How The "Hungry" CIA Let Down Its Guard

(CBS)  The double agent was brought onto the CIA base in Afghanistan without first being given a polygraph test, one of the basic tools in establishing a spy's trustworthiness.

He had provided bona fide information, including the location of al Qaeda leaders killed by CIA drone strikes, but a U.S. intelligence official says "there were still questions" about his "reliability" and the "access" he claimed to have to senior al Qaeda leaders, reports CBS News chief national security correspondent David Martin.

Yet he was brought onto the base to meet with CIA officers. Seven were killed along with an officer from the Jordanian intelligence service, which originally recruited him as a spy after arresting him in 2007.

"What landed him in jail was his online activities," said Khaled Wassef, who monitors jihadist Web sites for CBS News in London. He has tracked the bomber's online writings. "He says that he has always dreamed of being a martyr."

Special Report: Afghanistan

He was from the same town in Jordan as the infamous Abu Musab al Zarqawi, who had also done time in a Jordanian prison. Between his background and his writings, he had the perfect cover story for infiltrating al Qaeda.

"The Jordanians have managed to get agents inside these very difficult to enter al Qaeda cells and deliver real intelligence," said journalist and novelist David Ignatius, who is the author of "Body of Lies," about the CIA and Jordanian intelligence.

Ignatius thinks the CIA let down its guard out of sheer desperation.

"One thing that's obvious is that we're so hungry for information about the location of Osama bin Laden and his number one deputy, it's clear we would just leap at any opportunity we saw to get a fix on where they were," he said.

And probably no one was hungrier than the chief of that CIA base. She was one of the agency's leading experts on al Qaeda.

[beenthdonedat]

Everyone is missing the big picture here. The fact the the also 7 CIA operatives were killed by the very same guy with affiliations that they were supposed to be gathering intelligence about, and that now this underwear bomber guy slipping through like a hot knife through butter did what he did; illustrate the picture perfectly. The CIA is not out there to protect the American citizens, but to further enforce their own covert operations that have nothing to do with our national interest. They are just the armed extension of the wealthy Oil and Corporate Industry. The death of the CIA operatives was just Karma at work, to show people how they are unable to even protect themselves, because THEY ARE NOT LOOKING obviously, they never were. They are pressing forward with their own agenda of fighting for the greedy. Have you asked yourself why Afghanistan is now producing record opium crops 2000% (two thousand!) higher than before the US invasion?
The Afghan opium trade has exploded since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, following a lull after the Taliban had imposed a crackdown. According to the U.N., the drug trade is now worth $65 billion.
As Professor Michel Chossudovsky has highlighted in a series of essays, the explosion of opium production after the invasion was about the CIA?s drive to restore the lucrative Golden Crescent opium trade that was in place during the time when the Agency were funding the Mujaheddin rebels to fight the Soviets, and flood the streets of America and Britain with cheap heroin, destroying lives while making obscene profits.

[RedWings_ninety_one]

Can we no longer feel safe? Our own CENTRAL INTELLEGANCE AGENCY letting people by without proper, let alone extensive, screening. Pretty soon we may see the demise of the United States of America if this keeps up.

[berlinfoto-2009]

I have no idea how much knowledge, the average reader or contributer to this comment page has, about the CIA. I have never worked for the CIA, and I never want to, for dam good reason.
To say that I have knowledge of how they recruit, and that in 1965, I had discussions with Margaret Mead as far back as 1965, is about all that I would like to say. Other than sabotaging a persons life is their major recruit tool. If their has ever been any congressional over sight it was never enough, today with a PRIVATE CIA it is even easer for them to lie to congress,
I read in a German news paper, that the CIA had a death squad (Blackstone), in Hamberg in 2004. Where is the oversight? ""CIA wollte in Deutschland toten"
"2004 habe derr US_Geheimdienst eine Kommandotruppe der solderfirma Blackwater nach Hamburt entsandt um den dort lebenden Darkazanli zuliquidieren, berichtete das"Hambuger Abendblatt" unter Berufung Auf das US-Magizin "Vanity Fair".

Abolish the "Clowns Idiots and A**holes".

[bankersvox]

It is difficult to find any blame for the brave members of the CIA, have we forgotten the AG very real threat to put them on trial ? for political points ?
So, lets come together and focus. We are at war.

[edgy44]

The reason the CIA has a protocol, is it was developed through experience. Obviously you can ignore protocol, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The people who were blown-up were amateurs. We don't need them anyway. Now we need to get the A-Team in there.

[jwesel1]

Now we need to get the A-Team in there.
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Everyone hopes that the A Team consists of Cheney, Wolfowitz and the rest of the neocons.

[rank_n_file]

U.S. Intelligence knew about the August Attempt on Saudi Prince Mohammed, knew about the PETN "explosives in the underwear" method of that attempt, and all homeland security adviser John Brennan can think of to stress is that "We were looking very carefully at that. There was no indication at the time that there was going to be an attempt against an aircraft." (verbatim echo of post-9\11 excuses). Brennan told ABC News "there was nothing in that assassination attempt against Prince Mohammed bin Nayef that indicated aviation was a target - there was no indication -- that al Qaeda was trying to use that type of attack and that modus operandi against aircraft." It sounds like a scene from a "Three Stooges" episode. This exposes the pure idiocy embedded in the U.S. Intelligence mentality. It's like responding to a decimating terrorist attack by saying, "Yes, we knew about al Qaeda terrorist strategies around the World, BUT . . . at that time, there was absolutely no evidence that would lead us to believe they would be wearing blue pin-striped suits instead of the customary turban and white robes. There was simply no way we could have anticipated that." There's one helluva lot of 'numb nuts' in the U.S. Intelligence community, at the highest levels, who should be minimum wage Pickerton security guards at a K-mart store.

[anonymous010]

"CIA Never Gave Polygraph Test to Jordanian Double-Agent"

And the point is what? Polygraph tests have been shown to prove nothing - that's why they're no longer admissable as evidence in court. A polygraph cannot prove someone lied - serial killers with mountains of evidence against them have passed polygraph tests time and time again with flying colors. Perfectly innocent (probably) people have failed polygraph tests and lost their jobs for it. The only things a polygraph can detect are physical reactions (such as pulse and skin conductance). An increase in pulse rate and skin conductance (sweating) might indicate deception, or it might just indicate innocent nervousness at being strapped into a machine and interrogated and there is NO WAY for a polygraph examiner to know for certain which one is going on.

We should ditch the polygraph. It's a failed technology that does nothing other than psych some people out. Trusting polygraph test results without any other evidence is foolish at best.

[petesis]

The CIA is in this fight and that is a good thing. They took some losses and perhaps made some mistakes, but they have had some successes. Deepest condolences to the families of these operators.

[nearl451]

What I find interesting is that the CIA often puts too much credibility in covert intelligence and not enough on Overt intelligence.

My bet is that the word on the street in Jordan would have identified this person as what he was: an operative.

This is a similar mistake to what was made of Iraq WMD and evidence from "curve ball". He was throwing a curve and intelligence was too hungry for the "right" information. Wonder how many false fingerings because of his treachery.

[jwesel1]

This is a similar mistake to what was made of Iraq WMD and evidence from "curve ball".
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Don't equate an intentional attempt to restart crusades with honest mistakes. Iraq war's only purpose was to revenge the defeats christians suffered at the hands of Muslims during crusades.

[winslowe1]

Use a Muslim to infiltrate a Muslim group?? Decidedly not bright.