FBI sorts through tips, no matter how unimportant they seem

Kim Smith

Friday, Sept. 28, 2001 | 9:28 a.m.

A few days after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, FBI Special Agent Daron W. Borst received a tip.

The man on the phone was adamant. FBI agents, he said, should check out the family living down the street from him.

The family was of Middle Eastern descent, and he found their actions on Sept. 11 to be highly suspicious.

What made them so suspicious? Borst asked.

They didn't put their garbage cans out for pickup that day, the man said.

"I kept waiting to hear something else, but that was it," Borst said.

The FBI has received almost 200,000 tips since the terrorist attacks, Borst said. Many of them have been from psychics.

"Most of (the callers) haven't had anything specific to offer," Borst said. "Most are really fuzzy. For example, someone might say, "I feel someone in the woods was involved.' "

But as troublesome as it is to take a tip only to find out there's no basis for concern, Borst said it's important that the tips continue to come.

"We don't want to discourage anyone from calling because the most insignificant thing to them may be a piece we need for the whole puzzle to fall together," Borst said. "Everything has potential."

The problem: It's difficult to define the "suspicious" activities people need to be calling about, Borst said.

Not everyone with a tip will have "hard information," he said. They may not have overheard a suspicious conversation or have information about a financial transaction.

Just the same, people need to call if they have a feeling something they witnessed wasn't right, Borst said.

It's the FBI's job to prioritize the tips and see where they lead, Borst said. It's something field agents know is part of the job.

"It's a situational thing, and people need to use their common sense," Borst said. "It could be anything. What's suspicious now under different circumstances may not have seemed suspicious (before)."

Metro Police Capt. Dan Barry said police are working with the FBI on any calls and tips that police receive.

"If someone feels that something is suspicious, they should call, and let the authorities sort it out," Barry said.

The Metro crime hotline, Secret Witness, hasn't received many tips regarding possible terrorist activity, probably because people know to contact the FBI with that information, Secret Witness technician Dianne Deiss said.

"We've probably had only about 10 to 15 calls," Deiss said. "Every so often we'll get one, but we refer the caller right to the FBI, so we haven't heard any of their stories."

Anyone wanting to make a report to the FBI can call (866) 483-5137 or the local office at (702) 385-1281.

Sun reporter Jace Radke contributed to this report.