ABSTRACT
In March 2011, Russia’s Federal Security Service informed the FBI that Tamerlan Tsarnaev of Boston was a follower of radical Islam and might join underground groups in Dagestan. FBI agents investigated and interviewed the young man and his family without finding evidence of terrorist links. Tamerlan’s name was nevertheless put into a customs and border protection watch list so that authorities would alerted if he crossed U.S. borders. In September 2011, Russia’s Federal Security Service alerted the CIA with the same information emphasizing Tsarnaev’s intention to travel overseas. These tips were not shared within or between the agencies. The Boston police department was not informed. When Tsarnaev flew to Dagestan in early 2012 and returned in six months, no FBI agent was notified. Tsarnaev’s misspelled name and an erroneous date of birth on some documents prevented his name coming up on the watch list. It was only after he and his younger brother carried out the deadly Boston bombings in April 2013 that FBI and CIA agents looked again into the Russian alerts.
