For the second time in a year, the FBI came to my home yesterday after I published the so-called manifesto of the man charged with killing two Israeli Embassy staffers in Washington.
Not a single mainstream media outlet has published the text because, as they claim, the FBI hasn’t confirmed its authenticity. But the real reason is simple. The media just doesn’t want to publish it. And the FBI doesn’t want the media to think it can
These are those 11 questions (from the email I’ve reproduced below):
- When did he first encounter the manifesto?
- How did he first encounter the manifesto?
- Did he receive any instruction from the source of the manifesto about how to disseminate it?
- Does the system or platform from which he received the manifesto capture metadata concerning the transfer of the manifesto?
- Did he make any edits or changes to the manifesto?
- Was this his first and only interaction with whomever submitted the manifesto?
- Has anyone else submitted any other documentation regarding this incident?
- Did his receipt of the manifesto predate the attack?
- Where else, if anywhere, did he disseminate the manifesto?
- Does he have any knowledge of where else the manifesto was published or shared?
- Why does he think he was the one who received the manifesto?
Other than the questions implying the FBI is entertaining an outlandish theory that I conspired with the shooter, the others seem pretty straightforward and routine.
But there’s a Trump administration dimension to all of this. The administration has many times publicly warned about shadowy, unseen forces that it believes are bankrolling everything from Tesla vandalism to the college protests. That tone from the top, labeling seemingly everything terrorism, tells personnel that the gloves are off and more aggressive work in the field is now permissible.
Get ready to hear that I’m impeding the investigation, giving people a roadmap to the “sources and methods” that are used to catch terrorists, or whatever reason the national security state soundboard offers up for why the public isn’t allowed to know things.
The questions sound like they're doing counterintelligence work.
If you look at how Russia's disinformation program works they hire Americans (often through shell companies that appear to be American) to publish random things for them. It sounds like the questions are more looking to trace the source of the document and determine the identity of each person in the chain. If you're just posting it for your own reasons then you have nothing to worry about.
That being said, unless you can verify the authenticity of the source and the contents of the message you may be, inadvertently, posting a fabricated document, spreading misinformation and furthering the goals of hostile States.
This is why journalists have stringent source checking requirements for what they report. Anyone can pretend to have access to secret information when they're simply anonymous people on the Internet. Choosing to spread that information without being able to verify the source is irresponsible at best.
The document had been received before the shooting, in name of the shooter, so its authenticity is self-evident.