Did US blow cover on Al Qaeda mole?
Pakistan, Britain are furious that US officials confirmed name to newspaper.
Reuters reported on Saturday that Pakistani intelligence officers said US officials
blew the cover on an Al Qaeda mole last week, when the mole's identity was confirmed to
The New York Times. The
Times originally identified the source of their information as "senior American officials." The mole, computer expert
Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, was arrested secretly in mid-July in Pakistan. He had agreed to help authorities track down Al Qaeda militants in Britain and the United States.
But Sunday US officials defended their actions, CNN reported, saying
they had no choice but to let people know about the terror threat they had found detailed on Mr. Khan's computers.
Working with Pakistani intelligence, Khan had
sent off urgents e-mails to other Al Qaeda members, telling them to check-in.
The New York Post reported over the weekend that Pakistani authorities were concerned that Khan's exposure had
jeopardized their efforts to use these e-mails to track down top Al Qaeda members.
United Press International reports the revelation of Khan's name by US officials last week "
exposed Khan and forced Pakistanis to move him to a secret location."
"The whole thing smacks of either incompetence or worse," said Tim Ripley, a security expert who writes for Jane's Defence publications [who was interviewed by
Reuters]. "You have to ask: what are they doing compromising a deep mole within Al Qaeda, when it's so difficult to get these guys in there in the first place? It goes against all the rules of counter-espionage, counter-terrorism, running agents and so forth. It's not exactly cloak and dagger undercover work if it's on the front pages every time there's a development, is it?"
MSNBC reported Monday that the early exposure of Khan not only ended the sting that Pakistani intelligence was conducting, but it also forced Britain's intelligence service to move faster than it wanted to last Tuesday to
apprehend terror suspects in England that had been e-mailed by Khan. Five other suspects were
able to escape before British authorities could arrest them. (The
Associated Press reports Monday that 13 men were arrested in the original raid, but only nine are
still being held.) Kevin Rosser, a security expert at the London-based consultancy Control Risks Group, said such a disclosure was "a risk that came with staging public alerts but that authorities were supposed to take special care not to ruin ongoing operations."
"When these public announcements are made, they have to be supported with some evidence, and in addition to creating public anxiety and fatigue, you can risk revealing sources and methods of sensitive operations," he said.
CNN reports on Monday that several US senators said US officials should have kept Khan's identity a secret. They noted that Pakistani interior minister, Faisal Hayat, as well as the British home secretary, David Blunkett, had "expressed displeasure in
fairly severe terms that Khan's name was released, because they were trying to track down other contacts."
United Press International reports that in an interview Sunday with a British newspaper, Mr. Blunkett took a thinly veiled swipe at the US's decision to
raise the terror alert last week.
Blunkett told the
Observer newspaper in
an interview published Sunday that he does not intend to, in his words, 'feed the news frenzy,' by following the lead of the United States in announcing specific installations as targets, such as those named in New York, New Jersey and Washington ... Blunkett said the government issued as much of a statement as was appropriate after the arrests last week of 12 suspects and posed the question, again in his words, 'Is that really the job of a senior cabinet minister in charge of counterterrorism? To feed the media? To increase concern?' Also, the
BBC reports on Monday that the Pakistani government is also upset with the US over what it described as an "FBI sting operation involving a fake plot to kill Pakistan's UN envoy." Islamabad called the operation "
bizarre and mind-boggling."
The Daily Telegraph reports that US officials have "
hit back" against the criticism that they bungled the terror alert and blew the cover of the Al Qaeda mole. They released to
Time magazine and to
Newsweek more information on the
plans for attacks in the US that were
discovered on Khan's computers. An unnamed military official told
Time that spreading panic in terrorist ranks could also bear fruit.
"People get flushed out and when that happens other people get nervous. As they start to move, they talk and we hear them. It's like hunting birds: you scare 'em up, they run then you shoot them." An editorial Monday in
Newsday praised the cooperation among British, American and Pakistani intelligence services and governments, and called the capture of key Al Qaeda agents a "
significant victory." But
Newsday also said more cooperation of this type was needed.
Al Qaeda is not defeated. It may well be hatching yet another plot that is being studied and planned for years and is just waiting for the next opportune time to spring it. Even as the United States struggles to reform its intelligence capabilities, it cannot let its guard down. Ever.
Juan Cole, Professor of History at the University of Michigan, and a longtime commentator on the Middle East, speculated in his
Informed Comment blog over the weekend that the reason US officials "gave up" Khan's name was that they believed they
had little choice, considering the current political environment in the US.
Bush gets the reports that Eisa al-Hindi had been casing the financial institutions, and there was an update as recently as January 2004 in the Al Qaeda file. So this could be a live operation. If Bush doesn't announce it, and Al Qaeda did strike the institutions, then the fact that he knew of the plot beforehand would sink him if it came out (and it would) before the election. So he has to announce the plot. But if he announces it, people are going to suspect that he is wagging the dog and trying to shore up his popularity by playing the terrorism card. So he has to be able to give a credible account of how he got the information. So when the press is skeptical and critical, he decides to give up Khan so as to strengthen his case. In this scenario, he or someone in his immediate circle decides that a mere double agent inside Al Qaeda can be sacrificed if it helps Bush get reelected in the short term. Finally,
Reuters reports that one new measure that will be implemented as a result of information garned from Kahn's computer will be
increased security for tourist helicopters.
The New York Times reported Monday that Al Qaeda had considered using tourist helicopters for attacks in New York.
Also...
•
Al-Jazeera closure 'a blow to freedom' (
Guardian)
•
Iraq orders arrest of one-time US favorite (
New York Times)
•
Press welcomes Arab efforts on Sudan (
BBC)
•
Al-Qaeda suspect caught in UAE, Pakistan says (
Newsday)
• Feedback appreciated. E-mail
Tom Regan
.
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