"They have a pretty good
idea of who it may be," a U.S. official said. But the official cautioned
that "it's not 100% yet." Neither official, who spoke to CNN on the
condition of anonymity, was willing to identify the suspect, citing the
ongoing investigation.
The official said, "We've
been using all means to identify the person." That includes voice
analysis and analyzing metadata from the video as well as other methods,
according to the second U.S. official. The official declined to
elaborate on what those other methods were.
In late August, British
Ambassador Peter Westmacott said his country was close to identifying
the ISIS militant. Westmacott didn't elaborate about the identity in the
August 26 interview, which aired on CNN's "State of the Union" with
Candy Crowley.
"We're putting a great
deal into the search," Westmacott said at the time, referring to the use
of sophisticated technology to analyze the man's voice.
The subject is believed
tied to a group of extremists based in London, the officials said. FBI
agents have been working with British authorities to nail down who the
subject is, a priority for both governments.
The same U.S. official
said the United Kingdom has investigative interest because the masked
man is believed to be a British citizen who traveled overseas to engage
in conflict. The United States has investigative interest because he
killed an American.
Authorities are still trying to determine the identity of the militant speaking in the video of American journalist Steven Sotloff
and determine if it is the same person in the Foley video, according to
one of the officials. The source said "it's too premature" to know with
any certainty just one week since the video of Sotloff's death was
published.
The source said British and American authorities would work together to find the masked man, who is believed to be in Syria.
"This person is in an
environment that's highly dangerous. He could meet his demise on the
battlefield," the official said, though the sources did not rule out
bringing the suspect back for trial in British or American court.
Foley disappeared on
November 22, 2012, in northwest Syria, near the border with Turkey. At
the time of his disappearance, he was working for the U.S.-based online
news outlet GlobalPost. The video of his beheading was posted to YouTube
on August 19. Sotloff disappeared while reporting from Syria in August
2013. The video of his death was posted September 2.
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