How Al-Qaeda Bomb Plot was Foiled

The FBI is examining the underwear bomb at the center of the latest foiled Al-Qaeda plot to bomb a US airliner.

FBI director Robert Mueller told a Congressional committee about the plot Wednesday.

According to reports, the plan was for a suicide bomber to board a plane wearing a new kind of non-detectable explosive devise in his briefs.

But the plot wasn’t carried out because the designated bomber was reportedly a double agent working for Saudi intelligence and the CIA.

Anchor Marco Werman talks to Tim Weiner, the author of “Enemies: A History of the FBI” and “Legacy of Ashes: The History of CIA.”

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Marco Werman: I’m Marco Werman and this is The World, a coproduction of the BBC World Service, PRI and WGBH Boston. The FBI is examining the underwear bomb at the centre of the latest foiled Al-Qaeda plot to bomb a US airliner. FBI Director Robert Mueller told a Congressional Committee about the plot today. According to reports the plan was for a suicide bomber to board a plane wearing a new kind of non-detectable explosive device in his briefs. But the plot wasn’t carried out because the designated bomber was reportedly a double agent working for Saudi Intelligence and the CIA. Tim Weiner is the author of ‘Enemies, a History of the FBI’, and ‘Legacy of Ashes, a History of the CIA’. And Tim, you’ve followed the CIA for years. Have you ever seen a case like this?

Tim Weiner: Well, the CIA has been trying to get an agent into the inner circle of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates for many, many years. Fifteen years, to be precise. And this is the first operation that I know of where they got somebody in so deep that he was to be the perpetrator of the plot.

Werman: And why did it take fifteen years? If this is the first time.

Weiner: Well, first of all, the agent in question works for the Saudi Intelligence Service, so not only does he look like he comes from that part of the world, Yemen is just to the south of Saudi Arabia, but he speaks as a native in the dialects of Arabic that are spoken in that part of the world. And the number of CIA officers who both look and speak that way is vanishingly small. This is a Saudi operation that was conceived at CIA.

Werman: Do you have any insight into this agent’s background? Is he a former Al-Qaeda agent?

Weiner: Oh, no. He is not a double agent. He works for the Saudi Intelligence service. He’s probably young. He probably has family roots in either Yemen or one of the provinces of Saudi Arabia close to Yemen so that he can speak as a Yemeni or as a Saudi. And this operation has probably been in the works for 2 or 3 or more years.

Werman: But Saudi Arabia does have a rehabilitation programme for former militants, extremists. Wouldn’t that have been a pool for possible agents?

Weiner: Be extremely dangerous to turn somebody like that back. Possible, but not worth the risk.

Werman: How do you go about recruiting an agent like this?

Weiner: You come up to the agent whether you’re in the Saudi Service, or in the CIA and say, “Son, how would you like to do something marvellous for your country?” Because let’s not forget that Saudi Arabia is a principal target of Al-Qaeda, which believes that it is a corrupt ally of the United States and deserves to be punished for that. And the young officer says, “Yes, Sir.” And then we begin. Training to be a man who infiltrates a terrorist circle. It’s a long game.

Werman: So this man was already inside Saudi Intelligence when he was recruited.

Weiner: Yes, he was a Saudi Intelligence Officer, he went deep, deep under cover, surfaced in Yemen and joined up with the crowd that is known as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula based in Yemen, an extremely dangerous crowd, probably the most powerful operational affiliate of Al-Qaeda today, and his information not only made him the man who was supposed to carry out the plot and actually wear the improvised explosive device under his pants but he also gave information that targeted Fahd Quso, who was killed by a drone strike about seventy-two hours ago, who was one of the guys who helped blow up the USS Cole in the main harbour of Yemen, back in December 2000. It’s a long, long game. Intelligence operations can take decades.

Werman: What kind of personality goes in for this kind of espionage? It’s got to be a rare person who can play both sides convincingly.

Weiner: Yes. Intelligence requires patience, cunning, sometimes rat-like cunning, an ability to lie successfully and the ability to pretend to be someone you are not. It is a dirty, dangerous, difficult game and people die at it.

Werman: Since 9/11 we’ve heard repeated calls for the United States to improve Human Intelligence, the old-fashioned spy craft as opposed to surveillance. Is this episode a sign of more robust Human Intelligence, do you think?

Weiner: You bet it is, Marco, but remember: this is a global game. Without the Saudi Intelligence Service the CIA could not have pulled this operation off. Here’s the problem: Al- Qaeda has been plotting since 1995 for spectacular attacks on airliners including a plot that was based in Manila in 1995 to bring down twelve at once over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, killing 3 to 4 thousand people. This is why you can’t carry liquids of more than 3 ounces onto an airplane anymore, because that was the original tactic. Now their chief bomb maker who is in Yemen named Ibrahim Asiri who better be living in a bunker right now because a drone is heading for his head imminently, has been working with more sophisticated techniques including ink-jet cartridges to be used as bombs and now has apparently found a way to weave explosives into the fabric of your undergarments, rather than carrying around a bulky chunk of plastique in your pants. That would be very hard to detect.

Werman: So now that these plans have been damaged by a mole, how do you imagine Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula reacting? Does something like this damage a terrorist organisation?

Weiner: Yeah, they better duck. There will be drone missiles heading their way shortly. This guy brought out obviously precise targeting details that enabled a drone strike to kill Fahd Quso. And he knows where they live. This is what intelligence is. Know your enemy. The only way to know your enemy is to talk to him, and to sit in his camp and drink tea with him and find out what he’s thinking and planning. That’s a good intelligence operation.

Werman: We have heard already today, though that numbers of extremists in Yemen have increased triple-fold. Won’t there be other bombers around who have learnt from Asiri and ready to strike again?

Weiner: Marco, there have been bombers who have been targeting the United States since World War 1. And there will always be bombers targeting the United States. Every time we build a stronger shield they are going to try and build a sharper sword. This is the history of warfare and intelligence. The CIA and the FBI have to get lucky every day and the bad guys have to get lucky once.

Werman: Tim Weiner, the author of ‘Enemies, a History of the FBI’, also of ‘Legacy of Ashes, a History of the CIA’. He joined us from New York City. Tim, thank you very much.

Weiner: It’s a pleasure, Marco.

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