Dennis Montgomery described himself in an official statement as “a patriotic scientist who gave the government his software 'to stop terrorist attacks and save American lives.'” Now, under the auspices of the state secrets privilege, the Justice Department is trying to keep information dealing with the alleged fraudulent software developed by Mr. Montgomery and the supposed $20 million he received in government contracts out of court. Some suggest that this action by the Justice Department is part of a larger strategy to avoid public embarrassment that Mr. Montgomery's software may have been a fraud.
Information reveals that Mr. Montgomery secured government contracts by claiming that he developed software which could predict Al Qaeda's next attack on the U.S. Over the course of several years (and two companies–eTreppid Technologies and Blxware), Mr. Montgomery sold software to the C.I.A. and the U.S. Air Force, among other agencies/departments, which he claimed could decode intelligence
regarding future attacks. Mr. Montgomery represented to these agencies that his patented code could analyze messages embedded in Al Jazeera broadcasts of Al Qaeda transmissions, identify terrorists from Predator surveillance footage, and detect moti
on from submersed hostile sources. There is no evidence that this software was successful. To the contrary, evidence has now surfaced which suggests that Mr. Montgomery peddled fraudulent software. In fact, the use of Mr. Montgomery's software led to an “international false alarm” where President Bush ordered airliners to turn around over the Atlantic in 2003, resulted in dead ends in a suspected 2006 terrorist plot in Britain, and caused counter-terrorism officials to respond to a bogus Somali threat on the day of President Obama's inauguration.
Mr. Montgomery's former lawyer, Michael Flynn, now describes Mr. Montgomery as a con artist and characterizes the government's efforts to shield these contracts from scrutiny as an attempt to prevent exposing how it was “duped.” After 9/11, government officials witnessed an unprecedented surge in counter-terrorism funding. A report from the Pentagon released last month found that it had paid close to $300 billion in contracts to over 120 companies now accused of fraud. Read more at the New York Times.
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