Read article--The Crossroads of History: The Struggle against Jihad and Supremacist Ideologies

"....The true challenge of Islamic supremacism to America and the free world is not about Islam, Islamism, or terrorism, but about us.

It is a historic challenge to determine whether we truly have the courage of our convictions on equality and liberty and we are willing to fight for these ideals, or if we will instead accept the continuing growth of anti-freedom ideologies here and around the world...."

Counterintelligence Case

Name		Nada Nadim PROUTY aka Nada Nadim Alley aka Nada Nadim Deladurantaye aka Nada Nadim Al-Aouar or El-Alouar
Employer	CIA FBI
Dates of Employment	CIA: 13 February 2003 (official hire date; did not begin to work then) to 6 November 2007 (resigned) FBI: 21 April 1997 (official hire date) to summer 2003. Voluntarily left FBI to work for CIA
Employee Type	Staff Employee
Job Title/Duties	CIA Operations Officer: Midlevel operations officer in the National Clandestine Service; fluent in Arabic. The FBI became aware of her immigration fraud in December 2005 and the CIA moved her to a less sensitive post sometime after. Was in language training for Farsi. NBC News sources say Prouty had been assigned to Baghdad and participated in the debriefings of high-ranking al-Qaeda detainees. A former colleague called Prouty “among the best and the brightest” CIA officers in Baghdad. “Early on, she was an active agent in the debriefings,” said one former intelligence official. “It was more than translation.” New York Daily News source said, "She was not only good at debriefing HVTs [high-value targets], she was able to pose as a native Arab and easily blend in." FBI Special Agent: Worked at the Washington Field Office on a squad that investigated crimes against U.S. persons overseas. She did not work on cases involving Hizballah. Was acting legal attaché in Islamabad, Pakistan. Investigations worked on: 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, 2002 kidnapping of Brent Swan, a helicopter repairman who was kidnapped by separatists in Angola and released after his employer paid a ransom, 2002 assassination of U.S. AID diplomat Lawrence Foley in Jordan
Military Rank	n/a
Clearance Level	Top Secret/SCI; full background investigation and polygraph
	SPYING
Spying For	Hezbollah/Hizballah
Codename
Spying Dates
Co-conspirators	Brother-in-law Talal Khalil Chahine, sister Elfat El Aouar, Samar Khalil Nabbou and others
Methodology	In September 2000, Prouty, while employed as an FBI special agent, used the FBI's computerized Automated Case System (ACS), without authorization, to query her own name, her sister's name, and that of her brother-in-law, Talal Khalil Chahine. In addition, on or about June 4, 2003, FBI Special Agent Prouty accessed the FBI's ACS and obtained information from a national security investigation into Hizballah that was being conducted by the FBI's Detroit Field Office.
Possible Motivations, Problems
Finances	10 December 2004: Sold townhouse on Sutton Green Court for $435,000. 1 June 2004: Bought townhouse at 9630 Sutton Green Court, Vienna, VA for $385,000. 17 September 2001: Bought townhouse at 9910 Longford Court, Vienna, VA for $233,100. Owns a house with husband in Sacramento, CA
Identified/ Investigation	FBI became aware of compromise in December 2005. FBI spokesman Ken Kodak said Prouty passed a polygraph test before she was hired by the FBI, which conducted numerous interviews with her relatives and other associates in Beirut and the United States as part of her security background check. But she was not subjected to the more rigorous security screening that the FBI adopted after its 2001 arrest of turncoat Robert Hanssen, who spied for the Soviet Union and Russia over a 20-year period. "She had a complete, full investigation," Kodak said, referring to the FBI's background check on Prouty before she was hired. He added: "Obviously we have changed certain ways that we do our security clearances." The CIA largely relied on the FBI's security checks when they hired Prouty, according to a government official familiar with the case.
Arrest Date/Location	13 November 2007
Charges	Fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship, which she later used to gain employment at the FBI and CIA; accessing a federal computer system to unlawfully query information about her relatives and the terrorist organization Hizballah; and conspiracy to defraud the United States. Count one of the information charges conspiracy, for which the maximum penalty is five years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine. Count two charges unauthorized computer access, for which the maximum penalty is one year imprisonment and a $100,000 fine. Count three charges naturalization fraud, for which the maximum penalty is 10 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, and requires the court to de-naturalize the defendant.
Court	Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit, MI Investigating agencies: FBI and ICE, with assistance from the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, and the Internal Revenue Service.
Lawyers	Prosecution: Eric M. Straus, Chief of the National Security Unit Kenneth R. Chadwell, Assistant U.S. Attorney, from the U.S. Attorney's office for the Eastern District of Michigan Mark J. Jebson, Special Assistant U.S. Attorney and Senior Assistant Chief Counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Defense: Thomas W. Cranmer
Status	Sentenced 13 May 2008:            US Citizenship Revoked, Fine and Fees - $975 and No Jail Time 13 Nov 2007: Pled guilty to three counts Pursuant to the terms of her plea agreement, she has agreed to fully and truthfully cooperate with the CIA on any matters the CIA deems necessary to transition Prouty out of its employment in a manner consistent with safeguarding the national security of the United States. This cooperation includes participation in debriefing and polygraph interviews.
	BACKGROUND
Date/Place of Birth	1970, Lebanon
Citizenship	Lebanonese 24 June 1989: First entered US from Lebanon on a one-year, non-immigrant student visa 9 August 1990: Paid a US citizen to fraudulently marry her in order to stay in the US as a permanent resident 5 August 1994: Using a series of false and forged documents, Prouty was granted U.S. citizenship under the name “Nada Nadim Deladurantaye.” She used these false documents to obtain employment with the CIA and FBI. 1995: Obtained a US passport which she used to travel overseas.
Residences	current: 9910 Longford Court, Vienna, VA Also lived in: Lebanon; Taylor, MI; Berwick, PA; Alexandria, VA
Education	Bachelor's degree from Detroit College of Business; came here on a student visa from Lebanon Master's degree in Business Administration from Bloomsburg University, PA Prouty was listed as a newly licenced CPA by the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accounts and the Virginia Board of Accountancy. New CPA Licensees
Family	DCID 6/4: ADJUDICATIVE GUIDELINES FOR DETERMINING ELIGIBILITY FOR ACCESS TO CLASSIFIED INFORMATION Third Husband: Gordon Prouty, 40 years old; one pre-school daughter. According to New York Post sources and confirmed by the State Department, Gordon Prouty is a State Department employee who held "sensitive posts" at US embassies in Cairo, Egypt and transferred to Islamabad, Pakistan in 1999. He returned to the US in 2001. Nada met her husband while assigned to Yemen. Second husband: Andrew Alley, the brother of the owner of a medical clinic in Berwick, PA where she had worked as a receptionist while getting her masters degree. Met after Alley returned from serving in the US Marines during Operation Desert Storm. Married in 1995. Divorced in 2000. First "husband: Married on 9 August 1990. Prouty asked US citizen Chris Michael Deladurantaye to marry her in order to stay in the US as a permanent resident and later as a US citizen. She never lived with the Deladurantaye nor consummated the marriage but lived with her sister Elfat El lAouar and Ms. Samar Khalil Nabbouth in Taylor, Michigan. Deladurantaye's current wife said that he was 24 years old at the time, unemployed and living in a trailer with his buddies when someone introduced him to Prouty who proposed marriage so she could remain in the US. Prouty apparently failed to pay Deladurantaye the few hundred dollars she had promised him. In January 1995, Prouty divorced her fradulent "husband" Deladurantaye. [Normally in a background investigation, the investigator interviews all previous spouses.] Ms. Samar Khalil Nabbou (or Nabbouth), a fellow Lebanese in the US on a nonimmigrant visa whom Prouty lived with along with Prouty's sister, married Jean Paul Deladurantaye, the brother of Prouty's sham husband Chris, also in 1990, but never lived with him. As with Prouty, when Samar Khalil Nabbou became a naturalized US citizen, she divorced her sham husband. Nabbou, now known as Samar Khalil Nabbou Spinelli, is currently an officer with the US Marine Corps and is serving in Japan. She was listed as a reference by Prouty in her security paperwork when Prouty applied to the FBI. Nabbou-Spinelli is listed in the court documents on the Prouty case as an unindicted co-conspirator. Sisters: Elfat El Aouar. In August 2000 she married Talal Khalil Chahine, owner of La Shish chain of restaurants. They were indicted for tax evasion. Chahine skipped the country while she is doing 18 months in prison. Dr. Rula Nadim Al-Aouar. Charged with citizenship fraud in September 2007. Her family had paid Timojin Steven Pruett, a dishwasher, less than $1000 in order to remain in the US. She never lived with him. Brother-in-law: Talal Khalil Chahine. Owns La Shish Inc., a chain of Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit. Chahine wrote a letter for submission into Prouty's immigration file attesting to the validity of Prouty's false marriage. Chahine is currently a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon. He, along with Prouty's sister, Elfat El Aouar, and others were charged in 2006 in the Eastern District of Michigan with tax evasion in connection with a scheme to conceal more than $20 million in cash received by La Shish restaurants and to route funds to persons in Lebanon. In October 2007, Chahine was also charged in the Eastern District of Michigan, along with a senior ICE official in Detroit and others in a bribery and extortion conspiracy in which federal immigration benefits were allegedly awarded to illegal aliens in exchange for money. Nada Prouty's brother-in-law Talal Chahine sitting in a place of prominence to the right of Hezbollah Spiritual Leader Sheikh Modhammed Fadlallah, who issued the fatwa authorizing the Marine Corps barracks bombing of October 1983. At the time of the above photos, Prouty was a FBI Special Agent. August 2002: Prouty's sister, Elfat El Aouar, and her brother-in-law, Talal Khalil Chahine, attended a fundraising event in Lebanon where the keynote speakers were Chahine himself and Sheikh Muhammad Hussein Fadlallah. Chahine sat to the right of Fadlallah, a position of prominence in the Middle East, spoke from the same podium as Fadlallah, and conferred with him privately. Sheikh Fadlallah had previously been designated by the U.S. government as a specially designated global terrorist based upon his status as a leading ideological figure with Hizballah. Fadlallah issued the fatwa (religious ruling) authorizing the US Marine Corps barracks bombing that took place in Beirut on 23 October 1983. 299 military personnel and 6 civilians were killed. "What martyrdom is greater than making yourself a human bomb detonating it among the enemy?"--Sheikh Muhammad Fadlallah
Other Employment	May 1992 to April 1993; August to November 1994: Prouty worked as a waitress for Talal Khalil Chahine, owner of a chain of Middle Eastern restaurants in Detroit. Chahine is a fugitive currently wanted for a series of crimes, including concealing some $20 million in cash and sending money to Lebanon. Worked as a receptionist in a medical clinic in Berwick, PA while getting a MBA from Bloomsburg University.
Additional Bio	Debbie Schlussel reports that Prouty and her family are Druze, an Islamic sect. The family was active in Lebanon's Syrian National Socialist Party. Schlussel's Lebanese sources told her, "One of Prouty's and El-Aouar's relatives, Nidal El-Aouar trained in Syria, North Korea, and the-then Communist Soviet Union in booby-trapping cars for explosions on behalf of Syria. He was also involved in many roadside bombs."
	CASE RESOURCES
Documents	Former Employee of CIA and FBI Pleads Guilty To Conspiracy, Unauthorized Computer Access, and Naturalization Fraud.....(DOJ News Release, 13 Nov 2007)   Rule 11 Plea Agreement.....(USA v Nada Nadim Prouty)   Immigration Official One of Five Defendants Charged with Bribery, Extortion and Conspiracy .....Also charged in the Superseding Indictment was TALAL KHALIL CHAHINE, the owner of the La Shish restaurant chain. CHAHINE and ROY M. BAILEY were charged with conspiring to use BAILEY’s position at INS and at DHS-ICE to extort money from former employees of the La Shish restaurant business. In May of 2006, CHAHINE was charged in a separate investigation with criminal tax evasion. Since the time those charges were made public, CHAHINE has failed to return to the United States and is believed to be living as a fugitive in the country of Lebanon. The Superseding Indictment also charged BAILEY and CHAHINE, along with ARZOUNI and BAZZI, with conspiring to defraud the United States by obtaining immigration benefits, including permanent resident status, through the use of false marriages arranged with other La Shish employees who were U.S. citizens.....(DOJ News Release, 3 October 2007) Superseding Indictment returned against La Shish owner.......(DOJ News Release, 30 May 2007) First Superseding Indictment....(USA v Talal Khalil Chahine) Government's Written Proffer in Support of its Request for Detention Pending Trial.......(USA v Elfat El Aouar, 22 May 2006)   La Shish Financial Manager sentenced to 18 months in prison for tax evasion......(DOJ News Release, 15 May 2007   Rule 11 Plea Agreement......(USA v. Elfat El Aouar)   Government's Sentencing Memorandum.......(USA v. Elfat El Aouar) Owner and Financial Manager of "La Shish" restaurant are charged with tax evasion.....(DOJ News Release, 18 May 2006) Indictment......(USA v. Talal Khalil Chahine and Elfat El Aouar)
Quotes	"This case highlights the importance of conducting stringent and thorough background investigations. It's hard to imagine a greater threat than the situation where a foreign national uses fraud to attain citizenship and then, based on that fraud, insinuates herself into a sensitive position in the U.S. government."--U.S. Attorney Stephen J. Murphy "It is a sad day when one of our public servants breaches our security and trust. This defendant engaged in a pattern of deceit to secure U.S. citizenship, to gain employment in the intelligence community, and to obtain and exploit her access to sensitive counterterrorism intelligence. It is fitting that she now stands to lose both her citizenship and her liberty."--Assistant Attorney General Kenneth L. Wainstein "Nada Proudy's guilty plea should serve as a solemn warning to those who say they've pledged their allegiance to the United States and then make the conscious decision to place America's interests at risk. Becoming a naturalized U.S. citizen is an honor and a privilege. ICE will do everything in its power to see that those who achieve this honor by fraud and deception are brought to justice."--Brian M. Moskowitz, Special Agent in Charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Detroit. "This is a failure of three systems. It's a failure of the FBI background system, including polygraphs. It's a failure of the CIA hiring system, including polygraphs. And it's a failure of the FBI's computer system security, because she was able to obtain information that she shouldn't have had access to about Hezbollah, which she probably passed on to Hezbollah, a terrorist group."--Richard Clarke, former NSC official "I'm beginning to think it's possible that Hizbollah put a mole in our government. It's mind-blowing."--Richard Clarke, former NSC official "At its darkest, this is Hizballah working with a strong financial supporter in Dearborn who had the connections and prestige to insinuate his sister-in-law into sensitive positions--what could be better? I'm sure they were probably flabbergasted that they got away with it."--a government employee said in the Detroit Free-Press And the typical quotes from shocked neighbors: "She's a wonderful, doting mother. She's a loving, lovely, beautiful lady. I'm just shocked."--neighbor Sharon Sloane-Hornseth
Case Links	La Shish Restaurant Hezbollah (Global Security) Hezbollah (Wikipedia) Hezbollah ("Party of God:) (Discover the Networks)   Part of Hezbollah's Founding Statement says:   "We are an ummah linked to the Muslims of the whole world by the solid doctrinal and religious connection of Islam, whose message God wanted to be fulfilled by the Seal of the Prophets, i.e., Muhammad. Our behavior is dictated to us by legal principles laid down by the light of an overall political conception defined by the leading jurist (Ayatollah Khomeini)....As for our culture, it is based on the Holy Koran, the Sunna and the legal rulings of the faqih who is our source of imitation."   "We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world.  It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve. ... Our primary assumption in our fight against Israel states that the Zionist entity is aggressive from its inception, and built on lands wrested from their owners, at  the expense of the rights of the Muslim people. Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. We recognize no treaty with it, no cease fire, and no peace agreements, whether separate or consolidated. We vigorously condemn all plans for negotiation with Israel, and regard all negotiators as enemies, for the reason that such negotiation is nothing but the recognition of the legitimacy of the Zionist occupation of Palestine." Arab American Institute Foreign Terrorist Organizations (US Department of State) Hizballah (Party of God) aka Islamic Jihad Islamic Jihad Organization Revolutionary Justice Organization Organization of the Oppressed on Earth Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine Organization of Right Against Wrong Ansar Allah Followers of the Prophet Muhammed Description: Radical Shia group formed in Lebanon; dedicated to creation of Iranian-style Islamic republic in Lebanon and removal of all non-Islamic influences from the area. Strongly anti-West and anti-Israel. Closely allied with, and often directed by, Iran but may have conducted operations that were not approved by Tehran Activities: Known or suspected to have been involved in numerous anti-US terrorist attacks, including the suicide truck bombing of the US Embassy and US Marine barracks in Beirut in October 1983 and the US Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984. Elements of the group were responsible for the kidnapping and detention of US and other Western hostages in Lebanon. The group also attacked the Israeli Embassy in Argentina in 1992. Strength: Several thousand. Location/Area of Operation: Operates in the Bekaa Valley, the southern suburbs of Beirut, and southern Lebanon. Has established cells in Europe, Africa, South America, North America, and elsewhere. External Aid: Receives substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives, political, diplomatic, and organizational aid from Iran and Syria.

News Articles

Latest news at the bottom

La Shish Owner Indicted: Does Your Fave Mid-East Restaurant Fund Terror?

.........Most of the $16 mill came from other "activities." A Shia Muslim, who is a member of the Hezbollah mosque, Chahine was suspected of making his money from drug-dealing, and using his restaurants to launder the money. Relatives of his, got federal prison time for dealing and were believed to have taken the fall for him. His son, Khalil, was twice arrested for drug-related offenses. Not long ago, that same son, Khalil, was convicted of murder. He murdered Paul Hallis, a Maronite Christian Arab, for the crime of daring to become engaged to a Muslim woman--a woman who reportedly dated the younger Chahine AND his married brother-in-law, Ali El-Ozeir. Yes, there are Islamic honor killings in America. And FYI, prior to his jail stint for murder, Khalil Chahine was the youth leader at the Hezbollah mosque. Last year, the IRS raided La Shish for income tax evasion. It was known that Chahine sent a lot of his money back to Lebanon, where it was believed to fund Hezbollah terrorism. Sources say Chahine also was a loan shark to members of the Islamic community, in addition to the alleged drug dealing......(Debbie Schlussel, 18 May 2006)

La Shish owner, wife charged with tax evasion

The indictment alleges that Chahine and El Aouar collaborated to skim cash proceeds from the restaurants for the tax years 2000 through 2003. During those years it is alleged that La Shish Inc. kept a double set of computerized books, records and balance reports, one actual and one altered. The altered records reduced the amount of cash that was actually received by the restaurants. Chahine and El Aouar are accused of overseeing the maintenance of the double set of books, as well as skimming and concealing more than $16 million in cash received by the restaurants. To evade government scrutiny, authorities believ the extra money was converted into cashier's checks and reduced in physical size by changing small denominations into larger ones. These conversions were made for the purpose of transporting the cash outside the United States to Lebanon.....(Press & Guide, 21 May 2006)

Why the Feds Aren't Serious About Hezbollah's Restaurateur

The Hezbollah restaurateur, Talal Chahine--owner of the La Shish restaurant chain--was a keynote speaker along with the spiritual leader of Hezbollah (Sheikh Mohammed Fadlallah) at a Hezbollah event. But he and the predictable Islamo-fascists, CAIR's Dawud Walid and "former" terrorist Imad Hamad, claim there's no evidence he's connected with terrorists.....(Debbie Schlussel, 25 May 2006)

Aiding the Enemy

Why do the FBI, ICE, and the Justice Department continue to allow an obvious Hezbollah charity to continue to operate on our shores?.....(FrontPage, 25 Jul 06)

They're 100% American, and Pro-Hezbollah

A neon American flag flashes red, white and blue above La Shish East restaurant on Michigan Avenue. But what happened with some of the hefty profits from the Lebanese fare is anything but patriotic, federal prosecutors allege. Using a double set of books, the owner of La Shish chain of 15 restaurants evaded taxes while funneling some $20 million to the Lebanese militant force Hezbollah in recent years, according to an indictment returned in May. The restaurateur, Talal Chahine, has fled to Lebanon but denies wrongdoing. The case is one of several across the U.S. that link Americans with smuggling operations of illicit drugs, cigarettes and even baby formula and Viagra to profit Hezbollah--designated by the State Department as a terrorist organization......(Chicago Tribune, 27 Jul 06)

Dearborn, Michigan: Where Hezbollah Gets Its Laundry Done

Just last week in greater Dearborn there were two barely reported money laundering-related stories. First, Elfat El Aouar, the wife, or possibly former wife, of federal fugitive and LaShish restaurant owner Talal Chahine, pleaded guilty to helping Chahine hide restaurant revenues from the IRS when she was financial manager for the chain.The intended beneficiaries included Hezbollah. Chahine is believed hiding in southern Lebanon......(Dearborn Underground, 15 Dec 06)

LaShish: More Than Just a Restaurant, It's a Hezbollah Soap Opera

The Talal Chahine web has caught another victim, and it still isn’t Talal Chahine. Now Chahine’s sister-in-law, Dr. Rula Nadim Al-Aouar, is being charged in federal court with obtaining her citizenship fraudulently, because her family paid a man $1,000 to marry her in 1992. She never lived with the man, Timojin Steven Pruett, who was a dishwasher at the time (we can just guess where). He told the feds the couple never had marital contact beyond a brief kiss at the marriage ceremony......(Dearborn Underground, 6 Sept 07)

Sister-in-law of LaShish owner charged with fraud

Federal authorities on Wednesday charged the sister-in-law of LaShish Restaurants founder Talal Chahine with citizenship fraud, alleging her family paid a man to marry her but their closest contact was a kiss at the wedding. Dr. Rula Nadim Al-Aouar, 36, of Dearborn Heights is the sister of Elfat El Aouar, who in May was sentenced to 18 months in prison for helping her husband, Chahine, evade taxes by skimming millions of dollars in undeclared income from restaurant receipts. Chahine is a fugitive, believed to be living in Lebanon. Rula Al-Aouar, a Lebanon-born physician and former LaShish waitress, fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship in 2000, according to a criminal complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Detroit......(Detroit News, 6 Sep 07)

La Shish Owner Sought as Deadbeat Dad

......Talal Chahine dated the child’s mother, Wendy Whitelaw, while he “was between two marriages,” and the result was Aliyah, now 7. When Chahine absconded last year in advance of arrest for tax evasion and fraud, he apparently failed to make provisions to continue the $1800 monthly support and additional condo payments he agreed to pay his baby mama in lieu of court-ordered child support.....(Dearborn Underground, 22 Jan 07)

IRS raids La Shish owner

Defense says real killer fled, they'll appeal conviction of area restaurant owner's son

After a nearly three week trial, the son of LaShish Restaurant's founder was convicted Thursday, April 28, by a Wayne County Circuit Court jury of shooting and killing 22-year-old Paul Hallis last May in east Dearborn. Khalil Talal Chahine, 23, of Plymouth, was found guilty on three charges: second degree murder, felonious assault and felony firearm. His sentencing on May 13 will determine whether he will spend life in prison.....Chahine is the son of Talal Chahine, the founder and owner of the Metro-Detroit chain of LaShish restaurants, headquartered in Dearborn......(Press & Guide, 1 May 05)

Offender Profile: Khalil Tala Chahine

Son of restaurant chain's founder convicted of murder

The son of the founder of a popular chain of Middle Eastern restaurants was convicted of second-degree murder....(Detroit News, 30 Apr 05)

Details of shooting emerge at pre-trial

A preliminary examination for Khalil Chahine, the alleged shooter in a Warren Avenue killing, was held Wednesday in Dearborn's.....Chahine is the son of prominent restaurateur Talal Chahine, owner of the popular LaShish chain of eateries. The younger Chahine has a record of four prior arrests, two for drug-related offenses, one for a traffic offense and one for disturbing the peace.......(Press & Guide, 20 Jun 04)

Shooting victim succumbs

....Police have one man in custody but are still searching for Ali Abbas El-Ozeir in connection with the crime....(Press & Guide, 23 May 04)

Charges Issued in Dearborn Murder.....(Wayne County Prosecutors Office News Release, 21 May 04)

Detroit immigration official charged with bribery

A top immigration official in Detroit has been indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly accepting tens of thousands of dollars in bribes to release aliens who were facing deportation -- including two registered sex offenders -- and facilitating other immigration frauds. Two well-known Dearborn restaurant owners -- Talal Chahine of LaShish Restaurants and Samir Leon of Leon's Family Dining -- are also involved in the corruption scandal. Chahine, a fugitive, is charged in the indictment. Leon is not charged but is identified in the indictment as restaurant owner "Samir L.," who allegedly paid bribes to the immigration official. Roy M. Bailey, 54, of Romulus, who was assistant director for the Immigration and Naturalization Service field office in Detroit and director for detention and removal operations, is charged with accepting bribes, conspiracy to commit bribery, conspiracy to commit extortion by a public official, conspiracy to defraud the federal government and failing to report a felony.......(Detroit News, 2 Oct 07)

Fugitive La Shish owner charged in fraud scheme

The fugitive owner of a well-known metropolitan Detroit eatery has been indicted by a federal grand jury with conspiracy to commit extortion and fraud. The indictment, unsealed Tuesday, alleges Talil Khalil Chahine, 52, owner of La Shish restaurants, conspired to extort money from former employees of the La Shish restaurant. Also indicted is Roy Bailey, 54, of Romulus, a top Detroit immigration official with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who allegedly helped pull off the scheme.....(Press & Guide, 7 Oct 07)

Event focuses on defending Constitution

Preserving the U.S. Constitution was the theme Friday at the start of a national gathering in Detroit of Arab Americans and national politicians.....The Arab American Institute (AAI), which is nonpartisan and based in Washington, works to mobilize Arab-American voters. The conference was sponsored by several businesses, including DTE Energy and the La Shish restaurant chain....(Detroit Free Press, 27 Oct 07)

Arab Americans host hopefuls

.....“Until we have power politically, economically, we won’t be able to influence the agenda,” said Tarek Baydoun, 23, of Dearborn. “But we’re happy that candidates are coming to our community and seeking our support. The Arab American community is important—it’s growing and it’s not going away.” Baydoun was one of hundreds of Arab Americans and politicians from across the country who gathered at a Detroit hotel this weekend for a conference sponsored by the Arab American Institute. It ended Sunday with several speeches by Democratic candidates.....(Detroit Free Press, 29 Oct 07)

The Arab American Institute's Hezbollah Shish Kebabs

Ex-FBI Agent Pleads Guilty

On November 13, a Lebanese national named Nada Nadim Prouty admitted that she fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship, which she used to get a job with both the CIA and the FBI. While serving as an FBI agent, she also accessed FBI computer systems to get information about her family and about the international terrorist organization Hizballah. “We became aware of this compromise in December 2005 and moved to address any further damage,” said Willie T. Hulon, Executive Assistant Director of our National Security Branch........(FBI, 13 Nov 07)

Ex-FBI, CIA Worker Admits Taking Classified Information

A former FBI special agent and CIA analyst pleaded guilty Tuesday to using her database access privileges to search for information on relatives suspected of having ties to a reputed terrorist group, and who fraudulently obtained U.S. citizenship. In federal court in Detroit Tuesday, Lebanese national Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, pleaded guilty to secretly obtaining information about ongoing FBI national security investigations. She is suspected of passing it on to relatives suspected of having ties to Hezbollah, a group that the U.S. government has classified as a foreign terrorist organization.......(ABC News, 13 Nov 07)

C.I.A. Officer Pleads Guilty to Illegal Searches

A Lebanese-born C.I.A. officer who had previously worked as an F.B.I. agent pleaded guilty today to charges that she illegally sought classified information from government computers about the radical Islamic group Hezbollah. The defendant, Nada Nadim Prouty, who also confessed that she had obtained American citizenship fraudulently, faces up to 16 years in prison under the plea agreement, which appeared to expose grave flaws in the methods used by both the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct background checks on its investigators.....(New York Times, 13 Nov 07)

LaShish owner's sister-in-law infiltrated CIA, FBI, prosecutors say

An illegal alien with links to Hezbollah penetrated the Central Intelligence Agency and the FBI, federal prosecutors in Detroit said today. Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, of Vienna, Va., a sister-in-law of fugitive LaShish Restaurants owner Talal Chahine, pleaded guilty in federal court today to conspiracy to defraud the United States, unauthorized computer access, and naturalization fraud. According to an information unsealed today, Lebanese-born Prouty gained U.S. citizenship in 1994 through a fraudulent marriage, joined the FBI's Washington Field Office as special agent in 1999 and joined the CIA in June, 2003. She resigned her CIA post, described as "mid-level," last week, officials said.......(Detroit News, 13 Nov 07)

U.S. prosecutors: Illegal immigrant worked for FBI, CIA, stole info

The sister-in-law of the indicted fugitive owner of the La Shish restaurant chain got sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA, despite being an illegal immigrant, federal prosecutors said in court documents unsealed today in Detroit. The woman, Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, of Vienna, Va., also tapped into a sensitive FBI computer to find out what federal investigators knew about her, La Shish restaurant owner Talal Chahine, and her sister, who is married to Chahine. Prosecutors said she took an unknown quantity of classified information home with her. It’s unclear what happened, or what she did with the information, prosecutors said.....(Detroit Free Press, 13 Nov 07)

Prouty Case Shows Citizenship the "Keys to the Kingdom"

I do not know how many times I have made the point that United States citizenship represents the "Keys to the Kingdom." United States citizenship opens all sorts of doors to those who do not wish to share the "American Dream" but rather create a nightmare for our nation and our citizens. United States citizenship enables the alien who acquires United States citizenship to be able to work at any job he or she is qualified to do. It enables the person in question to be given security clearances that provide access to highly sensitive intelligence and enables such individuals to embed themselves in our nation and hide in plain sight among us......(Counterterrorism Blog, 13 Nov 07)

Former FBI, CIA Agent Pleads Guilty

A former agent for the FBI and CIA pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking a marriage to win U.S. citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies......(AP, 13 Nov 07)

Lebanese woman pleads guilty in U.S. security case

A Lebanese woman who worked for the CIA and FBI pleaded guilty on Tuesday to using government computers to gain information about the Hezbollah militant group and fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship, the Justice Department said......(Reuters, 13 Nov 07)
 

Federal Agent Pleads Guilty To Fraud

A former agent for the FBI and CIA with ties to the popular Detroit area Lebanese restaurant chain La Shish, pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking a marriage to win U.S. citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies.....(Detroit News Channel 4, 13 Nov 07) Video

Ex-FBI Agent Accused Of Security Breach

A former agent for the FBI and CIA pleaded guilty Tuesday to faking a marriage to win U.S. citizenship, clearing the way to being hired and given security clearances by the two intelligence agencies.....(CBS News, 13 Nov 07) video

LA SHEESH! FBI, CIA Duped by Ex-Waitress

The twisted investigation into the former owner of the La Shish restaurant chain has taken a stunning turn with the revelation that a former La Shish waitress became an FBI agent and a CIA employee -- and cracked into computers to get info on family members and a terrorist group......(WXYZ-TV Detroit, 13 Nov 07) video

Illegal immigrant, Muslim from Lebanon, worked for FBI, CIA, stole info, passed it to Hizballah

...The espionage angle: why did the FBI and CIA, clueless again, give her access to sensitive information? And of course finally there is the moderate-Muslims-condemn-terror-or-do-they angle: the FBI and CIA people who hired her were probably avid to get Muslims on staff so that they wouldn't appear anti-Muslim, and she no doubt had pluperfect bona fides as a moderate. If she was then funnelling information to Hizballah, it only underscores the fact that there is no reliable way to distinguish a peaceful Muslim who rejects today's jihad from one who subscribes to that jihad......(Jihad Watch, 13 Nov 07)
 

Former FBI Agent, and CIA Employee, an FBI Mole?

The sister-in-law of Hizballah-linked fugitive Talal Chahine pled guilty today to fraudulently obtaining her citizenship, using her illegally acquired status to attain employment with both the FBI and CIA, and illegally using government computers to gather Hizballah-related intelligence......(Steve Emerson, 13 Nov 07)

Hizballah Mole Case Reflects Depth of Threat

The emerging prosecution case against the former FBI and CIA officer in Detroit who has just pleaded guilty to various Federal felonies stemming from her apparent fraudulent infiltration of those agencies demonstrates the threat posed by operatives and sympathizers of terrorist organizations penetrating the front-line national security departments defending America from those very terror organizations......(Counterterrorism Blog, 13 Nov 07)

A Hizbollah Mole?

Case against CIA spy shocks counterintelligence community.....(Newsweek, 13 Nov 07)

Former FBI Agent, and CIA Employee, an FBI Mole?

Ex-FBI Employee's Case Raises New Security Concerns

A Lebanese national who fraudulently gained U.S. citizenship through a sham marriage managed to obtain sensitive jobs at both the FBI and CIA, and at one point used her security clearance to access restricted files about the terrorist group Hezbollah, according to court documents filed yesterday. U.S. officials say there is no evidence that Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, passed secrets to Hezbollah or to other groups the United States considers terrorist. But Prouty's ability to conceal her past from two of the nation's top anti-terrorism agencies raised new concerns about their vulnerability to infiltration.....(Washington Post, 14 Nov 07)

The agent with a secret past

An illegal immigrant from Lebanon with relatives linked to the militant Islamic group Hezbollah paid a U.S. citizen to marry her and then lied her way through national security background checks to become an agent for the FBI and the CIA. She used her position to secretly access government computers for information about her relatives and a U.S. investigation into the group.....(Los Angeles Times, 14 Nov 07)

C.I.A. Officer Admits Guilt Over Hezbollah Files

A Lebanese-born C.I.A. officer who had previously worked as an F.B.I. agent pleaded guilty on Tuesday to charges that she illegally sought classified information from government computers about the radical Islamic group Hezbollah. The plea agreement by the defendant, Nada Nadim Prouty, appeared to expose grave flaws in the methods used by the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation to conduct background checks on its investigators. Ms. Prouty, 37, who also confessed that she had fraudulently obtained American citizenship, faces up to 16 years in prison….(New York Times, 14 Nov 08)

FBI files illegally accessed

A relative of fugitive LaShish Restaurant owner Talal Chahine admitted Tuesday that she used a bogus marriage to gain U.S. citizenship, then joined the FBI and illegally accessed a Detroit case file on the terrorist group Hezbollah....(Detroit News, 14 Nov 07)

Fake U.S. citizen got FBI secrets from files

In an embarrassing breach of national security, a former metro Detroit woman whose family is suspected of having links to a Lebanese terrorist group got sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA despite being an illegal immigrant, authorities said Tuesday. Worse, they said, Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, of Vienna, Va., used her position at the FBI to access a classified computer system to find out whether she or her family members -- including fugitive La Shish restaurant chain owner Talal Chahine -- were being investigated for terrorist activities. She also took home classified FBI information.......(Detroit Free Press, 14 Nov 07)

VIDEO: Former CIA, FBI Agent Illegal Immigrant.......(NBC4-TV News, Washington, DC, 14 Nov 07)

How big a role did disgraced CIA officer have?

...Current and former intelligence officials tell NBC News that Nada Nadim Prouty had a much bigger role than officials at the FBI and CIA first acknowledged. In fact, Prouty was assigned to the CIA’s most sensitive post, Baghdad, and participated in the debriefings of high-ranking al-Qaida detainees......(NBC News, 14 Nov 07)  video

EXCLUSIVE Details: More on Hezbollah Spy/ FBI Agent/CIA Agent Nada Nadim Prouty

Since I've been following the trail of the Chahine Hezbollah organized crime family for years, I've learned a lot more about Hezbollah spy and FBI/CIA Agent Nada Nadim Prouty.......(Debbie Schlussel, 14 Nov 07)

The Failure of Counterintelligence

....But underlying this failure and numerous other penetration efforts by Islamist groups is the large-scale failure of U.S. counter-intelligence efforts for many years. There are numerous cases of Chinese infiltration agents, Islamist penetration and Russian penetrations that underscore the shrinking ability to monitor or detect the spies working in this country. The capacity has been rapidly shrinking for several decades, and, despite the threat of Islamist terrorists and the growing activities of the Chinese in both traditional and industrial espionage, the entire concept of a counter-intelligence has withered on the vine, from before the Clinton administration through the current administration. Currently, that capacity barely exists, according to my friends in the intelligence community.....(Douglas Farah, 14 Nov 07)

FED'S JIHAD JANE SHAME

The FBI and CIA have launched internal reviews to figure out how an illegal Lebanese immigrant managed to get jobs with the two agencies and obtain counterterrorism secrets about her family's ties to Hezbollah.....(New York Post, 15 Nov 07)

FBI poser failed to pay for marriage, wife says

The Downriver man who married an illegal Lebanese immigrant for a few hundred dollars so she could become a U.S. citizen and eventually land sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA never got paid, his current wife said Wednesday......(Detroit Free Press, 15 Nov 07)

She was a fake wife and migrant cheat, but US spies let her into their secrets

A Lebanese woman who became an agent for the FBI and CIA after faking her US citizenship used her position to gain access to secret files on the terrorist group Hezbollah - the latest security breach to hit America’s top intelligence agencies.......(Time of London, 15 Nov 07)

Lebanese fraudster became an agent for both the FBI and CIA

......As a tale of incompetence by the intelligence services, the tale of Nada Nadim Prouty is hard to beat. She arrived on a student visa in 1990 and, like tens of thousands of other foreign migrants, stayed on. Officials say her case is a cautionary tale of America's vulnerability to infiltration by foreign enemies.....(The Independent, 15 Nov 07)

Ex-FBI agent who pleaded guilty to fraud had ties to local doctor

...Prouty, who faces up to nine months in prison, loss of citizenship and deportation for the plea she entered on Tuesday, had been married to Andrew Alley, whose brother, Dr. Albert Alley, recently opened an office in the Hazleton Health and Wellness Center. Prouty also worked as a clerk in the Alley family’s medical office in Berwick while applying to the FBI and earning a master’s degree from Bloomsburg University, her former mother-in-law, Ramona Alley, said Wednesday......(Standard Speaker, 15 Nov 07)

Lebanese woman infiltrates FBI, CIA

A Lebanese woman has managed to infiltrate the FBI and CIA after hiding her real identity, to gain access to US intelligence on Hezbollah....(Iran Press TV, 15 Nov 07)

FBI poser failed to pay for marriage, wife says

The Downriver man who married an illegal Lebanese immigrant for a few hundred dollars so she could become a U.S. citizen and eventually land sensitive jobs at the FBI and CIA never got paid, his current wife said Wednesday......(Detroit Free Press, 15 Nov 07)

"Young & Dumb" AND Greedy: Lesson of Hezbo FBI/CIA Mole - Marriage Fraud's American Spouses Rarely Prosecuted

One of the lessons in the ongoing story of FBI/CIA mole Nada Nadim Prouty is that the American citizen spouses who engage in marriage fraud with illegal aliens are rarely prosecuted......(Debbie Schlussel, 15 Nov 07)

How did FBI/CIA infiltrator color US understanding of the enemy?

After looking at the mess the FBI made of part of the Hanssen espionage damage assessment, it might be too much to ask for the Bureau to make a proper assessment of how former Special Agent Nada Nadim Prouty may have warped US understanding of the Islamist enemy.......(J. Michael Waller/Political Warfare, 15 Nov 07)

How were FBI and CIA deceived?

Busted illegal alien was great spy, say sources

…Nada Nadim Prouty, 37, who pleaded guilty Tuesday to fraudulently obtaining U.S. citizenship and snooping on FBI files on Hezbollah, worked in the CIA's Baghdad station sometime between 2003 and 2006 and had a knack for passing as a local. She also demonstrated a talent for breaking captured Al Qaeda "high-value targets," an intelligence source told the Daily News…Officials again yesterday insisted Prouty is not suspected of espionage or of being a mole for the Lebanese terror group Hezbollah. "There is no indication at this point that she was engaged in espionage" for Hezbollah while at the CIA, said a senior U.S. official familiar with the case. In fact, the CIA fears she'll be assassinated for her U.S. spy work if she's ever deported to Beirut...Other knowledgeable sources are convinced otherwise. Her brother-in-law is a fugitive Hezbollah fund-raiser who helped her lie to win U.S. citizenship seven years before she joined the FBI in 1999……(New York Daily, 16 Nov 07)

Security agencies exposed as bumblers

It was shockingly easy for a Lebanese sympathizer of the terrorist group Hezbollah to penetrate both the FBI and CIA and steal secret intelligence....(St. Petersburg Times, 16 Nov 07)

A Druze legend as part of FBI/CIA penetration?

Nada Nadim Prouty, the suspected Hezbollah spy in both the FBI and CIA, had told friends and acquaintances as far back as 1999 that she was a Druze, but FBI sources tell me that she is actually a Shi'ite Muslim.......(J. Michael Waller/Political Warfare, 17 Nov 07)

Dangerous Liaisons

She was just what the spooks were looking for. Nada Nadim Prouty was athletically fit and aggressive, shrewd and tough-minded. She spoke fluent Arabic—an all-too-rare skill in the American intelligence community—and she had a CPA's license, the better to follow the money. Prouty, born and raised in Lebanon, knew the Middle East. First hired by the FBI in 1999, she was sent to Baghdad in 2003 to help interrogate captured insurgents. She did so well that, a few months later, the CIA stole her away and made her an undercover case officer.....(Newsweek, 26 Nov 07 issue)

Jihad Jane's 'State' of Bliss

FBI fraudster Nada Nadim Prouty not only used a sham marriage to get jobs with access to secret terrorist intelligence - her current husband is a State Department employee who has held sensitive posts in Middle Eastern embassies, The Post has learned. Her third hubby, Gordon Prouty, 40, now works for the State Department in Washington, a spokesman confirmed Friday night. He had been stationed at American embassies in Egypt and Pakistan......(New York Post, 18 Nov 07)

FBI appalled at CIA veterans's defense of agent Nada Nadim Prouty's lies

In the wake of Nada Nadim Prouty's guilty plea to lying her way into U.S. citizenship and sensitive FBI and CIA jobs, operatives of both agencies disagree whether she breached the government's trust, or just showed poor judgment. For many in the buttoned-down FBI, a fellow special agent tarnished the bureau's image and betrayed them by living the lie that she was a law-abiding naturalized citizen from Lebanon......James Bamford, who has written several respected books on the intelligence community, said it's not surprising CIA vets wouldn't care that Prouty lied. It's the difference between the CIA and FBI cultures, he said. "One agency teaches people to lie and break the rules. The other teaches them to tell the truth and obey the rules," Bamford said......(New York Daily News, 19 Nov 07)

A New 'Jihad Jane'

The illegal immigrant with Hezbollah ties who faked a marriage to get U.S. citizenship, and then landed jobs as a top-level federal agent, has a former sister-in-law who pulled the same scam and is now a Marine officer, The Post has learned. Commissioned Officer Samar Khalil Nabbou Spinelli married the brother of the sham first husband of disgraced former FBI and covert-ops CIA agent Nada Prouty, according to a tangled trail of public records.........(New York Post, 19 Nov 07)

Suspected Hezbollah Mole Began as Illegal Immigrant in US

...Ms. Prouty’s odyssey began when she gamed the immigration system to gain lawful immigrant status in the United States; the investigators charged with figuring out how she managed to deceive our government in an almost unimaginable manner are apparently ignoring the fact that the first step she took along the way – ultimately to gain access to the FBI and CIA - was to commit an immigration felony and engage in a marriage fraud.  The first firewall was not obtaining a security clearance at the FBI; it was gaining a green card by committing a felony and entering into a sham marriage.....(FSM, 19 Nov 07)