Now, this is an entirely different kind of moonlighting.
CONRAD, MONT. - By day, she’s the municipal judge of this tiny town, a wife and mother of three, but by moonlight Shannen Rossmiller is a spy.Then, Rossmiller — petite, blond and 34 — assumes one of several unlikely false identities, all angry, violent, Muslim men, nurturing hatred of the United States. In that guise, she combs the Internet through the late evening and early morning and sifts through the messages and declarations on extremist Islamic Web sites.
During those hours, Rossmiller is on a quest that consumes hours of each day, days of each week. It’s one that will place her on the stand Thursday as the government’s primary witness against a National Guardsman accused of offering information to help Muslim extremists kill U.S. troops.
It’s a quest that has already placed her in danger.
Rossmiller works with an exclusive group, a coalition of seven civilians, international "cyber spies" who chase terrorists on the Internet.
They call themselves the "7-Seas."
Until recently they were a largely unknown, almost clandestine bunch. Named for its global scope, the group consists of Rossmiller; a nuclear physicist/software designer in Canada; a corporate security consultant in Houston; a former private detective in Singapore; an Australian; and two other Americans.
They might have remained unknown. That is, if some of Rossmiller’s efforts hadn’t paid off, if she hadn’t run across Ryan Anderson, a National Guardsman accused of attempting to defect to al-Qaida and offering information on troop strength and vulnerable points on a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.
Rossmiller never planned to be a witness. But then, she’d never planned to become a spy.
Columnist Michelle Malkin takes note, adds Rossmiller to the "list of Moms Who Rock," but then ponders whether or not it's a good idea for us to even know about this.
Posted by Alan at July 13, 2004 06:05 AM