Here's some articles showing the total denial (1st one) when Ptech got investigated about 15 months after the globalist crime syndicates 9/11 black OP.
http://www.allbusiness.com/crime-law/criminal-offenses-crimes-against/5968439-1.htmlPtech Responds to Investigation.
Publication: Business Wire
Date: Monday, December 9 2002
Business Editors/High-Tech Writers
QUINCY, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 9, 2002
As local, national and international media outlets have reported, and the United States Attorney for Massachusetts has confirmed in a press release last Friday, some of the business records of Ptech Inc. are currently being reviewed by various federal agencies as part of an ongoing financial investigation. Ptech and its officers have assisted and will continue to assist the government in its efforts.
The management and employees of Ptech support the government's efforts to take every necessary step in the protection of the United States and the safety and security of all of its citizens. The Company also understands that its clients, including many government agencies and commercial corporations may invite the scrutiny of both federal agencies and the media, particularly when questions are raised about the sources of the Company's financing.
However, regardless of what media outlets may report, the Company does not fund and has not funded terrorist organizations or activities. Ptech strongly condemns any activities by terrorists and fully supports the government's activities to locate and bring all terrorists to justice. Ptech is not involved in money laundering efforts. It does not seek or have access to classified information.
It has not written malicious computer code and there are no "back doors", "trap doors" or "trojan horses" in Ptech's software products, as both Ari Fleischer, White House Press Secretary, and Tom Ridge, Director of Homeland Security, have acknowledged.
Ptech is a business in good standing that builds planning software enabling large organizations to manage their processes, organizational structures and software to more efficiently accomplish their business objectives. Using Ptech's products, a large organization can identify and eliminate redundancies, enabling significant improvements in efficiency and reduction of costs. Ptech's software has been recognized worldwide as the "Best in its Class" by federal agencies and Fortune 100 companies.
The unfortunate result of the recent actions of federal agencies, compounded by sensationalized media coverage, have unfairly threatened the success of Ptech and the security of its employees. Ptech welcomes balanced media scrutiny of its actual business operations.
Further inquiries should be directed to counsel for the Company: David E. Dryer or Gregory L. White, 617-946-4800, or to Mark A. Berthiaume, 617-946-8000.
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http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/security/story/0,10801,76487,00.htmlFeds raid Mass. software firm suspected of ties to al-QaedaDecember 6, 2002 (Computerworld) -- WASHINGTON -- Federal agents last night raided a Quincy, Mass.-based software firm, Ptech Inc., that sells enterprise software to federal agencies doing secret work, as well as to high-profile businesses, including IBM and Motorola, for possible ties to al-Qaeda.
Blake Bisson, the company's vice president of sales, reached while driving to work this morning, said federal agents contacted the company's chairman and CEO, Oussama Ziade, last night and went to the company's offices.
The federal agents "came in, they went around the office for a little while," said Bisson. "All the computers are there. If they did take something off the computer, they didn't take the computer."
ABC News, which first reported the raid, said federal investigators are looking into whether Ptech is secretly owned by Qassin a-Kadi, a Saudi businessman accused of financing the terrorist network al-Qaeda.
"To my knowledge, there is no link to al-Qaeda," said Bisson, who believes federal authorities are routinely investigating companies with employees from Islamic countries.
Bisson said he was unaware if a-Kadi was an investor. "At this point, all I can tell you is that it's unfounded," Bisson said. "It really is. The doors are open to the company, and people are working."
Ptech, which currently has 35 employees, issued a statement this afternoon denying that federal agents conducted a "raid" of the company's offices, saying instead that the company "granted access" to investigators and is cooperating fully.
"The company categorically denies having any connection with any terrorist organization," the statement read. "Ptech has been informed by government investigators that neither Ptech nor its officers or employees are targets of the government's investigation."
A U.S. Customs Service spokesman confirmed the raid but referred details to the U.S. attorney's office in Boston, which declined to comment.
A senior Bush administration official familiar with the investigation said "a body of evidence" about the company's possible links to al-Qaeda was brought to the attention of the National Security Council months ago and triggered a governmentwide investigation into where Ptech software may have been installed and, more important, whether malicious code was involved.
"The good news is we couldn't find anything," the official said, referring to the prospect of malicious software that could have been used for espionage purposes. "The bad news is that something might still be there. We couldn't prove a negative."
The official also said that the investigation into Ptech isn't an isolated incident, adding that there is growing concern about terrorist financing coming out of U.S.-based companies, including high-tech firms.
Roger Cressey, former chief of staff at the President's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and a White House counterterrorism specialist, said not enough attention had been paid to al-Qaeda's use of front companies in the U.S. prior to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"What this investigation shows is that the government is now paying as much attention to the role of high-tech companies in terrorism financing as they are with nongovernmental organizations," said Cressey.
According to a case study on Ptech's Web site, the company has been working to clean up the Department of Energy's Rocky Flats facility, which has often been a target of activists because of its connection to the building of nuclear weapons.
The cleanup at Rocky Flats centers on the inventory and disposal of plutonium, according to documents published on the Rocky Flats Web site. The Web site for the facility notes that the "Rocky Flats Site is in a heightened state of security awareness that includes new restrictions on vendor and visitor access to the site until further notice.
In addition, only select content will be available on this Web site until further review has been conducted. We appreciate your patience and understanding during these difficult times."
Notra Trulock, former director of intelligence at the Energy Department responsible for investigating incidents of Chinese nuclear espionage in the U.S., said he wouldn't be surprised if an al-Qaeda front company had managed to infiltrate nuclear programs at the department.
"Nothing surprises me when it comes to DOE, frankly," said Trulock. "Neither [the department] nor the labs ever perform much in the way of due diligence in these things." Usually, business is conducted on a buddy basis, he added.
However, most contracts involved in cleaning up Rocky Flats likely involve security clearances, particularly the Energy Department's Q clearance for unescorted access to nuclear facilities, Trulock said. "Cleaning up Rocky [Flats] is most likely to involve dealing with [sensitive nuclear materials], which requires a Q clearance at some point," he said.
A spokesman for Allegheny Energy Supply in Hagerstown, Md., one of Ptech's customers, declined to comment on the raid.
But Charles Salmans, a spokesman for New York-based Fleet Securities Inc., said his company purchased documentation and planning software from Ptech at the end of last year for $40,000 but never installed it because it had a lower priority than some of the company's other projects.
He said that even if the infrastructure planning software had been installed, it wouldn't have compromised the company's systems or its customers' information.
Computerworld's Brian Sullivan and Linda Rosencrance contributed to this report.
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http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=76491Feds turn up heat on high-tech industry links to al-QaedaDecember 6, 2002 (Computerworld) -- Last night's raid of a Massachusetts-based software firm for possible links to al-Qaeda signals a shift in the FBI's focus on nongovernmental organizations and charities to corporate America, including the IT industry, experts close to the investigation said.
Bringing to a close one phase of an ongoing investigation code-named Operation Greenquest, the FBI raided the Quincy, Mass., offices of Ptech Inc. in an effort to search for evidence that the company was involved in helping to finance al-Qaeda operations. It is also investigating the possibility that software Ptech sold to various government agencies may have contained malicious code (see story).
The company's client list reads like a who's who of the high-tech industry, including companies such as IBM, Booz Allen & Hamilton Inc., Motorola Inc., Sprint Corp. and The Mitre Corp.
"We are investigating the [situation] and are cooperating with authorities," said Jeffrey Gluck, a spokesman for IBM Global Services, which works with Ptech to build IT architectures for its customers. "But it's still too early in the investigation to know, with any degree of certainty, exactly what the allegations are," he said.
A spokesman for Allegheny Energy Supply Co. in Hagerstown, Md., another Ptech customer, declined to comment.
Senior counterintelligence officials familiar with the case said the U.S. Customs Service initiated the investigation of Ptech after a disgruntled employee tipped off the agency to the company's alleged hidden ownership. As a result, customs officials and the FBI began investigating Yacub Mirza, a former member of Ptech's board of directors who also manages a number of other businesses in the U.S.
"Mirza was acting on behalf of Yassin Qadi, the Saudi financier who was on the U.S. [terrorism] watchlist and whose accounts here are frozen," said Vince Cannistraro, the former chief of counterterrorism at the CIA. "Qadi is the guy behind Ptech."
Although it's not clear if Ptech made any money for Osama bin Laden's terrorist network, Operation Greenquest is trying to determine if it has served as a laundering entity for al-Qaeda, said Cannistraro.
The company, which currently has 35 employees, issued a statement this afternoon denying that federal agents conducted a "raid" of Ptech's offices, saying instead that the company "granted access" to investigators and is cooperating fully.
"The company categorically denies having any connection with any terrorist organization," the statement read. "Ptech has been informed by government investigators that neither Ptech nor its officers or employees are targets of the government's investigation."
Blake Bisson, the company's vice president of sales, told Computerworld today that he believes federal authorities are routinely investigating companies with employees from Islamic countries. "To my knowledge, there is no link to al-Qaeda," he said.
"What this investigation shows is that the government is now paying as much attention to the role of high-tech companies in terrorism financing as they are with nongovernmental organizations," said Roger Cressey, former chief of staff for the president's Critical Infrastructure Protection Board and a White House counterterrorism specialist.
A senior Bush administration official familiar with the investigation who spoke on condition of anonymity said "a body of evidence" about the company's possible links to al-Qaeda was brought to the attention of the National Security Council months ago and triggered a governmentwide investigation into where Ptech software may have been installed and, more important, whether malicious code was involved.
That probe has so far turned up no sign of malicious code, the official said. The official also said that the investigation into Ptech isn't an isolated incident and that there is growing concern about terrorist financing coming out of U.S.-based companies, including high-tech firms.
However, it's the company's work with the U.S. Department of Energy, the Federal Aviation Administration and the U.S. Department of Defense that has raised the most concern, experts said.
One of the most sensitive contracts in Ptech's portfolio includes support work for the DOE's plutonium cleanup effort at the Rocky Flats facility, which was once used to develop nuclear weapons.
Notra Trulock, former director of intelligence at the DOE, who was responsible for investigating incidents of Chinese nuclear espionage in the U.S., said he wouldn't be surprised if an al-Qaeda front company had managed to infiltrate nuclear programs at the DOE.
"Nothing surprises me when it comes to DOE, frankly," said Trulock. "Neither [DOE] nor the labs ever perform much in the way of due diligence in these things. Usually, it's [done on] a buddy [basis]," he said.
Larry Johnson, a former CIA counterterrorism expert and CEO and co-founder of The Business Exposure Reduction Group Associates LLC, a Washington-based international business-consulting company, acknowledged links between Qadi and other terrorist groups, such as Hamas.
"As a general principle, any company doing business in the classified [government] arena must take steps to ensure its employees are fully vetted and monitored over time," said Johnson. "It boils down to common-sense security."
