"Suspect 2" (Photo: FBI.gov)

The Federal Bureau of Investigation held a press briefing today in which they released photo and video footage of two individuals suspected of being involved in Monday's deadly bombing of the Boston Marathon.

"Today we are enlisting the public's help to identify the two suspects," F.B.I. Special Agent Richard DesLauriers said at the conference.

“After a very detailed analysis of photo, video and other evidence, we are releasing photos of these two suspects. They are identified as 'Suspect 1' and 'Suspect 2.' They appear to be associated."

"Suspect 1" is wearing a black hat with a matching black packpack and "Suspect 2" is wearing a white hat with a matching white backpack. They both are wearing dark hoodies and sneakers and walk by dozens of spectators, one after another.

A collection of photos of both can be viewed on the F.B.I.'s website in greater detail, along with directions to reach out agency with tips should the public have any.

"Somebody out there knows these individuals as friends, neighbors, co-workers, or family members of the suspects," he added. "Though it may be difficult, the nation is counting on those with information to come forward."

Mr. DesLauriers only took a couple questions, urging the media to stay focused only on official photos after a number of embarrassing reports on "possible suspects" have emerged over the last few days. The New York Post splashed the photos of two unconnected individuals on its front pages today, for example.

"For clarity, these images should be the only ones--I emphasize, the only ones--that the public should use to assist us," he explained. "Other photos should not be deemed credible and they unnecessarily divert the public's attention."

Surveillance footage of both suspects can be viewed below:

FBI keeps tabs on OWS

It turns out that all you crazy, post-hippy Occupy Wall Streeters were right: the government does not have your best interest at hearts. In fact, the FBI just released a heavily redacted memo that details some of the ways that it used its anti-terrorism surveillance power to keep last year's OWS campaign heavily guarded.

Released by the Partnership for Civil Justice after it pursued the documents under the Freedom of Information Act, the items included will just serve to (depending on your worldview) reinforce your paranoia American security bureaus having the carte blanche to become Big Brother, or terrify you into validating the belief that those kids with the drums and the dreadlocks were planning another 9/11.

-As early as August 19, 2011, the FBI in New York was meeting with the New York Stock Exchange to discuss the Occupy Wall Street protests that wouldn’t start for another month. By September, prior to the start of the OWS, the FBI was notifying businesses that they might be the focus of an OWS protest.

Translation: You guys never had a chance. The FBI knew about the plans to occupy Zuccotti Square before most of you did.

-Documents released show coordination between the FBI, Department of Homeland Security and corporate America. They include a report by the Domestic Security Alliance Council (DSAC), described by the federal government as “a strategic partnership between the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the private sector,” discussing the OWS protests at the West Coast ports to “raise awareness concerning this type of criminal activity.” The DSAC report shows the nature of secret collaboration between American intelligence agencies and their corporate clients - the document contains a “handling notice” that the information is “meant for use primarily within the corporate security community. Such messages shall not be released in either written or oral form to the media, the general public or other personnel…” (The DSAC document was also obtained by the Northern California ACLU which has sought local FBI surveillance files.)

Translation: You want to know how Citibank had the drop on protesters last October? They were tipped off by the FBI/Department of Homeland Security and/or the Domestic Security Alliance Council.

-The Memphis FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force met to discuss “domestic terrorism” threats, including, “Aryan Nations, Occupy Wall Street, and Anonymous.”

Translation: One of these things is not like the other...

To read the entirety of the document, click here. But don't even bother clearing your browser history: the FBI already knows you're reading this article.

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis (Google+)

Bangladeshi national Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, age 21, pleaded not guilty to terrorism charges today in a Brooklyn federal court. Mr. Nafis is facing allegations he attempted to use a weapon of mass destruction and offered support to a terrorist organization.

The N.Y.P.D. and the F.B.I. arrested Mr. Nafis on October 17 after he allegedly tried to detonate a van he thought was loaded with a half-ton of explosives. The car-bomb was a dud; Mr. Nafis was targeted in a sting planned after authorities say they were made aware Mr. Nafis was planning a terrorist act.

In online communications prior to his arrest, Mr. Nafis allegedly told informants he didn't want to do anything "small," but wanted to commit an act that would "shake the whole country" and "make one step ahead for the Muslims."

Bloomberg reports that Mr. Nafis may be in the process of negotiating a plea with the government.

"you can kind of see the smoke from the controlled detonation on Ellis island." (Photo: Twitter/m_crit)

If you've heard a series of loud explosions over the last hour, don't panic. Twitter users initially worried that the electric grid may have blown in lower Manhattan again, but the loud noises are actually due to a series of controlled detonations reportedly orchestrated by the FBI.

According to NBC News, the "FBI says they will help US Parks police safely explode damaged explosions after #Sandy 6X over next 30 minutes on Ellis Island." ABC and MSNBC's Contessa Brewer also reported the incident.

ABC News anchor Diana Williams tweeted that New Yorkers should expect six blasts. Judging from Twitter, the explosions were heard around the city, from Brooklyn Heights to Park Slope to Manhattan.

Ellis Island itself experienced extensive damage during the storm and is closed "for the foreseeable future."

The Observer has reached out to multiple sources for independent confirmation. A representative at the New Jersey Attorney General's Office told us the FBI issued a press release about the issue, so we left a message for them. The Mayor's office directed us to the National Parks Service, which directed us to the Department of Interior, where we left a message. We also contacted the NYPD, which promised to get back to us soon. Fun with government runarounds!

Update:

According to a press release published by the AP:

Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis (Google+)

The New York Police Department and Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrested 21-year-old Bangladeshi Quazi Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis for an alleged plot to bomb the New York Federal Reserve Bank in lower Manhattan.

Mr. Nafis was taken into custody Wednesday morning after authorities say he used a cell phone to try and detonate what he thought was a van filled with a thousand pounds of explosives. The van was a dud. Mr. Nafis was the target of a joint F.B.I./N.Y.P.D. sting that began months ago, after authorities became aware he was planning something:

Nafis, who reported having overseas connections to al-Qaeda, attempted to recruit individuals to form a terrorist cell inside the United States. Nafis also actively sought out al-Qaeda contacts within the United States to assist him in carrying out an attack. Unbeknownst to Nafis, one of the individuals he attempted to recruit was actually a source for the FBI.

In a statement issued to the media about the arrest, the F.B.I.'s Acting Assistant Director Mary Galligan said "the public was never at risk in this case, because two of the defendant's 'accomplices' were actually an FBI source and an FBI undercover agent."

A complaint filed in the U.S. District Court of Eastern New York indicates informants began talking with Mr. Nafis in July.

The complaint also states that Mr. Nafis communicated with the informants over Facebook and in person. In one conversation he allegedly told an operative that he didn't "want something that’s like, small. I just want something big. Something very big. Very very very very big, that will shake the whole country, that will make America, not one step ahead, change of policy, and make one step ahead, for the Muslims [...]"

The Hamburglar.

Oleg Kalugin, a man some credit with helping to foil the hard-line coup attempt against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991—and others, including Vladimir Putin, have dubbed a traitor—did not appear to partake of the catered spread on Wednesday afternoon in the basement meeting room at the Discovery Times Square exhibit space. The occasion was a press luncheon pegged to the launch of SPY: The Secret World of Espionage, a traveling exhibition of Cold War memorabilia, and Major General Kalugin, now a professor with the Centre for Counterintelligence and Security Studies in Alexandria, Virginia, was there to offer support—and perhaps to serve as something of a living relic himself.

Actually, maybe he wolfed down a turkey sandwich when we turned away. We can’t be sure, which is why we are not in the espionage game. But Maj. Gen. Kalugin has good reason to be careful. The former head of foreign counterintelligence for the KGB, he publicly denounced the agency, spoke up against corruption and vilified Mr. Putin as a war criminal over the war in Chechnya.

A compact man with silvery hair, he noted that a former colleague had let it be known that Mr. Kalugin “would have been dead a long time ago” if he’d emigrated to Europe, instead of the states. “There has not been a single case of a political murder by the Soviets or Russians on the territory of the United States, and I would know,” he said, flashing an impish grin.

Mr. Kalugin actually began his espionage career in New York in the late ’50s, pursuing various clandestine activities while employing the cover of a Columbia student, studying journalism on a Fulbright. (James Franco, are you listening?)

He’s now a U.S. citizen, so it’s all good.

Speaking of political murder, Mr. Kalugin played a role in one of the most sensational rub-outs of the Cold War, the killing of Bulgarian dissident Georgi Markov, a journalist for the BBC Radio and Voice of America. Mr. Markov was felled by a ricin-coated micropellet fired from an umbrella gun on London’s Waterloo Bridge. While admitting he’d been privy to the planning of the assassination, Mr. Kalugin was careful to note that the Soviets did not have any operational involvement in the hit but merely provided the Bulgarians “technical advice”—including, of course, the poison and the umbrella itself, which is now on display in the exhibition.

The weapon is part of the voluminous trove of spy memorabilia collected by the show’s organizer, H. Keith Melton. Among his other treasures on view are Robert Hanssen’s Palm Pilot, Aldrich Ames’s coffee cup, and cuckoo-clock camera of the sort that the Stasi placed in hotel rooms throughout East Germany.

Mr. Melton also managed to wrangle the cooperation of the CIA, which lent dozens of items, including a pigeon camera, an “Insectohopter” miniature spy drone shaped like a dragonfly, and the last flag to wave over Checkpoint Charlie.

The Insectohopter

Mr. Melton said the goal of the exhibit was to educate the public about the vital role played by our intelligence services and encourage young people to consider careers as spooks. “It begins with the kids,” he said.

Perhaps not surprisingly, given the enthusiastic involvement of the Company, the exhibition delivers an appealingly romantic view of tradecraft. There’s no “yellowcake” on display. None of that cocaine trafficked by the Nicaraguan Contras with an assist by Langley. No mention of Curveball, or Valerie Plame or aluminum tubes. No Bay of Pigs. No waterboards.

Perhaps the most precious item is the ice axe that was used to assassinate Leon Trotsky by Stalinist agent Ramón Mercader. Mr. Melton obtained it for a princely sum. “Modesty prevents me from discussing it,” he said.

Though he wore a shiny CIA lapel pin at the luncheon, Mr. Melton was never a spy himself. He made his fortune as a McDonald’s owner-operator in South Florida, ultimately amassing 36 restaurants before cashing out a few years ago after a contract dispute with McDonald’s corporate. In a legal complaint filed in that case, Micky D’s accused him of wiretapping a negotiation.

The Observer couldn’t help wondering if Mr. Melton had been putting his gadget collection to personal use.

“I’m too smart to do things like that,” he said, explaining that the court threw out the charge, which had been based on a misunderstanding. “We said we had a ‘record’ of a conversation and they thought that meant we’d taped it, although we made it clear we just took handwritten notes.”

The suit was settled “very amicably,” he added. “I retired as the most successful McDonald’s operator in history.”

SPY: The Secret World of Espionage is now on view at Discovery Times Square.

"That was a strong vote," said our friend, who thinks about these things. "What would have happened if Dimon had disclosed the losses two days earlier? Would there have been more time to build support for the proposal?"

Timing indeed: If you read our tale of the ongoing Dimonfreude in this week's paper, you know we're intrigued by the question of when Dimon knew the extent of the London Whale losses, and why he chose May 10 for his bombshell disclosure.

The effect on shareholder proposals is surely incidental, a mere appetizer to the more important meal: How the timing of the disclosures factored into the performance of the stock, which has plummeted more than 9 percent since New York markets closed on Thursday, wiping out more than $15 billion in value?

Still, we're not the only ones interested. The FBI has joined the ranks of federal agencies sniffing around the firm's public disclosures, dating back to Dimon's April 13 dismissal of the London Whale story as "a complete tempest in a teapot." The Securities and Exchange Commission, Office of the Currency of the Comptroller and both houses of Congress are also said to be investigating, while two shareholder lawsuits may stir the pot further still.

To which we can only say, stay tuned. Perhaps one of these parties or another will enter the fray with a bombshell disclosure of their own.

*Lindsley told the Times: “There is an essential and potentially disastrous conflict of interest when the same person shares both jobs.”

(Eric Piermont/AFP/Getty Images)

Police officer and FBI agents in front of the basement at 127B Prince Street. (Photo: Hunter Walker)

FBI and NYPD investigators shut a two-block stretch of Prince Street in SoHo today to dig for remains in the case of a young boy who went missing nearly 33 years ago. Etan Patz, 6, disappeared on May 25, 1979 after leaving his home for a two-block walk to his school bus stop. Despite worldwide attention, the case has never been solved. NYPD Deputy Commissioner for Public Information Paul Browne told The Observer that police and FBI investigators are "executing a search warrant this morning for human remains, clothing or other personal effects that may help us lead to the location of Etan Patz" in the basement of 127B Prince Street. Etan went missing about a half block away from the basement.

"It's about a 15-by-30 basement space," Mr. Browne said. "It's currently unoccupied, we'll be taking down the drywall and excavating the basement."

Mr. Browne said the investigation, which potentially involves a kidnapping case, is a joint operation between the FBI and NYPD. He said the investigation stemmed from a request by District Attorney Cy Vance Jr., who reopened the case in 2010.

"It was not a tip, it was a re-examination of the existing evidence," Mr. Browne said. "I think there was some interest expressed by the District Attorney."

Mr. Browne would not say whether or not there is a suspect in the disappearance. FBI spokesperson Tim Flannelly was similarly tight-lipped.

"I'm not going to comment, it's an ongoing investigation," Mr. Flannelly said when asked if there are other aspects to the investigation apart from the Prince Street dig. "We're here executing a search warrant."

As of this writing, the Patz family could not be reached for comment, but Mr. Flannelly said he believed they were aware of the dig.

Thanks to the efforts of neighbors who plastered Manhattan with posters and pestered the media, Etan's case earned worldwide attention in the weeks following his disappearance. He was among the first missing children to have his photo placed on milk cartons.

Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance, lives around the corner from the site of the dig and has been in the neighborhood since 1976. He said the basement was empty today, and was at the time of Etan's disappearance.

"Where they're looking now was a basement, an abandoned basement," Mr. Sweeney said gesturing toward the high-end boutiques that now line the block. "A lot of these stores, believe it or not, were empty. You couldn't rent them, and so, I'm sure there was nothing in the basement at the time.

"So, it would make sense that someone would grab a kid who was walking one-and-a-half blocks from here down to West Broadway just like, 'come here for a second' and just grab him, take him down there," he said.

That assignment requires—yes, requires—the surveillance of organizations and individuals suspected of inciting or of plotting attacks on the streets of New York. This is hardly an abstract threat, as any glance at the downtown skyline will confirm. But 9/11 was hardly the last plot against New York. Several other planned attacks have been thwarted; one, a car bomb in Times Square, came dangerously close to success. And surely there were other threats dismantled quietly but effectively, without public disclosure.

It should not be considered impolite or politically incorrect to note a simple fact: New York faces a threat from Islamic terrorists who have tried repeatedly to bring more bloodshed and mayhem to the city. The threat is not, frankly, from right-wing militias in Idaho, or from the Basque separatist movement, or from IRA dissidents. The threat is from men and women who claim to be acting in the name of Islam. It stands to reason, then, that the NYPD’s surveillance gives special attention to Islamic organizations or individual Muslims whose activities warrant that attention. This is not about demonizing Muslims. It is about identifying threats.

While the NYPD’s efforts are entirely justified by facts that critics prefer to ignore, it does seem that the department has engaged in jurisdictional overreach. According to recent reports, the NYPD has spied on Islamic organizations or individuals in New Jersey and elsewhere in the metropolitan area far beyond the city’s borders. It apparently has done so without giving local law-enforcement a heads-up.

The department’s intelligence unit is not the FBI. It is not a national law-enforcement organization. While it should be able to go where the evidence leads it in the case of suspected plots against New York, the department needs to be respectful of political boundaries and other jurisdictional issues.

But the NYPD does not need to apologize for engaging in surveillance. The nation’s enemies have made it clear that they will do everything they can to bring death and destruction to New York—indeed, they have done so already. The NYPD is duty-bound to identify and thwart new plots against New York. But it must do so within the rules.

Gordon Gekko's PSA

Insider trading is a real thing! So if any of your friends are starting to look like Buddy Fox to you, please call the federal bureau of investigation immediately.

Apparently, doing this little favor for the FBI will have no effect on the long-term prison sentence of Mr. Douglas' son, Cameron Douglas.