By MATTHEW COLE, NICK SCHIFRIN and KIRIT RADIA
Dec. 31, 2009
ABC News
The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan was invited onto the heavily guarded base as a possible informant and, in a breach of security procedure, wasn't searched, according to three current and former CIA officers. The bomber was escorted to the gym on the fortified complex known as Forward Operating Base Chapman for a meeting with a senior CIA debriefer, according to intelligence sources familiar with the incident.
When the bomber, who was dressed in an Afghan military uniform, arrived in the gym, he blew himself up, killing seven and seriously injuring an additional six officers who had gathered there to wait for him.
The attack targeted some of the CIA's most important assets in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, officers who collected intelligence and conducted paramilitary operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. While it's unlikely the officers spent much time in Pakistan, they almost certainly contributed to the targeting of the drone program that has targeted al Qaeda's senior leadership living in the Pakistani tribal areas.
"This is a tremendous loss for the agency. The agency is a relatively small organization, and its expertise in al Qaeda is even a smaller subset of that overall group," says Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit that searched for Osama bin Laden. "We collect information that enables the military to go after our primary targets or to better defend itself. So to the extent we lose the ability to do that -- the experienced personnel to do that -- it harms not only the agency, but it harms the ability of the military to operate effectively in the area."
It was the single worst attack on the CIA since 1983, when eight officers died in the Beirut embassy attack.
Read More...
Dec. 31, 2009
ABC News
The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan was invited onto the heavily guarded base as a possible informant and, in a breach of security procedure, wasn't searched, according to three current and former CIA officers. The bomber was escorted to the gym on the fortified complex known as Forward Operating Base Chapman for a meeting with a senior CIA debriefer, according to intelligence sources familiar with the incident.
When the bomber, who was dressed in an Afghan military uniform, arrived in the gym, he blew himself up, killing seven and seriously injuring an additional six officers who had gathered there to wait for him.
The attack targeted some of the CIA's most important assets in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, officers who collected intelligence and conducted paramilitary operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. While it's unlikely the officers spent much time in Pakistan, they almost certainly contributed to the targeting of the drone program that has targeted al Qaeda's senior leadership living in the Pakistani tribal areas.
"This is a tremendous loss for the agency. The agency is a relatively small organization, and its expertise in al Qaeda is even a smaller subset of that overall group," says Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit that searched for Osama bin Laden. "We collect information that enables the military to go after our primary targets or to better defend itself. So to the extent we lose the ability to do that -- the experienced personnel to do that -- it harms not only the agency, but it harms the ability of the military to operate effectively in the area."
It was the single worst attack on the CIA since 1983, when eight officers died in the Beirut embassy attack.
Read More...
Jan 02, 2010
Posted by: Heidi Thiess |
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