The Justice Department requested on Monday that a federal judge prevent the public dissemination of the cover names used by undercover FBI employees who allegedly worked with Rezwan Ferdaus to plot a (far fetched) attack on the Pentagon and Capitol Building using remote controlled planes.
“During the course of the criminal investigation of the defendant, Ferdaus had numerous meetings and conversations with two FBI UCEs,” federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said in a Monday filing. “In interacting with Ferdaus, the UCEs used cover names (first and last names). For public safety reasons, the defendant and his counsel have agreed not to publicly disclose the cover names of these UCEs in any pre-trial filing or at any pre-trial hearing (including the detention hearing) in open court.”
Instead, both the defendant and his lawyer will refer to the FBI undercover agents collectively or as UCE1 or UCE2. If he chooses to go to trial, the names used by the undercover agents may be disclosed.
The government also sought to prevent audio and video recordings involving the FBI undercover agents from being distributed to anyone not involved in the case.
