War on terrorism

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War on terrorism
Describe, discuss and evaluate the post-9/11/01 role of the CIA in the “War on Terror.”
Introduction
9/11/01 is a horrific day to remember for Americans. It was on this date that the worst
terrorist attack took place in the country. The attack was planned and coordinated by al-Qaeda
terrorist group under the leadership of famous Osama bin Laden and other leaders. Suicide
hijackers who had earlier been sent to the USA to study civil aviation by Osama and Khalid
Sheik Mohammed, the master planner managed to crash four airplanes. A total of 2996 people
lost their lives while 6000 more were injured. Buildings in the world trade center square in New
York City where the planes were crashed were significantly damaged and destroyed. The attack
led to the destruction of around $10 billion worth of infrastructure. This was a significant hit
which raised questions how the USA armed with a reputable central investigations agency (CIA)
would be caught unawares. It was an embarrassment for the CIA and the intelligence community
to have not acted to prevent the occurrence of the incident through their intelligence. This paper
seeks to examine the role of the CIA in the post and its impacts.
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The CIA had first gotten intelligence about the attack in 1999. This was after NSA had
managed to get a phone call record of Mihdar being contacted by wallid Attash about a meeting
scheduled to take place in Kuala Lumpur. The duo were al-Qaida terrorists and was planning to
wage an attack in America. The information was passed to CIA who after further investigations
established that Mihdar had a USA visa and had even managed to get in America. Unfortunately,
the CIA took no step to notify the FBI of the impending attack so that the agency could, in turn,
take action to counter the terrorist attack. This was done after the CIA agents broke hotel room in
Dubai that had provided accommodation to mihdar. CIA was also furnished with intelligence by
the Malaysian special branch (MSB). The MSB had observed a meeting of Al-Qaida members
that had taken place on 5th January 2000. In attendance was MIdhar and Khalid who were the
masterminds. After the meeting, the duo flew to Bangkok to further materialize what had been
discussed in the meeting. The CIA had all this information but was reluctant in furnishing other
agencies that would help prevent escalation of the planned attack. Secondly, the CIA never told
state department to include midhar on its watch list or most wanted persons. Richard Clarke and
George Tenet who were counterterrorism official and director of the CIA respectively around
June in 2000 were sure that some terrorist attacks were going to take place, but the suspected that
would escalate most probably in Israel and Saudi Arabia. In July 2000 Clarke cautioned the USA
security and intelligence agencies of an impending attack, he also asked the same information to
be relayed to embassies and various police departments.
CIA is also noted to have failed to respond to a mail sent on 13th July 2000 from Tom
Wilshire who was its agent and was seeking approval to notify the FBI about midhar presence in
the country. The CIA who had photos of the al-Qaida meeting refused to give more details about
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the pictures to CIA and denied other criminal investigators access to the information and details
(Hratch p. 129). Additionally, an FBI agent in Phoenix sent an intelligence message in July 2000
to the agency headquarters informing them of Osama bin laden plan to send Arab students to
American Aviation colleges who after learning how to fly would, in turn, be used to carry out
aircraft attacks.
How effective was the role of the Agency? In what ways, if any,
The agency role led to successful planning an attack on Americans. This is due to the fact
that despite CIA being well informed and aware of the attack the agency acted unwisely by
keeping the information to itself. The role of CIA as it is and was at the time is to spy and collect
any information concerning terrorist attacks, plans and groups then pass the same to counter
terrorist groups such as FBI. Unfortunately, this fails to happen in a number of events. First CIA
failed to give details it had got about the Kuala Lumpur meeting to other counterterrorism
agencies. Secondly, FBI was reluctant to inform the FBI about Midhar whereabouts. Had the FBI
been notified about the terrorist whereabouts in the country it was possible for the agency to do a
manhunt until it apprehends the man. Failure of CIA to direct the state department to place
midhar on its watch list was a move that was ill-advised and informed. If CIA had carried out its
mandated role effectively by relaying intelligence information to relevant authorities, the attack
could have been prevented.
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Did the War on Terror change the CIA?
After the embarrassment and shame on the agency, there was a significant change in the
war on terror. Each president has been altering the structure of the CIA to make fit to his
perceived level of terrorist threat. There have been remarkable changes among them the 2004
reorganization which saw the creation of the office of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI)
(Hratch, pg. 8). A wide array of multi-agency centers has also been developed under the DNI
office, they include but not limited to National counterterrorism center, The national counter-
proliferation center, and The national intelligence council. Having lost its prime function of
coordinating intelligence the CIA has progressively seen its roles devolved or assigned to other
newly established agencies in the intelligence community. Such agencies include but not limited
to US army intelligence, The Defense intelligence agency, The national reconnaissance office,
The national security agency and US Airforce intelligence. This changes to the CIA was took
place after an internal review of CIA was done, and the reason that prevented the CIA from
blocking the attack were investigated.
Finally, how well did the CIA serve the security of the United States? Explain.
After the attack, the CIA went back to serious business to investigate the motives behind
the attack. This included collecting intelligence information about the perpetrators and supporters
of the Islamic terrorist groups. Among the parties that CIA help to ascertain that were liked with
the attack were the Taliban and Saddam Hussein. To prevent more attacks and keep the USA
secure the CIA provided its intelligence information to the USA army deployed in Afghanistan.
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The army armed with the information as well as other arms was able to overthrow the Taliban
regime. This also happened with Saddam Hussein who was brought down by America.
Furthermore, the CIA intelligence led to the capture and killing of the Al-Qaida group leader
Osama bin Laden. Additionally, the CIA was able to collect intelligence information that led to
the apprehension of the master planner of the attack, that is Mohammed Khalid. The arrest of this
people sent a message the USA was a mighty nation, and any terrorist attempts would be met by
force something that sent cold chills to the terrorist groups which makes them avoid attacking the
USA again.
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Work cited
Hratch Zadoian. M: A short history of the US intelligence community. Queens college,cunny

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