The Triple Agent
Authors: Joby Warrick
Copyright © 2011 by Joby Warrick
All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.
DOUBLEDAY and the portrayal of an anchor with a dolphin are registered trademarks of Random House, Inc.
Jacket design by John Fontana
Jacket illustration by Associated Press / Taliban video via APTN
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Warrick, Joby.
The triple agent : the al-Qaeda mole who infiltrated the CIA / Joby Warrick.—1st ed.
p. cm.
1. Balawi, Humam Khalil al- 2. Qaida (Organization)—Biography. 3. United States. Central Intelligence Agency—Biography. 4. Counterinsurgency—Middle East. 5. Suicide bombers—Afghanistan—Khowst—Biography. 6. Informers—Jordan—Biography. 7. Spies—Jordan—Biography. 8. Physicians—Jordan—Biography. I. Title.
HV6433.M52Q345 2011
363.325092—dc22
[B]
2011002639
eISBN: 978-0-385-53419-2
v3.1
For the families of the fallen,
and for my family
All warfare is based on deception.
—Sun Tzu
AUTHOR’S NOTEQuotations in this book that are designated by quotation marks are the recollections of individuals who heard the words as they were spoken. Italics are used in cases in which a source could not recall the precise language or when a source relayed conversation or thoughts that were shared with him by a participant in the events described.
The White HousePresident Barack Obama
James L. Jones, national security adviser
John Brennan, chief counterterrorism adviser to the president
Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff
Michael V. Hayden, CIA director, May 2006 to February 2009
Leon Panetta, CIA director, February 2009 to June 2011
Stephen Kappes, CIA deputy director
Dennis C. Blair, director of national intelligence
Darren LaBonte, CIA case officer, Amman station
______, CIA station chief, Amman station (identity classified; name withheld)
Ali bin Zeid, captain, Jordanian General Intelligence Department (GID), aka the Mukhabarat
Ali Burjak, aka Red Ali, Mukhabarat counterterrorism chief, bin Zeid’s boss
Humam Khalil al-Balawi, physician and blogger
Khalil al-Balawi, Humam’s father
Defne Bayrak, Humam’s wife
Jennifer Matthews, CIA base chief, Forward Operating Base Chapman (“Khost”)
Harold Brown Jr., CIA case officer, Khost
Scott Roberson, CIA security chief, Khost
Dane Paresi, security contractor, Xe Services LLC, aka Blackwater, Khost
Jeremy Wise, security contractor, Xe Services LLC, aka Blackwater, Khost
Arghawan, Afghan detail security chief, Khost (last name withheld)
_____, CIA deputy chief of station, Kabul station (identity classified; name withheld)
Elizabeth Hanson, targeter, Kabul station
Osama bin Laden, al-Qaeda founder and leader
Ayman al-Zawahiri, al-Qaeda’s No. 2 commander, deputy to Osama bin Laden
Osama al-Kini (given name Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam), senior al-Qaeda commander for Pakistan
Abdullah Said al-Libi, an al-Qaeda operations chief, leader of al-Qaeda’s “Shadow Army” in Pakistan
Sheikh Saeed al-Masri (given name Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid), al-Qaeda’s No. 3 commander
Baitullah Mehsud, leader of Pakistani Taliban alliance, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP)
Hakimullah Mehsud, deputy TTP leader, cousin to Baitullah Mehsud
Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, al-Qaeda senior leader and Islamic scholar
Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (given name Ahmad Fadeel al-Nazal al-Khalayleh), Jordanian-born leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, killed in U.S. missile strike in 2006
Abu Zubaida (given name Zayn al-Abidin Muhammed Hussein), first “high-value” terrorist operative captured by the CIA after the attacks of September 11, 2001, and the first to be subjected to waterboarding
