Dirty Bomb parts found in white supremacist's home.

[SirNitram]

Link

BELFAST, Maine — James G. Cummings, who police say was shot to death by his wife two months ago, allegedly had a cache of radioactive materials in his home suitable for building a “dirty bomb.”

According to an FBI field intelligence report from the Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center posted online by WikiLeaks, an organization that posts leaked documents, an investigation into the case revealed that radioactive materials were removed from Cummings’ home after his shooting death on Dec. 9.

The report posted on the WikiLeaks Web site states that “On 9 December 2008, radiological dispersal device components and literature, and radioactive materials, were discovered at the Maine residence of an identified deceased [person] James Cummings.”

The section referring to Cummings can be read here.

It says that four 1-gallon containers of 35 percent hydrogen peroxide, uranium, thorium, lithium metal, thermite, aluminum powder, beryllium, boron, black iron oxide and magnesium ribbon were found in the home.

Also found was literature on how to build “dirty bombs” and information about cesium-137, strontium-90 and cobalt-60, radioactive materials. The FBI report also stated there was evidence linking James Cummings to white supremacist groups. This would seem to confirm observations by local tradesmen who worked at the Cummings home that he was an ardent admirer of Adolf Hitler and had a collection of Nazi memorabilia around the house, including a prominently displayed flag with swastika. Cummings claimed to have pieces of Hitler’s personal silverware and place settings, painter Mike Robbins said a few days after the shooting.

An application for membership in the National Socialist Movement filled out by Cummings also was found in the residence, according to the report. Cummings’ wife, Amber B. Cummings, 31, told investigators that her husband spoke of “dirty bombs,” according to the report, and mixed chemicals in her kitchen sink. She allegedly told police that Cummings subjected her to years of mental, physical and sexual abuse. She also said that Cummings was “very upset” when Barack Obama was elected president.

A “dirty bomb” is a type of “radiological dispersal device” that combines a conventional explosive such as dynamite with radioactive material, according to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s Web site. “Most RDDs would not release enough radiation to kill people or cause severe illness,” the NRC says, adding that “a dirty bomb is in no way similar to a nuclear weapon” because its effects occur in a very limited area compared to a nuclear explosion.

The report noted that “uranium, thorium, cesium-137, stontium-90 and cobalt-60 are radioactive isotopes and 35 percent hydrogen peroxide is a necessary precursor for the manufacture of peroxide-based explosives. Lithium metal, thermite and aluminum are materials used to sensitize and amplify the effects of explosives.”

The report stated that the uranium component was bought online from a U.S. company that was identified in the investigation, but not in the report.

John Donnelley, an agent at the FBI’s Boston office, declined Tuesday to comment on the report. Donnelley said some FBI reports are provided to law enforcement agencies and sometimes get released to media outlets.

“I wouldn’t be prepared to speak on that,” Donnelley said. “I have no comment.”

The Washington Regional Threat and Analysis Center is an intelligence gathering office affiliated with Washington, D.C., law enforcement. Telephone and e-mail messages left with the center Tuesday were not returned.

State police have identified Amber Cummings as the person who shot James Cummings. The couple’s 9-year-old daughter was present the morning of the shooting in what police have described as a domestic violence homicide.

Amber Cummings, who is staying in the Belfast area, has not been charged in the case, although the Waldo County grand jury currently meeting in Belfast could take up the matter during its session this week. While state police have acknowledged that the 29-year-old Cummings was killed by a gunshot, the results of the autopsy have been impounded, as have the search warrants executed at Cummings’ High Street home following the shooting. Authorities spent days searching the home, according to neighbors.

Lt. Gary Wright, who heads up the Maine State Police Criminal Investigation Division team working the case, declined to comment on any aspects of the case when contacted Tuesday.

“We’re not going to comment on anything,” Wright said Tuesday evening. “It’s an open homicide investigation and we’re not going to comment. That’s our standard policy.”

Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety, also had no comment on the report. “This is an active, open homicide investigation,” he said Tuesday evening, “and as a result, it’s inappropriate to get into confirming or denying aspects of that.”

Maine Deputy Attorney General William Stokes also declined to comment on the report Tuesday.

David Farmer, spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci, said Tuesday that it was inappropriate for the governor to comment on an open investigation. When asked about the copy of the field report sent to him by the Bangor Daily News, he said, “At this point, I have been unable to confirm the authenticity of the documents you sent to us.”

A spokesman for U.S. Sen. Susan Collins’ staff said there was no one able to comment on the report Tuesday night.

Telephone messages left with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not returned Tuesday evening. Robbins, who worked on the house for a month last summer, described Cummings as an angry person who was verbally abusive to his wife. He said Cummings apparently was independently wealthy and did not work. Robbins said Cummings talked incessantly about his love of guns and his fascination for Hitler. He said Cummings repeatedly berated his wife about home-schooling their daughter. He said Cummings had a controlling personality and wanted to know his wife and child’s every move.

Cummings grew up in California and lived in Texas before moving to Maine in August 2007. Although Robbins said Cummings told him he made his money in Texas real estate, it appears that the actual source of his wealth was a trust fund established by his father, a prominent landowner in the Northern California city of Fort Bragg. An Internet search of the James B. Cummings Trust indicated that it has an annual income of $10 million.

The FBI field intelligence report was apparently first reported on by unattributable.com, an online magazine which covers and blogs on current events.

[Kanastrous]

We just aired an episode of the show (Eleventh Hour) revolving around white supremacists assembling a dirty bomb.

Freaky.

Of course we've had plenty of homegrown terrorism (bank robberies, drug crime, the occasional assassination or bombing) from the tighty whities, that for some reason hardly anybody likes to talk about...

[Darth Wong]

I must admit that it's a bit out of stereotype for one of these white-supremacist anti-government types to actually be a rich boy. Usually you picture them as trailer-trash, not trust-fund babies.

[Tanasinn]

Aren't dirty bombs a bit of an over-sensationalized farce, anyway?

[Lord of the Abyss]

Aren't dirty bombs a bit of an over-sensationalized farce, anyway?

In terms of actual danger, yes. But given that very hype, and people's paranoia over anything nuclear I'm sure it would be a highly effective weapon psychologically.

[PeZook]

In terms of actual danger, yes. But given that very hype, and people's paranoia over anything nuclear I'm sure it would be a highly effective weapon psychologically.

Which means, of course, that it would probably be just as effective for a terrorist organization to detonate a standard explosive and then immediately claim it was a dirty bomb. Gossip would do the rest (you can bet your ass the gossip machine would attribute some mysterious deaths around the same time to radiation poisoning).

[FedRebel]

In terms of actual danger, yes. But given that very hype, and people's paranoia over anything nuclear I'm sure it would be a highly effective weapon psychologically.

Which means, of course, that it would probably be just as effective for a terrorist organization to detonate a standard explosive and then immediately claim it was a dirty bomb. Gossip would do the rest (you can bet your ass the gossip machine would attribute some mysterious deaths around the same time to radiation poisoning).

No terrorist organization is that suicidal though, oh yes bombers will be coming for them, but they ain't carrying conventional iron bombs that's for sure

Claiming a radiological attack false or not is an incredibly stupid thing to do to a superpower that has a nasty habit of bombing the crap out any country it chooses on a whim.

[Kitsune]

I posted on another board...
I have to admit that if it was only the memorabilia, I might disagree about him being a Nazi.
The application for the National Socialist Orgnaization is something different
Something I have been arguing about on the other board

[Pulp Hero]

In terms of actual danger, yes. But given that very hype, and people's paranoia over anything nuclear I'm sure it would be a highly effective weapon psychologically.

Which means, of course, that it would probably be just as effective for a terrorist organization to detonate a standard explosive and then immediately claim it was a dirty bomb. Gossip would do the rest (you can bet your ass the gossip machine would attribute some mysterious deaths around the same time to radiation poisoning).

No terrorist organization is that suicidal though, oh yes bombers will be coming for them, but they ain't carrying conventional iron bombs that's for sure

Claiming a radiological attack false or not is an incredibly stupid thing to do to a superpower that has a nasty habit of bombing the crap out any country it chooses on a whim.

So, then why was this guy apparently trying to build one. Logical disconnect.

And you have two wrong assumptions:

1. One all terrorists are foreign. Bzzt. Wrong this guy was domestic. What is the army going to bomb, Ohio?

2. Some foreign terrorists know that the US is bomb happy. That is part of the plan, they use US military strikes (valid or not) as propaganda tools. Plus the fear of RDD's by the public after an attack would cause a security lockdown that would affect us a lot more than the foreign terrorists.

[Samuel]

Because terrorists buy the hype that rad bombs are "super effective".

[Axis Kast]

As I understand it, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is pretty keen on keeping tabs on domestic terrorists, even bending the rules (for example, agents have let reporters in on the fact that they sometimes collect license plate numbers at white supremacist rallies) when an organization is considered dangerous, but has not been materially linked to a specific crime.

This isn't to say that we have the best track record with internal dissent. It's just that the relative rarity of these kinds of acts -- terrorism altogether is simply a rare occurrence in the West, and much less disruptive physically than psychologically (consider the truth of the fact that 9/12 was the safest-ever day to fly) -- and our various legal protections make it hard to be effectively proactive.

If anybody is really interested in seeing just how badly we can "mess up," but with good intention, investigate the case of the Rajneeshee Cult in The Dalles, Oregon during the 1980s. These guys had a compound, tens of millions in capital investment, their own Peace Force (complete with access to special law enforcement programs and automatic weapons), and a medical laboratory with resources superior to those at the state level. They were frequently in the news, sometimes making threats of armed retaliation for unspecified "government interference," and at other times extending death threats or stalking officials, and generally fit the label of "crazies." The Oregon Army National Guard even drew up a contingency plan to raid their compound. But nobody was really expecting them to launch a biological weapons attack, and it took more than a year to make the connection. When the group finally did branch out into "conventional" terrorism, they were quickly apprehended before being able to carry out any strikes.

[PeZook]

No terrorist organization is that suicidal though, oh yes bombers will be coming for them, but they ain't carrying conventional iron bombs that's for sure

Why yes! I'm sure nuking random countries isn't going to play right into the hands of various enemies of the US!

You would achieve so much! Anger the entire world! Invite embargos! Create a domestic crisis! Destroy the world economy! Kill millions of people!

Were you really trying to make some point against me here?

More seriously, if a white supremacist terrorist organization pulls a stunt like that, are you going to nuke Alabama? Massive retaliation and all

[Samuel]

No terrorist organization is that suicidal though, oh yes bombers will be coming for them, but they ain't carrying conventional iron bombs that's for sure

Why yes! I'm sure nuking random countries isn't going to play right into the hands of various enemies of the US!

You would achieve so much! Anger the entire world! Invite embargos! Create a domestic crisis! Destroy the world economy! Kill millions of people!

Were you really trying to make some point against me here?

More seriously, if a white supremacist terrorist organization pulls a stunt like that, are you going to nuke Alabama? Massive retaliation and all

I believe Testingstan has created a back up plan in the event of such a contingency.

Also, nuking countries we don't like would sort of be the equivalent of suitcase nukes in Civ 2- it pisses everyone off.

[Sarevok]

Most likely if a "dirty bomb" detonates in USA it would create never before seen backlash against muslims. Considering how many people discount airliners flying into the twin towers, there would be tremendous paranoia, suspicion and hatred even after investigations showed it to be of domestic origin.

[Samuel]

Most likely if a "dirty bomb" detonates in USA it would create never before seen backlash against muslims. Considering how many people discount airliners flying into the twin towers, there would be tremendous paranoia, suspicion and hatred even after investigations showed it to be of domestic origin.

*cough* Oklahoma City *cough*

The US has already had domestic terrorist attacks. Heck we had the unabomber, a couple of cults, and the anthrax scare. I doubt that this will cause any huge change to American society.

[Duckie]

It seems like a minor concern, but I'm glad this man is not an actual Maine resident. I've never heard any political or racist badness come out of my home state and I'd love to keep it that way.

[Kitsune]

It seems like a minor concern, but I'm glad this man is not an actual Maine resident. I've never heard any political or racist badness come out of my home state and I'd love to keep it that way.

I used to live in New Hampshire, I have met racists from Maine, sorry