Geek cons CIA into buying $20 m 'anti-terrorist' software
A computer expert was paid more than $20 million by the US government after he conned the CIA into believing that he had developed software to stop terrorist attacks, a media report has said.
So convinced were the US intelligence officials by California computer programmer Dennis Montgomery's claims that they regularly acted on tip-offs from him, Daily Mail reports.
It has also been reported that at some point in 2003, former US president George Bush even acted on Montgomery advice and ordered a suspension of flights between London and New York amid fears they were being hijacked.
The US Justice Department is now alleged to be hushing up matters to avoid embarrassment to the spy chiefs.
One former CIA official reportedly said they realised then that they were conned and said, "We got played".
Michael Flynn, Montgomery's former lawyer who now describes his ex-client as a "con man", has told the New York Times the administration is trying hard to not disclose details "for fear of revealing that the government has been duped”.
Montgomery claimed his codes were able to detect terrorist plots hidden in TV broadcasts made by the Arab network Al Jazeera.
He also claimed his software could identify terror leaders from photographs taken by aerial drones and detect noise from enemy submarines and that his software "could save American lives".
