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www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-2010/message-from-the-director-lessons-from-khowst.html
CIA Home > News & Information > Press Releases & Statements > 2010 Press Releases & Statements > Message from the Director: Lessons from Khowst
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Message from the Director: Lessons from Khowst
Last December, our Agency family lost seven courageous and talented colleagues in a terrorist attack at Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khowst, Afghanistan. These dedicated men and women were assigned to CIA’s top priority—disrupting and dismantling al-Qa’ida and its militant allies.
That work carries, by its very nature, significant risk. CIA is conducting the most aggressive counterterrorism operations in our history, a mission we are pursuing with a level of determination worthy of our fallen heroes. We will sustain that momentum and, whenever possible, intensify our pursuit. We will continue to fight for a safer America.
Earlier this year, I directed that a task force of seasoned Agency professionals conduct a review of the Khowst attack. The purpose was to examine what happened, what lessons were learned, and what steps should be taken to prevent such incidents in the future. In addition, I asked Ambassador Thomas Pickering and Charlie Allen, a highly accomplished former Agency officer, to conduct an independent study of the Khowst attack and to review the work of the task force. They concurred with its findings. One of CIA’s greatest strengths is our ability to learn from experience, refine our methods, and adapt to the shifting tactics of America’s enemies.
The review is now complete, and I would like to thank those who participated. They did our Agency a great service. It was, to be sure, a difficult task—especially since key insights perished with those we lost. Perfect visibility into all that contributed to the attack is therefore impossible. But based on an exhaustive examination of the available information, we have a firm understanding of what our Agency could have done better. In keeping with past practice, we will provide the Khowst report to the Office of Inspector General.
In highly sensitive, complex counterterrorism operations, our officers must often deal with dangerous people in situations involving a high degree of ambiguity and risk. The task force noted that the Khowst assailant fit the description of someone who could offer us access to some of our most vicious enemies. He had already provided information that was independently verified. The decision to meet him at the Khowst base—with the objective of gaining additional intelligence on high priority terrorist targets—was the product of consultations between Headquarters and the field. He had confirmed access within extremist circles, making a covert relationship with him—if he was acting in good faith—potentially very productive. But he had not rejected his terrorist roots. He was, in fact, a brutal murderer.
Mitigating the risk inherent in intelligence operations, especially the most sensitive ones, is essential to success. In this case, the task force determined that the Khowst assailant was not fully vetted and that sufficient security precautions were not taken. These missteps occurred because of shortcomings across several Agency components in areas including communications, documentation, and management oversight. Coupled with a powerful drive to disrupt al-Qa’ida, these factors contributed to the tragedy at Khowst. Each played an important role; none was more important than the others. Based on the findings of the task force and the independent review, responsibility cannot be assigned to any particular individual or group. Rather, it was the intense determination to accomplish the mission that influenced the judgments that were made.
There are no guarantees in the dangerous work of counterterrorism, but the task force identified six key areas that deserve greater focus as we carry out that vital mission. We will:
Enforce greater discipline in communications, ensuring that key guidance, operational facts, and judgments are conveyed and clearly flagged in formal channels.
Strengthen our attention to counterintelligence concerns while maintaining a wartime footing.
Apply the skills and experience of senior officers more effectively in sensitive cases.
Require greater standardization of security procedures.
More carefully manage information sharing with other intelligence services.
Maintain our high operational tempo against terrorist targets, even as we make adjustments to how we conduct our essential mission.
I have approved 23 specific actions recommended by the task force, some of which I ordered implemented months ago. They provide for organizational and resource changes, communications improvements, tightened security procedures, more focused training, and reinforced counterintelligence practices. These include:
Establishing a War Zone Board made up of senior officers from several components and chaired by the Director of the National Clandestine Service. It will conduct a baseline review of our staffing, training, security, and resources in the most dangerous areas where we operate.
Assembling a select surge cadre of veteran officers who will lend their expertise to our most critical counterterrorism operations.
Creating an NCS Deputy within the Counterterrorism Center, who will report to the Director of the Counterterrorism Center and ensure a more integrated effort across Agency offices.
Conducting a thorough review of our security measures and applying even more rigorous standards at all our facilities.
Expanding our training effort for both managers and officers on hostile environments and counterintelligence challenges.
Creating an integrated counterintelligence vetting cell within our Counterterrorism Center that focuses on high-risk/high-gain assets, evaluates potential threats, assesses “lessons learned,” and applies the latest technology and best practices to counterterrorism operations.
Designating a senior officer to ensure that all the recommendations are indeed implemented.
We’ve now taken a hard look at what happened and what needed to be done after the tragedy at Khowst. While we cannot eliminate all of the risks involved in fighting a war, we can and will do a better job of protecting our officers. Drawing on the work of the task force and its insights, it’s time to move forward. Nothing in the report can relieve the pain of losing our seven fallen colleagues. By putting their lives on the line to pursue our nation’s terrorist enemies, they taught us what bravery is all about. It is that legacy that we will always remember in our hearts.
Leon E. Panetta
Posted: Oct 19, 2010 06:30 PM
Last Updated: Oct 19, 2010 06:30 PM
Last Reviewed: Oct 19, 2010 06:30 PM
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2010/12/yemeni_al_qaeda_oper.php
“Yemeni al Qaeda operative killed along Afghan-Pakistani border”
By BILL ROGGIO
December 11, 2010
SNIPPET: “A seasoned al Qaeda operative from Yemen was among several terrorists killed in a US raid along the Afghan-Pakistani border last month.
The al Qaeda operative was identified as Abu Abdulrahman al Qahtani, a veteran jihadist from Yemen, according to a martyrdom statement released on the Al Faloja Forum, a website frequented by al Qaeda supporters.”
SNIPPET: “Qahtani was a close associate of al Qaeda operatives Ghazwan al Yemeni, Abu Dujanah al Sanaani, and Abu Dujanah al Khurasani.
Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, who is also known as Humam Khalil Muhammed Abu Mulal al Balawi, carried out the suicide attack against the CIA at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province on Dec. 30, 2009 that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer. Khurasani, a Jordanian, had enticed the CIA with promises of being able to produce Ayman al Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s second in command. Khurasani, like Qahtani, was a longtime internet jihadi.”
The Operational Network of Abu Dujana al-Khorasani in AFPAK
http://www.flashpoint-intel.com/images/documents/pdf/1110/falojaforumchapman.jpg
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/cia-the-war-on-terrorism/index.html
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/press-release-2010/director-panettas-op-ed-on-terrorist-attack-in-afghanistan.html
https://www.cia.gov/news-information/press-releases-statements/cia-casualties-in-afghanistan.html
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http://www.military.com/news/article/obama-marks-anniversary-of-cia-attack.html
“Obama Marks Anniversary of CIA Attack”
December 31, 2010
Associated Press
HONOLULU -
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www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/30/statement-president-one-year-anniversary-attack-cia-personnel
Home • Briefing Room • Statements & Releases
The White House
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
December 30, 2010
Statement by the President on the One Year Anniversary of the Attack on CIA Personnel
One year ago today, at a remote outpost at Khost, Afghanistan, seven American patriots showed us the true meaning of honor, integrity, and selfless sacrifice. For their colleagues and friends at the CIA, it was a heartbreaking loss of experienced veterans and young officers who served on the front lines in the fight to keep our nation safe. For Americans to whom the work of our intelligence community is largely unknown, it was a rare glimpse into the risks that our intelligence professionals accept in defense of the security and freedoms that we cherish. And for those of us who gathered at Langley last February to pay tribute to these seven heroes and to comfort their families, it was an occasion to rededicate ourselves to their work and to the ideals for which they died.
In the year since, that is what we have done. As President, I rely on our intelligence, military, and civilian personnel every day, and I know that our country is more secure, and the American people are safer, because of their extraordinary service. Today, al Qaeda’s senior leadership is under more pressure than ever before and is hunkered down in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan. We are relentlessly pursuing our mission to disrupt, dismantle, and ultimately defeat that terrorist organization. In the United States and around the world, plots have been thwarted, attacks have been disrupted, and the lives of Americans have been saved.
This is the legacy of the courageous Americans who gave their lives one year ago and whose stars now grace the Memorial Wall at Langley, just as it is the legacy of our troops who have given their lives in Afghanistan and Iraq. As we mark the first anniversary of their sacrifice at Khost, this is the work to which we recommit ourselves today. We will ensure that our dedicated intelligence professionals have the training and tools they need to meet the missions we ask of them. We will do everything in our power to ensure the safety and security of the American people. And like our seven patriots at Khost, we will never waver in defense of the security and liberties that keep America strong and free.
www.jihadica.com/from-the-pen-to-the-sword/
“From the Pen to the Sword”
Joas Wagemakers
January 3rd, 2011 | AQ Central, Afghanistan, Better Know a Forum, Jordan, propaganda, terrorism
SNIPPET: “One of the things that struck me about the Stockholm bomber, Taimour Abdalwahhab, was that he was apparently active on the internet as a radical before he decided to engage in actual terrorism (see Thomas’ posts below for more details). This transition reminded me of a similar but much more serious process by someone who also moved from “jihad by the pen” to “jihad by the sword”: Abu Dujana al-Khurasani, the Jordanian former internet-jihadi turned suicide bomber who killed several CIA-agents in his attack on an American base in Khost, Afghanistan, on 30 December 2009.
The attack in Khost, which took place exactly a year ago, led many to praise al-Khurasani for his supposed heroism, his willingness to move from cyber-jihadism to an actual suicide bombing and his loyalty to the cause. A few months ago, an e-book was released by the Jihadi Media Elite (Nukhbat al-I’lam al-Jihadi) that not only continues this praise but also contains dozens of articles about al-Khurasani and provides all the writings and recordings by the man himself as well: Abu Dujana al-Khurasani: The Hero of the Jihadi Media and the Destroyer of the Intelligence Services (only the link to the e-book works).
Jihadi historiography
The book is obviously hagiographic, but that doesn’t make it less interesting since it gives the jihadi version of things and, as such, can be seen as jihadi historiography.”
translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fs88179113.onlinehome.us%2F2011-06-04%2Famaf-jordanian_intel%2Fthread.html&sl=ar&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
s88179113.onlinehome.us/2011-06-04/amaf-jordanian_intel/thread.html
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www.as-ansar.com/vb/printthread.php?t=40593
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“Installment three: True stories of the Jordanian Intelligence”
http://internet-haganah.com/harchives/007353.html
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/terrorism/july-dec11/tripleagent_08-30.html
“CONVERSATION
AIR DATE: Aug. 30, 2011
Real-Life Thriller Explores al-Qaida Triple Agent’s CIA Infiltration, Bombing”
Posted on December 30, 2011.
Quote:
twitter.com/#!/siteintelgroup/status/152910987459170304
@siteintelgroup
SITE Intel Group
Al-Fajr Media Center released a biography of CIA base bomber Humam al-Balawi (Abu Dujana al-Khorasan) written by Abu al-Hasan al-Wa’ili.
10 hours ago via web
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/12/lebanese_al_qaeda_op.php
“Lebanese al Qaeda operative eulogizes Jordanian killed in Afghanistan”
By BILL ROGGIO
December 26, 2011
PHOTO CAPTION: “Haythem bin Mohammed al Khayat, a Jordanian better known as Abu Kandahar al Zarqawi. Image from the SITE Intelligence Group.”
SNIPPET: “Before his death, Abu Kandahar was a member of a network of foreign al Qaeda operatives that included Abu Dujanah al Khurasani, the suicide bomber who carried out the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost province on Dec. 30, 2009 that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer. Khurasani lulled the CIA officers into a false sense of security by claiming to have intelligence that would lead them to Ayman al Zawahiri, who at that time was al Qaeda’s second in command.
Other members of the network included Abu Abdulrahman al Qahtani, a veteran jihadist from Yemen; Ghazwan al Yemeni, a top operative in al Qaeda’s external operations network who aided in the attack at Combat Outpost Chapman; and Abu Dujanah al Sanaani, a Yemeni and an Internet jihadist who is known to have operated the Al Balagh Media Center and to have interviewed Siraj Haqqani. Qahtani, Ghazwan, and Sanaani were killed in fighting and Predator strikes along the Afghan-Pakistani border during the fall of 2010.”
NOTE The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2839542/posts
For CIA family, a deadly suicide bombing leads to painful divisions
Washington Post ^ | January 28, 2012 | Ian Shapira
Posted on January 29, 2012 12:49:58 AM PST by No One Special
The call from the Central Intelligence Agency came on a December afternoon in 2009 while Gary Anderson was skiing with his three children. It’s about your wife, the agency man said.
Standing inside Eagle Rock ski lodge in Pennsylvania, Anderson pleaded for details. The CIA official said simply: Where are you? We’ll meet you.
Anderson suspected dreadful news about Jennifer Matthews, his college sweetheart, his wife of 22 years and a CIA operative on assignment almost 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan. With several hours until the CIA meeting, Anderson and his three children — then 12, 9 and 6 — hit the slopes for one more hour. The father wanted to cling a little longer to normalcy, to a life between before and after.
Finally, the Fredericksburg family got into their silver minivan and headed to a nearby motel. There, in a sterile conference room, CIA officials told Anderson the news: His wife, one of the CIA’s top al-Qaeda experts, had just been killed in an explosion at a base in Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan. There was no mention of a double agent, no indication that six other CIA operatives had died in the deadliest attack on agency personnel in decades.
Anderson, who is commenting publicly on the loss of his wife for the first time, was so stunned that he couldn’t formulate questions, except: Are you sure she’s dead?
Then he summoned his children, who were waiting outside.
“I just said to them, ‘Your mom has died.’ The two oldest fell apart. They started crying,” he remembered. “One of them asked, ‘Is this really true?’ I just kind of hugged them. And then the craziness started after that.”
A Jordanian double agent’s suicide bombing of the CIA base received days of media coverage.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
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http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/08/al_qaeda_releases_bi.php
“Al Qaeda releases biography of slain senior leader”
By THOMAS JOSCELYN
August 21, 2012
SNIPPET: “The 21st, and latest, online edition of al Qaeda’s “Vanguards of Khorasan” magazine contains a biography of slain al Qaeda leader Atiyah Abd al Rahman. According to a translation provided by the SITE Intelligence Group, the biography is written by a jihadist known as Abu al Bara’a al Kuwaiti. Rahman was killed in a US drone strike in northern Pakistan in August 2011.”
SNIPPET: “Unsurprisingly, “Vanguards of Khorasan” does not mention that Rahman spent much of his terrorist career in Iran.”
SNIPPET: “While al Qaeda’s biography does not discuss these details, the group does celebrate Rahman’s role in the Dec. 30, 2009 attack on Combat Outpost Chapman in Khost, Afghanistan.
On that day, Humam Khalil al Balawi, a Jordanian doctor who the CIA and Jordanian intelligence believed could help locate Ayman al Zawahiri, detonated his suicide vest at the outpost, killing seven CIA officials and security guards as well as a Jordanian intelligence official.
Al Qaeda says that Rahman “engineered” al Balawi’s attack. Indeed, Rahman’s role in the operation has long been known.”
In a new 2012 incident not related to the 2010 incident....
http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2012/12/taliban_suicide_bomb_44.php
“Taliban suicide bomber attacks US base in Khost”
By BILL ROGGIO
December 26, 2012
SNIPPET: “The Taliban claimed credit for a suicide attack outside of a US base in eastern Afghanistan that is known to house CIA operatives who are hunting al Qaeda and other terrorist leaders across the border in Pakistan.
The Taliban suicide bomber detonated a van packed with explosives outside the main gate of Forward Operating Base Chapman in Khost province as Afghan workers were entering the base. Two Afghan civilians and an Afghan soldier were killed and several more were wounded in the blast, the provincial police chief told Pajhwok Afghan News. The slain Afghan policeman stopped the vehicle before it could enter the base, and then the suicide bomber detonated the explosives, TOLONews reported.”
