CIA Was Warned About Khost Base Bomber, Inquiry Finds

New York Times:

WASHINGTON -- Three weeks before a Jordanian double agent set off a bomb at a remote Central Intelligence Agency base in eastern Afghanistan last December, a C.I.A. officer in Jordan received warnings that the man might be working for Al Qaeda, according to an investigation into the deadly attack.

But the C.I.A. officer did not tell his bosses of the suspicions -- brought to the Americans by a Jordanian intelligence officer -- that the man might try to lure Americans into a trap, , according to the recently completed investigation by the agency.

The internal investigation documents a litany of breakdowns leading up to the attack at the Khost base that killed seven C.I.A. employees, the deadliest day for the spy agency since the 1983 bombing of the American Embassy in Beirut. Besides the failure to pass on warnings about the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the C.I.A. investigation chronicled major security lapses at the base in Afghanistan, a lack of war zone experience among the agency's personnel at the base, insufficient vetting of the Jordanian, and a murky chain of command with different branches of the intelligence agency competing for control over the operation.

Read the whole story: New York Times

Comments

[BestGuest]

05:58 AM on 10/21/2010

There's always a breakdown in communication when someone comes out with a forewarning of these types of attacks. Happened in Mumbai, September 11, London, Khost, crotch bomber.... They are all allowed to take place.

Add to that there are always some sort of ties (inevitably played down) between intelligence agencies and the alleged perpetrators....

Wake up... You are being turned into a tool! These events are (mostly) to change your opinion and have u back the subsequent actions and "Retaliations"

[Macready]

11:42 AM on 10/20/2010

the cuts are deep and scary . . but on the plus side it means the UK will not be able to join the US in another illegal invasion of a foreign country

[farmilyman]

10:36 AM on 10/20/2010

I hope that wasn't another false flag operation to keep up enthusiasm for the war.

[BestGuest]

05:59 AM on 10/21/2010

Are you a betting man? Im not... Though im still betting on it being so...

[The Bard of Armah]

07:29 AM on 10/20/2010

This is old news, why recycle this?

[Vernie31]

06:53 AM on 10/20/2010

Most Americans are Patted down before getting onto any plane in America each and every time.they board. How could you not do the same for a undercover foreign recruit? INSANE!

[Vernie31]

06:51 AM on 10/20/2010

Just how many more times are these Guys going to Drop the Ball? This was basic security 101.
Check all person thoroughly before entering your SPACE. Most Drug dealers understand and respect this process before allowing any guests into their DOMAIN. Maybe these GUYS need a few Crack or Drug Dealers from New York or Chicago on payroll to reemphasize this very important protocol. I do not care how friendly you think they are or how bad you need their support always do a good PAT down outside of the BASE before entering, each and every time and this would be avoided. its Simple, but it works!

[KIVPossum]

03:33 AM on 10/20/2010

Sometimes you have to sacrifice a few soldiers to win the battle.

The CIA has a vested interest to keep us in a war on terror, especially in Afghanistan. They are not above allowing a few deaths to keep the funding and power in their hands

[BestGuest]

06:06 AM on 10/21/2010

I shudder at the thought of what must be concocting in their "labs" to keep this war going and possibly expanding it

[SilentSolidarity]

02:51 AM on 10/20/2010

The CIA is the worst of all Mafias.

[JoeBlough]

02:47 AM on 10/20/2010

Nine years and we are still fumbling around, waiting to come home. Someday. . .

[BestGuest]

06:01 AM on 10/21/2010

Probably waiting or (planning) for some major event at the scale of Sep 11... Why? So people like you and me stop asking why!

[JoeMomma]

02:38 AM on 10/20/2010

Wait a minute. I thought the 1983 attack was just against our troops? Oh that fact was conveniently omitted from the news. All lies.

[AliMB]

02:35 AM on 10/20/2010

Part I

The Agency refuses to specifically and explicitly rebuke, reprimand, or reproach the primary culprit behind this disaster: base chief Jennifer Matthews. The NYT offers a bit of information regarding this issue:

"Current and former CIA officials said that the decision not to hold officers directly responsible for the b0mbing was partly informed by an uncomfortable truth: some of them might have been among those killed in the b0mbing. The officials said there was particular sensitivity about how much fault to assign to Jennifer Matthews, a Qaeda expert who was the chief of the Khost base."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/world/asia/20intel.html

The aforementioned individual was precariously pretentious and needlessly negligent. Her poor tradecraft was unconscionable and ultimately led to both her death and that of charges/colleagues. As Agency veteran Charles Faddis told the LA Times:

"I think this is one of the fundamental problems that the CIA has - a lack of accountability ... This review board has concluded what everybody who has ever run operations downrange knew after five minutes of reading the first accounts. These are not just mistakes, they are inexcusable. It's gross negligence."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cia-report-101910,0,1944380.story

[AliMB]

02:37 AM on 10/20/2010

Part II

Matthews was repeatedly told by relevant personnel that Abu Mulal al-Balawi's possible presence posed a serious security risk; some directly questioned the base chief's agent/asset handling and contact plan. Matthews ignored the warnings.

Another problem was that she was insecure; unwelcomingly using her elite education as a crutch, aggressively guarding her authority, and assessing altruistic advice as an attack. Matthews was conspicuously concerned with advancement and was seemingly intimidated by younger, parallel, or compeer officers. Her quest for glory combined with paltry paramilitary/operational credentials was a disaster waiting to happen.

The inconvenient truth is that Matthews should have never been leading in a high threat environment.

[Grim Al]

12:49 AM on 10/20/2010

With now 17 "intelligence" organizations since 9/11, still not sharing information, still competing with each other, going round in circles in the clusterf__k of the war on terror, while private "intelligence contractors make billions off the taxpayers, it's only a matter of time before we're hit hard again.

[BestGuest]

06:04 AM on 10/21/2010

"intelligence contractors make billions off the taxpayers, it's only a matter of time before we're hit hard again."

MIC's wet dream

[lyingtruth]

12:22 AM on 10/20/2010

Now you know why we haven’t killed bin Laden…!

[WhatDaBleep]

02:23 AM on 10/20/2010

They didn't kill OBL because he is a friend and business partner of the bush family. After all daddy bush was meeting with the bin Laden family in Washington D.C. the morning of 9-10 for the Carlyle group.

[KIVPossum]

03:05 AM on 10/20/2010

BinLaden family has worked with the Bush family for 3 generations.

[abouttime]

12:16 AM on 10/20/2010

LOL - The CIA investigates itself!!

Only in America .... Tthe land of NO accountability!

[foxisms]

11:55 PM on 10/19/2010

Another attempt at a "problem, reaction, solution scenario" that might have been the one to renew public support for the US infestation of Afghanistan....would be my guess.