Tipster in Fort Dix Plot Comes Forward

Brian Morgenstern, an electronics store clerk credited with providing the tip that broke up an alleged plot to kill soldiers at Fort Dix, poses for a portrait Tuesday, May 29, 2007 in New York. Morganstern, after three weeks of being hailed as an anonymous hero by law enforcement and on newspaper editorial pages, came forward with a series of media interviews Tuesday, the first on CNN's "American Morning." (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II) (Frank Franklin Ii - AP)

MOUNT LAUREL, N.J. -- When federal authorities announced charges against six young men accused of plotting an attack at Fort Dix, they kept secret the name of the tipster who first came forward.

On Tuesday, Brian Morgenstern went public, breaking his silence on CNN's "American Morning" and later in other interviews. The 23-year-old Circuit City employee told The Associated Press he was alarmed in January 2006 when two customers brought him a video of 10 men at a firing range with handguns, rifles and what he thought were fully automatic rifles.

Morgenstern said authorities asked him not to divulge some details of the video. But they have said the men were chanting "God is Great" in Arabic.

"I was considering whether or not this was really a threat, or something serious," he said. "I came to the conclusion that that's not my job or decision to make."

The next day, after talking to his family, he went to his managers at the Mount Laurel store. A call to police led to a 15-month investigation and the May 7 arrests of six men accused of plotting the attack on Fort Dix, which is being used largely to train reservists bound for Iraq.

Authorities said they made the arrests just as the suspects were trying to buy fully automatic weapons in a deal facilitated by an FBI informant.

Mount Laurel police visited the store to see the video after Morgenstern's report. They asked him to make a copy, which was passed on to state Homeland Security investigators and the FBI.

In the meantime, Morgenstern, who has since become a sales manager in a different Circuit City store, had to treat the men like any other customers when they returned to pick up the DVD.

Within a month of the men coming in, an FBI informant had infiltrated the alleged plot.

The suspects are all foreign-born men in their 20s who spent many years living in Philadelphia's southern New Jersey suburbs. Five are charged with conspiring to kill military personnel and could face life in prison if convicted. The sixth faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted of weapons charges.

After the arrests, authorities praised the clerk who had given them the initial tip. But, citing safety concerns and the integrity of the investigation, neither they nor store officials would reveal his identity.

Circuit City spokeswoman Jackie Foreman and a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, Greg Reinert, confirmed Tuesday that Morgenstern was the tipster.

Circuit City has said there were actually two employees who made the tip. The other has not been named publicly, and officials haven't detailed the other person's involvement.

Foreman said Circuit City has rewarded both employees for their efforts, but did not say how.

When the charges were announced, Morgenstern said, he did not even realize his role in the investigation.

He finally understood his importance after a news conference in which he heard himself praised _ though not by name.