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| By John Cook CBS News Washington Bureau Chief Was an FBI Snitch
According to an FBI memo obtained by the Center, a nameless ABC News journalist contacted the FBI on the evening of the bombing to pass along information he had heard from a source: That the "bombing was sponsored by the Iraqi Special Services" and that two more attacks in Los Angeles and Houston were imminent. The Center didn't name the informant, but we've learned he was Christopher Isham, who is now a vice president at CBS News and the network's Washington bureau chief. Isham's tip was of course not true, and ABC News never reported it. But the FBI found him useful enough to open an informant file on him, and circled back a year later to ask who his or her source was. Astonishingly, Isham gave him up:
That is, needless to say, a strict no-no, assuming Cannistrano provided the information off the record. Cannistraro told the Center he was "surprised that an ABC journalist had contacted the FBI and relayed the information, in part because it had not been corroborated and was just a rumor passing through Saudi circles." In the end, it didn't matter, as Cannistraro had independently gone to the FBI with the same information on the night of the bombing. The documents don't show any more contacts between the feds and the informant, but they do show that "he or she was still being vetted for suitability as a snitch after providing 'highly accurate and reliable information in the past,'" according to the Center. ABC News told the Center that the staffer in question no longer works for the network, and multiple knowledgeable sources have told Gawker that Isham is the rat. Isham was at ABC News from 1978 to 2007, meaning he'd been at ABC News for 17 years in 1995—matching the FBI's description of him at the time as "a senior official employed by ABC News for over 15 years." He ran the investigative unit at ABC News, putting him in regular contact with counterterrorism officials. In 1998, according to his CBS News bio, he organized the first network interview with Osama bin Laden. And his relationship with the FBI went beyond the professional: He was "close friends" with former FBI counterterrorism chief John O'Neill, according to this interview Isham gave to Frontline. (O'Neill was killed in the World Trade Center on 9/11.) Isham, reached by cell phone, declined to comment and referred questions to a CBS News spokeswoman, who said only: "This is a matter for ABC News." Cannistraro did not respond to email and phone messages. UPDATE: Cannistraro returned our call. He has no direct recollection of whom he talked to at ABC News about the Iraq rumor, so he can't confirm it was Isham. "I don't know if it was Chris or not," he says. "When I got the information, I immediately told the FBI. But I was working for ABC News as an independent contractor, so I'm sure I must have passed it on to them after. What I didn't know was that they'd be passing it on the FBI themselves." It bears noting that it is a reporter's job to talk to sources, and since one-way conversations can get pretty boring and useless, information inevitably gets traded. Indeed, one way any good reporter would check out a tip about Iraqi involvement in Oklahoma City would be to run it by an FBI source. What's more unusual is to submit to an interview one year later, for agents in the middle of a criminal investigation, and to reveal your sources of information. That sort of cooperation is the kind of thing that can get an informant file opened on you. Here's what CBS News had to say about the Isham affair, before it knew that Isham was involved:
The Oklahoma City case wasn't the only time Isham ran into the shady territory between covering law enforcement and aiding it. After he produced the bin Laden interview, according to Frontline, his pal O'Neill asked to see the unedited version. Isham demurred, citing ABC News policy against sharing unedited footage with the government. But after O'Neill persisted, Isham got the bright idea to put the whole interview online, elegantly dodging the issue. "It's something that we often have to fight as journalists," Isham explained to Frontline, "to convince people that we are not connected and not working for a law enforcement organization or an intelligence organization." [Photo of Oklahoma City via AP. Photo of Isham via CBS] 
| April 5th, 2011 Top Stories |
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The Daily Beast - The Afternoon Scoop - April 5, 2011
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CHEAT SHEET
MUST READS FROM ALL OVER
RANKINGS
1. States That Sponge the Most Tax Dollars
As Democrats and Republicans battle over the budget, The Daily Beast
crunches the numbers to see which states take more from D.C. than they
send back—and which states get shortchanged.
Read it at The Daily Beast:
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/dail1
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SHUTDOWN SHOWDOWN
2. Dems to Oppose Budget Stopgap
Frantic negotiations in Washington still haven't yielded a budget deal.
A meeting at the White House provided a good discussion but didn't
result in an agreement, Speaker John Boehner said after the meeting
Tuesday. Meanwhile, House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) says his side
will oppose a continuing resolution, a stopgap measure that would
prevent a shutdown while negotiations continued. Both Republicans and
Democrats have previously said they wouldn't accept another
stopgap—there have been several already—but GOP spending hawks have been
pushing a continuing resolution that would fund the government for a
week and the Pentagon through late September while cutting spending by
$12 billion.
Read it at The Washington Post:
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/dail2
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Click here for more of the Cheat Sheet at The Daily Beast:
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/cs
IVORY COAST
France: Gbagbo Near Surrender
Ceasefire talks under way.
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/cht3
LIBYA
Hague Court: Gaddafi Planned Civilian Killings
ICC could seek warrants in May.
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/cht4
HACKING
Two News of the World Journalists Arrested
For "unlawful interception of voicemail messages."
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/cht5
REPRIEVE
Supreme Court Blocks Execution
Texas would have used controversial new chemicals.
http://e.thedailybeast.com/a/tBNm28OB7SwhTB8aGstNsjV9oyt/cht6
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The Center for Public Integrity is reporting that an unnamed former ABC News journalist was an FBI informant during and after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, passing along tips and revealing a source. We know who it is.
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