Fort Dix Terrorism:The Clerk Outs Himself

The New Jersey federal courts reporter for the Bergen Record / North Jersey Herald called yesterday for my reaction to the CNN appearance of the Circuit City clerk who got the "Fort Dix Six" case off the tape and into the courts.

I told the reporter: Whether it's paparazzi, editorial writers or bona fide terrorists, outing himself was a big mistake," said Lavinthal, now a legal media relations consultant. "We need people who see something that may be improper to step forward and help law enforcement -- not position themselves as today's media personality."

The full story from the Bergen Record is here.

After getting over my shock (I did not know about the CNN appearance) I've added the poorly advised clerk, whose name can be found anywhere but here, to my list of suspected leakers when the arrests were first announced.

Absolutely no good that can come from this.

However the self-outing clerk is in good company. A co-worker of one of the other suspects declined to talk to the media after the May arrests, because of the arrangement he had made with the ABC TV network's Good Morning America.

Now we wait for another shoe to drop. Will the self-outer's agent announce an appearance on American Idol? Is a terpsichorean appearance on "Dancing With The Witnesses" next?

The media has been told to send an e-mail to [address redacted] at "asg-advisors.c0m" if it wants to interview the clerk. What does this entity have to do with the story? I'll wait to see what the media will uncover about this connection. Aren't you curious to know who induced/allowed/encouraged the clerk to do the CNN interview, the FOX "exclusive," the Camden County Courier, and other media?

And then there's Circuit City. Why did they confirm the clerk's identity? Why did they make sure that the media knows that a second employee also helped make the case? Maybe they did do some original leaking.

Folks, the world has changed. Osama and every other disaffected individual in the U.S. can get access to the Internet.

If something happens to the clerk, a Circuit City store, the clerk's family or any of the other dramatis personae we'll need a scorecard to figure out the percentage of blame to assess on each.