On to bigger and better terrorist threats

[Leigh Meyers <leighcmeyers@xxxxxxxxx>]

He's been re-assigned...

CIA shuts down unit targeting bin Laden
Terrorist tracking team reassigned to other duties

Spy agency insists finding Al Qaeda leader still priority
Jul. 5, 2006. 01:00 AM
MARK MAZZETTI
NEW YORK TIMES
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1152049812589&call_pageid=968332188492&col=968793972154&t=TS_Home

WASHINGTONâThe CIA has closed down a secret unit that for a decade had 
the mission of hunting Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his top 
lieutenants, intelligence officials say.

The terrorist tracking unit, known inside the spy agency as "Alec 
station," was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned to 
other offices within the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorist 
Center, the officials said Monday.

The decision is a milestone of sorts for the agency, which created the 
unit before bin Laden became a household name and bolstered its ranks 
after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, when U.S. President George W. Bush 
pledged to bring him to justice "dead or alive."

The realignment reflects a view that Al Qaeda is no longer as 
hierarchical as it once was, intelligence officials said, as well as 
growing concern about Al Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying 
out attacks independent of bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.

CIA officials said tracking bin Laden and his deputies remains a high 
priority, and that the decision to disband the unit is not a sign that 
the effort has slackened. Instead, the officials said, the realignment 
reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level 
threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific 
organizations or individuals.

"The efforts to find Osama bin Laden are as strong as ever," said 
Jennifer Dyck, a CIA spokeswoman. "This is an agile agency, and the 
decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus" for 
counterterrorism efforts.

The CIA's decision to close the bin Laden unit was first reported Monday 
by National Public Radio.

The disclosure came as the wife of slain Al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu 
Musab al-Zarqawi said her husband was sold out by fellow Al Qaeda 
leaders in exchange for a promise to ease up on the search for bin Laden.

Michael Scheuer, a former senior CIA official who was the first head of 
the bin Laden unit, said he believed the move reflected a view within 
the agency that bin Laden is no longer the threat he once was. He said 
he believes that view is mistaken.

"These days at the agency, bin Laden and Al Qaeda appear to be treated 
merely as first among equals," Scheuer said.

In recent years, the war in Iraq has stretched the resources of the 
intelligence community and the Pentagon, creating new priorities for 
U.S. officials tracking terror threats. For instance, the bulk of the 
military's classified counterterrorist units, like the army's Delta 
Force, had been redirected from the hunt for bin Laden to assist in the 
search for al-Zarqawi, who was killed last month in Iraq.

An intelligence official said the closing of the bin Laden unit 
reflected a greater grasp of the terrorist organization. "Our 
understanding of Al Qaeda has greatly evolved from where it was in the 
late 1990s," the official said, but added, "There are still people who 
wake up every day with the job of trying to find bin Laden."