WP Reporter Confirms ID and Roles of 2 CIA Officers Involved in Suppression of Pre-911 Intel

[JohnyCanuck]

& The Post’s Knowledge of Secret Inspector General Report

On Wednesday, Peter B. Collins interviewed Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, who writes on the Middle East and National Security at The Post’s national desk, about Warrick’s new book that recounts the deadly attack on the CIA base near Khost, Afghanistan at the end of 2009.

Warrick’s book, The Triple Agent, focuses on Jennifer Matthews, the CIA station chief at forward base Chapman who was among those killed by a Jordanian suicide bomber. In discussing the role of Matthews in the CIA’s withholding of critical pre-9/11 intelligence from the FBI and counterterrorism official Richard Clarke, Collins asked if Jennifer Matthews had connections to Alfreda Frances Bikowsky—the CIA officer recently identified here at Boiling Frogs Post. Warrick responded:

“There is a group of very, shall we say, strong personalities within the counterterrorism division, you’ve named 2 of them, they were good friends, they worked together on these cases, and the list of people the IG has identified as potentially deserving of disciplinary review for their actions before 9/11 never been published, but we know from multiple counts that Jennifer Matthews had been on that list…”

snip

Warrick also asserts that he knows of the Inspector General’s list of some 60 CIA employees proposed for investigation over the pre-9/11 intelligence suppression, and that he has been able to get multiple confirmations that Matthews was on that list. But it appears that The Post has acquiesced to the CIA, and its editors believe that the public is not interested in learning the truth and seeking accountability on these matters.

http://www.boilingfrogspost.com/2011/09/29/bfp-exclusive-washington-post-takes-editorial-direction-from-the-cia-the-white-house/

[juajen]

1. Maybe because our concern and desire of accountability is ignored continuously. NT

[noise]

3. The first question that comes up

Were they acting on their own or on orders from higher ups? Are high level CIA officials really looking out for their own employees as they like to claim? Doubtful. Goss's refusal to pursue accountability panels was probably intended to insulate high level officials from any consequences. Recently Richard Clarke suggested that the withholding decisions in regard to al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar would have been made at CIA Director level. George Tenet. Did Tenet act on his own or was he acting on orders from the White House?

What is not as widely known is the fact that there were similar withholding issues at the FBI. Did the FBI personnel act on their own to obstruct al Qaeda investigations? Are we talking about rogue networks of lower level agents at both the CIA and FBI? Of course not. It seems likely that high level FBI officials ordered subordinates to withhold information.

In the US we aren't supposed to talk about corruption. The conduct of high level officials is not up for review. So instead we talk about a failure to connect the dots, lack of funding, too much red tape (too many civil liberties), turf battle, etc.

[EFerrari]

9. Clarke said Cofer Black was determined to have people inside AQ. n/t

[noise]

12. Clarke also noted that

in his opinion once the recruitment effort failed the CIA continued to withhold the information from the NSC for CYA reasons. This explanation makes little sense as one would think facilitating a massive terrorist attack was not a good career move.

There are all sorts of unanswered questions:

1)Was the CIA really trying to recruit al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar or were there other reasons they withheld the information?

2)Was this truly a CIA conspiracy or did other high level government officials know about al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar?

3)If the CIA kept the information from the FBI because they were afraid the FBI would mess up the recruitment operation then isn't is logical to think any possible recruitment effort ended when the CIA told the FBI UBLU in late August '01?

4)If there was was a CIA recruitment effort what details did they learn about the hijackers and the 9/11 plot?

5)Why won't any Alec Station and UBLU personnel publicly talk about what happened?

[Kurmudgeon]

2. Shouldn't this be considered treason?

[noise]

5. Imagine if a member of the public had engaged in such conduct

The likely charges would be facilitation, accessory and obstruction of justice.

[grasswire]

4. how do we know the agent Matthews was killed by a hostile...

...and not by the CIA itself?

[sabrina 1]

6. I had a similar thought.n/t

[noise]

7. She was killed in the Khost attack

over eight years after 9/11. There is no indication that she was going to talk about pre-9/11 conduct at Alec Station. After all she was promoted to chief of base at Camp Chapman. All public information indicates that she was committed to the CIA effort against al Qaeda.

[JohnyCanuck]

8. Kick n/t

[grasswire]

10. kick

important stuff

[SpiralHawk]

11. Kick - before this important news about Republicon 9/11 treachery

is sent to the Digital Dungeon.