$5 million reward paid for info on 9/11 conspirator

WASHINGTON — The Bush administration paid a $5 million reward to a former Minnesota flight instructor who provided authorities with information that led to the arrest and conviction of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.

The recipient, Clarence Prevost, was honored Thursday at a closed-door ceremony at the State Department, although the payout was secretly authorized last fall by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Justice Department, U.S. officials said.

The reward from the State Department’s “Rewards for Justice” program is the first and only one to date to a U.S. citizen related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, the officials said.

Prevost, 69, is a former Navy pilot who later flew for Northwest Airlines and goes by his nickname “Clancy.” He was Moussaoui’s flight instructor at the Pan Am International Flight Academy outside Minneapolis.