The US government had filed a notice of intent to appeal in Chicago federal court yesterday, Bloomberg said. The legal action was to contest an earlier ruling by US District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman, which granted attorney Thomas A. Durkin's request to go over applications for intelligence gathering. The papers, which were submitted to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, will reportedly be used by Durkin to defend suspected terrorist Adel Daoud of Hillside, Illinois.
Daoud allegedly detonated a bomb to no success outside a bar in downtown Chicago, Bloomberg said. The news agency said despite the fact that the bomb was a phony, Daoud's arrest was part of a sting operation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Daoud maintained his not guilty stance in all charges lodged against him by the state.
Dauod was also accused a year after his arrest of trying to plan the murder of an FBI agent, according to a separate indictment.
In her January 29 ruling, Coleman reasoned that the risk of non-disclosure in the case against Daoud overshadowed the risk of threat to national security should the court grant Durkin access. Nonetheless, Coleman said that she has put her ruling on hold today as the outcome of the appeal is still pending.
Durkin, who is a partner of Durkin & Roberts, said that his request was no longer new to him as he has been granted security clearance with previous clients before in terrorism-related cases.
US Attorney General Eric Holder said in an affidavit that Durkin should not be given access, as the disclosure will harm national security.
Bloomberg said the US government has been scrutinized for its surveillance operations at home and offshore by using the telephone and Internet metadata collected by the National Security Agency. This revelation came to light after former government contractor told the world about the intelligence-gathering methods of the government.
