Former USS Benfold Sailor Guilty of Supporting Terrorists

A former Sailor on the USS Benfold was convicted of supporting terrorists by giving them information about the ship and classified information--it is assumed about the ship's movements.

His name is Hassan Abu-Jihaad.

Various news sources are reporting this.

Abu-Jihaad was apparently on the ship just after Captain Abrashoff left. Abrashoff wrote a book called It's Your Ship: Management Techniques from the Best Damn Ship in the Navy. I've read the book and it emphasizes letting the crew contribute to problem solving. Apparently, it worked well as the ship won various awards for efficiency.

It's sad and ironic, therefore, that Abu-Jihaad wasn't loyal.

I try to maintain some objectivity in the blog, but cases like this make it difficult not use overly strong language condemning him.

I'm not sure when he actually changed his name. That action should have been a red flag to somebody, or perhaps to everybody.

Fortunately, he was caught, tried, and convicted.

I think that the case shows that terrorists can be caught using traditional means and that extremes, like torture, are not necessary.

One of the reasons that they are not necessary is that the typical jury in the US is not going to be forgiving of this kind of thing, even if the evidence isn't the strongest in the world, which, in this instance, was apparently the case, at least in terms of proving that he had revealed the ship's location. Our government should trust its people. They'll do the right thing.

There is one caveat. Traditional methods does not include sometimes traditionally lax security measures.

I am not commenting on the ship's security here. I do not know the facts. I am commenting on our security practices in general.

They should be under constant review and improved relentlessly.