Jawbreaker The Attack On Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda A Personal Account By The Cia's Key Field Commander

1 THE ATTACK--7 AUGUST 1998 "Dawn comes not twice to awaken a man." --an Arab proverb * * * * * * I jumped out of bed by the second ring and grabbed the STU-III secure telephone from the waist-high dresser. The digital clock read 4:23 a.m. in the dark bedroom of our Reston, Virginia, townhouse. My wife, Rebecca, sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Hello." A voice on the other end said, "Gary, it's Dorothy in the watch office." I recognized her voice immediately. Dorothy was one of XXXXXXX officers assigned to my staff in the CIA's Counterterrorism Center. Our job was to identify, penetrate and disrupt the activities of Islamic Jihad Organization (IJO)--the Hezbollah's terrorist arm and the most deadly organization of its kind up to that time. "One second," I said, removing the top of a XXXXXXX by the phone, extracting a XXXXXX key XXXX and inserting the key into the phone. "I'm going secure." "Ready." After pushing the "secure voice" button, a small horizontal panel lit up indicating that the encryption sequence was underway. It took fifteen seconds before the screen on the phone read "TOP SECRET." Dorothy said: "I have you TS." "I have you TS," I echoed back. "Thirty-five minutes ago the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi was attacked with a large explosive device," Dorothy began. "Ten minutes later our Embassy in Dar es Salaam was also attacked with an explosive device. I just talked to Chief CTC O'Connell [CTC is the CIA's Counterterrorism Center]. He wants you to come in." "Do you have numbers on casualties? Did we lose any of our people?" I asked. Hearing the word "casualties," my wife gasped. "There have been large-scale casualties, including some of our people," Dorothy answered. "Thanks," I said. "I'm on my way in." I turned the key, extracted it, XXXXXXXXXX, carefully reset the top and stood for a moment in the darkness. I was one of our country's most experienced clandestine counterterrorism officers, but news like this still filled me with cold, seething anger. Pictures of the carnage from bombings I'd witnessed in places like Sri Lanka and Nepal flashed in my head. My wife understood instinctively that something terrible had happened. "Where?" she asked. Being an intense, aggressive guy, I imagined myself rushing to the scene immediately and grabbing the bombers. But I managed to remain outwardly calm. "Nairobi and Dar es Salaam," I answered. "We've just had two Embassies bombed within thirty minutes." After nineteen years married to a CIA officer, my wife knew the drill. "Should I pack a bag for you now?" she asked. I thought of practicalities for a second. "I have to go into the building first. If I fly out I'll come back first and get some things. Why don't you go back to bed?" "Go back to bed?" she asked, incredulously. "I can't go back to bed now. I'll make you some coffee and start getting your stuff ready." Using the encrypted phone, I called one of my branch chiefs, Ted--an FBI agent assigned to CTC. The CIA and the FBI, in the spirit of cooperation, had begun placing officers in each other's counterterrorism units, and Ted was one of the first FBI detailees. Ted was one tough guy. Prior to joining the FBI, he'd been a Maryland State Police officer. While working undercover, he infiltrated a motorcycle gang suspected of major criminal activity. One night, they got suspicious, dragged him into a deserted field on Maryland's Eastern Shore and stuck a guPezzullo, Ralph is the author of 'Jawbreaker The Attack On Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda A Personal Account By The Cia's Key Field Commander', published 2005 under ISBN 9780307237408 and ISBN 0307237400.