, and the expansion of partnerships—both within and outside of government.

While we are currently “engaging in an unprecedented level of intergovernmental collaboration,” Boles said, “today, the private sector is the essential partner if we are to succeed in defeating the cyber threat.”

Read Boles’ full testimony | The Cyber Threat: Planning for the Way Ahead

New FBI Headquarters Proposal Discussed at House Hearing

Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins testifies at hearing on new FBI Headquarters building proposal.

FBI Associate Deputy Director Kevin Perkins was on the Hill earlier today for a hearing regarding the proposal for a new consolidated FBI Headquarters building in the Washington, D.C. area.

Speaking to the House Subcommittee on Economic Development, Public Buildings, and Emergency Management, Perkins outlined how the FBI’s mission and organization have grown since the Bureau moved into the J. Edgar Hoover building on Pennsylvania Avenue in 1974. While the FBI “has adapted the use of the JEH building over time to increase efficiency,” Perkins said, “...despite these efforts, the FBI’s current Headquarters is obsolete, inefficient, and expensive.”

Citing the inability of the building to house the current Headquarters workforce as well its security and design deficiencies that were recently outlined in a public report, Perkins added, “We will continue to work with GSA and with Congress in order to identify and implement a solution that meets the FBI’s needs now and in the future.”

Read Perkins’ full testimony

Organized Retail Theft: Major Crime Ring Dismantled

When it comes to shoplifting, this was a serious and sophisticated operation.

It involved members of a criminal group waltzing into major U.S. retail stores and pharmacies and brazenly walking out with stolen products of all kinds, from medicine and baby formula to health and beauty supplies. Those products were then repackaged and sold at rock bottom prices to various wholesalers, who in some cases sold them right back to the companies they had been stolen from.

The criminal bottom line: an estimated $10 million worth of products were swiped every year from 2008 to 2012. But it all came to an end following a multi-agency investigation by the FBI and its partners, and earlier this month, one of the highest-ranking and most prolific fences in this Middle Eastern crime ring was convicted in federal court.

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Director Joins Senior Intel Officials at Senate Hearing on Global Threat Assessment

Director Mueller answers a question from the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence following Director of National Intelligence James Clapper’s testimony on the worldwide threat assessment.

Today, FBI Director Robert Mueller and other U.S. intelligence officials appeared before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence as Director of National Intelligence James Clapper testified regarding the intelligence community’s worldwide threat assessment.

Covering a wide range of topics—cyber, terrorism and transnational organized crime, WMD proliferation, counterintelligence, counterspace, natural resources, health and pandemic threats, mass atrocities, and threats broken down by region—Clapper illustrated “how quickly and radically the world and our threat environment are changing.”

He went on to emphasize the importance of sharing and integrating intelligence: “The intelligence community must continue to promote collaboration among experts in every field, from the political and social sciences to natural sciences, medicine, military issues, and space. Collectors and analysts need vision across disciplines to understand how and why developments—and both state and unaffiliated actors—can spark sudden changes with international implications.”

Following Clapper’s statement, the committee posed questions to the witness panel, which—along with Mueller and Clapper—included National Counterterrorism Center Director Matthew Olsen, CIA Director John Brennan, Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, and Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Philip Goldberg.

Read full text of Clapper’s statement (pdf)

Hostage Rescue Team, Part 5: Held to a Higher Standard

HRT operators participate in an urban assault training exercise.

The FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team was formed as a non-military counterterrorism tactical team to help safeguard the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles...though no one was certain the concept of a full-time tactical team would succeed once the games were over.

But three decades later, the team has proven its worth during hundreds of high-risk missions in every corner of the world—from the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in East Africa to deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan and the arrests of Top Ten fugitives and the D.C. snipers. They have achieved that success—through 27 generations of operators—because of the HRT’s rigorous selection process and the individuals who have what it takes to make the team. Here, a retired agent and first-generation HRT operator reflects on his experiences...

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Sixth Anniversary of Robert Levinson’s Disappearance in Iran

These images were e-mailed anonymously to Robert Levinson’s family in 2011.

This weekend marks the six-year anniversary of the disappearance of Robert Levinson, a retired FBI agent who gave 28 years of service to the U.S. government. On March 8, 2007, Mr. Levinson traveled to Kish Island, Iran as a private investigator. He has not been publicly seen or heard from since he went missing the following day on March 9, 2007.

“On this sixth anniversary of his disappearance, the FBI remains committed to bringing Bob home safely to his family,” said FBI Deputy Director Sean Joyce. “One year ago, we offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his safe return. That reward still remains unclaimed, and I again encourage anyone with information about Bob’s disappearance to contact us.”

- More information regarding Levinson, including photos, reward details, and video