CIA moves to protect key analyst in bin Laden raid

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

A CIA analyst who played a lead role in locating Osama bin Laden was placed under cover by the agency this month because of new threat information indicating he might be targeted by al-Qaeda, U.S. officials said Monday.

The move is a highly unusual one for the CIA, which typically takes steps to protect its employees’ identities only when they are embarking on sensitive operations or travel overseas.

A U.S. official said that the decision was driven by information about possible efforts by al-Qaeda to seek revenge for the U.S. raid that ended with the death of bin Laden at a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in May.

“We know from very recent intelligence that al-Qaeda is interested in finding U.S. counterterrorism officials tied to the CIA’s aggressive counterterrorism operations,” a U.S. official said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence matters. “Surely the vast majority of Americans understand why this individual needs to be protected.”

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/cia-moves-to-protect-key-analyst-in-bin-laden-raid/2011/07/11/gIQAWQgf9H_story.html

[Kennah]

1. Rove must be moving to try and out the analyst

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Cereal Kyller]

3. K&R

[Recursion]

4. If you're an analyst being protected, whoever is leaking the story isn't your friend... (nt)

[guruoo]

5. Why are they even talking about this?

What is the purpose of this story?

“Surely the vast majority of Americans understand why this individual needs to be protected.”



“There’s no way they can unring the bell about who he is,” said a former senior CIA official,
speaking on the condition of anonymity. But giving him an undercover designation
“makes his identity classified information.”