Hersh then took the story to The Washington Post. The Post intended to publish it, as BuzzFeed first reported.

Hersh told HuffPost that he went to the Post because of the paper’s reporting on documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

In the Syria article, Hersh mentioned the Post's Aug. 29 report on the U.S. government's secret "black budget" for intelligence programs. He wrote that the leaked document revealed that "the NSA no longer had access to the conversations of the top military leadership in Syria, which would have included crucial communications from Assad, such as orders for a nerve gas attack."

Hersh also cited the Post’s reporting on a “secret sensor system” that he wrote would have been expected to detect Assad's regime preparing for a chemical attack in the days leading up to it.

It's unclear exactly why the Post decided not to publish the story. Hersh wrote that he was told by email that Executive Editor Marty Baron decided “that the sourcing in the article did not meet the Post's standards.”

Baron and a spokesperson for the Post did not respond to requests for comment on Sunday night.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/08/seymour-hersh-syria-report_n_4409674.html

NSA Domestic Surveillance Began 7 Months Before 9/11, Convicted Qwest CEO Claims

Did the NSA’s massive call records database program pre-date the terrorist attacks of 9/11?

That startling allegation is in court documents released this week which show that former Qwest CEO Joseph Nacchio — the head of the only company known to have turned down the NSA’s requests for Americans’ phone records — tried, unsuccessfully, to argue just that in his defense against insider trading charges.

Nacchio was sentenced to 6 years in prison in 2007 after being found guilty of illegally selling shares based on insider information that the company’s fortunes were declining. Nacchio unsuccessfully attempted to defend himself by arguing that he actually expected Qwest’s 2001 earnings to be higher because of secret NSA contracts, which, he contends, were denied by the NSA after he declined in a February 27, 2001 meeting to give the NSA customer calling records, court documents released this week show.

AT&T, Verizon and Bellsouth all agreed to turn over call records to an NSA database, according to reporting in the USA Today in 2006. At that time, Nacchio’s lawyer publicly stated that Nacchio declined to participate until served with a proper legal order.
http://www.wired.com/2007/10/nsa-asked-for-p/

Snowden also referred to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the young man who tried to blow up an airplane over Detroit on Christmas Day 2009 with explosives hidden in his underwear. Abdulmutallab’s father attempted to warn U.S. officials that he had concerns about his son prior to the attack, but despite his father’s worry, Abdulmutallab was not placed on a no-fly list. The other passengers of the plane that Christmas Day were only saved when they noticed Abdulmutallab attempting to light his explosives and subdued him themselves.

A spokesperson for the CIA, the agency which was approached by Abdulmutallab’s father, called into question Snowden’s general theory told ABC News the agency doesn’t “put a lot of stock in Snowden’s tips for improving our intelligence capabilities.”

“The Agency is a versatile global organization that is more than capable of addressing a range of national security threats simultaneously and it does so every day,” the spokesperson said. “Anyone suggesting otherwise is seriously misinformed.”
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2014/03/snowden-wasted-surveillance-resources-may-have-stopped-boston-bombing/

Kurt and LoriHaskell, an American couple, said that while waiting to board Flight 253 at Schiphol Airport, they saw a "poor-looking african-american teenager around 16 or 17," who Kurt Haskell claims was Abdulmutallab, with a second man, who was "sharp-dressed", possibly of Indian descent, around 50 years old, and who spoke "in an American accent similar to my own."[11][12]

According to Lori Haskell, the second man told the ticket agent: "We need to get this man on the plane. He doesn't have a passport." The ticket agent said nobody was allowed to board without a passport. The well-dressed man replied: "We do this all the time; he's from Sudan."[13][14] Lori Haskell said the two men were directed down a corridor, to talk to a manager. "We never saw him again until he tried to blow up our plane," Lori Haskell said of Abdulmutallab.[12]

Only U.S. citizens are permitted to board international flights to the U.S. without passports, and even then only if the airline confirms their identity and citizenship, said a spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).[15] A CBP official and spokesman confirmed there were not any Sudanese refugees on the plane.[15] The Dutch counter-terror agency said that Abdulmutallab presented a valid Nigerian passport and U.S. entry visa when he boarded Flight 253.[16] After reviewing more than 200 hours of security camera recordings, it did not find any indication that he had accomplices at the airport or that he acted suspiciously there.[17]

Haskell suggested authorities should, "Put the video out there to prove I'm wrong."[18] Federal agents later said they were trying to identify and find the well-dressed man. U.S. authorities had initially discounted the passenger accounts, but agents later said there was a growing belief that the man played a role in ensuring Abdulmutallab "did not get cold feet".[19]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northwest_Airlines_Flight_253