Hank Crumpton: Life as a spy

Hank Crumpton: Yes.

Lara Logan: But you couldn't get permission?

Hank Crumpton: Correct.

He couldn't get permission to do anything, including allowing the CIA's Afghan agents on the ground to attack bin Laden's compound. That missed opportunity in the late summer of 1999, led Crumpton and his CIA team to figure out how to arm the Predator drone with hellfire missiles.

Lara Logan: So the Predator drone strikes that take place in the tribal areas of Pakistan today are a direct result of what happened when you had Osama bin Laden in your sights in Afghanistan and no way to kill him yourselves?

Hank Crumpton: It was a response to the lack of response on the part of the administration or DOD. So the handful of CIA officers that we had, in great frustration, we began the discussion of, "Okay. We find him again we will have to engage ourselves. And we'll have to do it right then, right there."

Crumpton pointed out though that the CIA was never able to get a Predator shot at bin laden -- even after agents shadowed his courier to the house in Abbottobad where he was killed a year ago by U.S. Navy Seals.

Lara Logan: Is it conceivable to you that the Pakistani leadership did not know that Osama bin Laden was in Abbottabad on Pakistani soil being sheltered there?

Hank Crumpton: I would be surprised if some leaders, particularly in the military, were not aware of his presence there.

Lara Logan: And not just not aware, but facilitated it?

Hank Crumpton: Yes.

Even with bin Laden dead, Crumpton warns that al Qaeda and its affiliates--including al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula -- remain a potent danger to the U.S. homeland.

Hank Crumpton: They still pose a threat. I'm particularly concerned about al Qaeda in Yemen, which is fractured as a nation state. The Sahel, if you look at al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb, they pose a threat, and in Somalia. Those are the places I'd be concerned.

Hank Crumpton is one of the most seasoned and accomplished CIA officers of his generation. That's why after his success directing the agency's Afghanistan campaign, the CIA chose him to become chief of its National Resources Division--one of the smallest--but most sensitive--secret operations of the Clandestine Service. You probably don't know this, but the division has covert CIA offices across the United States.

Hank Crumpton: A particular U.S. company can provide cover for a CIA officer who's deployed overseas. A U.S. executive who's traveled abroad can come back and agree to a debriefing from the CIA. A foreign institution may have a relationship with an American institution. And that might be a pathway for the CIA to acquire foreign intelligence.

Lara Logan: Doesn't that go against the public perception of what the CIA is tasked with doing? I mean, under your charter, most people think of the CIA's responsibilities as lying outside of America's borders.

Hank Crumpton: Yes, I agree. I think many Americans view it that way. The CIA's responsibility in the U.S., though, is very specific. While inside the U.S., the mission is exclusively and totally focused on the collection of foreign intelligence.

Lara Logan: So you can recruit foreign agents on U.S. soil?

Hank Crumpton: Yes.

Clandestine CIA officers also run so-called "technical operations" against enemy spies in the U.S.

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[woozybarnes]

I believe this gentleman is the real deal. I don't think I'd want to get called into his office.

[Mike in Texas]

What would life in the USA be like if teaparty reactionaries win white house, senate and house? (Already controls federal judgeships.)
It would be like cloning Crumpton endlessly.
What would that cloning be like?
Google "sociopath."

[Masha_B]

Chill, comrades! I have only one problem with this piece: it is too short. Both conservatives, and especially liberals need to learn more about the CIA, and why our freedom cannot be taken for granted, it needs to be curbed and sacrificed for the sake of its surviving.

If you are not happy with how the CIA operates, imagine how much the Chinese and Yemenies are pissed off.

[maitamoto]

Please, I would like you unsubscribed me from this site 60'minutes and from comments. I tried to do it but I couldn't find any place which mention of how to do "unsubscribe." I don't want to be associated in any manner whatsoever with 60 Minutes. Please do it! Ciao!

[dubious4976]

This was an extremely poor piece of journalism. As part of a book tour, "Hank" told the nation that the government had moved to using an army that was constituted much like the Taliban -- no uniforms, insurgents, etc. -- without any consultation with or vote of Congress. Logan interviewed no one else who could have enlarged on the ramifications of this action, not to mention the legality. Not CBS' finest hour when it fails to see an earthquake in the American Constitution and report on it.

[mari1963]

He doesn't sound like a spy. If he really meant what he said, he would have killed Bin Laden when he had a chance. I think he's kinda creepy. If he was a spy, I'm glad he's retired.

[Raycotennis]

After years of backing Liberal causes, it appears that CBS has finally had a come to Jesus moment. With Barry's pole numbers gone negative, they've decided to switch sides. In fact more of the LSM has seen the light lately. By November even the African American Community will turn against The One.

[zolaines]

It might be about selling a book but it is also an election year and from the interview there seems to be a pro-Republican agenda, "Bush asked good questions" "Bush threw his arm over h my shoulders". It seems manicured to counteract the fact that Bin Laden met justice during a Democrat administration.

In actuality it should not matter when, we were looking for Bin Laden to make him pay his murderous action and to stop him, it was a national priority. There is also a detrimental comment against the Clinton administration and that is highly suspicious. Sept 11th had not occurred yet and the urgency to get Bin Laden was not that clear, most of us probably did not know Bin Laden's name at the time. We do not know either what circumstances were at play on that particular day but the behavior of the most radical elements of the Republican party during the Clinton administration was borderline sedition.

The CIA's work is a dangerous work. I do not believe they are idiots as someone said in this forum before. It is not that the CIA can be explaining itself in the news.

[Raycotennis]

Yes-CBS is switching sides. They see the pole numbers of BO and have decided to back Romney. The piece on Carlos Rodriquez and the piece on Gary Sinise show a Republican slant. It's about time.

[bahmi]

Hank is lying scum. We know now what the CIA is, a rogue element that piddles on Congress and everybody else. STarting wars like "Nam", you name it, the CIA is rotted clean through. Hank is still in the agency as a veteran liar. 60 Minutes is a garbage show that is merely a shill for government "interests" and cannot be trusted one iota. Hank, get lost.

[DefenderOfUnderdog]

What ... was that? You interviewed, literally, two people for this story. "Hank" sounds justifiably like Jack Bauer, though the other guy was clearly a wann-be. I'm surprised at this right-wing puff-piece by 60 Minutes, but then, when we find the second story has to do with Muslims funding American charter schools in a very productive and and good way, maybe 60 Minutes was just trying to buffer the anger the right-wing would surely (and as usual, wrongly) spit at them. Pretty weak story.

[DefenderOfUnderdog]

Wish we had an option to edit ... "wanna-be" and only one "and" is of course what I meant.

[Nigaude]

I would have been nice to hear more about his anticipated impact of the book rather than to watch her flirt and play cutesie with him. Jees.