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Recent Appearances... Rantburg

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Durham To Interview James Clapper And John Brennan As He Expands Investigation; Brennan Wonders Why
2019-10-21
[Right Scoop] CIA Director John Brennan testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 16, 2016, before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on the Islamic State. Brennan said that the Islamic State remains "formidable" and "resilient," is training and attempting to deploy operatives for further attacks on the West and will rely more on guerrilla-style tactics to compensate for its territorial losses in the Middle East. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

NBC News reported that Attorney General William Barr and Prosecutor John Durham have expanded their examination of the origins of the Trump/Russia investigation. Durham has increased the size of his staff and has pushed out his timeframe.

Durham will be interviewing former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper along with other current and former intelligence community officials. According to NBC:

While on the seldom discussed topic of accountability, would it be possible to begin the questioning by discussing intelligence failures which led to‎ Operation Gothic Serpent and ‎Battle of Mogadishu (Blackhawk Down), Khobar Towers, 9/11, the USS Cole, the Camp Chapman attack and suicide bomber Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, Benghazi, and Extortion-17 ?
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Home Front: WoT
CIA had been warned about bomber of Afghan base
2010-10-20
A CIA officer had been warned that the Jordanian double-agent who blew himself up at a US base in Afghanistan might have been working for al-Qaeda, yet did not tell his superiors.

An internal inquiry into the attack at the base in Khost found a series of communications breakdowns, according to CIA director Leon Panetta. It discovered that a US agent in Amman was given a warning by Jordanian intelligence about the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi. However the tip-off was dismissed because he suspected the Jordanian officer was jealous of a colleague's relationship with Balawi, according to the inquiry. The Jordanian officer even warned the CIA officer that Balawi "may be trying to lure us into an ambush."

The CIA inquiry found there were serious security lapses at the base. Balawi was not screened at the perimeter, and many officers gathered to greet him because he was considered reliable. Officers drew their guns when Balawi's exit from his vehicle aroused suspicions but the Jordanian detonated his vest soon afterward.

Mr Panetta said that none of the officials involved would be fired or disciplined, including the agent who did not pass on the warning. He claimed that the report indicated "systemic failures" rather than individual error, and that sweeping structural changes were called for.
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India-Pakistan
US charges Pakistani Taliban chief over CIA killings
2010-09-02
The United States slapped Pakistani Taliban chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, with terrorism charges on Wednesday for his alleged role in the murder of seven Americans at a CIA base in Afghanistan.

The Justice Department move came as the State Department added the Tehreek-e-Taliban to a blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations, which means members face asset freezes and travel bans.
Ah. So this wasn't about prosecuting the man in a United States civil court, but about finally admitting the group is a terrorist organization. Long past bloody time, that.
The State Department also offered rewards of up to five million dollars each for information leading to Mehsud's location and the location of Wali ur-Rehman, who is reportedly Mehsud's current second-in-command.
I can't imagine they're feeling pleased in ISI headquarters. Could that be the real reason why the Military Nine left us in a huff?
"Hakimullah Mehsud, the self-proclaimed emir of the Pakistani Taliban, has been charged by criminal complaint for his alleged involvement in the murder of seven American citizens on December 30, 2009 at a US military base in Afghanistan," the Justice Department said in a statement.

In a two-count complaint filed in US District Court in Washington, Mehsud was charged with conspiracy to murder Americans abroad and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction against US citizens abroad.

Daniel Benjamin, the ambassador at large for counter-terrorism, said Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), often made up of fertilizer and diesel fuel, fall into the category of weapons of mass destruction.
I thought nuclear bombs, which can kill 100,000 at a time, were weapons of mass destruction. An IED generally won't harm more than a dozen at best.
Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who is said to have been a triple agent, blew himself up at the base in Khost, near the Pakistani border in the deadliest attack against the CIA since 1983.
Seven isn't anything like 100,000.
In addition to the agents, Balawi also killed his Jordanian handler -- a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.
Neither is eight. This is like those who call everyone they don't like "Nazi".
In addition to the Khost bombing, the United States has linked the Tehreek-e-Taliban (TTP) to a botched car bomb plot in New York's Times Square in May and a deadly attack at the US consulate in Peshawar, Pakistan in April.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton designated the TTP as a foreign terrorist organization on August 12, and it was formally added to the list when it was published Wednesday in the Federal Register.
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Home Front: Politix
A shadow warrior falls
2010-04-20
By Kenneth R. Timmerman

The CIA quietly announced the "resignation" of its deputy director on Wednesday, accompanied by all the accolades normally reserved for a top government official forced to resign in disgrace. There were many reasons why Stephen R. Kappes needed to resign at age 60, five years before the agency's mandatory retirement age. Even the CIA's Greek chorus at the Washington Post and the New York Times have acknowledged that this mandarin had no clothes.

The immediate cause appears to have been the catastrophic operation on Dec. 30 in Khost, Afghanistan, that cost the lives of seven people and maimed several others when an al Qaeda double agent, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, was trustingly brought onto a U.S. forward operating base without undergoing a body search. Mr. Kappes was so enthusiastic about the prospect of having a source who had infiltrated the highest levels of al Qaeda that he reportedly briefed President Obama in person before the disaster.

In keeping with Mr. Kappes' long record of failure as an operations chief, the would-be mole had not been recruited by a CIA case officer and was not a unilateral American asset. He was being offered to the CIA by Jordanian intelligence. "Kappes transformed CIA operations into a liaison service," a former senior CIA operations officer told me. By that, he meant that Mr. Kappes no longer insisted that CIA case officers recruit agents and clandestine intelligence sources themselves, but rely on the cooperation and the offerings of "friendly" intelligence services willing to take the risks.

I have called Mr. Kappes one of a legion of "shadow warriors" who played politics with intelligence. In 2004, he and other colleagues led an internal insurgency against Porter Goss, the former case officer and congressman President George W. Bush appointed to head the CIA that year. Mr. Goss was threatening to clean out the "deadwood" at the agency and prune away senior managers who represented the failed culture that brought about the agency's faulty performance in the months and years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Behind the scenes, Mr. Kappes won support from congressional Democrats, who loved him because he fed them information they could use against Mr. Bush. But in the end, he overplayed his hand, and when he threatened to resign in November 2004 and take half of the operations directorate with him, Mr. Goss called his bluff. Consummate shadow warrior that he was, Mr. Kappes used his exile from the agency to plot his revenge. His moment arrived just 18 months later, when the Democrats managed to oust Mr. Goss and get Mr. Kappes appointed deputy director under Lt. Gen. Michael V. Hayden.

Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Michigan Republican, who was then chairman of the House intelligence committee, was furious at the Kappes restoration and called it "back to the future." "This is a vindication of all those people who didn't want to change," he told me in an interview for "Shadow Warriors." "The person Porter [Goss] saw as the primary obstacle to change is now in charge."

When Mr. Obama took office and named former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta as the new CIA director, many Democrats were upset, even though Mr. Panetta was one of their own. "Democrats loved Kappes and wanted him to be the next CIA chief," says Ishmael Jones, a former clandestine CIA officer and author of "The Human Factor: Inside the CIA's Dysfunctional Intelligence Culture.""When Obama chose Panetta, [Senate intelligence committee chairman Sen. Dianne] Feinstein was upset and insisted that Kappes stay on as a powerful number two at the agency."

In his book, Mr. Jones describes several incidents with Mr. Kappes, who consistently blocked case officers from recruiting sources in order to avoid risks. It was all part of a risk-avoidance culture, Mr. Jones says. "Kappes was a master at making small operations appear momentous and making vast numbers of government employees appear busy." Relying on the risk-taking of friendly intelligence services may have seemed appealing on the surface, but it has generated a clandestine service that is top-heavy with managers and short on spies.

Take the operation in Khost. The woman put in charge of the base was trained as a reports officer, not a clandestine operator. Because she wanted the new agent the Jordanians were handing her to "feel comfortable," she organized a mass welcoming party for him at Forwarding Operating Base Chapman in Khost and rejected requests from security contractors that the agent undergo a search before being allowed onto the U.S. base. When al-Balawi got out of the car and saw the crowd, an eyewitness who survived the attack says he began praying under his breath and then blew himself up. "The whole operation was a travesty," a former senior clandestine officer told me. And it was Kappes' own, meant to be his crowning moment.

Because the Khost operation was such a consummate failure, it became Mr. Kappes' undoing. Now is the time for Mr. Panetta to choose a deputy who will shake up the culture at the CIA so the agency can recruit and retain new blood.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Jordans Ambassador to Pakistan Targeted by Plot
2010-03-25
[Asharq al-Aswat] Jordan's ambassador to Pakistan was the target of a Taliban kidnap attempt foiled by authorities in Islamabad and is now safe, the Jordanian information minister said Tuesday.

The incident followed calls for attacks on the Jordanian government by an al-Qaeda double agent who killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian agent in Afghanistan last December.

On Monday, Pakistani police announced the arrest of two highly experienced Taliban militants planning to attack top hotels and kidnap diplomats in Pakistan. The militants' identities and their targets weren't disclosed at the time.

Jordanian Information Minister Nabil Sharif said ambassador Saleh al-Jawarneh was the target of plot and was now safe in Jordan. He said Jordanian security was in contact with Pakistan for detailed information on the probe under way.

"We have great confidence in the ability of the Pakistani authorities to protect the Jordanian embassy and its staff in Islamabad," Sharif told The Associated Press.

Jordan's Islamabad embassy has 12 staff, including six accredited Jordanian diplomats.

Pakistani police spokesman Naeem Iqbal says investigators were questioning the two Taliban militants in custody about their plans to kidnap the Jordanian ambassador and attack a five star hotel and a club frequented by Westerners.

"They have confessed to having planned taking the targets," Iqbal said. "Officers are questioning them about details of their plan."

Jordan is a key U.S. Mideast ally and Israel's peace partner. The moderate Arab kingdom has often been targeted by Islamic militants, including al-Qaeda, which is closely allied with the Taliban.

In a posthumous video message last month, al-Qaeda double agent Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian, called for attacks on members of Jordan's intelligence agency and the need to overthrow its government, citing Jordan's strong support for Washington.

"There is no solution to the situation in Jordan other than mobilizing to the land of jihad to learn the arts of war and train in them, then return to Jordan and begin operations," he said.

In 2005, al-Qaeda militants from Iraq carried out near simultaneous attacks on three Jordan-based luxury hotels, killing 60 people.
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India-Pakistan
Al-Qaida leader believed killed
2010-03-18
Geez, hope this don't piss off the ACLU...
WASHINGTON – An al-Qaida leader believed to have played a key role in the bombing of a CIA post in Afghanistan last December was apparently killed by an American missile strike last week, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.

The counterterrorism official said Hussein al-Yemeni was believed killed in a strike in Miram Shah, the main town in North Waziristan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information.

Drone strikes in Pakistan's border region, largely conducted by the CIA, have escalated in recent months, proving an effective way to target al-Qaida and Taliban leaders hiding in the rugged mountainous border. While Pakistani officials have criticized the strikes, it is widely believed that Islamabad privately supports the attacks and works with the U.S. to provide intelligence.

CIA director Leon Panetta said the stepped-up campaign has driven Osama bin Laden and other leaders deeper into hiding and left al-Qaida and the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal regions in disarray. "Those operations are seriously disrupting al-Qaida," Panetta told The Washington Post in an interview. "It's pretty clear from all the intelligence we are getting that they are having a very difficult time putting together any kind of command and control, that they are scrambling. And that we really do have them on the run."
Well...no wonder the ACLU's pissed off.
Al-Yemeni is considered an important al-Qaida planner and explosives expert who had established contact with groups ranging from al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to Afghan and Pakistani Taliban militant groups. He is also known as Ghazwan al-Yemeni. The counterterrorism official said al-Yemeni was in his late 20s or early 30s and was a conduit in Pakistan for funds, messages, and recruiting but that he specialized in suicide operations.
...but not anymore.
A jihadist Web site linked to al-Qaida recently announced his death, said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer who now is a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center."This is another sign that drone operations and stepped-up efforts against al-Qaida are having an impact in the tribal regions," Riedel said Wednesday. He said al-Yemeni served prison time in Yemen in 2005 before being released and has since moved through Afghanistan and Iran and was a trainer for the Taliban.

In the CIA base attack, a Jordanian suicide bomber killed seven CIA employees and a Jordanian intelligence officer. The bomber, a Jordanian doctor identified as Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, detonated his cache of explosives at Camp Chapman, a tightly secured base in Khost. CIA officials has cultivated al-Balawi in hopes of obtaining information about al-Qaida's second in command, but he turned out to be a double agent. In a video broadcast after his death, the bomber said the attack was meant to avenge the death of the former Pakistani Taliban leader in a CIA missile strike.
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Afghanistan
Al-Qaida bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies
2010-03-01
An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian spy called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a posthumous video message posted on extremist Web sites Sunday.

Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi also described Sunday in the 43-minute video his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them after they sent him to Afghanistan to spy on al-Qaida.

The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Al-Balawi said he only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zaid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.

"We planned for something but got a bigger gift, a gift from Allah, who brought us, through His accompaniment, a valuable prey: Americans, and from the CIA. That's when I became certain that the best way to teach Jordanian intelligence and the CIA a lesson is with the martyrdom belt," he said in the video.

The secretive eastern Afghan CIA base was reportedly used as a key outpost in the effort to identify and target terror leaders, many of whom were taken out by the drone-fired missile strikes.

It was one of the worst losses for the CIA ever and revealed the cooperation between the American and Jordanian intelligence services.

Al-Balawi, who appeared in a military fatigues cradling an assault rifle and what appears to be C4 explosives, described the successes of Jordanian intelligence against extremists over the years and their close working relationship with the CIA.

He said Jordan had provided information for the killing of Al-Qaida in Iraq chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in 2006 as well as that of top Hezbollah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who died in a car bomb in Damascus in 2008.

"The Jordanian intelligence apparatus has a record which emboldens them to such behavior, but with Allah's permission, after this operation, they will never stand on their feet again," he said.
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Israel-Palestine-Jordan
Al-Qaeda bomber calls for attacks on Jordan spies
2010-02-28
An al-Qaida double agent that killed seven CIA agents and Jordanian spy has called for jihad in Jordan and attacks on its intelligence agency in a new video message. Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi described Sunday in the 43-minute video that appeared on jihadi Web sites his recruitment by Jordanian intelligence and how he double crossed them.

The video was apparently filmed shortly before the 32-year-old al-Balawi blew himself up at a CIA facility on Dec. 30 in Afghanistan's eastern province of Khost where he'd been invited to reveal information on al-Qaida. Al-Balawi said he had only expected to kill his Jordanian handler, Ali bin Zeid, but the addition of the CIA members was a windfall.

Al-Balawi called for attacks on Jordanian intelligence agents everywhere.
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Afghanistan
Hakimullah Mehsud one with the ages?
2010-01-31
The head of the Taliban in Pakistan, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone attack, Pakistan state television reported Sunday. The report stated Mehsud had been injured in a drone attack in the Shaktoi area January 14 and died three days later. He reportedly was buried in the village of Mamuzai in the North Waziristan region.
The Talibs have been saying this ain't so, but they haven't produced a walking, talking Hakimullah...
The Pakistani army said Sunday that it was investigating the reports.
"Yeah, we're asking around..."
The militant leader's death would be an important success for both Pakistan, which has been battling the Pakistani Taliban, and the U.S., which blames Mehsud for a recent deadly bombing against the CIA in Afghanistan.
We've been literally chasing him with drones since the CIA kaboom...
The army's announcement came shortly after Pakistani state television, citing unnamed "official sources," reported that Mehsud died in Orakzai, an area in Pakistan's northwest tribal region where he was reportedly being treated for his injuries. "We have these reports coming to us," army spokesman Gen. Athar Abbas told The Associated Press. "We are investigating whether it is true or wrong."
A severed head would be the best proof.
A tribal elder told the AP that he attended Mehsud's funeral in the Mamuzai area of Orakzai on Thursday. He said Mehsud was buried in Mamuzai graveyard after he died at his in-laws' home. The elder spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution from the Taliban.
"Dey know I've talked, it's curtains fer me! So you dunno where you got it!"
Pakistani intelligence officials have said that Mehsud was targeted in a U.S. drone strike in South Waziristan on Jan. 14, triggering rumors that he had been injured or killed. The strike targeted a meeting of militant commanders in the Shaktoi area of South Waziristan. Mehsud issued two audio tapes after the strike denying the rumors. But Pakistani intelligence officials told the AP on Sunday that they have confirmation that the Taliban chief's legs and abdomen were wounded in the strike.
"Aaaiiieee! My legs!"
"What's the matter with your legs, chief?"
"I dunno. Pick 'em up and see. They're in the corner over there!"
Pakistani Taliban officials were not immediately available for comment, but low-level fighters have dismissed rumors of Mehsud's death in recent days as propaganda.
"Lies! All lies!"
The drone strike that targeted Mehsud came about two weeks after a deadly suicide bombing he helped orchestrate killed seven CIA employees at a remote base across the border in Afghanistan. Mehsud appeared in a video issued after the bombing sitting beside the Jordanian man who carried out the attack. The bomber, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, said he carried out the attack in retribution for the death of former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud -- Hakimullah Mehsud's predecessor -- in a U.S. drone strike last August.
Whoa! Major cycle of violencing!
The U.S. refuses to talk about the covert CIA-run drone program in Pakistan
"We don't wanna talk about it."
but officials have said privately that the strikes have killed several senior Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders.
That kinda qualifies as this week's statement of the obvious. Not being allowed to tromp through the Tribal Areas with three or four divisions to kill bad guyz we're settling for zapping them one by one. It's a fairly effective vermin control measure.
Pakistani officials publicly protest the strikes as violations of the country's sovereignty, but U.S. officials say privately they support the program, especially when it targets militants like Mehsud who the government believes is a threat to the state.
"Yeah. You're never sure who you're gonna kill. Could be... ummm... innocent bystanders or somebody."
Mehsud, who has the reputation as a particularly ruthless militant, took over leadership of the Pakistani Taliban soon after Baitullah Mehsud's death. The 28 year-old militant leader has focused most of his attacks against targets inside Pakistan, but his men have also been blamed for attacking U.S. and NATO supply convoys traveling through the country en route to Afghanistan.
He's also allied with aql-Qaeda, who use his branch of the Talibs to do their bidding, which is mostly concerned with establishing free reign for themselves within the Tribal Areas.
Hakimullah Mehsud first appeared in public to journalists in November 2008, when he offered to take reporters in Orakzai on a ride in a U.S. Humvee taken from a supply truck headed to Afghanistan. He was the Pakistani Taliban's regional commander in the Orakzai, Khyber and Mohmand tribal areas before taking over the organization. He has taken responsibility for a wave of brazen strikes inside Pakistan, including the bombing of the Pearl Continental hotel in the northwestern city of Peshawar last June and the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore earlier that year.

The group stepped up its attacks after the Pakistani army invaded its stronghold of South Waziristan in mid-October. More than 600 people have been killed in attacks throughout the country since the ground offensive was launched. Authorities have said Mehsud has been behind threats to foreign embassies in Islamabad, and there is a $120,000 bounty on his head.
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India-Pakistan
Jordanian militant's death confirmed by brother
2010-01-13
The brother of a Jordanian man identified as a militant killed in a US drone attack in North Waziristan confirmed on Tuesday the alleged militant's death.

"A man called me on Sunday and said my brother died in the US attack. He spoke bad Arabic and said he escaped the attack. I think he is a Pakistani," Omar Mahdi Zeidan told AFP.

Websites monitored by US-based SITE Intelligence said on Monday that a man who moved to Afghanistan in 1999 and stayed on to fight US-led forces was killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan's Waziristan region.

The forums Al-Fallujah and Shamukh al-Islam announced the "martyrdom" on January 10 of Mahmud Mahdi Zeidan, whose nom de guerre was Mansur al-Shami, SITE reported.

"My brother called us a week before his death and asked us to pray to God to make him martyr. He used to call us from time to time," Zeidan said.

"He was the bodyguard of Al-Qaeda's field leader Mustapha Abulyazid."

SITE did not specify which drone strike in which the Jordanian was killed.

Pakistani officials said last week that 13 militants, including four foreigners, were killed in two US drone strikes in North Waziristan.

Zeidan appeared on January 4 in a recording by As-Sahab, a website frequently used by Al-Qaeda, giving a sermon for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha, SITE Intelligence said.

He also recorded an audio message released by As-Sahab last August giving advice to mujahedeen fighters.

Born in 1974, Zeidan, who is of Palestinian origin, obtained his BA in sharia Islamic law from Yarmuk University in the northern Jordanian city of Irbid in 1997.

He was married and had four children.

"My brother worked for Taliban radio in 2001 and then he joined the mujahedeen," Zeidan said, adding that their father is a leader of Jordan's Muslim Brotherhood movement.

"We are accepting condolences now over his death, and the authorities did not prevent us from doing so" in Irbid's Palestinian refugee camp, the brother added.

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, the man believed to have killed seven CIA agents and his Jordanian handler in a suicide attack in eastern Afghanistan last month, was also of Jordanian origin.
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Home Front: WoT
CIA director responds to criticism of agency
2010-01-11
[Al Arabiya Latest] CIA Director Leon Panetta, in an article published Sunday, revealed that a Jordanian doctor who killed seven agency operatives was about to be searched before he blew himself up at a US military base in Afghanistan.

"This was not a question of trusting a potential intelligence asset, even one who had provided information that we could verify independently. It is never that simple, and no one ignored the hazards," Panetta wrote in The Washington Post.
Though Leon can be quite a weasel in his political forays, I'd like to think that in running CIA he has a modicum of professionalism and can be trusted with this account. But I'd also like confirmation.
"The individual was about to be searched by our security officers -- a distance away from other intelligence personnel -- when he set off his explosives."

" The individual was about to be searched by our security officers -- a distance away from other intelligence personnel -- when he set off his explosives "
CIA Director Leon Panetta
The Post said the Central Intelligence Agency had been planning to speak with the suicide bomber about ways to kill Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's number two leader, a top U.S. target who remains at large.

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian of Palestinian origin who is said to have been a triple agent, blew himself up at a U.S. military base in Khost near the Pakistani border on December 30, in the deadliest attack against the spy agency since 1983.

In addition to the agents, Balawi also killed his Jordanian handler -- a top intelligence officer and member of the royal family.

Nearly everyone within sight of the bomber died instantly when thousands of steel pellets exploded from the device.
That's a Palestinian-style device, not really surprising from a Jordanian. We'll probably not be told whether or not the pellets were coated with rat poison, also Palestinian-style, which prevents the victims blood from coagulating and results in more deaths and debilitation than the initial wounds would indicate.
According to The Post, the victims included a top CIA expert on al-Qaeda, a 45-year-old woman with three children who had spent nearly 10 years in the agency's counterterrorism center and had several brief tours in Afghanistan.

At least six other people, including the CIA's second-in-command in Afghanistan, were wounded, the paper said, citing U.S. officials briefed on the incident.
Let us wish them speedy healing and revenge on the killer's entire line of management.
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India-Pakistan
CIA bomber shown on TV with Hakimullah Mehsud
2010-01-10
[Dawn] A Pakistan television station showed on Saturday what it said was the suicide bomber double agent who killed CIA agents in Afghanistan sitting with the Pakistani Taliban leader, and reported he shared US and Jordanian state secrets with militants.
The Pak Taliban are operated by al-Qaeda. I'm not sure whether they're a wholly owned subsidiary, like Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, but I suspect they are.
Private television station AAJ showed a video of the bomber, speaking in English but hardly audible, with Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud beside him. 'Jordanian and American intelligence had offered him millions of dollars in exchange for spying on the mujahideen (holy warriors). But he rejected wealth and joined the mujahideen,' said AAJ of Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, a Jordanian.

The channel quoted him by his online persona Abu Dujana al-Khorasani as saying that he 'shared all secrets of Jordanian and American intelligence with his fellow (militants)'.

If the video is authentic, it points to huge intelligence failures for the United States and its key Middle East ally Jordan.

Pakistan would also feel the heat. It is struggling against Mehsud's growing insurgency while facing relentless US pressure to eliminate militant groups that cross its borders to fight in Afghanistan.

Official sources said that he came to Pakistan with a fake name and later he traveled to tribal areas with his local Taliban guide from where he reportedly entered Afghanistan's Paktia province.
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