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Revision as of 02:16, 31 January 2010

Rita Katz
Born1963 (age 61–62)
Basra, Iraq
Alma materTel Aviv University
OccupationTerrorism analyst
EmployerSITE Institute

Rita Katz (born 1963, Basra, Iraq) is a terrorism analyst and the co-founder of the SITE Institute, a private intelligence firm based in Washington, DC, which focuses on tracking global terrorist networks, and intercepting and distributing secret messages, videos, and advance warnings of suicide bombings from the terrorist group's communications networks.

In October 2007, it was revealed that Katz had discovered, and issued to the Bush Administration, a copy of an Osama bin Laden video which had yet to be released by Al-Qaeda. Katz issued the video via a private link to a SITE web page to White House counsel Fred F. Fielding, and Joel Bagnal, deputy assistant to the president for homeland security. Within minutes, computers registered to various parts of the Executive Branch began downloading the video, and within hours a transcript referencing SITE had appeared on Fox News. Katz had requested the web page remain confidential, and has reported that dissemination of this information tipped off her Al-Qaeda supporters who had since eliminated the ability of SITE to gather such information.

Background

Katz, a fluent Arabic speaker, was born in Basra in 1963 to a wealthy Iraqi Jewish family. In 1968 her father was arrested on charges of spying for Israel, and the rest of the family put under house arrest. The following year Katz's father was convicted and executed in a public hanging, and Katz's mother managed to escape with the children to Israel.

While in Israel, Katz served in the Israeli Defense Forces and studied politics and history at Tel Aviv University. She later married a medical student and in 1997 came to the United States with her husband, who received a National Institutes of Health fellowship.

Works

Book

Articles

Sources

References

  1. "Keeping an Eye on Al Qaeda". Newsweek. Sept. 11, 2007. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. Joby Warrick (Sept. 12, 2007). "Bin Laden, Brought to You by ..." The Washington Post. pp. A01. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  3. "Leak Severed a Link to Al-Qaeda's Secrets". The Washington Post. Oct. 9, 2007. Retrieved 2007-10-09. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  4. Wallace-Wells, Benjamin (May 29, 2006). "Private Jihad: How Rita Katz got into the spying business". The New Yorker. Retrieved 2007-10-09. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
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