- 20 hours ago
Best Kept Secrets of the FBI
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Tonight, on Best Kept Secrets, we go inside one of the world's most secretive crime-fighting organizations,
00:07the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
00:09How does the FBI solve cases like the Oklahoma City bombing?
00:14Unfortunately, in the United States, it's very easy to build a bomb.
00:17All the components are readily available, whether it be from a hardware store or a hobby store.
00:23We reveal the secrets of the FBI's explosives unit.
00:28Plus...
00:34How the FBI foiled this gang's murderous plan to destroy an oil refinery.
00:39My incentive for going to the FBI was to save lives.
00:46And can this criminal profiler help the FBI catch a cold-blooded murderer?
00:51There was an indentation on one side of the face and not the other, and there was a furrow in
00:55the brow.
00:55Plus, the high-tech spy gadget that the FBI used to track down a band of dangerous cyber crooks.
01:02With the magic box, we were able to see all the things that they were sending back and forth to
01:05each other,
01:06and all the computer systems that Calvin was hacking into.
01:10And, the FBI confronts the most heavily armed militia that U.S. law enforcement has ever faced.
01:20As we reveal the secret strategies of an FBI crisis negotiator.
01:26If we can negotiate a person out, it's much better than going and having to drag him out and maybe
01:30shoot him.
01:31These stories are straight ahead on Best Kept Secrets.
01:49There is nothing mysterious about the manner in which the Federal Bureau of Investigation works.
01:53Its formula is a simple one. Intensive training, carefully investigated, and highly efficient personnel,
02:00plus rigid requirements in regard to conduct, intelligence, and integrity.
02:04G-Men.
02:07Tommy Guns.
02:10Public Enemy Number One.
02:13Since 1908, the FBI has enforced prohibition and waged bloody battles with the likes of Babyface Nelson and John Dillinger.
02:23Under legendary Chief J. Edgar Hoover, the Bureau created the nation's first crime-fighting laboratory and developed the field of
02:31forensic science.
02:33And today, the FBI employs 23,000 agents, the largest crime-fighting force in the nation.
02:40The FBI, come out. Put your hands up.
02:42Its headquarters is located here, in the heart of Washington, D.C., in a building that occupies an entire city
02:49block.
02:49Behind these closed doors, agents use the latest in science and technology to combat crimes ranging from domestic terrorism to
02:57cybercrime.
02:58Put your hands behind your back.
03:00Tonight, we examine the FBI.
03:03From the files of actual cases, we'll reveal the crime-fighting secrets that have made the FBI the most powerful
03:10law enforcement agency in the world.
03:17Atlanta, Georgia.
03:21A terrorist bomb explodes in Centennial Olympic Park, killing one woman and injuring hundreds.
03:29North Caldwell, New Jersey.
03:30An advertising executive is killed when he opens a mysterious package, which explodes in his hands.
03:40Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
03:43A powerful blast destroys the federal verdict, claiming 168 lives.
03:52In all three cases, it's a race against time, as an elite division of the FBI, known as the Explosives
03:59Unit, attempts to catch the mad bombers before they strike again.
04:03The FBI Explosives Unit is part of the FBI laboratory that does the forensic examination of bomb components, unexploded bombs.
04:13They also do residue analysis of the explosives that are used in bombs.
04:19Explosives examiner Donald Socleban agreed to take us inside one of the nation's most secretive crime-fighting laboratories.
04:27Here, this team of highly trained technicians and forensic scientists carefully combs through evidence, searching for any clues that will
04:35help the FBI capture a bomber.
04:41In Atlanta, the search for answers begins at Ground Zero, the scene of the Olympic bombing, where every step is
04:47fraught with danger.
04:53In any crime scene, you have to assume that there could be other devices there, what we would call secondary
05:00devices or booby traps.
05:01We've seen that recently in some of the bombings around the Atlanta and Birmingham areas.
05:07In Atlanta, agents are sifting through the rubble of an abortion clinic bombing, when suddenly...
05:16...a secondary device explodes.
05:26Miraculously, no one is killed.
05:28But seven people are injured, including several federal agents.
05:32Move!
05:33Go!
05:34Get back!
05:34Get back!
05:37But in the aftermath of the Olympic bombing, investigators rely on surprisingly common technology to search for deadly booby traps.
05:46The most effective tool that we have is the x-ray, the portable x-ray.
05:50We can actually go up to a package and with a remote technique, we can put the x-ray down,
05:56x-ray the package,
05:57and see whether or not it's a hazard.
06:00Back at the explosives lab, examiners use a high-tech instrument called a Raman spectrometer,
06:06a device that determines if a package contains explosive material.
06:10With the Raman, what we're doing is we're using a light source to go into the container
06:16and actually get a spectrum off of the substance inside the container.
06:20There we're actually able to examine a suspected explosive substance without even having to open the container.
06:27And that's great for in the laboratory when you don't want to put yourself at risk any further than you
06:32have to.
06:33At the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, no secondary devices are found.
06:38But while the nation is horrified at the carnage, the explosives unit is quickly searching the wreckage for evidence to
06:46be used in a test called residue analysis.
06:50This helps the FBI determine what chemicals fueled the blast.
06:53The first thing that happens is, is that the part of our unit that does the residue analysis takes the
06:59evidence, extracts anything that they can find from there that would help them identify the explosives.
07:07Within hours, residue analysis pinpoints a key piece of evidence.
07:13There we were fortunate that we actually did find a piece of debris that had some of the ammonium nitrate
07:19prills that were still embedded in it.
07:22And from those prills, we were able to conclude that it was an ammonium nitrate based explosive.
07:29From these findings, the FBI concludes that a fertilizer bomb was used in the most deadly terrorist attack on U
07:36.S. soil.
07:38Now, the search for a suspect begins. The challenge for the explosives unit is to determine how the massive bomb
07:45was brought to the scene.
07:46If it's a very large bombing, it's probably going to be a vehicle. So we want to try to identify
07:51that vehicle as quickly as we can.
07:53And here you can see some pieces that we did in a test with a vehicle, and you can just
07:58see the extent to which these are mangled by the explosion.
08:01Within a short time, investigators locate the axle of a truck that was blown nearly 600 feet away from the
08:08Federal Building.
08:09And from that axle, the bomb technicians who were at the scene were able to very quickly identify it as
08:15having come from the bomb vehicle.
08:17And then they were able to give that information to other investigators who tracked it back to the rental facility.
08:26In less than a day, suspected bomber Timothy McVeigh is taken into custody.
08:32But examiners investigating the murder of the New Jersey ad executive are not so lucky.
08:37With no sign of a suspect, they focus their attention on the bomb itself and begin a process known as
08:44device analysis.
08:45When we do an analysis of a device, what we're trying to do is simply identify the components that are
08:51there and try and see if we can figure out how they were put together, how they worked, or in
08:55some cases, how they didn't work.
08:58Unlike the fertilizer bomb used in Oklahoma City, device analysis reveals that the New Jersey bomb is made from common
09:06household items.
09:07The problem is that there's so many things that can be used to make a bomb, whether it be a
09:12digital watch, batteries, or even liquid explosive that can look like aftershave lotion.
09:17By themselves, they look quite innocuous, but assembled together is when they become deadly.
09:23For that reason, the explosives unit maintains a huge supply of potential bomb-making ingredients.
09:28We keep an extensive collection of known standards, clocks, batteries, watches, wire, anything that can be used to make a
09:38bomb, we try to keep a sample of, so that we can try to identify using those, the piece that
09:44we have in them.
09:45Using these elements, examiners begin to reconstruct the bomb that killed the New Jersey executive.
09:50We actually lay it all out here in the laboratory and see if we can't figure out how it fit
09:55together and how it came apart, which sometimes will tell us what type of explosive was used.
10:01As the bomb is reassembled, examiners realize they're dealing with a serial bomber who's eluded them for years, the infamous
10:09Unabomber.
10:18Probably one of the toughest cases that our unit has faced was the Unabomber case.
10:2216 devices, 17 years of investigation.
10:26Clearly, that was the one that caused us the most trouble.
10:30While serial bombers tend to be meticulous and cleverly elusive,
10:34the secret to identifying them is to uncover what the FBI calls the bomber's signature.
10:40The way they wrap wires, the way they tie knots, the materials that they choose to put into the bomb,
10:46those things can often indicate to us that we're dealing with someone who's building a series of bombs.
10:52In fact, Sacklebin says the Unabomber literally signed his bombs.
10:57Over several devices, he put the letters FC in there to let us know that that's who it was.
11:02But there was even more of a signature than that.
11:05We could tell after looking at the 16 bombs that he'd made, the way that he put his batteries in
11:11there,
11:11the way that the wires were connected, the soldering that he did.
11:14Many of those things indicated to us that it was the same person.
11:18Thanks to device analysis and a lucky break, the Unabomber was later identified as this man, Ted Kaczynski.
11:26The evidence gathered by the FBI's explosives unit was instrumental in putting him away for life.
11:33Device analysis is also crucial to solving both the Olympic and abortion clinic bombings.
11:40This is a replica of the deadly terrorist bomb that rocked the Olympic Games.
11:50It threw these nails out into the crowd. Extremely deadly shrapnel.
11:59Once the FBI knows what materials were used to build the bomb and how it was concealed, agents make a
12:05public appeal for information about the bomber.
12:07Today, I'm showing you this backpacker, this reconstructed bomb here.
12:12We believe we've given every possible opportunity that we can to the public to refresh their memories and perhaps come
12:19forward with additional information.
12:21But Sacklebin reveals another secret for rebuilding bombs.
12:28You can actually go to a bombing range and use sometimes thousands of pounds of explosives inside of a vehicle
12:35that we think is similar to the one used, detonate it.
12:38Fire in the hole!
12:41Go out, measure the crater, measure where the pieces were found, collect the evidence that we find there and compare
12:49it to what we had at the bombing scene.
12:52There's also another reason for these dramatic recreations.
12:58These images give jurors an unforgettable look at the devastation a bomb can cause.
13:06Sometimes we'll actually go to our explosives range and reconstruct the device and detonate it and film that so we
13:12can go into court and show that to the judge and jury.
13:18Eric Rudolph, the man accused of bombings at both the Olympics and the abortion clinic in Atlanta, has yet to
13:24face a jury. He remains at large.
13:27But thanks to the explosives unit, McVeigh and Kaczynski will never again pose a threat to society. However, the FBI's
13:36ultimate goal is to catch terrorists before they strike.
13:45Bridgeport, Texas. The residents of this sleepy farm town outside Dallas have no idea that their lives are in danger.
13:53That's because the people caught on this surveillance video are planning a terrorist attack.
13:58Do you smell fuel here? Smell it?
14:00Yeah, I'm cooking today.
14:02What is that I smell?
14:03That's propane out there.
14:04That propane?
14:05Uh-huh.
14:05I don't want to light no cigarette here then.
14:07Too late.
14:10Right there!
14:12The suspected bombers are members of the Ku Klux Klan. They are scheming to destroy the Mitchell Energy Refinery as
14:19a diversion for another crime, an armored car heist, which would fund the war they're planning against the U.S.
14:25government.
14:26Forest Rackers, Mitchell Energy. I ain't gonna probably have three clues anyways.
14:32Relocated? That's alright. We'll just go buy a castle.
14:37We'll go to Germany and buy one of those old castles in Germany and start our own right.
14:43But these terrorists are unaware that the FBI is watching their every move.
14:48That's because one of their own is secretly working undercover for the FBI as an informant.
14:56How does the Bureau use informants to bring dangerous criminals to justice?
15:01They have several top secret strategies, which we are about to reveal.
15:07FBI Inspector Bob Garrity says the first step is to find a disgruntled member who is willing to betray his
15:13group and work as a spy.
15:15In the case of the oil refinery bombing, they enlisted an unlikely ally, Bob Spence, one of the highest ranking
15:21members of the KKK.
15:23Our confidential source, who was a member, in fact he was the Grand Wizard of the True Knights of the
15:29Ku Klux Klan,
15:30normally would not be the kind of person that we would be cooperating with.
15:34He came to us and told us about members of his clavern who were discussing a conspiracy, discussing a crime
15:44that he just could not tolerate.
15:48Why would a lifelong member of the Klan turn against his friends?
15:53Garrity says people usually become FBI informants because they face criminal charges and have worked out a deal with the
16:00feds.
16:01But Bob Spence apparently had a different motive.
16:05My incentive for going to the FBI was to save lives.
16:09To me, being an informant meant that I was doing something to help my country, and that's why.
16:14And I felt good about it.
16:17Regardless of his good intentions, Spence couldn't possibly gather evidence against the Klan on his own.
16:23So the FBI assigns him a top secret liaison called a handler to guide his every move.
16:30Agents who are very good source handlers have very good interpersonal skills,
16:34and they're able to take the source's fears, take his concerns, and try to reassure him that we're out there,
16:40he is safe,
16:41we're going to do whatever we can to protect him.
16:43In this case, Spence's handler is Special Agent Morgan Boddy.
16:48I was his only go-between as far as between Mr. Spence and the FBI.
16:55So he had to trust me completely.
16:58That trust is tested for an agonizing 28 days as Spence leads a double life, collecting information for the FBI.
17:05Spence knows he is risking his life as well as the safety of his family.
17:10I know how paranoid the Klan is, and if they would suspect someone to be an informant,
17:15they won't hesitate to deal with them.
17:17And the bad thing is they don't deal just with them, they deal with their family also.
17:21They'll try to harass the family and run them out of the county.
17:24The informant's just dead meat if he's still around where they can get to him.
17:31Despite the risks, Spence allows the FBI to rig a video camera in the dashboard of his truck.
17:35Here, the hidden camera records one of the suspects describing how he's going to make a bomb.
17:41Wire twist, wire twist, screw the top down, hold, keep it in upright position, set it, tape it, get the
17:50hell out of the way.
17:51But getting a conviction in this case will require more than just words caught on tape.
17:56Garrity says the FBI has to prove that the suspects intend to kill.
18:00With a conspiracy, there has to be some overt acts committed.
18:05There has to be a point when they go beyond speaking and go towards acting.
18:11Finally, the bureau gets the break it needs when it learns that the Klansmen are going to a field to
18:17test their homemade bombs.
18:19The feds come up with a simple and remarkably effective plan.
18:23They give Spence an ordinary home video camera and tell him to record his friends as they prepare and detonate
18:29the explosives.
18:30In case the Klansmen question why Spence has a camera, the FBI gives him a cover story.
18:36As far as the videotape goes, it was kind of amusing, really.
18:39I told them that I was trying this thing out to see if I wanted to buy it, so that
18:43was a good time to test it.
18:45The actions caught on videotape are enough to convince the agents that the Klansmen are about to follow through with
18:51their terrifying scheme.
18:53I got them setting off one explosive round, and they brought the remains of what they set off over to
18:59me.
19:00But even though the tape is startling, the FBI still needs more evidence.
19:05Four weeks into the operation, they finally get it.
19:08The Klansmen go to the refinery to finalize their plans.
19:12They talk about the bombing in explicit detail.
19:15This is the videotape that seals the Klansmen's fate.
19:18I'm going to set it up with a timer and back it up with a tilt switch.
19:27You're going to have it at the heads there where they come in and load?
19:30Plus one on one of those barrels over there?
19:33Tanks. Uh-huh. That big one at the loading station.
19:36Because if that loading station goes, there's no shutoffs until they get to the tanks.
19:40Yeah.
19:40Can you imagine? Just one well head when it blows.
19:43Huge flame. It's hot.
19:45Then comes the most chilling evidence of all.
19:48As the conspirators drive by a house across the street from the refinery, a tragic consequence of their plan is
19:54revealed.
19:55There's a few kids that live right there, but they'll be in school.
19:59Yeah.
20:05The FBI now has all it needs to make the arrest.
20:09They instruct Spence to drive the Klansmen to a gas station.
20:12Then the feds make their move.
20:14There goes one of the cops, black and white, down the road.
20:36The FBI agents race in from every direction.
20:41Hands in the air! Get your hands in the air!
20:42Oh, my God.
20:44Hands in the air!
20:44Hands in the air!
20:45Get out of the vehicle!
20:46Get out of the vehicle!
20:47Get out of the vehicle!
20:48Get out of the vehicle!
20:48Hands down!
20:49Get him up!
20:50Get him up!
20:51Get on the ground, both of you!
20:54Thanks to the FBI's use of a secret informant, the bombing conspiracy is foiled and the suspects are put behind
21:01bars.
21:04Bob Spence has refused the witness protection program and lives in fear for his life.
21:09But he says it's a price he's willing to pay for justice.
21:13I still feel good about it.
21:15If I had it to do over, I'd do it exactly the same way, even if it did cost me.
21:27Sometimes, only a civilian can help the FBI solve a crime.
21:31Other times, they rely on the expertise of a trained professional.
21:37October 1st, 1993.
21:40In the quiet northern California town of Petaluma, 12-year-old Polly Class is kidnapped from a slumber party in
21:47her own home.
21:50It looks like they're gridding the area out and systematically going through the area, and once they've gone through that
21:56area, they know that's clear.
21:59Within hours, the local police release a composite sketch of the suspect, based on descriptions given by two of Polly's
22:06friends.
22:07He's described as six foot three and wearing a neon yellow headband.
22:12Thousands of copies are distributed to police agencies, the media, and the FBI.
22:17The case attracts national attention.
22:20Actress Winona Ryder, a Petaluma native, offers a $200,000 reward for Polly's safe return.
22:27But there's a problem.
22:29The two young witnesses say the man in the drawing, the man everyone is searching for, doesn't look like the
22:35kidnapper.
22:36The investigation is still continuing.
22:38We're still trying to gather more information and more evidence, and we can't comment on it.
22:44Two weeks after Polly's disappearance, there are still no leads.
22:48The FBI is desperate and running out of time.
22:51With each passing day, their chances of finding Polly alive are diminished.
22:56That's when they turn to Jean Boylan, a sketch artist who has helped them solve countless crimes.
23:02Her strikingly accurate drawings were even used in the search for the infamous Unabomber.
23:11Boylan agreed to reveal the secrets of how she creates these images for the FBI.
23:15My job title is Criminal Image Profiler.
23:18And what I do is I enter a case, usually after an existing police sketch has been done,
23:22and is basically leading the investigation.
23:25And I re-interview trauma victims to try to determine what they actually saw.
23:29And then I graphically depict that image so that the investigation can have a direction to go.
23:36Boylan believes that a witness's memory is as crucial to a case as any physical evidence.
23:41What I would ultimately want would be for police to really protect that memory as evidence,
23:47like they would any other piece of evidence in a case, whether it be fingerprints on a murder weapon or
23:51fibers.
23:51But when Boylan arrives in Petaluma, Polly's father is skeptical that she can help.
23:57She showed up with an entourage of TV producers and FBI agents.
24:02And I found it very disconcerting that this beautiful blonde woman being escorted through the police department
24:08and being portrayed as the individual who might very well break the case open.
24:12My concern was that they had taken my daughter's tragedy and gone Hollywood with it,
24:17because Jeannie didn't seem like a person from the real world to me.
24:20I wish that I was here telling you tonight that we had found Polly and she was going to be
24:25coming home safe.
24:26But Boylan refuses to be distracted by the media circus.
24:29She focuses her attention on Polly's friends.
24:32Her secret approach is to do the opposite of what a police sketch artist would normally do.
24:37The usual police process for preparing these composites is for an artist or an investigator to sit down
24:43and have an eyewitness look through a selection of features.
24:46Him. Those are the eyes.
24:48You choose eyes and you choose a nose and you choose a chin, etc.
24:51But Boylan says looking at so many faces in the composite book can confuse witnesses and contaminate their memory.
24:58What happens when you sit a crime victim down and you have them look through a catalog,
25:02the typical catalog has 960 full facial photographs in it.
25:07You're taking 960 images and you're overlaying it over that original recall.
25:11That's how the distortion and the contamination takes place.
25:14If I'm lucky and only if there's trauma in the circumstance under which this eyewitness saw the suspect,
25:20that information will be encoded deeply into memory and will still be there.
25:25But I have to work through all that contamination and try to retrieve that deeply embedded level of recall.
25:31Because of inconsistencies in the girls' stories,
25:34the police suspect that they might actually be covering for Polly.
25:38They had basically been called liars.
25:40The profile that had been drawn up was that Polly had run away with a boyfriend
25:45and that the girlfriends were covering up for that in some way.
25:49But the girls insist that Polly was abducted by a stranger.
25:53In order to get the investigation back on course,
25:56Boylan knows she has to gain the girls' trust to get a better depiction of the suspect.
26:01The real secret was to create a situation in which both of the kids individually felt that they were in
26:09control
26:09and I was a guest on their territory.
26:12One of the ways Boylan gains the girls' trust is to dress like them.
26:16I put on something that a 12-year-old would be comfortable in being around.
26:20I put on blue jeans and a sweatshirt and pulled my hair back and I just became more like them.
26:27Boylan interviews the girls separately, probing their memory for clues.
26:30She does not interrogate them, but engages them in casual conversation.
26:35Her questions are always indirect.
26:37I divert them throughout the interview and then periodically interject questions about shapes and about textures
26:43and the information and the answers are usually there because they're not dwelling
26:47and they're not second-guessing themselves.
26:49Another one of Boylan's secret tactics is to encourage the girls to use Play-Doh
26:54to help recall their memories of the suspect's face.
26:57What that does, it gives her a physical anchor in the moment so that she's not, again, revisiting that crime.
27:03It's a simple little tool, but it's very effective.
27:05So I would say if you were going to create that kind of a shape, would you create a shape
27:09that's longer than wide
27:10or the same length as width?
27:12And if I asked her that question, even in my voice tone, if I say longer than wide
27:16or the same length as width, you'll understand that that voice tone is da-da-da, da-da-da,
27:21because if I even weight my voice tone more heavily at one end of the sentence than the other,
27:25I can lead someone that's been through trauma.
27:29After interviewing the girls, Boylan draws a depiction that is much more detailed than the police composite.
27:35In fact, the suspect in Boylan's portrait has a beard.
27:38There were some very distinctive characteristics in this suspect's face.
27:42There was an indentation on one side of the face and not the other, and there was a furrow in
27:46the brow.
27:46There were wrinkles in the forehead.
27:48All these single individual traits that made this single face identifiable as opposed to being generic
27:54gave me a pretty high level of confidence that we had a good rendition.
27:58Looking at Jeanne's portrait for the first time sets something off, I think, deep inside everybody that looked at it,
28:06that finally we have a face, that finally there are real sets of features that go together and underlie some
28:15kind of a personality.
28:24When Jeanne Boylan's new drawing is presented to the press, she is questioned about one glaring omission.
28:29I got this barrage of questions by the press saying, you know, what about the headband?
28:33And my initial reaction was like, oh my god, I forgot the headband.
28:36But the reality was there was no headband. It didn't surface in either interview.
28:39What that was was a perfect example of the power of suggestion.
28:42The two little girls were shown a selection of headgear, which implies that such an item exists.
28:48If I said to you, there's an old expression, don't think of a pink elephant.
28:52And when I say that to you, what do you think of?
28:55Boylan's new drawing gives investigators renewed hope, and the search for Polly goes into high gear.
29:00For the first time, we knew more or less what we were looking for.
29:05And I think that it instilled a sense of purpose or reinstilled a sense of purpose to all of the
29:12various players involved,
29:13who at that time tended to be the law enforcement, the media, and certainly the massive volunteer effort as well.
29:22There will be probably tomorrow between 200 and 300 search and rescue personnel here to assist us.
29:30Thanks to Boylan's drawing, within six weeks police follow a trail of evidence to this man, Richard Allen Davis,
29:37who looks nothing like the original police sketch, but very much like the man Boylan has drawn.
29:43Now, let's get to the point where you tell me, oh, you have no idea that you want to know
29:46why.
29:48Eventually, Davis confesses not only to kidnapping Polly, but also to her murder.
29:58The nation joins the class family in mourning the loss of 12-year-old Polly.
30:07Even though Gene Boylan's work was instrumental in the capture and conviction of Polly's killer,
30:12sadly, there is always a new case for her to solve.
30:16I think that Gene Boylan has a great gift, that she has a gift from the gods,
30:21which law enforcement should continue to use.
30:25Despite her impressive record of success, Boylan denies that she has any special talent.
30:30She believes her methods can be taught to other law enforcement sketch artists,
30:35and if they're applied in a timely manner, they can even save lives.
30:38I think it's just sitting down and having empathy and having compassion for someone that's been through a horrible ordeal,
30:46and taking the time to listen, which is a luxury oftentimes police don't have.
30:51Sometimes, a pad and pencil is the best weapon to catch a criminal.
30:55But in the computer age, agents have to rely on technology and imagination.
31:02Fingertips stab at a keyboard.
31:05Bloodshot eyes glare at a glowing computer screen.
31:10A small band of cyber thieves called the Phone Masters are in the midst of a massive internet crime spree.
31:19They've been stealing calling card numbers and top secret information to sell on the black market.
31:27They've even managed to steal unlisted phone numbers at the highest levels of the United States government,
31:32an electronic invasion that seriously threatens national security.
31:37They actually looked at Bill Clinton's mother and got her telephone information,
31:41so every place that she called, all the places that were calling her,
31:43and then they had all the unlisted numbers from the White House.
31:46And so they had some extensive knowledge and were able to get into systems that they really should never have
31:51been in.
31:54FBI agent Mike Morris is in charge of an impossible mission,
31:58to arrest people he can't identify with technology that hasn't even been invented yet.
32:04We're real concerned about the Phone Masters in that this group had penetrated phone switches and phone systems throughout the
32:10United States.
32:13Morris, like most Americans in 1994, knows very little about computers and the internet.
32:18But he wonders if the FBI could possibly wiretap computer hackers the same way that it taps phone calls.
32:27Necessity being the mother of invention, Morris sets out to create a secret device that can track every keystroke from
32:33a cyber crook's computer.
32:34It then became a matter of finding the technology that was available at the time,
32:40and piecing it together in such a way that we could get our end result.
32:44Man, I made it. I'm in.
32:47Morris and a team of FBI engineers invent a high-tech, high-speed computer tracking device that they proudly call
32:54the Magic Box.
32:57The complex inner workings of the Magic Box are so secretive that Morris isn't allowed to reveal how it works.
33:04I'm really not at liberty to go farther into that technology. It might jeopardize other investigations.
33:11But he did agree to tell us how it was used for the very first time to catch the Phone
33:16Masters.
33:20First, the FBI gets a tip that someone is offering to sell the phone records of several celebrities.
33:25The suspect with the stolen goods is this man, Calvin Cantrell.
33:32FBI agents set up a stakeout inside a store near Cantrell's house in Grand Prairie, Texas.
33:38This building across the street is a major substation for the telephone company,
33:43and a perfect place for Cantrell to steal classified information.
33:46This particular building, Calvin, when he was hacking, used to dive into that dumpster over there and actually pull information
33:52out of.
33:53He also actually had hacked into the telephone switch contained in this building.
33:57So he actually, at one point in time, owned the computer that was inside that building.
34:01He could have changed it, done whatever he wanted to.
34:06Using a wiretap and the magic box, agents record all of Cantrell's phone calls and every keystroke he makes on
34:14his computer.
34:15Our magic box, if you will, would intercept everything that he did across his computer.
34:21Incredibly, the FBI discovers that Calvin Cantrell is not just any cyber criminal, but one of the three leaders of
34:28the Phone Masters.
34:29With the magic box, were able to see all the things that they were sending back and forth to each
34:33other,
34:34and all the computer systems that Calvin was hacking into.
34:38The suspects are unaware that the FBI is onto them.
34:42In fact, during one secretly recorded phone conversation, they even joke about the possibility of being investigated.
34:50What the hell happened?
34:51That was the FBI tapping in.
34:53Man.
34:54Was it really?
34:56You're going to jail.
34:57We're all going to jail.
34:58For a very long time.
35:01Finally, after two months of constant surveillance, the FBI has all the evidence it needs to arrest the Phone Masters.
35:18Contrell and 11 other hackers are apprehended.
35:23Thanks to the FBI's secret weapon, the magic box, and Agent Mike Morris, the nation's first computer detective,
35:30dozens of cyber crooks are taking the information superhighway directly to jail.
35:37If they hack it and we find out about it, the FBI will definitely be on it and we'll find
35:42them.
35:44Cyberspace may be the new frontier for some FBI agents, but others still have to meet the enemy face-to
35:51-face.
35:52Oakland, Arkansas.
35:54Oakland, Arkansas.
35:55The FBI surrounds a 240-acre compound which is guarded by these heavily armed and camouflaged soldiers.
36:01They call themselves the Covenant Sword and Arm of the Lord, or CSA.
36:07Hundreds of lives are at stake in this potentially explosive standoff, including those of 125 women and children inside the
36:15compound.
36:16The tragic consequences of a deadly showdown like this one would be fully realized 10 years later in Waco, Texas.
36:26But here in the Ozarks, the FBI is about to attempt a top-secret negotiation strategy in hopes of ending
36:32the siege peacefully.
36:38March 1985.
36:40The soldiers of the CSA have been training for a self-described holy war to overthrow the U.S. government.
36:49We managed to obtain this exclusive footage shot inside the CSA compound.
36:55The group is led by James Ellison, a paramilitary preacher from Illinois, who has been spreading hate across the Ozarks.
37:03But if God does not judge this nation and put the rod of correction on this nation, then he's going
37:09to have to resurrect Sodom and Gomorrah and apologize.
37:13Because this nation is guilty.
37:17Here, Ellison is attempting to recruit new members.
37:21You can't walk the streets without seeing homosexuals and queers and being accosted by thieves and robbers.
37:30And when they get caught, they might spend the night in jail.
37:38Because the laws of God have been forsaken.
37:44But Ellison is unaware that FBI agents have been sent in to arrest him on weapons charges.
37:50The Bureau's mission is to make Ellison surrender without bloodshed.
37:55It is a seemingly impossible task, considering that Ellison is the leader of the most formidable fighting force that U
38:02.S. law enforcement has ever faced.
38:06Tactical Commander Danny Colson is the FBI's man in charge.
38:10The problem was compounded for us by the fact that they had a religious philosophy that made the murder of
38:15an FBI agent justifiable and even a good thing to do.
38:22They had assault weapons. They had some AK-47s. They had a Lewis machine gun that they were mounting on
38:28an armored car they were building.
38:30They had Claymore Mine type of devices.
38:33They had hand grenades. They had a Law rocket, which will knock out a light tank.
38:38They were very, very formidable.
38:41Now, Colson takes us back to the scene to recount the 10th showdown with the CSA.
38:49The main compound was very heavily fortified. The stone buildings had pill boxes. It was protected by explosives.
39:00Colson's first move is to surround the compound with 200 FBI agents and dozens of state and local police, making
39:08escape impossible.
39:10The FBI secret plan is to use reverse psychology, not to attack as the CSA is expecting, but to do
39:18the opposite.
39:19Religion taught them that when the government came, we would attack them and they would have to defend themselves.
39:25And when nobody was attacked, it really threw them off balance.
39:29Colson's strategy is to wait it out and lure the CSA into negotiating.
39:34This was more of a psychological operation. It was a tactical operation. The psychology was basically be patient, negotiate, talk
39:42to them, make them appear hopeless, that they can't get out.
39:46We wanted to convince them again that we weren't there to hurt anybody, but also that we had tremendous firepower.
39:51And I wanted them to understand that if there's a firefight here, they're going to lose it.
40:02The CSA makes it clear that it would rather fight than talk.
40:07James Ellison will not surrender to the authorities. We no longer feel that the people of this country, and especially
40:13those involved with the right wing, can receive absolute justice from the court system.
40:17But gentlemen, if you excuse me, I really need to get back. Thank you.
40:21That's Ellison's right hand man, Kerry Noble, who has also agreed to revisit the scene of the standoff.
40:28Noble reveals that the CSA was scheming to draw the feds into a violent gun battle.
40:33What we were hoping for and expecting was that once the government came in on us and we started the
40:40shootout in the war, that others would come in also.
40:43Start a chain reaction, a domino effect that would cause uprisings throughout the country.
40:49That would just keep going and keep going, escalating, snowballing effect to where the apocalypse would come in, which would
40:58usher in the second coming of Christ.
41:01But the FBI is about to deploy another secret tactic.
41:05They will try to trick the CSA into believing that it has choices and even some control over the outcome
41:12of the standoff.
41:13The secret to bringing someone to your point of view is options, what kind of options you give them.
41:19And we gave them two options. One was to engage in a war here and lose it, or to talk
41:24and to live.
41:26Colson's plan works. Ellison finally agrees to meet with the FBI.
41:30But this won't be an ordinary negotiation. Ellison will only talk directly to Agent Colson.
41:37Ellison would only talk to a tactical person and a commander.
41:40He viewed himself as a commander and he wasn't about to talk to a subordinate negotiator.
41:46It made sense, although it was a violation of the FBI's policy at the time to do that.
41:51Colson uses the unusual face-to-face meeting to attempt the next phase of his strategy,
41:56which is to make the militia leader feel important.
42:00We didn't try to intimidate him. We didn't yell at him. We didn't make demands.
42:05We just talked in a very calm way, just like we're talking here today.
42:09I felt right then that I had won him over.
42:12Colson's next move is to make Ellison believe that he controls his own destiny.
42:17He allows Ellison to go back inside to consider his options.
42:22But Colson soon fears that his plan will backfire.
42:25My biggest concern was that maybe Mr. Ellison wasn't in total control.
42:30And that someone inside would say, this is enough of this, we're going to shoot our way out of here.
42:35And turn the whole thing into a very chaotic firefight, much like the ATF had at Waco.
42:41I love all my children.
42:43But if I have to sacrifice my children for what God's doing, I'll have to do it.
42:48Because he'll take them anyway if he wants them.
42:51If you haven't faced that reality yet, you need to face it.
42:55Coulson and Ellison negotiate around the clock.
42:59FBI snipers hold their aim and TV crews hold their breath, fearing a bloody gun battle.
43:06After four days of tense negotiations, Coulson finally convinces Ellison to surrender.
43:14Hundreds of innocent lives are spared.
43:17And the motto of the FBI's hostage rescue team is to save lives.
43:21And if we can negotiate a person out, it's much better than going and having to drag them out and
43:26maybe shoot them.
43:26And if you're true to your motto and the things you believe in, that was the only possible course of
43:31action that we could have taken.
43:32The peaceful resolution, I think, came about because of the government's willingness to talk, to not come in shooting, firing
43:40right off the bat.
43:41Their integrity, and I think ultimately just the grace of God working everything out to where nobody got killed.
43:49America today is in a terrible place. God bless this nation.
43:57Ellison served six years in prison, and today he's preaching at another compound in Oklahoma.
44:04Kerry Noble spent two years in prison and left the CSA for good.
44:09And in a remarkable turn of events, today Kerry Noble and Danny Coulson have forged a very unique friendship,
44:16one that wouldn't exist if it were not for the secret strategies of the FBI.
44:22To go from a time when we were pointing weapons at each other to a time now that we sit
44:27around and drink iced tea and talk about our kids
44:29and talk about our kids.
44:30It's a great irony for me that the first time I met with Kerry Noble after this event was many,
44:36many years later.
44:37And I said, Kerry, I'm really glad I didn't shoot you.
44:39And he looked at me and said, Danny, I'm really glad I didn't shoot you too.
44:47Tonight, we've taken you inside one of the world's most secretive crime-fighting organizations, the FBI.
44:53We've seen how the explosives unit uses cutting-edge technology and painstaking detective work to track down society's most dangerous
45:01killers.
45:02And how one artist relies more on her ears than her eyes to create the portrait of a suspect.
45:08We've shown you how the FBI uses everything from cutting-edge technology to informants to infiltrate and arrest criminals.
45:16But there are many other tactics that cannot be revealed in order to protect national security.
45:22Strategies that will forever remain among the FBI's best-kept secrets.
45:46...
45:51...
45:53...
45:54...
45:55...
45:55...