For Headley, a terror plot was a 'Mickey Mouse Project'

Supreet Sharma 17 December 2009

Washington, Dec 17 - David Headley, the Pakistani American who is at the centre of an unravelling terror conspiracy, used sophisticated tactics of terrorist tradecraft like code language and "electronic dead drops" to disguise the true objective of his work, according to Stratfor that calls itself the world's leading online publisher of geopolitical intelligence.

For example, when referring to attack plans in phone and e-mail conversations, Headley and his alleged co-conspirators reportedly called them "investment plans" or "business plans". And when discussing the plot against Jyllands-Posten, the newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoons, Headley and his co-conspirators referred to it as the "Mickey Mouse Project", the "MMP" or "the Northern Project".

For the most sensitive communications and planning activities - Headley, who is charged with scouting targets for the Mumbai attacks, travelled to Pakistan to meet with Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Harkat-ul-Jihad e-Islami (HUJI) in person, a very secure way to communicate.

Headley also used a common militant communication method of creating messages and then saving them in the drafts folder of a Web mail service rather than sending the message. A second person can simply log on and read the communication in the draft folder without an e-mail having been sent.

In addition to facilitating communication, these "electronic dead drops" can be used to save notes that a terrorist operative does not want to physically carry on his person for fear of being caught with them.

According to the Oct 11 criminal complaint, before leaving Pakistan for the US in December 2008, Headley used this process to save a list of taskings he had received for his surveillance work in Denmark. The items listed in the complaint demonstrate the depth of the surveillance work Headley was tasked with by his contacts in Pakistan, Stratfor said.

These responsibilities included determining the best way to get the attack team ("clients") into the country, finding them a place to stay, procuring weapons ("machinery") and conducting thorough surveillance of the newspaper and its surroundings.

The list, which was entitled "Mickey Mouse", included the following entries:

* Route Design (train bus air)

* Cross (cover authenticator)

* Trade? Immigration?

* Ad (Lost Luggage) (Business) (Entry)?

* King's Square (French Embassy)

* YMCA

* Car Trip + Train Option (Nufoozur Rehman) (Weekend?)

* Residence for clients

* Complete Area Coverage (P. S. e. t. c.)

* Countersurveillance (magic eye)

* NDC option; Lunch + coffee spots