Al-Awlaki sent Jihadist e-mails to thousands of followers while under FBI watch

Washington, June 15 (ANI): American-born Muslim cleric Anwar al-Awlaki had sent thousands of e-mails to his followers, some with encryption and code words, while under FBI surveillance, according to investigation.

The five-month investigation carried out by Fox News revealed that some of those e-mails were exchanged with accused Fort Hood shooter Major Nidal Hasan.

"He (Anwar al-Awlaki) was incredibly busy. He, during his peak period, had upwards of 60 email accounts that he was using at any given time," retired FBI agent Keith Slotter told Fox Files: The Enemy Within," which will debut on Fox News Channel.

Slotter, who now works at a private international investigative firm specializing in cyber crime and digital forensics, characterized the number as 'thousands of emails ... over a three-year period, tens of thousands.'

Fox Files has learned that by 2009, al-Awlaki, the first American on the CIA's kill-or-capture list, understood he was the target of U.S. and foreign intelligence services and shunned cell phones and started using computer as he believed email communications were more secure.

Slotter has reviewed the emails between al-Awlaki and Major Hasan.

"I reviewed those emails many times. I had them bound on my desk, had all of them. There was nothing really in there that would indicate al-Awlaki prompting Major Hasan to do something," Slotter said. (ANI)