Since the aviation merchandise (and “hazardous materials”) arrived while he was at work, they were received by the building manager and held for Mike to pick up. Mike says he believes someone working in the building manager’s office looked at him, looked at the kind of stuff he was getting in the mail, and then looked up the local FBI office in the phone book. About 10 days ago, he arrived home to find the business card of a local FBI agent slipped under his door with a note on the back asking him to call. After a couple of trips through the FBI’s voice mail system, the agent and his suspect made telephone contact. “At first he didn’t want to tell me what it was about, being vague about having to investigate a complaint, but when I pressed him he broke down and told me I was under suspicion as a terrorist!” Mike said. “I nearly cracked up.” He arranged to meet with the agent and the story unfolded. Mike said the agent seemed ill-prepared for the interview, lacking even basic knowledge of his suspected terrorist. “He didn’t know how old I was, where I was born, anything,” Mike told AVweb. “Since I am a naturalized citizen, I know I have a file at the INS, but he didn’t, and didn’t even bother to check.” Had the agent checked the INS file, Mike said, he would have discovered his suspect was a Jewish immigrant, not the most likely profile for an al Qaeda operative. Mike said it didn’t take long for the agent to wrap up his investigation after that and other facts were revealed.
