A pre-Christmas 2003 “Code Orange” terror alert that had police standing guard in heavy assault gear on the streets of Manhattan was the result of a scam by a man named Dennis Montgomery, says Playboy magazine. That week, then Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said the government had credible information “about near-term attacks that could either rival or exceed what we experienced on September 11.” Last June, Montgomery was charged in Las Vegas with bouncing nine checks (totaling $1 million).
Playboy calls Montgomery “a self-proclaimed scientist who said he could predict terrorist attacks. Operating with a small software development company, he apparently convinced the Bush White House, the CIA, the Air Force and other agencies that Al Jazeera–the Qatari-owned TV network–was unwittingly transmitting target data to Al Qaeda sleepers.”