FBI Counterterrorism Chief Quits(Quietly)

WASHINGTON -- Dale Watson, the FBI's chief of counterterrorism and counterintelligence, abruptly announced his retirement Thursday, and no successor was immediately named to the crucial bureau position of preventing additional terror attacks.

Watson's departure comes less than a month after the retirement of his top deputy, James Caruso. And it follows the exodus of four other division chiefs in the past three months, including the official named to revamp the bureau's outdated computer system.

FBI and Justice Department officials said Watson's retirement had nothing to do with the ripple he caused last month when he became the first ranking official in the administration to suggest publicly that Osama bin Laden was dead.

At the Justice Department and at the CIA , the announcement of Watson's retirement surprised many people. They described Watson, 52, as an affable and well-regarded colleague who has played key roles in every major terrorist-related investigation in the past seven years.

As chief of counterterrorism, Watson directs thousands of agents and oversees the daily operations of the investigations into the attacks on Sept. 11 and in the search for the anthrax killer.

His retirement takes effect at the end of September. In October, he will join the international consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton as an executive in its Global Strategic Security unit.

''In the months since Sept. 11, Dale has proven invaluable once again as one of the key overseers of the largest criminal investigation in our nation's history,'' Attorney General John Ashcroft said Thursday. ''His expertise has enhanced immeasurably our terrorism investigation and our unyielding pursuit of justice.''

But in a related move, Mueller appointed longtime bureau executive Bruce Gebhardt as the FBI's second-in-command, or deputy director, a post has been vacant since December.

In that job, Gebhardt is expected to devote much of his time to counterintelligence operations.

Before his promotion Thursday, Gebhardt, 54, was the executive assistant director of the bureau's Criminal Investigative Division.

The changes are the latest in what has become almost weekly movement in the management ranks of the FBI. Many of the moves have come as Mueller has sought to redirect the bureau's mission and streamline its management structure.

But Justice Department officials also privately say that at least some of the departures are a result of the effects of fatigue and intense pressure to thwart additional attacks.

From here:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Attorney General John Ashcroft issued the following statement regarding today's announcement that Dale Watson, Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence at the Federal Bureau of Investigation will be retiring from his position. Watson, a 24-year veteran Special Agent specializing in counterterrorism and counterintelligence, was appointed to this position in December 2001.

“Dale Watson has been a valued member of the Department of Justice, especially in the areas of counterintelligence and counterterrorism, for nearly 25 years. He has played a crucial role in many major terrorism investigations, from the Oklahoma City bombing to the attack on the U.S.S. Cole in Yemen. In the months since September 11th, Dale has proven invaluable once again as one of the key overseers of the largest criminal investigation in our nation's history. His expertise has enhanced immeasurably our terrorism investigation and our unyielding pursuit of justice. I thank him for his leadership, and commend him for his service to the FBI and to our country. We wish him well in his future endeavors

Also,so, see this FR thread outlining when and how he advanced through the ranks.

Any theories?

From the Orange County Register

August 18, 2002

Dale Watson

Who he is: Retiring FBI counterterrorism chief.

Why he's important: Watson announced Thursday that he was taking a private-sector job after 20 years as one of the FBI's key anti-terrorism players.

While his departure was not accompanied by the sharp criticism that followed recently resigned Transportation Security Agency chief John Magaw out the door, Watson's exit is one more sign of how eager the Bush administration is to clean house - both of homeland-defense officials who can't meet deadlines for safety upgrades and of security officials on whose watch the Sept. 11 attacks occurred.

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller, who took office just before the attacks, has been spared. But six of his top aides are gone, and more changes are expected as the FBI undergoes a makeover into an agency more concerned with security than law enforcement.

Watson got high marks for his work on the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. But he was also part of FBI senior management that arguably ignored warnings before Sept. 11.

More recently, he's been the point person in the agency's stalled investigation of last fall's deadly mailings of anthrax spores.

Thanks glorygirl for making the Dale Watson story an independent thread. I hope you can attract some informative replies on this new thread to learn more about Watson and FBI roles in the terror attacks in the US for the last 8-9 years.

I believe Watson knows about and is in part responsible for the coverups and foreknowledge of the OKC bombing and 9/11 attacks. This is a rewrite of a reply I posted about Watson (who you reminded me about earlier -thank you) on a thread for the article "FBI and DOJ COnnivance Permeates , Interconnects Terror Attacks." (link : http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/733759/posts?page=111#111)

The Executive Assistant Director for Counterterrorism/Counterintelligience Dale Watson was replaced by Bruce J. Gebhardt effective August 15, 2002 by FBI Director Mueller because Mueller says Watson wants to retire to the private sector. But is this odd since Watson has been serving at his most recent post only since December 2, 2001?

He was Deputy Chief of the CIA Counterterrorist Center at the CIA Headquarters starting in June 1996.

He was the FBI's first representative to the CIA's Counter terorism center set up in 1999 and was made Assistant Director of the Counter-Terrorism Division.

Watson must know about about FBI agent Joseph Rogoskey's lawsuits about illegalities in nationl security operations in the US by the FBI and CIA during Watsons tenures.

Watson played a key role in the OKC investigation out of his Kansas City FBI post(Coverup).

He has overseen the investigation of the 9/11 attacks.

Kenneth Williams sent his detailed warning memo about the ALQaeda airliner attacks(Hanny Hanjour,etc) in the US to Dale Watson and his deputy in July 2001 which Watson and his deputy say he never received. Williams went to the CIA with his memo also who sent a version of it to brief the President on Aug 6, 2001. Since Watson served withthe CIA Counter Terror center you have got to wonder if Watson would have also learned of the Williams memo via the CIA and the CIA/FBI interface at this center

He has overseen the investigation of the anthrax mailings.Did he screw up the Hatfill investigation?

He has overseen the 1998 Kenyan and Tanzanian Embassy Bombings which the FBI knew about 6 months before it happened from a terorist's computer hard drive.

He has overseen the invetigation of the USS Cole. Watson would have known about the FBI agents who went to the Norman flight school in 1999 to discuss ALQaeda pilots trianing at the flight school which the FBI told the school it knew about in 1999.

Watson could have and should have known about the FBI informants used in the 1993 WTC bombing,OKC bombing , the Tanzanian and Kenyan bombings and the USS cole bombing and the 9/11 attacks. He should know about Khalid Mohammed, Melvin Lattimore (From St Louis Missouri)and especially ALi Mohammed. He should know about FBI detailed foreknowledge of these events and the use of FBI provacateurs and informants. As Assistant FBI SAC in Kansas City starting in April 1994 he should know in detail of the coverup of the OKC bombing in Kansas especially the Kansas connection to McVeigh, Strassmeir, Hussaini and other FBI infiltrated Kansas militia type provacateurs.

Will Dale Watson be called to testify and asked really tough questions before Congress about what he really knows?? And did Mueller and Ashcroft just put Watson out of harms way and protect his pension and retirement and protect the FBI/DOJ/CIA from incriminating revelations of connivance with terrorists and provocateurs?

If the Congress really wants to know about all the connivance (I doubt Congress really wants to know all since it might reflect badly on some in Congress), Dale Watson should be made to tell all he knows.

Watson must know about about FBI agent Joseph Rogoskey's lawsuits about illegalities in nationl security operations in the US by the FBI and CIA? during Watsons tenures.

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