The Secret Sentry

by Matthew M. Aid

  87. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), pp. 12, 143–44; 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 181, 353.

  88. 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 215–18.

  89. Justice Department, Office of the Inspector General, Special Report: A Review of the FBI’s Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks, chap. 5, part B, “Hazmi and Mihdhar in San Diego,” sec. 3, Hazmi and Mihdhar’s Communications, November 2004 (released Jan. 2006); U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), pp. 16–17, 157.

  90. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), pp. 135, 157; 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commission Report, p. 222.

  91. Bill Gertz, “NSA’s Warning Arrived Too Late to Save the Cole,” Washington Times, October 25, 2000.

  12: Snatching Defeat from the Jaws of Victory

  1. Dr. David A. Hatch, Presidential Transition 2001: NSA Briefs a New Administration (Fort Meade, MD: Center for Cryptologic History, 2004), NSA FOIA. The author is grateful to Dr. Jeffrey T. Richelson for making a copy of this report available.

  2. NSA analysts quote from Joint Inquiry Staff, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Eleanor Hill, Staff Director, Joint Inquiry Staff Statement: Hearing on the Intelligence Community’s Response to Past Terrorist Attacks Against the United States from February 1993 to September 2001, October 8, 2002. Hayden comment from “Statement for the Record by Lt. General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, Director NSA/CSS Before the Joint Inquiry of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” October 17, 2002.

  3. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), p. 8; James Risen and Stephen Engelberg, “Failure to Heed Signs of Change in Terror Goals,” New York Times, October 14, 2001.

  4. Joint Inquiry Staff, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Eleanor Hill, Staff Director, Joint Inquiry Staff, Joint Inquiry Staff Statement, part 1, September 18, 2002, p. 20; “Statement for the Record by Lt. General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, Director NSA/CSS Before the Joint Inquiry of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” October 17, 2002, p. 4; U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), pp. 7, 203. See also Bob Woodward, State of Denial: Bush at War, part 3 (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2006), p. 50; James Risen, “In Hindsight, CIA Sees Flaws That Hindered Efforts on Terrorism,” New York Times, October 7, 2001.

  5. Mary Dejevsky, “US Forces on High Alert After Threat of Attack,” Independent, June 23, 2001; Walter Pincus, “CIA Touts Successes in Fighting Terrorism,” Washington Post, November 1, 2002.

  6. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), p. 7; National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States, The 9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks upon the United States (New York: W. W. Norton, 2004), p. 257; Woodward, State of Denial, p. 50.

  7. Woodward, State of Denial, pp. 50–51; confidential interviews.

  8. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), p. 36.

  9. Joint Inquiry Staff, House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and Senate Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Eleanor Hill, Staff Director, Joint Inquiry Staff Statement: Hearing on the Intelligence Community’s Response to Past Terrorist Attacks Against the United States from February 1993 to September 2001, October 8, 2002; 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 87–88.

  10. Confidential interview with senior NSA official, 2003.

  11. Woodward, State of Denial, p. 51; George Tenet, At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA (New York: HarperCollins Publishers, 2007), p. 154; Pincus, “CIA Touts Successes.”

  12. Tenet, At the Center, p. 154.

  13. “The Proof They Did Not Reveal,” Sunday Times, October 7, 2001; “Early Warnings: Pre-Sept. 11 Cautions Went Unheeded,” ABCNews, February 18, 2002.

  14. Raymond Bonner and John Tagliabue, “Eavesdropping, U.S. Allies See New Terror Attack,” New York Times, October 21, 2001; Neil A. Lewis and David Johnston, “Jubilant Calls on Sept. 11 Led to FBI Arrests,” New York Times, October 28, 2001.

  15. U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives, Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), p. 32.

  16. The existence of these intercepts was first disclosed in Rowan Scarborough, “Intercepts Foretold of ‘Big Attack,’ ” Washington Times, September 22, 2001. Details of these messages are contained in James Risen and David Johnston, “Agency Is Under Scrutiny for Overlooked Messages,” New York Times, June 20, 2002; Walter Pincus and Dana Priest, “NSA Intercepts on Eve of 9/11 Sent a Warning,” Washington Post, June 20, 2002; Scott Shane and Ariel Sabar, “Coded Warnings Became Clear Only in Light of Sept. 11 Attacks,” Baltimore Sun, June 20, 2002.

  17. For 22,000 NSA employees, see Advanced Infrastructure Management Technologies (AIMTech) report, Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan: Fort George G. Meade, Mary land, January 2002, p. 29. The report reveals that 44 percent of the 50,075 persons working at Fort Meade (i.e., 22,000 personnel) worked for NSA. The tightened security restrictions at Fort Meade were publicly announced on August 15, 2001, for which see Steve Vogel, “Region’s Army Posts to Restrict Public Access,” Washington Post, August 15, 2001.

  18. The size of the NSA Campus and number of buildings from “Keeping NSA Clean,” NSA Newsletter, June 1994, p. 8; “Drawing Down for the Future: NS
A Consolidates Its Resources,” NSA Newsletter, August 1994, pp. 8–9; “Facilities Maintenance: A Look at Building Management,” NSA Newsletter, February 1995, p. 9, all NSA FOIA. The size of NSA’s security force from “Protective Services Celebrates 10th Anniversary,” NSA Newsletter, October 1996, p. 8, NSA FOIA. “Largest parking lot in the world” from Gary W. O’Shaughnessy, “The Structure and Missions of Air Force Intelligence Command,” p. 50, Seminar on Intelligence, Command and Control, Center for Information Policy Research, Harvard University, August 1994.

  19. 1st Lt. Breton Lewellen, “Medina Regional SIGINT Operations Center Strengthens Joint Missions,” Spokesman, February 1999, p. 8, AIA FOIA.

  20. Confidential interviews.

  21. Tom Pelton, “Terrorism Strikes America: Baltimore Travelers Get Left in the Lurch,” Baltimore Sun, September 12, 2001; Col. Michael J. Stewart, “Community Urged to Be Patient, Strengthen Resolve,” Soundoff, September 20, 2001.

  22. General Michael V. Hayden, Deputy Director of National Intelligence, address to the National Press Club, “What American Intelligence and Especially the NSA Have Been Doing to Defend the Nation,” January 23, 2006; General Michael V. Hayden, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, address at the Duquesne University Commencement Ceremony, May 4, 2007, Pittsburgh, PA.

  23. The casualties included more than 2,600 dead in the World Trade Center, 125 in the Pentagon, and the 246 passengers and crew members of the four commercial aircraft.

  24. Stephanie Desmon, “Frightened Parents, Confusion Prompt Schools to Close Early,” Baltimore Sun, September 12, 2001; confidential interviews with NSA staff members.

  25. Confidential interview. For thirty analysts and reporters at NSOC, see Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2004), p. 215.

  26. Confidential interview.

  27. A biography for Gaches, who since February 2006 has held the position of assistant administrator for intelligence and analysis at the Transportation Security Administration, can be found at http://www.tsa.gov/who_we_are/people/bios/bill_gaches_bio.shtm.

  28. “Statement for the Record by Lt. General Michael V. Hayden, USAF, Director NSA/CSS Before the Joint Inquiry of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence,” October 17, 2002, p. 2.

  29. Tyler Drumheller, On the Brink (New York: Carroll and Graf Publishers, 2006), pp. 36–37.

  30. David Martin, “Plans for Iraq Attack Began on 9/11,” CBS News, September 4, 2002, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/09/04/september11/main520830.shtml.

  31. 9/11 Commission, 9/11 Commission Report, pp. 331–32.

  32. Sharon Gaudin, “The Terrorist Network,” Network World, November 26, 2001; Paul Kaihla, “Weapons of the Secret War,” Business 2.0 Magazine, November 2001; “Taliban Outlaws Net in Afghanistan,” Reuters, July 17, 2001; a confidential interview.

  33. For general state of NSA’s capabilities against Afghanistan, confidential interviews. For lack of linguists at NSA who could speak the languages spoken in Afghanistan, see U.S. Senate, Report No. 107-351, and U.S. House of Representatives Report No. 107-792, report of the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence and U.S. House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and After the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001, 107th Congress, 2nd session, December 2002 (declassified and released in July 2003), p. 336.

  34. Confidential interview with former CIA official. See also Steve Coll, “Flawed Ally Was Hunt’s Best Hope,” Washington Post, February 23, 2004.

  35. Stephen P. Perkins, “Projecting Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance in Support of the Interim Brigade Combat Team,” in Williamson Murray, ed., Army Transformation: A View from the Army War College (Carlisle, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2001), p. 290; John F. Berry, “The 513th Military Intelligence Brigade in Support of Operation Enduring Freedom,” Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, April–June 2002, p. 4; Major Michael C. Kasales, U.S. Army, “The Reconnaissance Squadron and ISR Operations,” Military Review, May–June 2002, pp. 53–56.

  36. Colonel Brian L. Tarbet, Utah ARNG, and Lt. Colonel Ralph R. Steinke, USA, “Linguists in the Army: Paradise Lost or Paradise Regained?,” Military Intelligence Professional Bulletin, October– December 1999, p. 6. For the 50 percent shortfall of Arabic linguists, see U.S. General Accounting Office, GAO-02-375, Foreign Languages: Human Capital Approach Needed to Correct Staffing and Proficiency Shortfalls, January 2002, p. 7.

  37. Lt. Colonel Lisa C. Bennett, USA, Increasing Intelligence Support to the Long War (Carlisle Barracks, PA: U.S. Army War College, 2007), pp. 3–4.

  38. Harold E. Raugh, Jr., “The Origins of the Transformation of the Defense Language Program,” Applied Language Learning, vol. 16, no. 2 (2006): pp. 3–5; PowerPoint presentation, “98G Cryp-tologic Linguist Locations by Language,” 2002. This unclassified document, which formerly resided on the Web site of the U.S. Army’s Personnel Command, has since been removed.

  39. Confidential interview. For Fremont serving as a recruiting ground for Afghan language teachers for the U.S. Army, see Clifford F. Porter, Asymmetrical Warfare, Transformation, and Foreign Language Capability (Fort Leavenworth, KS: Combat Studies Institute Press, 2003), p. 11.

  40. Berry, “513th Military Intelligence Brigade,” p. 4. For NSA teams leaving from BWI airport for the Middle East, see Laura Sullivan, “National Security Agency Retreats into Secrecy Shell,” Baltimore Sun, November 3, 2001.

  41. Confidential interviews.

  42. Confidential interview.

  43. Benjamin S. Lambeth, Air Power Against Terror: America’s Conduct of Operation Enduring Freedom (Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corporation, 2005), p. xvi.

  44. “Air Raid Cuts Afghan Capital Telephone Network,” Reuters, October 14, 2001; Rahimullah Yusufzai, “Taliban Command Structure Crumbles,” News: Jang, December 3, 2001; confidential interview.

  45. Confidential interviews.

  46. For importance of the Fifty-fifth Brigade, see Ali A. Jalali, “Afghanistan: The Anatomy of an Ongoing Conflict,” Parameters, vol. 31, no. 1 (Spring 2001): p. 89; “Pentagon Sets Sights on Tal-iban’s Elite Brigade 55,” AFP, October 15, 2001; Rory McCarthy, Helen Carter, and Richard Norton-Taylor, “The Elite Force Who Are Ready to Die,” U.K. Guardian, October 27, 2001; Daniel Eisenberg, “Secrets of Brigade 055,” Time, October 29, 2001; Romesh Ratnesar, “Into the Fray,” Time, October 29, 2001.

  47. Confidential interview.

  48. Unclassified Documents from Marine Task Force 58’s Operations in Afghanistan: Forming: 27 October to 5 November 2001, February 2002, http://www.strategypage.com/articles/ tf58/forming.asp.

  49. “ ‘No More Retreat,’ Taleban Troops Told,” BBC, November 13, 2001, /world/south_asia/1654256.stm.; William Branigin, “Afghan Rebels Seize Control of Kabul,” Washington Post, November 14, 2001; Jonathan Steele, “Stand and Fight, Fleeing Taliban Told,” U.K. Guardian, November 14, 2001.

  50. Vernon Loeb and Bradley Graham, “Special Forces Block Traffic in Search for bin Laden,” Washington Post, November 15, 2001.

  51. Confidential interviews. See also “Omar ‘Disappears’ as Taliban Surrender Ends,” Reuters, December 7, 2001.

  52. For SIGINT teams searching for bin Laden, see confidential interviews with former military intelligence officers; Michael Smith, Killer Elite: The Inside Story of America’s Most Secret Special Operations Team (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2006), pp. 224–25.

  53. Open source discussion of the mission and functions of Grey Fox can be found in Peter Beaumont, “ ‘Grey Fox’ Closes in on Prize Scalp: Saddam,” U.K. Observer, June 22, 2003; Rowan Scarborough, “Agencies United to Find Bin Laden,” Washington Times, March 15, 2004. For mentions of the U.S. Army Security Coordination Detachment, see Defense Department, Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, Defense Manpower Requirements Report for Fiscal Year 2006, July 2005, p. 65; “USATST Recruiting Effort,” Fort Hua
chuca Scout, September 19, 2002, p. 6.

  54. Philip Smucker, “How bin Laden Got Away,” Christian Science Monitor, March 4, 2002.

  55. U.S. Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command History: 1987–2007 (MacDill Air Force Base, FL: USSOCOM History Office, 2007), p. 94.

  56. Charles H. Briscoe, Richard L. Kiper, James A. Schroeder, and Kalev I. Sepp, U.S. Army Special Operations in Afghanistan (Boulder, CO: Paladin Press, 2006), p. 213; U.S. Special Operations Command, Special Operations Command History, p. 93.

  57. Briscoe, Kiper, Schroeder, and Sepp, Army Special Operations, pp. 214–15. The mission of the Green Beret SIGINT team from confidential interview.

  58. Michael R. Gordon and Eric Schmitt, “U.S. Force May Search Tora Bora for bin Laden,” New York Times, December 19, 2001.

  59. Confidential interviews. See also Rory McCarthy, “Radio Picks Up Voice of bin Laden,” U.K. Observer, December 16, 2001.

  60. Barton Gellman and Thomas E. Ricks, “U.S. Concludes Bin Laden Escaped at Tora Bora Fight,” Washington Post, April 17, 2002.

  61. U.S. Special Operations Command, Special Operations Command History, p. 98. See also Peter Bergen, “War of Error: How Osama bin Laden Beat George W. Bush,” New Republic, October 22, 2007.

  62. Patrick Healy and Farah Stockman, “Taliban Flee Kandahar,” Boston Globe, December 8, 2001.

  63. Armando J. Ramirez, From Bosnia to Baghdad: The Evolution of US Army Special Forces from 1995–2004 (Monterey, CA: Naval Postgraduate School, 2004), p. 65.

  64. Tony Karon, “Why the Bad Guys Get Away in Afghanistan,” Time, January 8, 2002.

  65. Confidential interviews. See also James Risen and Dexter Filkins, “Qaeda Fighters Said to Return to Afghanistan,” New York Times, September 10, 2002; Evan Thomas, “The Ongoing Hunt for Osama bin Laden,” Newsweek, September 3, 2007.

  66. Steve Vogel, “Rumsfeld Doubts Bin Laden Escaped,” Washington Post, January 17, 2002.