Alleged Boston Marathon Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev was on the radar of two US intelligence agencies, in addition to the Russian authorities, and was placed on a US terrorism “watch list”.  But miscommunications between the agencies and countries apparently added to Tamerlan not getting the law enforcement attention we now know he deserved.

In 2011, the Russians contacted the FBI with their concerns that Tsarnaev might be becoming “radicalized”.  According to broadcast reports, the FBI asked the Russians for more information, but did not get a reply.  The FBI apparently did an investigation based on what information they had, and not with the Russian intel.

Later, Russian authorities contact the CIA with the same request.  But again, Moscow never got back to the CIA with what they had.  The CIA referred it to the FBI, which replied that it already had done an investigation and found nothing.  Nonetheless, the CIA contacted America’s Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment (TIDE) and asked that Tamerlan Tsarnaev be added to a watchlist.  But TIDE did not add him to the “no-fly” list, and Tsarnaev was able to go on that trip to Russia’s Caucuses region in 2012, which is now the subject of so much attention.

Police gunned down Tamerlan Tsarnaev near Boston last week; they say he was attempting to hurl explosives at them.  His 19-year old brother escaped that battle but was captured less than 24 hours later, and charged in the Boston Marathon Bombing.