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Unmasking of Qaeda Mole a U.S. Security Blunder-Experts
Reuters ^ | Auguat 7, 2004 | Peter Graff

Posted on 08/07/2004 12:07:47 PM PDT by be-baw

LONDON (Reuters) - The revelation that a mole within al Qaeda was exposed after Washington launched its "orange alert" this month has shocked security experts, who say the outing of the source may have set back the war on terror.

Reuters learned from Pakistani intelligence sources on Friday that computer expert Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan, arrested secretly in July, was working under cover to help the authorities track down al Qaeda militants in Britain and the United States when his name appeared in U.S. newspapers.

"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," a Pakistani intelligence source told Reuters. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz."

Last Sunday, U.S. officials told reporters that someone held secretly by Pakistan was the source of the bulk of the information justifying the alert. The New York Times obtained Khan's name independently, and U.S. officials confirmed it when it appeared in the paper the next morning.

None of those reports mentioned at the time that Khan had been under cover helping the authorities catch al Qaeda suspects, and that his value in that regard was destroyed by making his name public.

A day later, Britain hastily rounded up terrorism suspects, some of whom are believed to have been in contact with Khan while he was under cover. Washington has portrayed those arrests as a major success, saying one of the suspects, named Abu Musa al-Hindi or Abu Eissa al-Hindi, was a senior al Qaeda figure.

But British police have acknowledged the raids were carried out in a rush. Suspects were dragged out of shops in daylight and caught in a high speed car chase, instead of the usual procedure of catching them at home in the early morning while they can offer less resistance.

"HOLY GRAIL" OF INTELLIGENCE

Security experts contacted by Reuters said they were shocked by the revelations that the source whose information led to the alert was identified within days, and that U.S. officials had confirmed his name.

"The whole thing smacks of either incompetence or worse," said Tim Ripley, a security expert who writes for Jane's Defense publications. "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?"

A source such as Khan -- cooperating with the authorities while staying in active contact with trusting al Qaeda agents -- would be among the most prized assets imaginable, he said.

"Running agents within a terrorist organization is the Holy Grail of intelligence agencies. And to have it blown is a major setback which negates months and years of work, which may be difficult to recover."

Rolf Tophoven, head of the Institute for Terrorism Research and Security Policy in Essen, Germany, said allowing Khan's name to become public was "very unclever."

"If it is correct, then I would say its another debacle of the American intelligence community. Maybe other serious sources could have been detected or guys could have been captured in the future" if Khan's identity had been protected, he said.

Britain, which has dealt with Irish bombing campaigns for decades, has a policy of announcing security alerts only under narrow circumstances, when authorities have specific advice they can give the public to take action that will make them safer.

UNNECESSARY ALARM

Home Secretary David Blunkett, responsible for Britain's anti-terrorism policy, said in a statement on Friday there was "a difference between alerting the public to a specific threat and alarming people unnecessarily by passing on information indiscriminately."

Kevin Rosser, security expert at the London-based consultancy Control Risks Group, said an inherent risk in public alerts is that secret sources will be compromised.

"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.

In the case of last week's U.S. alerts, officials said they had ordered tighter security on a number of financial sites in New York, Washington and New Jersey because Khan possessed reports showing al Qaeda agents had studied the buildings.

Although the casing reports were mostly several years old, U.S. officials said they acted urgently because of separate intelligence suggesting an increased likelihood of attacks in the runup to the presidential election in November.

U.S. officials now say Hindi, one of the suspects arrested after Khan's name was compromised, may have been the head of the team that cased those buildings.

But the Pakistani disclosure that Khan was under cover suggests that the cell had been infiltrated, and was under surveillance at the time Washington ordered the orange alert.

The security experts said that under such circumstances it would be extraordinary to issue a public warning, because of the risk of tipping off the cell that it had been compromised. (Additional reporting by Mark Trevelyan in Berlin)


TOPICS: Breaking News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; United Kingdom; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; fifthcolumn; media; mohammadkhan; mole; noorkhan; nyt; nytimes; orangealert5
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To: be-baw
09122002121754.jpg (52724 bytes)

Did somebody mention Khan?

21 posted on 08/07/2004 1:17:57 PM PDT by DrewsDad
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To: be-baw

The Paki's ISI knew who to go to with this info to screw up the WoT didn't they? NY Times will gladly print the guy's name. Stay on the terrorists good side and they will eat you last.


22 posted on 08/07/2004 1:24:38 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (You can turn your head away from the Berg video and still hear Al Queda's calls to prayer.)
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To: be-baw

The Paki's ISI knew who to go to with this info to screw up the WoT didn't they? NY Times will gladly print the guy's name. Stay on the terrorists good side and they will eat you last.

I'm posting this again to add/edit this with the following. He may have burned himself to get out of the system.


23 posted on 08/07/2004 1:26:10 PM PDT by TheErnFormerlyKnownAsBig (You can turn your head away from the Berg video and still hear Al Queda's calls to prayer.)
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To: be-baw

Like playing spoons with my children, I'll take the spoon asap. Glad we nabbed him now. :)


24 posted on 08/07/2004 1:26:41 PM PDT by Iberian
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To: Carling

If he was held in Pakistan then I doubt seriously that this was a secret except to us.


25 posted on 08/07/2004 1:35:20 PM PDT by e_castillo
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To: P-Marlowe
Where are the angry mobs with the torches when you need them?

They're at their commie party meetings or sitting in small theaters watching F9/11 for the fifth time and cheering. LOL

26 posted on 08/07/2004 1:38:35 PM PDT by Mister Baredog ((Part of the Reagan legacy is to re-elect G.W. Bush))
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To: be-baw

Actually, to be accurate, it was a treasonous reveal in print by the NYT.


27 posted on 08/07/2004 1:44:18 PM PDT by mabelkitty (Zealous Troll Hunter - you've been warned.)
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To: be-baw; Numbers Guy; Nexus; mabelkitty
Headline should read

Unmasking of Qaeda Mole is Treason by NY Times-Experts

28 posted on 08/07/2004 2:02:40 PM PDT by TeleStraightShooter (Kerry plans to graff post-Vietnam policy on Iraq: Cut funding and let the Syrian Baathists take over)
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To: be-baw

John Loftus pushing this theme on FNC right now. I am quick to remind everyone that he is a DEMOCRAT, despises President Bush, often has misinformation, and would not hesitate to use it if it hurts the President.


29 posted on 08/07/2004 5:33:19 PM PDT by OldFriend (IF IT'S KERRY.....HELL IS ON THE WAY)
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There's no way we screwed up this bad.

More likely, this is being leaked to protect the real mole, who is still in deep cover. Khan may have given us good information, but if he agreed to work undercover, there's no WAY his name would have been leaked to the press. That's the kind of opportunity that comes once in a blue moon, I imagine.

30 posted on 08/07/2004 5:34:24 PM PDT by twgiles
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To: twgiles

Loftus blamed the 'white house' for leaking to the New York Times. Now I ask you, how likely is that scenario.


31 posted on 08/07/2004 5:35:10 PM PDT by OldFriend (IF IT'S KERRY.....HELL IS ON THE WAY)
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To: twgiles
There's no way we screwed up this bad.

It's certainly possible that we did. However, I agree that it is not farfetched that al Qaeda figured out that we have infiltrated their organization, and we offered up this guy when it's really someone else.

32 posted on 08/07/2004 5:40:43 PM PDT by Toskrin (The timing of this tagline is suspicious.)
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To: twgiles

I agree.


33 posted on 08/07/2004 5:43:33 PM PDT by jpsb (Nominated 1994 "Worst writer on the net")
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To: be-baw

bttttt


34 posted on 08/07/2004 5:44:39 PM PDT by dennisw (Once is Happenstance. Twice is Coincidence. The third time is Enemy action. - Ian Fleming)
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To: OldFriend
Loftus blamed the 'white house' for leaking to the New York Times. Now I ask you, how likely is that scenario.

The Times has not sense, no shame, and no excuse in publishing this info. I am stunned to think of the a__hole editor who greenlighted this. Did they do it to feed the 24-hour news cycle and sell papers or to undermine national security? I cannot fathom a paper having done this during WW II. It is unforgivable.

35 posted on 08/07/2004 5:46:00 PM PDT by Puddleglum
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To: Puddleglum
We don't know if any of the 'story' is true. It could be nothing more than an attempt to divert attention from the seriousness of the terror threat.

There is no depth to which the media wouldn't sink.

36 posted on 08/07/2004 5:51:44 PM PDT by OldFriend (IF IT'S KERRY.....HELL IS ON THE WAY)
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To: twgiles
Maybe other serious sources could have been detected or guys could have been captured in the future" if Khan's identity had been protected, he said.

Um, overall, there comes a time where a mole is only that, a mole. And leaving him in place MAY have provided additional info, but by leaving him in place, bad guys are left to their own devices which may or may not be known to the mole.

Either way, once the NYT blows a cover, it's a moot point. Notice, however, none of the bad guys (that we DID know about) escaped..

37 posted on 08/07/2004 5:58:55 PM PDT by Experiment 6-2-6 (Meega, Nala Kweesta! Romanes Eunt Domus....)
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To: Grampa Dave
Never forget ...

Quote:
the Times's new publisher, Arthur "Pinch" Sulzberger Jr ... was a sixties anti-war activist who famously declared that in a confrontation between an American and a North Vietnamese soldier he'd want to see the American get shot."
Unquote.
Stanley Kurtz (NRO on line, June 5, 2001

38 posted on 08/07/2004 6:08:31 PM PDT by aculeus
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To: be-baw

Incompetence


39 posted on 08/07/2004 6:09:25 PM PDT by LPM1888 (What are the facts? Again and again and again -- what are the facts? - Lazarus Long)
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To: LifeTrek

If they can't handle the responsibility they shouldn't be allowed to publish at all. We need to take a page out of Iraq's playbook and shut them down for a month like Allawi has done with Al Jazeera. Course it'll never happen.


40 posted on 08/07/2004 6:25:00 PM PDT by johnb838 (John Kerry: THE Help Is On The Way)
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