America Online has handed the FBI e-mail records for accounts belonging to the suspected hijackers, according to a report on CNN's Web site Thursday. AOL spokesman Andrew Weinstein declined to comment on any matters involving the investigation.
AOL Time Warner's online division stores logs of when instant messaging users are on the network; it also can access e-mail correspondence under certain situations.
"We are cooperating with (the FBI) in this ongoing investigation," NicholasGraham, spokesman for Dulles, Va.-based AOL, said Wednesday. Although Graham wouldn't provide details, he denied reports that the company had agreed to install a Carnivore surveillance system. The FBI developed Carnivore, now renamed DCS1000, to allow it to wiretap communicationsthat go through Internet service providers.
"We are able to provide them with information on an immediate basis," hesaid, stressing that such an ability made Carnivore unnecessary.
On Wednesday, EarthLink also acknowledged that it is working with the FBI to turn over specific information that may be relevant to the case.
EarthLink's vice president of communications, Dan Greenfield, confirmedthat the Atlanta-based ISP was served with a warrant under the ForeignIntelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to turn over information.
FISA limits the ability of intelligence and law enforcementagencies--essentially the FBI, the CIA and themilitary information-gathering National Security Agency--from spying on theAmerican public. The warrant covers investigations relating to the leakageof information to a foreign government and requires less burden of proofthan a warrant in a criminal case. The directors of the FBI and the CIA aswell as the secretaries of state and defense are the only governmentofficials allowed to request a FISA warrant.
Calling the warrant "equivalent to a wiretap," Greenfield also denied thatthe company had let the FBI install a Carnivore system.
"We are not installing any equipment," he said. "We are cooperating with avery specific request. There are concerns from our customers that we aregiving arbitrary access to our network, and we are not."
Most of the clues that have turned up so far in the hunt for suspects havebeen dug up through typical investigative footwork, not high-tech sleuthing.
Authorities are searching for the accomplices of a well-organized group ofsuicide hijackers who commandeered four commercialjets Tuesday, effectively turning them into flying bombs. Two flattened theWorld Trade Center, while a third seriously damaged the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in a field.
Some of the victims on hijacked aircraft used cell phones to describe theattacks to people on the ground. In addition, a review of the passengerlists has offered some leads.
So far, five Arab men have been identified by Massachusetts authorities assuspects, according to two Boston newspapers. Authorities have also seizeda rental car containing Arabic-language flight-training manuals at thecity's Logan International Airport, where two of the hijacked planes originated, the papers reported.
U.S. agents served warrants on homes and searched businesses in southFlorida; they also issued alerts for two cars in connection with theattacks, local media reported.
Jack Mattera, director of computer forensics for The Intelligence Group,which specializes in corporate investigations and crisis management,stressed that information technology will likely play a crucial role infinding out who planned the suicide attacks.
"Using high-tech to investigate is critical," he said. "There are somethings that gumshoe work is just not going to find."
Security experts described Tuesday's attack as low-tech, with reports ofknives being used as the primary weapons in the hijackings. Nevertheless,many suspect computers and the Internet may have played a critical role inplanning the complex and highly coordinated operation.
In February, George Tenet, the director of the CIA, warned members of theSenate Select Committee on Intelligence that terrorists were using theInternet and high-tech tools to communicate.
"International terrorist networks have used the explosion in informationtechnology to advance their capabilities," he told the committee.
Mark Mansfield, spokesman for the CIA, declined to explain what tools theagency was bringing to bear, saying "it would be ill-advised for us to talk about (our methods). It would not be a prudent thing to do."
Both the NSA and the FBI declined comment as well.
However, The Intelligence Group's Mattera said he believed that therequests for online information may be to check out the people who postedsuspicious information in public chat rooms or online.
"I think there is some indication that there may have been some informationposted to different groups that didn't specifically alert people at thetime, but now they may be able to go back and connect it to the suspects,"he said.
"Two days ago, a (virulent) e-mail may not have meant anything," he said,"but today they will run it down and see if it's a clue."
News.com's Jim Hu and Reuters contributed to this report.