"Al-Qaida terrorists have developed a crude device designed to spread deadly cyanide gas through the ventilation systems of crowded indoor facilities such as subways," reported investigative journalist Paul Sperry in November 2003, citing "a closely held security directive issued to law enforcement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security" that month.

But the device only became famous last weekend, when it was introduced as the Mubtakker - Arabic for "invention" - in the centerpiece of a book excerpt published by Time magazine.

The book, "The One Percent Doctrine," by Pulitzer Prize winner Ron Suskind, says that designs for the device were found in February 2003 on a computer seized in Saudi Arabia after the arrest of a jihadist there, and that, a month later, U.S. intelligence separately uncovered an aborted plot to use several of them in an attack on the New York subway system.

After his November 2003 story for the right wing news and opinion Web site World Net Daily, Sperry - now an editorial writer for Investors Business Daily - wrote again about the device in his March 2005 book, "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and Subversives have Penetrated Washington." He posted on his Web site, Sperryfiles.com, the entire homeland security threat advisory that had warned of it.

The advisory, dated Nov. 21, 2003 is a generalized warning to state and local first responders and industry groups about the continuing danger of al-Qaida terrorist attacks, at a time when many U.S. intelligence analysts believed that a strike against the United States was the inevitable apex of a rising arc of attacks by regional franchises of the terror group.

The five-page document, designated "for official use only," discusses a broad range of tactics al-Qaida might use, including truck bombs and suicide bombers dressed as women. The final section, on chemical and biological attacks begins by noting that the group has not used them to date, "as far as we are aware."

But it goes on to say "Terrorists have, however, designed a crude chemical dispersal device fabricated from easily available materials, which is designed to asphyxiate its victims." The advisory says the device produces hydrogen cyanide and would be most effective "in spaces such as subways, buildings, or other crowded indoor facilities."

Suskind said Tuesday that he was unaware of Sperry's reporting on the issue until United Press International drew it to his attention.

"Bits and pieces of this may have been picked up by people in the far corners of the information world," he said, adding that he was aware of reports about the Mubtakker that had "popped up on various... jihadi Web sites" over the years since its invention.

But he said his book, "independently reported from high level intelligence sources," was the first time the specifics of the device's design and construction - and "how it was to be employed in a specific destructive act" - had been reported.

In the book, he recounts how CIA experts made a mock-up of the device which was shown to President Bush.

"To really understand its significance," he said of the Mubtakker, "you need the proper context, the proper wrapping."

"There's no doubt Suskind moved the story on significantly," al-Qaida analyst Peter Bergen told UPI. "The existence of a specific plot is highly significant."

Sperry also gives Suskind credit for reporting the plot, but adds, "What surprises is me is that the mainstream media didn't take notice" of the original story "even after I posted the full (homeland security) document on the Web."

Sperry, who relocated with his family out of the Washington area after his book drew death threats, and someone tried to sabotage his car by cutting the fuel line, says his original story provoked a great deal of interest - but from law enforcement, not news media.

"A lot of cops called to try and get more details" about the device, he said, adding that it was clear many of them had not seen the homeland security advisory.

"In essence, this was an Internet scoop the old media ignored, for one reason or another," he said. "It wasn't until Time magazine and (Suskind publisher) Simon and Schuster put their imprimatur on it that it gained currency."

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