Jailhouse informants, many of whom are seeking reduced time or special privileges, are notoriously unreliable.
Informants such as Rahman were central to Cohen's effort to identify terrorists before they attacked.
They have claimed that they are scouring the documents for names of Afghan informants.
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However, if my informants are correct, this would be a useful step in the right direction.
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And even with a witness-protection programme in place, it is very difficult to find informants.
Typically these informants are unnamed in the initial complaint, but defense lawyers can learn their identity eventually.
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The report also found that migrants were sometimes used as informants to help gangs carry out abductions.
It is estimated that some 2m people were informants for the Stasi at one time or another.
Fernandez says this underlines her fear about what might happen if she reveals the names of her informants.
The US Government says its informants have told it that Mr Arnaout also handled money for Bin Laden.
Testimony from jailhouse informants who stand to gain something from their testimony should also be regarded as suspect.
Informants infiltrated the group, and FBI agents put the suspects under surveillance, watching and recording them for 15 months.
In late 2002 and early 2003, Montgomery travelled with a colleague to Albania, carrying a map drawn by his informants.
The Israeli military says it uses administrative detention when it fears an immediate risk to security or to protect informants.
Mr. Jones noted that an emerging collection of informants suggests al Qaeda may be losing support in Pakistan's tribal region.
During the eight-week trial, prosecutors relied heavily on information gathered by informants, who infiltrated the group and secretly recorded hundreds of conversations.
Many of these reports may be unsubstantiated, originating from dubious Afghan informants.
There were no lists of informants, or anything else of that nature.
Another case involving informants four New York men were arrested after planting what the defendants thought were bombs outside New York synagogues.
In addition, Bremer said, restrictions put in place under the Clinton administration on the use of informants with criminal pasts have hindered efforts.
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That owes to the whistleblower law, adopted in 1986, that hands informants as much as a 30% cut of any money recouped by the government.
Fleishman, like others prosecuted for insider trading this year, was caught on tape recordings by the FBI using phones and informants fitted with recording devices.
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She wrote a recent book, Snitching, about governmental use of informants.
It is "normal" to see informants in criminal investigations have felony records of their own, said Barry Sabin, former Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the Criminal Division.
The report found dozens of examples of defendants convicted on minimal evidence, use by prosecutors of jail-house informants, and defence lawyers disbarred for misconduct after defending capital cases.
Several unnamed co-conspirators acted as informants for the government, some of them wearing wires, in conversations dating back two years, according to the complaints filed in the case.
LaMar, who was convicted of having a role in the slaying of prisoner informants during the riot, discussed being held in solitary confinement for 17 years, Lynd said.
Unidentified informants told Colombian police in December that Mr Granda was in Venezuela, and offered to hand him over or give information resulting in his capture, he said.
Law enforcement's use of young confidential informants became the subject of a piece by Sarah Stillman of The New Yorker, for which she won the magazine reporting prize.
In other cases, U.S. search teams found evidence in Iraq that contradicted previous intelligence and indicated some informants were lying about what they knew about Speicher, officials said.
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