On June 10, 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft made an announcement from Moscow: “I am pleased to announce today a significant step forward in the war on terrorism. We have captured a known terrorist who was exploring a plan to build and explode a radiological dispersion device, or ‘dirty bomb,’ in the United States. …Yesterday, after consultation with the acting secretary of defense [Donald Rumsfeld] and other senior officials, both the acting secretary of defense and I recommended that the president of the United States [George W. Bush], in his capacity as commander in chief, determine that Abdullah al Muhajir, born Jose Padilla, determine that al Muhajir is an enemy combatant who poses a serious and continued threat to the American people and our national security. …Let me be clear: We know from multiple independent and corroborating sources that Abdullah al Muhajir was closely associated with Al Qaeda and that as an Al Qaeda operative he was involved in planning future terrorist attacks on innocent American civilians in the United States.”
– “Atty. Gen. Ashcroft’s Announcement,” Associated Press, June 10, 2002