Iranian Nuclear Defector Mess: Kidnapped Or Happy To Be In US?

By Matthew Cole and Brian Ross  

In a battle of the videos, an Iranian nuclear scientist claims on a segment posted on-line by Iranian television that he was drugged and kidnapped by the CIA -- but in a second video, posted on YouTube, says he is safe and happy to be in the United States.

Shahram Amiri, 32, has been at the center of a mystery since his disappearance on a pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia last year. ABC News reported exclusively on March 30 that he had defected to the US and was providing information about Iran's secret nuclear program, citing current and former CIA officials.

In the video posted on-line by Iranian television, with English subtitles, Amiri claimed he had been drugged and kidnapped and was living in Tucson, Arizona.

"Since I was abducted and brought to the US, I was heavily tortured and pressured by US intelligence," Amiri says in Farsi.

"When I became conscious, I found myself in a plane on the way to the US," he says.

He claims that he was forced to lie and pretend that he had top secret information on the Iranian nuclear program so the U.S. could put "pollitical pressure" on Iran, and then asks international human rights organizations to help free him from captivity in the U.S.

Amiri, unshaven and wearing headphones, appears to be talking through a computer phone hook-up, which he says on the tape was made on April 5, one week after ABC News first reported his alleged defection to the US.

At almost the same time the first video was posted on line by Iranian television, a second video was posted on YouTube late Monday night in which Amiri appears in a professionally lit setting and says he is safe and happy to be in the United States. It is not clear who produced or posted the second video.

"I am free here and I assure everyone I am safe," he says.

"My purpose in today's conversation is to put an end to all the rumors that have been leveled at me over the past year. I am Iranian and I have not taken any steps against my homeland," he says, and then asserts that his purpose in being in the US is to get a doctorate in radiation health "in order to upgrade the level of healthcare in my country and my world."

Amiri adds that he would like to share the results of his education with his people "provided that I have a chance to go back home safely."

He talks about missing his son and wife, denies that he abandoned them, and says, "I have confidence that the government of Iran will protect and watch over my family."

US officials consider Amiri's defection an "intelligence coup" in its continuing efforts to undermine Iran's nuclear program.

CIA officials declined to publicly comment on any aspect of the case but a senior US intelligence official said "it's ridiculous to think the United States would have to compel anyone to defect and then force them to stay in this country."

Intelligence officials asked if the scientist was being held against his will, how did he have access to the internet to call Iran?

It is not uncommon for defectors to go through "psychological issues," according to an intelligence official familiar with the case.

The Iranian government says the initial video of Amiri is evidence that the United States is holding the scientist against his will.

After his disappearance, the Iranian foreign minister, Manoucher Mottaki, and Amiri's family blamed the US for kidnapping the scientist. His family had protested outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran, claiming the Saudis had played a role in Amiri's "abduction."

Death of Al Qaeda Number Three Is End of An Era

By Matthew Cole and Nick Schifrin

The death of Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, is one of the most significant blows to al Qaeda under the Obama administration, and brings to an end an era of jihad.

The death of Abu al Yazid, a key figure in the 9-11 attacks who was considered al Qaeda's number three leader, removes one of the organization's best-trained veterans from the field. It deprives Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri, of one of their few remaining close confidants, and forces al Qaeda to turn to younger, less experienced leaders.

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, also known as Sheikh Sa'id, was killed late on May 21 in a CIA drone attack in the Datta Khel region of North Waziristan, according to residents of the village where he died.

Al Qaeda released a statement yesterday that eulogized al Yazid, calling him a martyr and praising his three-decade career fighting in multiple jihads. The statement said that Yazid's wife, three daughters and a granddaughter died with him; residents say the four missiles that hit the compound where he was staying also killed three Arabs and nine locals, but make no mention of Yazid's relations.

Since 9/11, American military and counterterrorism forces have killed or captured hundreds of al Qaeda operatives, including the man often cited as the original "number three," Khalid Sheikh Muhammed. A senior U.S. official told ABC News that being al Qaeda's number three is "the most dangerous job in the world."

But of the multiple "number three's" who the U.S. has killed, Yazid was the most important, not just because of personal relationships with Zawahiri and bin Laden going back decades. According to a U.S. official, it's also because Yazid has been one of the most "dangerous" members of al Qaeda. "He was a very unpleasant guy," said the official. "He's had a hand or a role in every major thing that the group has done to us or our allies in the last 9 years."

Since 2007, Yazid has been al Qaeda's commander in Afghanistan, brought into that position after al Qaeda's relationship with Mullah Muhammad Omar, the leader of the Afghan Taliban, had cooled. An Egyptian, Yazid was an early member of Zawahiri's Egyptian Islamic Jihad. When Zawahiri's group merged with bin Laden's group to make the present day al Qaeda, Yazid became a founding member of al Qaeda.

He joined bin Laden in Afghanistan during the 1980s, having fled Egypt after being released from prison in Cairo, where he served three years for his purported connection to the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

Yazid, who served for many years as al Qaeda's accountant and chief financial officer, was a leading strategist of the organization and a trusted deputy of both Zawahiri and bin Laden, one of the few in al Qaeda believed to have direct access to the two elusive leaders of the organization. Yazid was cited in the 9/11 Commission's report as the person who controlled the funds used for the devastating attacks.

While the 9/11 commission described al-Yazid as a "chief financial officer," in recent years he had ascended into a higher position, with his hand in virtually everything al Qaeda did. "He has an intimate understanding not only of the books," said a U.S. official, "but also how the money is being spent, which departments are operating correctly and incorrectly, how am I amortizing my costs, etc."

Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Yazid fled Afghanistan and hid, finally re-emerging in 2007 when al Qaeda announced his position leading the group in Afghanistan.

Since then, he has been a consistent face of al Qaeda, appearing in dozens of videos and audio-tapes, excoriating American troops and calling for more attacks against the West.

At the time of his return to the battlefield, analysts and experts noted that Yazid was chosen because of his strong relationship with (cut) Mullah Omar and his excellent rapport with the Afghan Pashtun fighters under Omar.

His promotion was seen as an effort by bin Laden to strengthen ties with the Taliban and refocus efforts on the war inside Afghanistan.

But as he rose in the ranks, the United States began to kill mid-level al Qaeda leaders, forcing Yazid to become less strategic and more tactical, according to a U.S. official. "He has to be in touch with people, has to take the meetings, he has to send out the messages. And that exposed him," the official said.

As al Qaeda's leaders have been targeted, the group has morphed, in part by helping and embedding with local terror groups. A U.S. official compared how al Qaeda currently operates in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region to a venture capital firm. Al Qaeda has found groups to "invest" in, helping them facilitate, finance, train, and organize. Yazid was at the center of that effort, a "conduit" between al Qaeda and groups such as the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Taiba, as well as the Taliban, according to the official. The official compared Yazid to the venture capital firm's "angel investor" who has made some "very wise investments" in certain groups in recent years.

U.S. authorities have announced Yazid's death on more than one occasion before, only to have Yazid appear in a video and boast that he was still alive.

Although al Qaeda will have already replaced Yazid on the organizational chart, his experience and veteran leadership will be difficult to replace.

Yazid's death does not mark the end of al Qaeda nor suggest U.S. forces are any closer to finding bin Laden and Al Zawahiri.

But it does mark the end of the line of al Qaeda operatives who forged their skills in the Afghan jihad against Russia in the 1980's.

And it suggests that al Qaeda is currently made up and led on a daily basis by a much younger group of terrorists, ones who gained their experience after 9/11. The newer leaders, analysts say, could prove more radical, less mature, and perhaps degrade al Qaeda's global aspirations.

Additional reporting by Martha Raddatz.

American Jihadi Rapping for Recruits

By MATTHEW COLE

Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, the American jihadist based in Somalia, has developed a new and unusual approach to recruiting Western Muslim recruits: hip-hop.

Over the past year Amriki, whose real name is Omar Hammami, and who was born to a Syrian father and Southern Baptist mother in Alabama 26 years ago , has released a series of five rap songs over the internet extolling the virtues of jihad and condemning America's presence in Muslim countries.

Hammami has been the star of jihadi videos praising Islamic militancy in Somalia and is believed to be a member of al Shahab, a Somali Islamic militant group aligned with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda that is currently fighting the fragile civilian government of Somalia.

While snippets of the five songs appeared in the background of a video released last year, the songs are now all available in their entirety on the internet. They represent a crude attempt to reach young, Western Muslims who may prefer to listen to music rather than a religious preacher.

His most recent release, "First Stop Addis," however, named after the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, appears to be a few years old. The song, which emerged earlier this month and speaks of a love for "slaughter[ing] Crusaders," references ex-president George W. Bush and former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "We're sending missiles through the streets," he warns in the nearly four minute track. "Destroys tanks, 'copters and Navy fleets. /Iraq and Afghanistan cause you to bleed/Touching Somalia/A regrettable deed."

In a better known title that emerged last year, "Blow by Blow," Hammami softly invites American military strikes in Afghanistan and Somalia, "Bomb by bomb/Blast by blast/Only going to bring back the glorious past." The song lasts about two minutes and 30 seconds.

The track is aimed at an English-speaking audience with a history lesson for those sympathetic to Islamic holy warriors. In one verse, Hammami explains, "It all started out in Afghanistan/When we wiped the oppressors off the land//The Union crumbled, rumbled and tumbled/Humbled, left them mumbled/Made a power withdraw and cower."

Both tracks consist only of Hammami rapping with no musical instrumentation. According to the strict interpretation of Islam current in al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, music is forbidden. Hammami appears to sidestep the prohibition by limiting himself to singing.

Omar Hammami moved to Toronto from Alabama in 2004 and married a Somali-Canadian woman. He moved to Egypt in 2005 and apparently to Somalia the following year. He gave an interview to al Jazeera in 2007 as Abu Mansoor al-Amriki, which seems to be his first public appearance under that nom de guerre.

In April, a video called "Festival for the Children of the Martyrs" surfaced, showing Hammami among adults and children. Hammami can be seen giving toy guns to the children.

Ex-CIA Star Accused of Rape Tasered Twice During Arrest, Had Gun, Crack Pipe

By MATTHEW COLE and ANGELA HILL

Andrew Warren, the former CIA station chief accused of drugging, raping and taping a Muslim woman while serving overseas, was hit twice with a taser when he was arrested earlier this week, according to two U.S. officials. At a hearing in a Virginia federal court Tuesday, Warren was confined to a wheelchair and bruising was visible on his face.

Warren was arrested Monday after a bench warrant was issued for missing a pre-trial hearing for his coming trial for sexual misconduct. Local police, U.S. Marshals and officers from the Diplomatic Security Service found Warren at a Norfolk, Virginia Ramada Limited hotel late Monday.

When Warren missed his court date earlier this month, authorities had reached out to friends and family members for help in finding him, and said they believed he was abusing crack cocaine and might be in danger. As first reported by the Washington Post, the 42-year-old Norfolk native had a gun in his waistband when officers attempted to arrest him Monday, and officers used a taser to subdue him.

According to the two federal law enforcement officials, officers fired an electrical charge at Warren because they believed he was under the influence of drugs and was reaching for his "mid-torso," where the gun was located. He was tasered twice, said the officials. They said a crack pipe and a handgun were recovered from Warren's room.

Local ABC affiliate WVEC reported earlier this week that neighbors of Warren noticed odd behavior in the weeks prior to the hotel room arrest. The acquaintances said that Warren displayed his genitals outside his pants.

Warren is now in federal custody and was transferred to Washington on Thursday. The former CIA chief of station in Algeria faces one federal count of sexual abuse.

Warren's fall from grace has been dramatic. According to two former CIA officials, Warren was a rising star at the CIA. He was a fluent Arabic speaker who had converted to Islam, making him an ideal officer in the Middle East for the intelligence agency.

Before being posted to Algeria, Warren had served in Egypt, Afghanistan, and a stint in that CIA domestic station in New York. It was in New York, a few years after 9/11, that supervisors spotted him as a potential star, ready to be deployed around the world as a spy. Within a very short time - four years - Warren had been posted as station chief in Algeria.

Warren worked for the agency in the Middle East until October 2008, until he was recalled from the region and then fired after two women came forward and accused him of rape, accusations which were first reported by ABC News' Brian Ross in January 2009. He was charged with one federal count of sexual abuse in June.

Bureau of Diplomatic Security

According to an affidavit filed by the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, two women in separate incidents alleged that Warren gave them drinks that caused them to pass out and then sexually assaulted them at his Algerian apartment while they were in a helpless unconscious or semi-conscious state. In the first case, the alleged victim claims that Warren prepared a mixed drink of cola and whiskey. The woman stated that she felt a "violent onset of nausea," and Warren said she should spend the night at his home.

When she woke up the next morning, according to the affidavit, "she was lying on a bed, completely nude, with no memory of how she had been undressed." She said she realized "she recently had engaged in sexual intercourse, though she had no memory of having intercourse."

The second victim's account also states that Warren allegedly drugged her before raping her. "While drinking the second apple martini, [Victim 2] suddenly felt faint and felt the immediate needed to vomit. V2 described the sudden and violent onset of the illness as nothing like the physiological effects of alcohol related sickness that she had experienced when she consumed alcohol on previous occasions. V2 stated she immediately began to pass in and out of consciousness. V2's recollections of the ensuing events are characterized as passing in and out of consciousness, due to the debilitating effects of the illness," the affidavit states.

"[Victim 2's] next recollection was being located in Warren's upstairs bathroom, on the floor. V2 could see and hear, but she could not move. Warren was in the bathroom, and he was attempting to remove V2's pants. Although V2 could not physically resist Warren, she was able to speak, and she asked him to leave the bathroom. Warren continued to undress V2, and told her she would feel better after a bath. V2 stated that she had difficulty comprehending what was happening to her. Eventually Warren was able to remove V2's blue jeans, boots, and her blazer," the statement said.

Allegedly, the woman remembers being in Warren's bed and asking him to stop, but according to the affidavit, "Warren made a statement to the effect of 'nobody stays in my expensive sheets with clothes on.'" She told the Diplomatic Security agents that, "as she slipped in and out of consciousness she had conscious images of Warren penetrating her vagina repeatedly with his penis."

Diplomatic Security Special Agent Scott Baker noted in the affidavit, "The victims' symptoms were consistent with drugs used to facilitate sexual assaults."

U.S. officials also said that a search of Warren's residence uncovered many tapes of Warren engaged in sex with women, including at least one tape that shows a woman in a semi-conscious state.

Asked for a comment on the case in 2009, CIA spokesman George Little said in a statement, "We will continue to cooperate with law enforcement in this matter, which involves a former agency employee who was fired earlier this year."

Warren pleaded not guilty to the charge of sexual assault in June 2009. He was released on his recognizance after his arraignment and had been living in the Norfolk area ever since.

Morton Taubman, an attorney for Warren, said in 2009 his client is, "Not guilty...He is innocent."

According to the Justice Department, if convicted, Warren could face life in prison.

Jason Ryan contributed reporting to this story.

Underwear Bomber Video

Good Morning America report from 04.27.2010

Child Drug Addiction in Afghanistan

Investigation into drug addiction of children in Afghanistan. Aired on World News Tonight on 04.24.2010

CIA Officers May Have 'Lied' About Permission To Destroy Torture Tapes

By MATTHEW COLE

Newly released internal CIA documents seem to show then-Director Porter Goss laughing when told he'll take the heat for the destruction of detainee interrogation videotapes, including tapes showing the waterboarding of top al Qaeda prisoner Abu Zubaydah.

But according to a former CIA official familiar with the meeting where the destruction of tapes was discussed, Goss was angry over not being informed until after the tapes had been destroyed. Goss had not approved the decision and was "beside himself" when he learned of the destruction, according to three former senior intelligence officials.

More than 100 pages of internal CIA documents released late Thursday show confusion in the upper ranks of the CIA about the destruction of scores of detainee interrogation videotapes in late 2005.

The documents and emails reveal the CIA at odds over who ordered the destruction of the videotapes and that several Agency and White House officials were "livid" over the tapes' destruction.

The videos were taken at a secret CIA prison in Thailand in 2002, and later stored at the CIA station in Bangkok for three years before they were ordered destroyed.

Jose Rodriguez, then the CIA's top clandestine service official, ordered the destruction of the videotapes, which showed the waterboarding and interrogations of Abu Zubaydah and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged al Qaeda mastermind of the 2000 attack on the U.S.S. Cole. Rodriguez believed that if the tapes were ever viewed out of context, "they would make us look terrible, it would be 'devastating' to us," according to one of the emails released.

The email, which describes a meeting on Nov. 10, 2005, the day after Rodriguez ordered the tapes destroyed, seems to show then director Goss agreeing with Rodriguez's decision.

Sent to the CIA's number three official shortly after the meeting, the email suggested that Goss had approved of the destruction and "laughed" and acknowledged that he "would take the heat" for the decision. "All in the room agreed," said the email, that release of the tapes would be a major problem.

But a former intelligence official familiar with the meeting said Goss had not approved of the destruction.

"Porter understood why Jose destroyed the tapes, but was against their destruction," the official told ABCNEWS.com. At the meeting, said the official, Goss told Rodriguez and other CIA officers that "destroying tapes of any kind is just a bad idea in Washington."

A second email sent less than two hours later by the same top Agency official who authored the first email appears to confirm that account of Goss's anger. After a series of top-level meetings about the destruction, the senior CIA official who authored the email wrote that he was "no longer feeling comfortable" and suggested that Rodriguez or one of his aides had "lied" or "misstated the facts" when asserting that he had approval to destroy the tapes.

In that same email, a CIA official describes the reaction of John Rizzo, then the agency's top lawyer, to the destruction of the tapes. "Rizzo is clearly upset," the email states. "Rizzo does not think this will just go away."The email says then-White House counsel Harriet Miers was also "livid" when informed of their destruction.

A current U.S. official familiar with the emails cautioned that the emails reflected one officer's interpretation of events. "You've got the possibility that some folks thought that procedures hadn't exactly been followed," said the official, "but I'm unaware of anyone who thought at the time that laws had been broken."

The documents were released as part of an ongoing Freedom of Information Act request by the American Civil Liberties Union.

The Justice Department is currently investigating whether any CIA officials broke the law by destroying the tapes.

Robert S. Bennett, attorney for Jose Rodriguez, told ABC News that "nothing in the documents suggests Jose broke the law."

"Jose was protecting his operatives and the national security of the country and deserves a medal and praise rather than an investigation," added Bennett. "Before he made the decision, he got assurances that it was legal and that there were no legal impediments to do it."

CIA spokesman George Little said a Department of Justice prosecutor had been looking into the destruction of the tapes for more than two years. "The agency has cooperated fully with that inquiry and will, of course, continue to do so," said Little.

Porter Goss could not be reached for comment.

Captured US Soldier: 'Bring Me Home!'

By MATTHEW COLE and JIM VOJTECH

Bowe Bergdahl pleaded for his freedom in a newly released video, telling the camera, "I want to go home." The video is the most recent proof that the 24-year-old American solder, taken captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan last summer, may be still alive.

Bergdahl, an Army private from Idaho, was captured by Afghan insurgents on June 30 after wandering off from his post near the Pakistan border. Three Afghan soldiers were captured with Bergdahl. All are said to be in captivity.

Shortly after Bergdahl was taken prisoner, his captors filmed him making a brief statement and drinking tea and released the tape on the internet. They released a second video in December.

In the new video, Bergdahl is bearded and dressed in military issue clothing. He holds up a newspaper, but the date of the paper's publication is not visible.

Bergdahl also performs push-ups to demonstrate his physical condition and says he is being treated well, despite being a prisoner.

But Bergdahl begins to lose his composure as he talks to the camera.

"Release me please, I'm begging you," he says.

"I love my family. I haven't shown it very well because I've been pretty lost in my life and I don't think I've given my family the love that they've given me."

"Let me go," pleads Bergdahl.

Col. Tim Marsano of the Idaho Nat'l Guard, the media contact for Bowe Bergdahl's family, said that the family "is copying with this new development."

"As you can imagine," said Col. Marsano, "the last nine-plus months have been extremely difficult for the Bergdahls and they do take comfort in the words and actions of their family, their friends, the community in the Wood River Valley and from all of the cards, letters and e-mails they have received from all over the world."

A spokesman for international forces in Afghanistan called the use of Pfc. Bergdahl for propaganda "a deplorable act," and said it only fueled efforts to find him. "The insurgents who hold Bowe are obviously using him as a means to ultimately cause pain to his family and friends," said Gregory Smith, director of communications for NATO's International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.

Bergdahl says on the tape that he is in Afghanistan, but U.S. and Afghan sources involved in the search for Bergdahl believe he has been held in Pakistan for most of his captivity.

Bergdahl is the only known serviceman captured since the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001. According to a person actively involved in the search, a top Afghan insurgent commander has taken credit for capturing the soldier and is holding him in the Pakistani tribal areas.

Bergdahl was taken by Mullah Sangeen's men from village near the U.S. military post in Paktika, where he was stationed, according to a senior Afghan Army official in the province. The captors "punched and hit the soldier after some resistance. But than they were able to take the soldier and left all of his things: weapon, body armor and radios." The Afghan official says Bergdahl and the three Afghan National Army soldiers were moved from the near-by village and quickly vanished.

Additional reporting by Nick Schifrin

Iran Nuclear Scientist Defects to U.S. In CIA 'Intelligence Coup'

By MATTHEW COLE

An award-winning Iranian nuclear scientist, who disappeared last year under mysterious circumstances, has defected to the CIA and been resettled in the United States, according to people briefed on the operation by intelligence officials.

The officials were said to have termed the defection of the scientist, Shahram Amiri, "an intelligence coup" in the continuing CIA operation to spy on and undermine Iran's nuclear program.

A spokesperson for the CIA declined to comment. In its declassified annual report to Congress, the CIA said, "Iran is keeping open the option to develop nuclear weapons though we do not know whether Tehran eventually will decide to produce nuclear weapons."

Amiri, a nuclear physicist in his early 30s, went missing last June three days after arriving in Saudi Arabia on a pilgrimage, according to the Iranian government. He worked at Tehran's Malek Ashtar University, which is closely connected to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, according to the Associated Press.

"The significance of the coup will depend on how much the scientist knew in the compartmentalized Iranian nuclear program," said former White House counter-terrorism official Richard Clarke, an ABC News consultant. "Just taking one scientist out of the program will not really disrupt it."

Iran's Foreign Minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, and other Iranian officials last year blamed the U.S. for "kidnapping" Amiri, but his whereabouts had remained a mystery until now.

According to the people briefed on the intelligence operation, Amiri's disappearance was part of a long-planned CIA operation to get him to defect. The CIA reportedly approached the scientist in Iran through an intermediary who made an offer of resettlement on behalf of the United States.

Since the late 1990s, the CIA has attempted to recruit Iranian scientists and officials through contacts made with relatives living in the United States, according to former U.S. intelligence officials. Case officers have been assigned to conduct hundreds of interviews with Iranian-Americans in the Los Angeles area in particular, the former officials said.

Amiri has been extensively debriefed since his defection by the CIA, according to the people briefed on the situation. They say Amiri helped to confirm U.S. intelligence assessments about the Iranian nuclear program.

In September, President Barack Obama announced the U.S., the United Kingdom and France had evidence that Iran "has been building a covert uranium enrichment facility near Qom for several years."

One Iranian web site reported that Amiri had worked at the Qom facility prior to his defection.

The New York Times reported Saturday that international inspectors and Western intelligence agencies suspect "Tehran is preparing to build more sites in defiance of United Nations demands."

Officials at Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

"The Americans are definitely letting the Iranians know that they are active in going after Iran's nuclear program," said Hooman Majd, an Iranian-American journalist.

A colleague of Amiri's at Tehran University called the disappearance "a disturbing sign" and blamed the Saudis for helping the U.S., according government-approved English-language web site Press TV.

"The Saudi regime has effectively discredited itself and will be seen by those who know what has gone on in the region as being confined to American demands and effectively abiding by American wishes," said Mohammad Marandi, a Tehran University professor, according to the Iranian web site.

How Suicide Bomber Lured CIA Agents to Their Deaths

By Matthew Cole

Humam al-Balawi, the Jordanian double agent who killed seven CIA employees in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan last December, lured the agents to their deaths by convincing them that as a doctor he might have access to al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, according to current and former intelligence officials. The death toll was especially high, say the officials, because the agents had gathered to give Balawi a present – a birthday cake.

"They have to take risks, but this was a complete breakdown of traditional tradecraft,"" said a former senior intelligence official familiar with the case. "You don't send that many officers to greet an unknown agent with a party and a birthday cake."

Details from the CIA's internal investigation of the Balawi bombing have begun to emerge as the CIA briefs members of Congress on what went wrong.

Balawi, a 32-year-old Kuwait-born Jordanian doctor, had been arrested by Jordanian officials in 2008 because he was a leading online jihadist who often wrote that he wanted to die as a martyr in Afghanistan fighting U.S. forces.

After Balawi had spent three months in prison, Jordanian intelligence officials believed they had flipped him and turned him into a double agent.

The Jordanians sent him to Pakistan in late 2008, and directed him to infiltrate al Qaeda and help the Americans track senior leaders.

To the CIA agents in Afghanistan engaged in the hunt for al-Qaeda leaders . Balawi seemed like a prize asset. The agents had previously had little luck in getting a fix on bin Laden and Zawahiri or other al-Qaeda bigs, but Balawi gave signs that he was gaining access to the elusive jihadists. Through his Jordanian handler, Balawi sent the CIA a video of himself with several senior al Qaeda leaders, as well as damage assessment from a recent CIA drone attack in Pakistan.

In December, Balawi sent a coded message to his handlers that suggested he was getting close to a key CIA target: al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. The message said that Zawahiri needed a change in the dosage of his medication, and that Balawi would be providing Zawahiri with the medicine through a courier. Officials briefed on the case said Balawi did not specify which illness Zawahiri was allegedly suffering, or what medication he was providing. The message made the agents think that Balawi might soon lead them to Osama bin Laden's chief lieutenant. The CIA agents wanted to meet their supposed mole in person for the first time.

Prior to the meeting, said the current and former intelligence officials, the Jordanian intelligence agent who was "running" Balawi told the CIA agents that the day of the proposed meeting was Balawi's birthday and that they should have a cake ready.

Balawi passed through three rings of security into a CIA's base near Khost, Afghanistan without being checked. A group of as many as a dozen Americans waited with the birthday cake for Balawi to exit his car. Survivors of the blast, including the CIA's second-highest ranking officer in Afghanistan, have told CIA officials that Balawi kept one hand in his pocket as he got out of the vehicle and began to recite a martyrdom prayer just before he triggered his suicide belt.

In addition to Balawi and seven CIA employees, Balawi's Jordanian intelligence handler and the Afghan driver who escorted Balawi to the CIA base were also killed. Six other CIA officers were severely wounded.

On discovering that Balawi was a double agent, the CIA retracted all intelligence reports that had been sourced to him. The agency now believes al Qaeda was actively feeding its agents false leads to create the illusion that Balawi was working against al Qaeda.

After the bombing, Jordanian intelligence agents tried to assert that Balawi had initially been working for them in good faith, but had switched sides during his year in Pakistan.

The CIA, however, quickly came to the conclusion that Balawi never intended to work for Jordan or the US, according to a senior counterterrorism official. An al-Qaeda video released in late February, two months after the Dec. 30 bombing, indicated that the Americans were probably right.

In the al-Qaeda video, which he recorded shortly before he detonated his bomb, Balawi described how the operation was put together.

Shortly after arriving in Pakistan, Balawi said in the Arabic-language video, he cut off contact with his Jordanian handler.

"I cut off ties for four months in order for Jordanian intelligence to stew in its own juices thinking that this guy had abandoned it, so that if he came back to them and told them that conditions were difficult, they would buy his story quickly," said Balawi. "And that's what happened." "Then [I] came back to them with some videos taken with leaders of the Mujahideen, so that they would think that I was leaking videos and betraying the Mujahideen," said Balawi. Balawi was referring to the video that was forwarded to the CIA, and that convinced agents Balawi was making progress in gaining access to al-Qaeda.

A spokesman for the CIA, Paul Gimigliano, told ABC News that the bombing and the mistakes that led to it continue to be under review.

"The agency continues to take a close, exacting look at the Khost attack," Gimigliano said. "This organization learns both from its successes and its setbacks. Here are two more enduring facts: The officers involved were very familiar with the dangers of operating against al-Qaeda and its allies. And what happened on December 30th in no way lessened the pace, scope, precision, or effectiveness of the CIA's counter-terrorism programs. We continue to hit the enemy hard, exactly as the American people expect."

Russians Give Message to U.S. Generals in Afghanistan: Bribe the Taliban

By Matthew Cole

Two Russian veterans of the Soviet Afghan war privately warned Gen. Stanley McChrystal last summer that the key to winning the war would be to pay off the Taliban. The official who wrote up a summary of two meetings between the Russians and U.S. military commanders also wrote that one of the "key take-aways" from the meetings was that extra troops were not the key to victory.

ABCNews.com has obtained a document summarizing the discussions between two veterans of the Soviet Union's failed Afghan war and McChrystal, the top U.S. general in Afghanistan, during an August 2009 video teleconference. The document also summarizes a private in-person meeting in Moscow between the two Russians and American Brig. Gen. Henry Nowak.

The video teleconference was intended to give McChrystal the Russian perspective on how they fought the war against the Afghan mujahideen, and provide advice on how the Americans could fight a better war against the Taliban. One of the two Russians was Vladimir Shabanov, a former Soviet official who was stationed in Afghanistan for ten years, while the other was Soviet war hero Lt. Gen Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev, a Muslim from the Ingush ethnic group.

Chief among the Russians' advice to McChrystal was "money talks." The Russians suggested that the Americans build mosques for Afghans and pay mullahs to preach a Western-friendly form of Islam. "Tribal leaders and regular folks can be bought off," the Russians told their American counterparts.

The written summary of the meetings also says that one of the five "Key Take-Aways" was that "[m]ore troops won't make a difference."

"The Russians entered with 3 X divisions," said the summary, "and as 'thing escalated' would up with 120,000 in country, plus at least equal that number in the neighboring Soviet Republics."

Another "take-away" was that the international coalition was better positioned to win because it has international support and the Soviets did not.

The video teleconference came as Gen. McChrystal, who became commander of the international forces in Afghanistan in June 2009, was assessing the war and how to move forward. Just days after the video teleconference meeting, McChrystal submitted a classified report to Defense Secretary Robert Gates giving three options for the American presence in Afghanistan, two of which involved adding American troops. President Obama announced on Dec. 1 during a speech at West Point that the U.S. would be adding 30,000 more troops.

Lt. Col. Edward Sholtis, a spokesman for McChrystal, told ABCNEWS.com that McChrystal was nearing his decision on the assessment by the time of the meeting, but added that McChrystal "is an open-minded and voracious student of history."

Sholtis also asserted that the summary of the two meetings was not written by McChrystal or his staff, but seemed to be written by a Defense Intelligence Agency official, Bruce Fitton. Sholtis said that the "opinions and conclusions in the document appear to be those of Mr. Fitton and (to the degree that they're accurately represented) those of Lt. Gen. Aushev and Mr. Shabanov."

Fitton could not be reached for comment, but a Pentagon spokesperson asserted that Fitton was not the author of the summary, despite the heading, which states, "Summarized by Bruce Fitton." The spokesperson did not reveal who authored the document, but also did not dispute its authenticity.

Feds: Blackwater Saves Taxpayers Money

By Matthew Cole

The government's use of private security contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan has been blasted as costly to the image of the U.S., and to the country's bottom line, because a company like Blackwater can charge as much as $1222 a day for a hired gun.

But a new government report says they may actually have saved U.S. taxpayers money. The State Department saves roughly $900 million a year using private firms to protect American diplomats in Iraq rather than relying on U.S. government employees, according to a recently published review by the non partisan Government Accounting Office.

The review found a number of reasons for the difference in price.

The state department did not have to pay overtime or provide benefits or vacation time to the contractors. They were not saddled with extensive travel and housing costs. And they did not have to outfit them with weapons and gear.

In several of the cases reviewed by the government accountants, the private contractors were employing foreign nationals, a key factor in holding down costs. Of the nearly 2000 contractors providing security at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, for instance, 89 percent are foreign nationals. Eight percent are US citizens. The report noted that the State Department would have been "reluctant to hire third country nationals to provide security in Iraq because the department does not want to be perceived as hiring mercenaries."

Still, the State Department saved $785 million in 2008 alone by hiring contractors to provide for embassy security, according to the report. If the State Department had hired and trained its own guards, the cost would have exceeded $858 million. Instead, private security cost roughly $78 million.

The report analyzed five different contracts the government has put out in Iraq to protect State Department employees and facilities. Of the five, four showed savings with contractors. The only outlier dealt with bodyguards for State Department employees in Baghdad. Hiring contractors for that cost $140 million more than had they used their own people.

Prior government reports have indicated that it is this type of high intensity work – the work that companies such as Blackwater provide – that comes with the heaviest cost burden. By one 2008 estimate, those guards cost as much as $1,222 per day.

However, the report notes, " the State Department does not currently have a sufficient number of trained personnel to provide security in Iraq, the department would need to recruit, hire, and train additional employees at an additional cost of $162 million."

The State Department also said they would have to hire double the 3,165 people as are currently employed for the Iraq security contracts because State Department employees are only required to serve one year rotations in warzones before returning to the U.S.

There were limitations to the study, the report acknowledges. Costs for awarding security contracts and oversight of contractors could not be determined by the State Department, for example.

Despite the apparent savings, several deadly incidents in Iraq and Afghanistan involving Xe Services, the company formerly known as Blackwater, have drawn protests in and out of government about whether or not private security contractors are an incendiary element of the US presence in those two warzones.

The list of contractor incidents has become extensive since the deadly Nisour Square shooting incident in 2007, when Blackwater personal security guards allegedly killed 17 Iraqi civilians. Last year, Armor Group lost its contract to provide embassy security in Kabul, Afghanistan, after a series of lewd photos of their employees surfaced. And two Blackwater security trainers were indicted for allegedly killing two Afghan civilians after spending the evening drinking.

Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), who has sponsored a bill to outlaw government contracts to private security companies, defended her bill against the report, told ABC News that money was not the biggest factor in assessing the value of contractors in war zones.

"You can outsource the work, but you also outsource the oversight," Schakowsky said. "We have been willing to hire less trained foreign nationals to do the work then we can get the job done by sweeping problems under the rug."

At a recent Senate hearing, the contradictions were apparent when Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), who was in the midst of lambasting both DoD officials and contractors from Raytheon and Blackwater, acknowledged that Blackwater had provided her security on a trip to Afghanistan.

"And let me acknowledge how many veterans are working for these companies that are doing great service, that are putting themselves in harm's way, and that are helping us achieve a mission that frankly we could not achieve with the number of boots on the ground we can get there in a very quick time period."

Carole Coffey, one of the report's authors, noted that the U.S. government has no precedent for needing such a large security footprint in a foreign country. "The US has never build and fight at the same time," she said. "These are unique situations."

Senate Committee Says Blackwater Is Still Armed and Dangerous

By Matthew Cole

A Senate committee Wednesday lambasted the private military company formerly known as Blackwater, accusing the firm of engaging in "reckless use of weapons," hiding its identity to score government contracts, and harming America's war effort in Afghanistan.

Investigators for the Senate Armed Services Committee say they also found that Blackwater contractors in Afghanistan secured more than 500 weapons from the U.S. military, even though company employees were not authorized to carry weapons there, and that the military signed over some of the weapons to a contractor who used a fake name borrowed from a character in the TV cartoon "South Park."

The hearing was part of an on-going investigation by the Armed Services Committee into the role of contractors in Afghanistan, and focused on a shooting incident involving two Blackwater security trainers. The trainers, Justin Cannon and Scott Drotleff, who were working for Paravant, a subsidiary of Blackwater's successor company, Xe Services, are accused of killing two Afghan civilians in May 2009. Both face federal charges of murder, but maintain their innocence.

Both Paravant and Xe are owned by Erik Prince, the owner and founder of Blackwater. Blackwater changed its name to Xe in early 2009 after the company was involved in a series of deadly incidents in Iraq.

In Afghanistan, Xe offshoot Paravant was operating as a subcontractor to Raytheon, providing weapons training to the Afghan National Army.

During Wednesday's hearing, committee chairman Carl Levin, D.-Mich., reported that a Paravant executive who acted as point man with Raytheon after the May 2009 shooting incident had told Senate investigators that Paravant routinely disregarded policies and rules in Afghanistan.

"Paravant had no regard for policies, rules, or adherence to regulations in country," said Sen. Levin, quoting James Sierawski of Paravant and Xe. Sierawski, who was interviewed by investigators after his name turned up on internal emails connected to the shooting, is apparently still employed by Paravant and Xe.

'Eric Cartman' Signs for Weapons

In the months before the deadly incident, Paravant employees in Afghanistan obtained more than 500 AK-47s and other weapons from the U.S. military, despite knowing that they have been denied permission to carry weapons on several occasions. Investigators released documents showing that the military handed out hundreds of rifles and handguns, even allowing a Paravant employee to sign for some using the name "Eric Cartman." Cartman is a character on the cable series "South Park," known for its crude humor. The weapons had been intended for the Afghan National Army.

In an internal email released by the committee, a Paravant manager who supervised the two accused shooters in Afghanistan told a colleague that he "got sidearms for everyone." "We have not yet received formal permission from the Army to carry weapons," read the email from Brian McCracken, "but I will take my chances."

McCracken was called as a witness at the hearing, where he asserted that Blackwater had been given verbal permission by the military to carry the weapons.

Two days after Paravant diverted several hundred weapons away from the Afghan National Army, one of its contractors was shot in the head by a second Paravant contractor, after his AK-47 accidentally discharged. Paravant fired the contractor who discharged the weapon, and the victim survived, but a military official today acknowledged that the incident was not investigated. The committee faulted the Pentagon with exercising little oversight over contractors operating in Afghanistan.

Sen. Levin pointed out that both men accused in the civilian shooting incident, Drotleff and Cannon, had unsatisfactory military records that should have disqualified them from employment with Paravant. Paravant, Levin said, was arming contractors who never should have had weapons in the first place.

Senators Claire McCaskill of Missouri and Mark Begich of Alaska both accused Blackwater of hiding its identity by setting up new companies when securing government contracts. Begich called Paravant a "scam company," and a "shell" for Blackwater.

In a statement to ABC News, Sen. Levin echoed the charge that Paravant was a "shell," "set up to avoid the 'baggage' that the name Blackwater carried." Levin said the name change had fooled an Army contracting officer who approved Paravant's subcontract with Raytheon. "The deception here is deeply troubling," said Levin, "because the Department of State said in 2008 that it had lost 'confidence in (Blackwater's) credibility and management ability.'" Blackwater lost a security contract with the State Department after a 2007 shooting incident that cost the lives of 17 Iraqi civilians.

At the hearing, Blackwater executive vice president Fred Roitz testified that it was Raytheon that asked Blackwater to change names.

"Raytheon requested that a company name be other than Blackwater. It was at Raytheon's request," Roitz told the committee.

Roitz also acknowledged that Blackwater intentionally used the name Paravant to deceive Pentagon's contracting office, in an effort to secure the contract.

In a sharp exchange, Sen. Levin asked Mr. Roitz if he was bothered that he had "made statements that weren't accurate, in order to cover-up the fact it was a Blackwater operation instead of Paravant?"

"I'm troubled today," Mr. Roitz replied.

CIA'S Influence Wanes in Afghanistan War, Say Intelligence Officials

By Matthew Cole

For some intelligence officials, proof that the CIA's influence on the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan is waning, and the power of the Pentagon is growing, came last summer when the CIA named its new station chief in Kabul.

As a rule, the CIA always gets to pick its chief of station in foreign countries, but in Afghanistan it lost a political battle to the military and the State Department. According to several former and current intelligence officials, that loss is symbolic of the declining influence of the CIA, which once shaped the strategy for the U.S. war effort.

Last summer, when the CIA tapped a veteran office to become the new chief of station in Kabul, the State Department's special envoy to Afghanistan, Richard Holbrooke, objected. According to current and former officials, Holbrooke had served with the officer in Croatia during the Balkan conflict in the 1990s, when the officer was station chief there and Holbrooke was the Clinton administration's special envoy to the region.

By the time Holbrooke weighed in privately to agency officials, the officer had already been told that he would be assigned to Afghanistan.

"Holbrooke had a problem with [the agency's choice]," said a current senior intelligence official. "And he told the Agency he wasn't going to work with [the CIA officer]."

A spokesperson for Ambassador Holbrooke denied Holbrooke's involvement in the CIA's decision.

In the past, say officials, the CIA wouldn't have backed down. Less than 10 years ago, the U.S. ambassador in France objected to the agency's choice of station chief. He said he didn't want to work with the agency's choice, and asked that he not be sent. The agency made its preferred candidate station chief anyway.

This time, though Kabul is one of the CIA's most important bases of operations, the agency acceded to State Department wishes and withdrew its candidate. Then Gen. Stanley McChrystal intervened.

According to the current and former intelligence officials, McChrystal, commander of U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, had his own preferred candidate for the job, a good friend and decorated CIA paramilitary officer. McChrystal started lobbying for his friend.

'McChrystal Can Have Anyone He Wants'

The officer McChrystal preferred has extensive experience in war zones, including two previous tours in Afghanistan, as well as time in the Balkans, Baghdad and Yemen. The officer also served as the CIA's liaison to the Pentagon's Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC), then led by McChrystal. JSOC is the Pentagon's command structure for special forces from all military branches, including the Navy SEALs and the Army's Delta Force.

The officer had already served as Kabul's chief four years ago, and it is unusual, though not unprecedented, these intelligence officials say, for CIA officers to serve as chief of station twice in the same country. In interviews with a dozen current and former officials, the current chief of station was uniformly well-liked and admired. A career paramilitary officer, the station chief came to the CIA after several years in an elite Marine unit.

During the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan more than eight years ago, the CIA officer worked closely with McChrystal, who was then a commander of elite military commandos. The CIA official is well known in CIA lore as the man who saved Hamid Karzai's life when the CIA led the effort to oust the Taliban from power in October 2001. Karzai is said to be greatly indebted to the CIA officer, and was pleased when the officer was named chief of station three years later.

In the end, however, the officials say, it was the CIA officer's long relationship with General McChrystal that was the deciding factor. Rather than find another candidate, the agency gave McChrystal's friend the job.

That McChrystal, an Army general, was able to install a friend as station chief, said a former official, was indicative of both McChrystal's pull and the reality of the Afghan war zone, where the military now has a greater presence than it did just a year ago. "McChrystal can have anyone he wants running the CIA station," said a former senior intelligence official who now consults for the Pentagon on Afghan issues.

Geoff Morrell, a Pentagon spokesman said, "As far as I know, just as the Defense Secretary picks his top commanders, the CIA Director picks his station chiefs."

According to two current and former intelligence officials, the official who was the agency's first choice told colleagues he was frustrated by the decision. Instead of going to Kabul, he kept his job as the chief official in the CIA's European operations division.

At the request of the CIA, ABC News is withholding the names of both the CIA's original choice for the job and the official who got the job because both are still undercover.

CIA spokesman George Little denied that Holbrooke or McChrystal had any involvement in the agency's decision.

"The CIA makes its own personnel decisions. Period. That's all there is to it." The intelligence officials, who requested anonymity when discussing sensitive personnel matters, have no problem with the officer who was eventually chosen by the agency. But they said the agency clearly preferred someone else, and they fear the CIA has become subordinate to the military, after many years dominating U.S .efforts in Afghanistan after the September 11th attacks.

'This Is a Sign of Things to Come'

"We were in the lead after the invasion, but clearly the CIA has taken more of a support role," said a former senior official who served in Afghanistan.

The current and former intelligence officials say that putting a paramilitary officer in charge on the Afghan base highlights the CIA's evolving role. The CIA's historic wartime role was collecting information in order to shape overall strategy. Now the agency has been relegated to a supporting role, supplying tactical intelligence to help the military. The military determines the strategy.

"The CIA is supposed to be a check on the military and their intelligence, not their hand maiden," said Robert Baer, a former CIA case officer. "This is a sign of things to come, where the military dominates intelligence."

The problem with this shift, the officials say, is that both the military and the CIA are focusing on short-term, tactical intelligence, and ignoring the long view. The shortfall in intelligence collection was highlighted last month in a public report by the military's top intelligence officer that was prepared for a thinktank. In the report, Major General Michael T. Flynn concluded that intelligence collection in Afghanistan was "only marginally relevant to the overall strategy."

Flynn's report was as critical of the CIA as of military intelligence. But it is the military that is now shaping intelligence collection in Afghanistan, in part through sheer numeric dominance. Military forces far outnumber the CIA, and the disproportion is growing. According to a current intelligence official, the CIA has roughly 800 personnel in Afghanistan scattered among 14 bases. By next summer, the military expects that it will have nearly 100,000 troops, roughly double its strength in early 2009.

Flynn concluded that the "vast intelligence apparatus is unable to answer fundamental questions about the environment in which the US and allied forces operate and the people they seek to persuade."

Same Blackwater, Different Names

By MATTHEW COLE

After Blackwater contractors were accused of shooting 17 civilians in Iraq, the State Department announced it would stop doing business with the company, but ABC News has found that several other agencies, including the CIA and the Pentagon, continue to employ the controversial company, under a myriad of names, often via secret, classified contracts.

Blackwater, which changed the name of its parent company to Xe Services last year because of bad publicity, is also operating subdivisions under a variety of altered handles intended to lower its public profile. In some instances the flagship company has tried to distance itself from these offshoots, insisting they are merely "affiliates."

Public records and a source familiar with their ownership suggest, however, that the companies are nothing more than new names on the same old Blackwater. All are owned by Blackwater founder Erik Prince.

According to several military and government sources familiar with Xe's contracts, Xe also operates under the names Paravant and XPG. Both "affiliates" are based at the same Moyock, North Carolina address as Xe. Other Prince-owned companies that have received government contracts include Greystone, Raven, Constellation, US Training Center, GSD Manufacturing, and Presidential Airlines. The companies are among a total of 20 different limited liability corporations owned by Prince and registered to the same address as Blackwater-Xe.

In September 2007, Blackwater guards escorting a State Department convoy through Baghdad shot and killed 17 civilians in Nissour Square, resulting in international outrage, the loss of Blackwater's State Department security contract and criminal charges against the guards. Late last month Vice President Biden announced that the U.S. government would appeal a recent federal court decision to throw out charges against the guards involved in the shooting.

Damage control after the Nissour Square incident is what inspired Blackwater executives to scrap the iconic brand name of the parent company. According to several government and military officials, the incident lead to a company shakeup and name change intended to clean up Blackwater's image and limit legal liabilities.

Blackwater dropped the crosshairs from its company logo, and some executives were forced out. Then, after a lengthy internal name search, Blackwater decided to become Xe Services. "Blackwater" had referred to the water of the North Carolina swamp where the company was headquartered, but Xe, according to a company spokeswoman, had no connotations.

The change from Blackwater to Xe was announced in February 2009. Less known is that a variety of affiliated companies were also renamed. In the wake of the Nissour Square shooting Xe was barred from Iraq, and the corporate relaunch was supposed to include a de-emphasis on security contracts and a new focus on providing training. However, Xe and its rebranded affiliates still work in Afghanistan, and continue to provide security and training, though they often operate as security subcontractors to other contractors.

A recent review by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction, known as SIGAR, has found that Xe Services has operated under different names. It often acts as a subcontractor, fulfilling training contracts originally won by other companies such as Raytheon, according to a person who has reviewed the SIGAR materials. According to several sources apprised of the contract, in Afghanistan Raytheon worked with the Blackwater entity called Paravant, LLC.

"Raytheon is supposed to train Afghan soldiers, but Raytheon subcontracted to Blackwater," said a source who has reviewed the contracts between the two companies.

Paravant came under scrutiny after a 2009 shooting incident in Afghanistan. Three Americans and an Afghan contractor were working for Paravant last May when they became involved in the shooting of Afghan civilians in Kabul. Americans Justin Cannon and Chris Drotleff were arrested in the U.S. earlier this month and face federal charges of second-degree murder. In a statement, Xe Services said it had "immediately and fully cooperated with the government's investigation." Both Cannon and Drotleff maintain their innocence.

According to people familiar with the Raytheon-Paravant relationship, Raytheon terminated the contract in August of last year as a result of the shooting. The May shooting also led to an investigation by the Senate Armed Services Committee. ABC News has confirmed that the Paravant employees connected to the shooting were subcontracted to Raytheon.

Jon Kasle, a Raytheon company spokesman, would not comment on the contract with Paravant, except to say that the company "currently has no contracts with any Blackwater company or subsidiary."

A second Xe offshoot, XPG, does classified work for the military's Joint Special Operations Command, JSOC, which handles special forces and special operations in Afghanistan, according to a government source who has seen the contract. XPG was once known as Select PTC.

In an exclusive report, ABC News revealed that contractors working for Select PTC had carried out a covert raid into Pakistan in 2006. A dozen Select PTC "tactical action operatives" were recruited by JSOC for a raid on a suspected al Qaeda training camp, according to a military intelligence planner. The planner said he did not know the outcome of the mission, which was codenamed "Vibrant Fury."

Select PTC was Blackwater's equivalent of the CIA's paramilitary or the military's Special Forces, and was used for classified operations with the CIA and JSOC. Select PTC was involved in classified clandestine activities in countries around the world, including Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria and the Philippines, according to a former military intelligence officer briefed on Select PTC's operations for the U.S. government. The same unit was awarded a contract to assassinate al Qaeda leaders around the world.

In August 2009, the New York Times reported that personnel from a Blackwater offshoot that it called "Blackwater Select" were allegedly responsible for loading missiles and bombs on CIA-operated Predator drones, which are used on suspected al Qaeda operatives and Pakistani militants in Pakistan's Tribal Areas.

The story was actually referring to Select PTC, but by then the name had been changed to XPG, LLC. As Select PTC was to Blackwater, so is XPG now to XE – the company's equivalent of Special Forces. XPG continues to hold classified contracts with the Pentagon's JSOC. One official who has seen XPG's contract with the Pentagon told ABC News that XPG currently has a classified contract providing security at seven Special Forces facilities in Afghanistan along the Pakistan border. The contract stipulates that the company receives $17,000 per day, earning XPG more than $6 million annually, according to a source who has reviewed the contract.

A Xe company spokesperson declined to describe the nature of the contracts that either Paravant or XPG hold with the government. A source familiar with Paravant and XPG's relationship to Xe told ABC News that neither was a "subsidiary" of Xe. Paravant, the source said, was "affiliated" with Xe Services, but not owned by the company. A review of Paravant's web site shows that its facilities and services are at the North Carolina address as Xe, and also share another address associated with Xe in Illinois.

Xe Services continues to look for work in Afghanistan. Earlier this month it placed a bid for a roughly $1 billion training and security contract. The bid has been contested by competing contractors and has not yet been awarded by the Pentagon.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D.-Ill., a member of the House Intelligence Committee, has questioned why Blackwater, under any name, still wins contracts from defense and intelligence agencies.

"After everything that has gone wrong ... with Blackwater, I cannot understand why the U.S. Government has anything to do with them," said Rep. Schakowsky. "I have yet to hear a convincing reason for their continued work for the government."

U.S. Mulls Legality of Killing American al Qaeda "Turncoat"

By Matthew Cole, Richard Esposito and Brian Ross

White House lawyers are mulling the legality of proposed attempts to kill an American citizen, Anwar al Awlaki, who is believed to be part of the leadership of the al Qaeda group in Yemen behind a series of terror strikes, according to two people briefed by U.S. intelligence officials.

One of the people briefed said opportunities to "take out" Awlaki "may have been missed" because of the legal questions surrounding a lethal attack which would specifically target an American citizen.

A spokesperson said the White House declined to comment.

While Awlaki has not been charged with any crimes under U.S. law, intelligence officials say recent intelligence reports and electronic intercepts show he played an important role in recruiting the accused "underwear bomber" Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab. Awlaki also carried on extensive e-mail communication with the accused Fort Hood shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, prior to the attack that killed 12 soldiers and one civilian.

According to the people who were briefed on the issue, American officials fear the possibility of criminal prosecution without approval in advance from the White House for a targeted strike against Awlaki.

An American citizen with suspected al Qaeda ties was killed in Nov. 2002 in Yemen in a CIA predator strike that was aimed at non-American leaders of al Qaeda. The death of the American citizen, Ahmed Hijazi of Lackawanna, NY, was justified as "collateral damage" at the time because he "was just in the wrong place at the wrong time," said a former U.S. official familiar with the case.

In the case of Awlaki, born in New Mexico and a college student in Colorado and California, a strike aimed to kill him would stretch current Presidential authority given to the CIA and the Pentagon to pursue terrorists anywhere in the world.

Where Anwar al Awlaki Might Be Hiding

Awlaki's father told reporters in Yemen last week that his son had gone into hiding in the mountains of Yemen and was being protected by al Qaeda, even though, the father claimed, his son was not part of al Qaeda.

He told reporters he was pleading with the United States, "Please don't kill my son."

The question of what limits apply to an American with suspected operational ties to al Qaeda comes as the U.S. steps up efforts to track any American with ties to Yemen.

Hundreds of FBI and other federal agents will fan out this week as part of a secret operation to pursue leads about Americans with connections to Yemen that were previously dismissed as not significant, according to law enforcement officials.

Suicide Bomber Was Invited Onto CIA Base, Wasn't Searched

By Richard Esposito, Matthew Cole and Nick Schifrin

The suicide bomber who killed seven CIA officers in Afghanistan was invited onto the heavily guarded base as a possible informant and, in a breach of security procedure, wasn't searched, according to three current and former CIA officers.

The bomber was escorted to the gym on the fortified complex known as Forward Operating Base Chapman for a meeting with a senior CIA debriefer, according to intelligence sources familiar with the incident.

When the bomber, who was dressed in an Afghan military uniform, arrived in the gym, he blew himself up, killing seven and seriously injuring an additional six officers who had gathered there to wait for him.

The attack targeted some of the CIA's most important assets in the fight against the Taliban and al Qaeda, officers who collected intelligence and conducted paramilitary operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. While it's unlikely the officers spent much time in Pakistan, they almost certainly contributed to the targeting of the drone program that has targeted al Qaeda's senior leadership living in the Pakistani tribal areas.

"This is a tremendous loss for the agency. The agency is a relatively small organization, and its expertise in al Qaeda is even a smaller subset of that overall group," says Michael Scheuer, the former head of the CIA unit that searched for Osama bin Laden. "We collect information that enables the military to go after our primary targets or to better defend itself. So to the extent we lose the ability to do that -- the experienced personnel to do that -- it harms not only the agency, but it harms the ability of the military to operate effectively in the area."

It was the single worst attack on the CIA since 1983, when eight officers died in the Beirut embassy attack.

In a letter sent to CIA employees today, President Obama praised the "decades of service" from the men and women of the CIA.

"These brave Americans were part of a long line of patriots," Obama wrote. "The United States would not be able to maintain the freedom and security that we cherish without decades of service from the dedicated men and women of the CIA."

CIA Director Leon Panetta said in a message to employees, "Those who fell yesterday were far from home and close to the enemy, doing the hard work that must be done to protect our country from terrorism. We pledge to them and their families that we will never cease fighting for the cause to which they dedicated their lives, a safer America."

"Yesterday's tragedy reminds us that the men and women of the CIA put their lives at risk every day to protect this nation," Panetta said. "Throughout our history, the reality is that those who make a real difference often face real danger."

To pay tribute to those who lost their lives, Panetta requested that the flags at CIA headquarters be flown at half-staff.

It was the worst day for the CIA in terms of loss of life since the war in Afghanistan began eight years ago. The attack appears to have been the result of a lapse in security, and perhaps the only time when a suicide bomber actually blew himself up inside a U.S. facility.

Deadly Week in Afghanistan

The area of the attack is near a Taliban stronghold where insurgents who use Pakistan as a base flow easily back and forth across the border. Militants in the area are led by the family of Jalaluddin Haqqani who U.S. officials say is responsible more than any other insurgent leader for attacks on U.S. soldiers.

Khost Province has suffered from multiple attacks, including suicide bombings near the main U.S. military camp called Solerno. In May and June, attacks in Khost City and outside Solerno killed at least 21 civilians, most of them Afghan day laborers.

But the terror attack was directed at a non-military camp and appears to be the deadliest against U.S. civilians since the start of the war. In August, 16 civilians died in a helicopter crash in Kandahar, but that was the result of mechanical failure.

ABC News' Kirit Radia contributed to this report.

Eight Americans Killed by Suicide Bomber Were CIA

By Matthew Cole, Nick Schifrin and Kirit Radia

At least eight Americans were killed and six others injured when a suicide bomber penetrated the heart of a heavily fortified complex in eastern Afghanistan, according to multiple U.S. officials in both Afghanistan and Washington, and and a Congressional source told ABC News they were all connected to the CIA.

The Congressional source could not confirm how many of the dead were CIA staff and how many were contractors, but said the facility was a CIA base. It was the worst day for the CIA in terms of loss of life since the war in Afghanistan began eight years ago.

The suicide bomber blew himself up in either the gym or the dining facility on Camp Chapman near the Pakistani border in Khost province, according to one U.S. official in Kabul. The same official says all those killed were civilians, and a separate official in Washington said the base is not used by State Department employees -- suggesting the victims may be intelligence officials.

The attack appears to have been the result of an extraordinary lapse in security, one of the few times that any militant has managed to elude guards and attack inside a U.S. facility.

The area of the attack is near a Taliban stronghold where insurgents who use Pakistan as a base flow easily back and forth across the border. Militants in the area are led by the Haqqani family, whom U.S. officials say is responsible more than any other insurgent leader for attacks on U.S. soldiers.

Khost has suffered from multiple attacks, including suicide bombings near the main U.S. military camp called Solerno. In May and June, attacks in Khost City or outside Solerno killed at least 21 civilians, most of them Afghan day laborers.

But today's attack was directed at a non-military camp and appears to be the deadliest against American civilians since the start of the war. In August, 16 civilians died in a helicopter crash in Kandahar, but that was due to mechanical failure.

U.S. officials declined to provide any more specifics about the people who were killed today, saying the next of kin were still being notified.

The attack comes on the same day the U.S. military defended itself after hundreds of Afghans protested a weekend raid that Afghan government officials say killed 10 Afghan civilians.

The incident, which took place in the Narang district of Kunar Province, occurred on Saturday night when a group of U.S. and Afghan soldiers entered a small village called Ghazi Khan.

According to the U.S. military, the troops came under fire "from several buildings" and killed nine insurgents. But an Afghan commission led by an advisor to President Hamid Karzai concluded the troops "descended from a plane... took 10 people from three homes, eight of them school students in grades six, nine and ten, one of them a guest, the rest from the same family, and shot them dead."

U.S. Military Denies Latest Accusation of Civilian Deaths in Afghanistan

The NATO-led military forces in Afghanistan denied that, saying in a statement released today that "there is no direct evidence to substantiate these claims." But the statement went on to welcome a joint investigation by both Afghan and military officials, and said if any operation kills civilians, "we will always look within to improve our capacity to avert unintended consequences in the future."

That tone is an acknowledgement that civilian casualties is probably the single most sensitive issue in Afghanistan. It has helped sour relations between Karzai and the United States, and U.S. officials admit high profile civilian casualty incidents have pushed some Afghans -- often family members of victims – toward the Taliban.

Many Afghans acknowledge that the U.S. has reduced the number of civilian casualties in 2009, and Afghan politicians praised U.S. commander Gen. Stanley McChrystal for the positive change during a meeting last month.

According to U.S. statistics, 225 Afghan civilians have been killed or injured in military actions in 2009, not including an air strike in northern Afghanistan in September that Afghan officials say killed as many as 100 civilians. In 2008, 407 Afghan civilians were killed or injured in military actions.

But that progress did not stop hundreds of people from protesting the Kunar raid.

"We have no more patience. It has happened repeatedly. If it occurs again, we will drop our pens and take arms," one group of protestors chanted in the eastern city of Jalalabad, according to Reuters. "Death to Obama. Down with Karzai."

In Kabul, young men carried a sign that said "Obama! Take your soldiers out of Afghanistan!" One group of protestors displayed pictures of young children they said had been killed by foreign troops. "Death to the enemy of Islam!" screamed a protester with a bullhorn.