The Diane Rehm Show , May 11, 2012
MS. DIANE REHM
Thanks for joining us. I'm Diane Rehm. Twin
suicide bombings in Syria kill at least 55 and injure hundreds. Voters in
France and Greece oust incumbent leaders and Russia clamps down on protests of
Vladimir Putin's return to the presidency. Joining me to talk about the week's
top international stories on the Friday News Roundup, David Sanger of The New
York Times, Susan Glass of Foreign Policy magazine and Matt Frei of the UK's
Channel 4 News
REHM
Earlier this week, we learned that the U.S.
somehow foiled the plot to bring down an airliner by infiltrating al-Qaida. How
did we do it?
FREI
The information has been leaked about this,
much to the dismay of several intelligence agencies here and in London. very effective collaboration between Saudi
intelligence, British intelligence and American intelligence to have this
plant.
It's also got to be concerning to the
Iranians, who realize that, the only people in the world who are more
intent that they don't get a nuclear weapon than Israel, are the
Saudis. And so this degree of
cooperation is something that will really get a lot of attention throughout the
Middle East
REHM
"What public interest was served by
releasing and publishing details of the successful intervention in the latest
bomb plot? Are we safer knowing that not only was a double agent involved,
but that he was managed by British intelligence?”
SANGE
in this particular case I think the
administration, my sense of it is, wanted to get this out. I can't read their motives. I can guess their
motives.
First of all, by the time this whole thing
came together .., it's pretty clear that Al-Qaida in the peninsula had figured
out what happened and they knew this guy disappeared. They had given him a
bomb. They sent him off. He didn't set the bomb off. They knew he was a double
agent at that point.
when you release something like this is the
psychological effect of the release greater on the target, which in this case
is the Al-Qaida group, because it begins to make them look at every other
member of their group and wonder who they're working for.
News
report: Would-be bomber was a double-agent
May
08, 2012
A
man who volunteered as a suicide bomber for a terrorist group intent on blowing
up a U.S.-bound plane was working instead as an intelligence agent for Saudi
Arabia,
The New York Times reported Tuesday, citing American and foreign officials.
The
double agent departed Yemen, traveled through the United Arab Emirates and gave
the bomb and information about al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula to the CIA,
Saudi intelligence and other foreign intelligence agencies, the newspaper said.
The
bomb, which was intended to pass undetected through airport security, was given
to the FBI, which was poring over it, the newspaper said
The
Times, citing officials, said the agent works for Saudi intelligence, which has
"cooperated closely" with the CIA for years. The officials, who would
not identify the man, said he is safe in Saudi Arabia, the newspaper reported.
Citing
a senior American official, the newspaper described the device as sewn into
"custom fit" underwear and able to be detonated in two ways. That
redundancy may have been an attempt to ensure that an attempt to blow up a jet
over Detroit in 2009, which failed because the bomb did not detonate, would not
be repeated.
The
primary charge in the latest device was high-grade military explosive that the
Times, quoting an official, said "undoubtedly would have brought down an
aircraft."
A
senior administration official told CNN that officials were debating whether to
release photographs of the device to law enforcement agencies.
On
one side of the argument, Transportation Safety Administration screeners and
law enforcement might more easily identify any similar devices made as part of
the same plot, the official said.
But
officials were reluctant to do so out of concern that the photographs would be
leaked to the news media and that the would-be bombers would learn what law
enforcement knows -- and might not know -- about the bomb's workings.
The
news of the double agent might explain comments made earlier Tuesday by John
Brennan, the chief White House counterterrorism adviser, who told ABC's
"Good Morning America" that U.S. officials were confident they were
in control of the situation leading up to the seizure of the improvised
explosive device, or IED.
Brennan
said that officials believe redundant security systems would have prevented any
attempt at bombing a flight from succeeding, but analysts were studying the
device to see whether security procedures should be adjusted.
"We're
trying to make sure that we take the measures that we need to prevent any other
type of IED, similarly constructed, from getting through security
procedures," Brennan said.
The
device investigators were studying is more sophisticated than were previous
ones and represents a disconcerting advance in al Qaeda bomb-making techniques,
officials said Tuesday.
"It
is a device similar to the underwear bomber of 2009, but an evolution to
that," Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said.
The
device never posed an immediate danger to air travel or the United States, she
said.
But
lawmakers said more such devices may exist, and House Intelligence Committee
Chairman Mike Rogers, R-Michigan, said the release of information about the
device could complicate an effort to seal the long-term threat.
"If
something bad happens because it was leaked too early, that's a catastrophe and
it's also a crime," Rogers told CNN.
News
about the device became public on Monday, about two weeks after U.S.
intelligence agents thwarted the plot after receiving a tip from Saudi Arabia,
a source familiar with the operation said.
Information
from the double agent proved key to a CIA drone strike Sunday in Yemen that
killed Fahd al Quso, 37, a senior operative of al Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula. Al-Quso was a suspect in the bombing in 2000 of the USS Cole in
Yemen.
The
vehicle he was in was hit by a drone strike in the Rafdh district in Shabwa
province, U.S. officials said.
Al
Qaeda's bomb-makers evolve, adapt
"I
was told by the White House they are connected; they're part of the same
operation," the source familiar with the operation said.
Al
Quso hinted at the existence of another bomb effort in February, when he was
asked whether the group had stopped exporting terrorism operations.
"The
war didn't end between us and our enemies," he replied. "Wait for
what is coming."
Western
officials describe AQAP as al Qaeda's most dangerous affiliate.
U.S.
Rep. Peter King of New York, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, expressed dismay
that the news was public.
"It's
really, to me, unfortunate that this has gotten out, because this
could really interfere with operations overseas," he said. "My
understanding is a major investigation is going to be launched because of
this."
Officials
have provided few specifics about the device. But Rogers said it underscores al
Qaeda's continuing efforts to carry out terrorist attacks.
"This
is a device that was more sophisticated, had some fail-safes built into it, and
it was something that concerns us because it tells us that they brought some
very capable people together to build something," he said.
A
Department of Homeland Security spokesman said authorities have "no
specific, credible information regarding an active terrorist plot against the
U.S. at this time."
Though
the threat was foiled around the time of the anniversary of the raid that
killed Osama bin Laden, a second U.S. counterterrorism official said the two
were not related.
President
Barack Obama was told last month about the plot, which "underscores the
necessity of remaining vigilant against terrorism here and abroad," the
White House said.
AQAP
has been responsible for two of the most audacious attempts to target the
United States in recent years: the attempted Christmas 2009 bombing and a 2010
attempt to load bombs hidden inside printer cartridges onto cargo planes headed
for Chicago. In both cases, U.S. authorities believe the bombs were built by
Ibrahim al-Asiri. Both devices contained PETN, a white, powdery explosive that
conventional "single-beam" X-ray machines are rarely able to detect.
In
2009, al-Asiri outfitted his brother, Abdullah al-Asiri, with a PETN-based
underwear bomb in an attempt to kill Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, a top Saudi
security official. The device killed his brother instantly but failed to kill
its target.
"We
are not ready to say the threat stream is over," a U.S. official told CNN.
"We believe external plotting continues."
The
investigation involves a number of countries and is "ongoing," King,
R-New York, said on CNN's "Starting Point."
He
said the leadership of al Qaeda was intimately involved in the plot.
Rogers
told CNN International's Christiane Amanpour, "I can confirm to you that,
in fact, it was an al Qaeda core group that was responsible for the development
and procurement and financing and putting together this particular bomb."
As
the hunt continues for the mastermind bomber, a U.S. official said the
assumption continues to be that al-Asiri is training others in bombmaking.
"They
understand that Asiri is going to be killed or captured one day," Mustafa
Alani, the director of security and defense studies at the Gulf Research
Center, told CNN. Alani had been briefed on AQAP by Saudi counterterrorism
officials. "We're talking about a new generation of very skillful bomb
builders and very committed people."
U.S.
counterterrorism agencies have reached a similar conclusion.
"I
think the fear is not just that he'll share his ability within his own circle,
but rather more widely, and send it to other al Qaeda-sympathetic individuals
or organizations," a senior U.S. counterterrorism official told CNN in
March.
Yemen's
government has been fighting al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula for years
with mixed results.
Yemen
president vows offensive against al Qaeda
