Spymasters: CIA in the Crosshairs Page #6

SINGLE DAY FOR A PERIOD OF THREE

YEARS.

THEY NEVER STOPPED PLOTTING

AGAINST US.

WE CAPTURED PEOPLE ALL ALONG FOR

THE NEXT TEN YEARS, AND THERE

WAS ALWAYS A PLOT INVOLVED.

RASHID RAUF WAS THE PAKISTANI

END OF A PLOT GOING ON IN GREA BRITAIN CALLED THE WIDE-BODY

PLOT-- INCREDIBLY SIGNIFICAN ATTACK, MULTIPLE EXPLOSIONS ON

MULTIPLE WIDE-BODIES ALMOS SIMULTANEOUSLY FLYING OUT OF

GREAT BRITAIN TO A VARIETY OF

CITIES IN NORTH AMERICA.

CAN YOU IMAGINE TEN AIRPLANES

FULL OF INNOCENT PEOPLE

DISAPPEARING EN ROUTE TO CITIES

LIKE NEW YORK, WASHINGTON,

MIAMI, CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES,

MONTREAL?

IT WOULD HAVE RIVALED 9/11.

Narrator:
BRITISH

INTELLIGENCE, MI5, TRACKS RASHID

RAUF'S AL QAEDA CELL, HIS PLANS

AND HIS IMPROVISED WEAPONS OF

DESTRUCTION.

THEY HAD GATHERED UP AN AWFUL

LOT OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE IN A

HOMEMADE RECIPE, TURN IT INTO AN

EXPLOSIVE AND THEN PUT IT INTO

SPORTS BOTTLES.

SO WE HAD GREAT CONCERN ON OUR

SIDE OF THE ATLANTIC ABOU "LET'S BREAK THIS UP."

THE BRITISH WANTED TO BUILD UP

AS MUCH PHYSICAL EVIDENCE AS

POSSIBLE, SO WE'RE SAYING, "THEY

BOUGHT THE HYDROGEN PEROXIDE."

AND THEY'RE SAYING, "WE NEED TO

BUILD UP MORE EVIDENCE."

THE PLOTTERS HAD ALREADY

SELECTED THE TEN FLIGHTS THEY

WERE GOING TO BLOW UP, AND I

SAID TO MYSELF, "THIS IS

IMMINENT."

Narrator:
WITH THE LONDON

PLOT HEATING UP, RAUF IS IN

PAKISTAN AND SO IS THE C.I.A.

SO, NOW I'M ON A TRIP IN

PAKISTAN IN AUGUST 2006 WITH MY

HEAD OF THE NATIONAL CLANDESTINE

SERVICE, JOSE RODRIGUEZ.

I WAS CALLED IN BY THE CHIEF

OF PAKISTANI INTELLIGENCE AND

TOLD, "WE MAY HAVE A CHANCE TO

CAPTURE RAUF TONIGHT.

HE'S GOING TO GO FROM POINT A TO

POINT B, AND IN BETWEEN THERE IS

A POLICE CHECKPOINT.

WE CAN STOP THE BUS, AND WE CAN

GRAB HIM."

OUR HEADQUARTERS PERSONNEL HAD

PLEDGED TO MI5 THAT VERY DAY

THAT WE WOULD NOT CAPTURE RAUF,

AND I WAS TOLD THAT PRIME

MINISTER BLAIR HAD SPOKEN WITH

PRESIDENT BUSH THAT DAY, AND

THEY HAD AGREED THAT THEY NEEDED

MORE TIME.

I WAS SITTING IN THE CAR WITH

CHIEF OF STATION.

HE GETS A CALL SAYING, "THE BUS

IS COMING.

WE NEED AUTHORIZATION TO GO IN."

AND THE CHIEF OF STATION TURNS

TO ME AND SAYS, "WHAT DO WE DO,

BOSS?"

SO JOSE, IN A VERY SHOR PERIOD OF TIME, HAS TO MAKE A

REALLY BIG DECISION.

IF I TOOK THE TIME TO CALL

HEADQUARTERS, IT WOULD BE THE

EQUIVALENT OF SAYING NO TO THE

OPERATION.

HAD AIRPLANES FALLEN FROM THE

SKY, I COULD SEE MYSELF BEING

HAULED UP TO THE CONGRESS.

"LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, MR.

RODRIGUEZ.

YOU HAD A TERRORIST THAT WANTED

TO BLOW UP U.S. AIRLINERS WITHIN

YOUR GRASP AND YOU DID NOT MAKE

A DECISION?

OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!"

THE DECISION HE MADE WAS, "I

CAN'T PASS UP THE OPPORTUNITY TO

GRAB RASHID RAUF."

SO HE DOES.

WE STOPPED A MAJOR ATTACK

AGAINST US.

SINCE THEN, OF COURSE, WE CAN' TAKE MORE THAN-- WHAT IS IT--

3.6 FLUID OUNCES ON AIRPLANES,

BUT THAT'S A SMALL PRICE TO PAY.

Narrator:
THE PLOTS KEEP

COMING, WITH OSAMA BIN LADEN

STILL AT LARGE.

WHERE THE HELL WAS THIS GUY

THAT WAS OUR NUMBER ONE ENEMY?

EVERY LEAD LED NOWHERE FOR

ALMOST TEN YEARS, AND IT WAS

PRETTY FRUSTRATING.

BUT THEN WE HAD AN INDICATION

FROM JORDAN THERE WAS A DOCTOR,

THAT IF THEY WERE ABLE TO GE HIM IN TO PAKISTAN HE MIGHT...

HE MIGHT BE ABLE TO LEAD US TO

ZAWAHIRI, WHO WAS THE SECOND IN

COMMAND.

Narrator:
THE C.I.A. BELIEVES

IT HAS STRUCK GOLD.

HUMAM AL-BALAWI, A JORDANIAN

DOCTOR, NOW PROMISES TO LEAD

THEM TO THE MOTHER LODE.

HE HAD BEEN A JIHADIST.

THE JORDANIAN INTELLIGENCE

OPERATION THOUGHT THEY HAD BEEN

SUCCESSFUL IN FLIPPING HIM.

SO THERE WAS A LOT OF EXCITEMEN AND, OBVIOUSLY, YOU KNOW,

OFFICERS WHO SPENT THEIR WHOLE

LIFE IN INTELLIGENCE AND WORKING

ON THESE KINDS OF ISSUES FEL THAT, "BOY, THIS MIGHT BE A BIG

BREAK."

Narrator:
C.I.A. OFFICERS

LIKE 30-YEAR-OLD ELIZABETH

HANSON AND STATION CHIEF

JENNIFER MATTHEWS, A 20-YEAR

AGENCY VETERAN.

JENNIFER MATTHEWS WAS IN

CHARGE OF THE OFFICERS WHO WERE

THERE.

I WOULDN'T HAVE HESITATED A

MOMENT TO PUT HER INTO THA POSITION BECAUSE OF HER

CAPABILITY AND HER PROVEN

RECORD.

JENNIFER I MET IN THE LATE

1990s WHEN I FIRST CAME TO THE

COUNTERTERRORISM CENTER.

WE WERE BOTH WORKING ON

UNDERSTANDING THE SUPPOR NETWORK TO AL QAEDA IN

AFGHANISTAN, AND WE WERE ALSO

PREGNANT AT THE SAME TIME,

MULTIPLE TIMES.

SHE HAD THREE CHILDREN.

HER THREE TRACKED WITH MY... MY

THIRD, FOURTH AND FIFTH.

SHE WAS CHASING BIN LADEN

BEFORE CHASING BIN LADEN WAS

COOL, AND SHE HAD ACTUALLY BASED

HER PROFESSIONAL CAREER ON

TRACKING AL QAEDA AND

IDENTIFYING ITS ADHERENTS.

Narrator:
BUT TO GET TO

OSAMA BIN LADEN, MATTHEWS AND

HER C.I.A. TEAM WANT A

FACE-TO-FACE MEETING WITH

AL-BALAWI.

IT'S A GAMBLE THAT MUST BE

APPROVED BY DIRECTOR PANETTA.

WE AT THE C.I.A. FELT WE HAD

TO ESTABLISH OUR OWN CREDIBILITY

WITH THIS GUY, AND, TO DO THAT,

YOU REALLY HAVE TO SIT DOWN WITH

HIM AND DO A MEETING TO REALLY

GAIN SOME INSIGHT AS TO WHO

WE'RE DEALING WITH.

THE VEHICLE COMES IN TO THE

BASE.

THEY BROUGHT HIM THROUGH SOME OF

THE CHECKPOINTS.

THEY MAKE THE DECISION THAT THEY

ARE ALL GOING TO GO OUT TO GREE HIM.

ONE OF THE MISTAKES THAT WAS

MADE WAS THERE WAS NO BODY

SEARCH.

THERE WAS NO CHECK.

THEY THOUGHT THAT IT WOULD SHOW

THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT THEY WERE

FRIENDLY AND THAT THEY WERE ALL

ANXIOUS TO BE ABLE TO WORK WITH

HIM.

Narrator:
BUT AL-BALAWI IS

NOT ABOUT TO TURN INTO A C.I.A.

SPY.

WE WILL BEAT YOU, C.I.A.

TEAM.

INSHALLAH, WE WILL BEAT YOU

DOWN.

DON'T THINK THAT YOU JUS PRESSING A BUTTON, KILLING

MUJAHIDEEN, YOU ARE SAFE.

INSHALLAH, DEATH WILL COME TO

YOU.

Narrator:
THIS IS THE VIDEO

HE MADE LAYING OUT HIS PLANS,

HIS MARTYR SUICIDE VIDEO.

LOOK, THIS IS FOR YOU.

IT'S NOT WATCH.

IT'S DETONATOR TO KILL AS MUCH

AS I CAN, INSHALLAH.

THIS IS MY JOB, TO KILL YOU.

Narrator:
AL-BALAWI IS AN AL

QAEDA AGENT READY TO KILL, READY

TO DIE.

AND YOU WILL BE SENT TO THE

HELL.

HIS HANDS WERE HIDDEN.

THEY DEMANDED THAT HE TAKE HIS

HANDS OUT.

THEY KEPT YELLING AT HIM.

AND BEFORE THEY KNEW IT, HE HAD

DETONATED HIS SUICIDE VEST.

IT BLEW UP EVERYONE WHO WAS IN

THE AREA, AND THE BALL BEARINGS

FROM THE VEST ACTUALLY WEN UNDER THE VEHICLE AND TORE THE

LEGS OF SEVERAL OTHER OFFICERS

WHO WERE THERE SO THAT ALMOS EVERYBODY WHO WAS IN THA SEMICIRCLE WAS WOUNDED OR

KILLED.

IT WAS A VERY, VERY GRIM

REMINDER ABOUT JUST HOW MUCH OUR

OFFICERS PUT THEMSELVES AT RISK.

THAT WAS A TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE

LOSS FOR THE AGENCY AND REALLY,

REALLY SHOOK IT.

Narrator:
SEVEN C.I.A.

OFFICERS ARE DEAD, INCLUDING

ELIZABETH HANSON AND HER FRIEND,

JENNIFER MATTHEWS.

I HAVE ONE MEMORY OF JENNIFER

THAT IS THE ONE I CHOOSE TO

RECALL.

ONE TIME, JENNIFER AND I WERE

TRAVELING OVERSEAS, AND WE WERE

IN A TINY LITTLE BEAT-UP CAR.

SHE HAS THE RADIO UP, ALL

CRACKLY AND HORRIBLE.

BUT YOU HEAR THE UNMISTAKABLE

PIANO INTRO TO GLORIA GAYNOR'S

"I WILL SURVIVE," WHICH ANY

WOMAN CAN TELL YOU IS ONE OF OUR

ANTHEMS.

AND JENNIFER CRANKS THAT RADIO

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