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Subscribe to RSSNBC's Robert Windrem reports that al-Qaida's would-be suicide bomber was actually a British national, working through British intelligence to infiltrate the terror organization in Yemen.
The spy who helped Western intelligence agencies thwart a plot to bomb a U.S.-bound airliner was a British national of Middle Eastern origin, sources tell NBC News.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, also say that British intelligence was "heavily involved" in recruiting the spy, who has not yet been identified publicly, and penetrating the plot by al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula to detonate a new, more sophisticated underwear bomb aboard a U.S. jetliner.
A senior U.S. counterterrorism official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, would say only that multiple friendly security services were involved in the operation. Saudi Arabia's counterterrorism operation also were involved, other U.S. officials have told NBC News.
U.S. and British officials have long reported that AQAP has wanted to recruit Muslims with Western passports to carry out attacks like the one revealed this week. As an example, the officials cited AQAP’s recruitment of Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who failed in the Christmas Day 2009 attempt to bring down Northwest Airlines Flight 253 over Detroit.
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Insider who thwarted bomb plot was supposed to carry it out
U.S. officials have said previously that the bomb -- a refined version of an “underwear bomb” used in two previous failed terror plots -- was driven out of Yemen by the insider into Saudi Arabia. It is now in the hands of U.S. bomb experts at the FBI labs in Quantico, Va., where experts have been examining it for a week, the officials said. The infiltrator also is safely out of Yemen.
The insider also provided information that allowed the U.S. to launch a Predator drone strike that killed AQAP's operations chief, Fahd al-Quso, senior U.S. officials told NBC News on Tuesday.
Evan Kohlmann, NBC counterterrorism analyst, said he found earlier reports that the spy was a Saudi national not very credible.
“AQAP was going to give a suicide bomb to someone with a Saudi passport?” Kohlmann asked rhetorically. “AQAP has been looking for bombers with Western passports, not those who would raise suspicions.”
He noted that Abdulmutallab, who tried to detonate an earlier version of the underwear bomb aboard the Northwest flight, better fit the profile AQAP was looking at: a young upper class college student with a Nigerian passport and a multiple-entry U.S. visa. A British national would attract even less attention, he said.
Robert Windrem is a senior investigative producer for NBC News; NBC News Justice Correspondent Pete Williams and Jonathan Dienst of WNBC-TV contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Give this guy a name and you will never recruit another.
why don't they publish his address, name ,phone number, names of his closet relatives; TALK ABOUT STUPID, a undercover agent no longer any use to anyone, we were not even allowed to tell other persons in the office the identity of CI , helping out, only to a judge in chambers, who is running this show today, a idiot that is who !
Was thinking the same...they might as well give ALL his telephone number and checking account number. Unreal!
Unless its all fake..and the guy isn't British or American..from the middle east has to be of course..James Ali Bond on a camel.
Everybody already knows who he is. His name is Bond. James Bond.
saxon, you beat me to it. Don't give NBC any ideas, that may be next.
Actually it's quite brilliant to go public with the broad details of this plot. Not releasing the agent's name (not sure why you'd think they'd ever reveal that, this isn't MI6's first rodeo), but the fact that he was a British national. Al Qaeda wants to use Muslims with Western passports, but now they can't trust anyone with a Western passport.
If you're MI6 and the CIA, by taking the broad details of this plot public not only do you foil this plot but you are most certainly stopping others like this from happening by further sowing the seeds of mistrust and discord within the enemy's ranks.
Exactly what I was thinking, forkchops. I couldn't have said it better myself.
If NBC knew they would publish it. Their inner ideals are that anything and everything should be common knowledge no matter how dangerous it might be to someone. Case in point...if it isn't fitting to their ideals just change the facts to make it their way....Geo. Zimmerman.
If he's the guy they handed to bomb to, then he's already of no further use. Unless these particular radicals have prosopagnosia...
007 Sandman " The Guy who Loved to Wear Explosive Shorts" Hopefully he is having a fine time with a real London virgin.......A+ job!
To the people screaming foul about details being spilled:
#1. These are very BROAD details. Al Qaeda already knows that the guy who was assigned the underwear bomb probably wasn't on their side because IT NEVER WENT OFF. Saying he was a British national doesn't really endanger the agent either. Highly likely he was given the choice for him and his family to be given ironclad new identities and be moved to ANY friendly country after the plot, not just the UK. Al Qaeda simply doesn't have the resources to hunt this guy down in the name of revenge. He is 100% safe right now and probably living well in his country of choice with his new citizenship of choice as we speak.
#2. The media is only reporting what the intelligence services SELECTIVELY leak to them. This wasn't an accidental leak of damaging details, this was deliberate strategy against Al Qaeda to make them much more distrustful of any Muslim with a Western passport who approaches them offering to smuggle bombs on Western bound airplanes. By releasing this info that they know Al Qaeda will read, they are potentially preventing many future bombings.
Some of you guys need to think outside the box a bit.
Surprising... I thought maybe Mitt Romney was going to claim to be the spy who cracked the case.
TOO much information.
Maybe it is time to release these un-named, un-disclosed, anonymous "officials". I as so sure the terrorists will contact them for MORE DAD GUM INFORMATION.
Yeah, right....I am as sure of this information being released ON PURPOSE as I am so sure that the DOJ will finally provide Congress with details of Fast and Furious.
I..D..I..O..T..S.... !!!
While I understand some of the comments, hasn't anybody done the logic test here?
If the bomb was given to an agent that was supposed to be a suicide bomber, wouldn't the bomb not being used raise a flag with the terrorists that this guy wasn't on their side? So by the bomb not being used, the agent basically gave himself away anyway.
I'm glad the bomber was caught. I take this seriously. But on the lighter side I have to wonder what the UK Agent had in mind at the time. Did he like his toot toot? Was the suspect prairie dogging? Did he ponder letting the terrorist blow it out his arse? Just some of the ideas floating around this curious mind of mine.
PUTTZ! In your zeal to get all the information out there as soon as possible just to be first, you've ruined years of work. Thanx @$$h0l3
THE guy's name: Khan ..... ALi Khan.
Bond, Kalil Bond!
I have never seen a case like this of intelligence agencies tripping over themselves to take credit for an operation like this. It used to be that these agencies were just as happy if no one knew about anything they did. I guess in today's world they need to blow their on horns in order to prove they are still relevant and get their budgets increased.
As for revealing details about this guy, don't you think the terrorists know who they gave the bomb to and know that it did not go off. It think by now the terrorists realize they were had by a western agent. The agent was pretty much useless for any further undercover work once the bomb did not go off. The terrorists may not know his real name, but they certainly know what he looks like. I am also sure that they have an idea of his nationality as well. I would hope that the intelligence service he was working for had given him a fake passport with a phony name on it to show the terrorists to keep them from getting his real name. Fortunately, the terrorists do not have the resources to try and hunt this guy down to get revenge for being double crossed.
Obama is better at taking victory laps for saying "go".
the tells of the dirty diaper dude...dang...his name was do-do...special agent #002...
Hand and if something went wrong you would crucify him as taking a bad risk.
forkchops
I agree with the people screaming foul about details being spilled. I think no details should ever be published about these operations. EVER.
I understand your point, however I disagree. I fail to see where them not trusting anyone with a western passport is/would be a good thing, considering they were able to infiltrate Al Qaeda with the help of a British spy, which possibly indicates that it is difficult to infiltrate their organisation with the help of locals. Not to mention that it will now probably leave us with the only option of being the ones having to trust those locals, if we can find any willing to infiltrate Al Qaeda that is.
LordRaven
Not necessarily. They could have pretended they caught him before he was able to detonate the bomb, as they did previously. This at least would have made them wonder if their bomb was as difficult to detect as they thought.
tw1sted, no I wouldn't have. It wouldn't have been his fault. Intelligence, execution would have failed. Much like you lefties who blame Bush for the WMD debacle. He trusted his team to tell the truth and be able to prove it. The people whom you now wash the feet of voted to "go" when Bush made the decision and yet you blame it ALL on him.
Hello folks, have they got you all nice and scared? The next bomber will have a suppository bomb, you know how the TSA had to change their procedures to account for the shoe bomber!
For those pointing out that the terrorist who sent him would already know due to the bomb not going off, you missed yesterday's article that said those terrorist were blown up in a drone strike! So, I doubt if they knew who betrayed them.
Yesterday's article was enough to cause problems in their ranks. Since those stories pointed out it was a spy who got them! Telling them which one was a spy doesn't help. It just clears any that got away as being the spy.......
Hi Trust :)
USAF Vet,
You're correct. This is an important development because it makes it perfectly clear that they are vulnerable. Before it's all over they may end up killing some of their own guys because the suspect them. This is really a great tactic because they realize that they can't trust their own trusted operatives. They know now that every Muslim isn't just going to side with them or support their tactics. It is a good sign of the beginning of the end when their own start turning on them. It has happened throughout history.
I fail to see where them not trusting anyone with a western passport is/would be a good thing, considering they were able to infiltrate Al Qaeda with the help of a British spy, which possibly indicates that it is difficult to infiltrate their organisation with the help of locals. Not to mention that it will now probably leave us with the only option of being the ones having to trust those locals, if we can find any willing to infiltrate Al Qaeda that is.
Anna, I think you missed the point. As mentioned in the article, Al Qaeda is recruiting Muslim Westerners with Western passports for these airline underwear bomb plots, specifically because those Western passports earn them far less scrutiny. So the only way Western intelligence services would be able to foil plots like these are with their own spies. On the topic of airline bombings, it doesn't matter if we trust Middle Eastern locals to infiltrate Al Qaeda because Middle Eastern locals already face tons of scrutiny when they board a plane bound for the U.S. and other countries on terror alert.
As for divulging details, again... I'm not sure what you consider so sensitive about the meager info that has been released. All that ever made the press is that the spy was a British national of Middle Eastern origin. But if releasing that meager bit of info is all it would take to prevent future bombings and to make Al Qaeda more paranoid and suspicious than ever, I don't understand why you wouldn't release that meager info to make such a sharpened point to the bad guys.
The war on terrorism doesn't just encompass guns and conventional warfare, you know. Psychological warfare helps to prevent a lot of events from ever even occurring, as they are in this case.
Forkchops
Its not just about boarding a plane, nor only about this specific case, it is also about being able to infiltrate terrorist groups (which only a well trained agent, with incredible courage, can do). And this doesn't change the fact that the bomb (mentioned in the article) may not have been detected in many airports, had it been carried by an actual terrorist (in other words, we should be very thankful that a spy was able to infiltrate them).
Note that the guy who killed people in France recently (the children at a school among others) recently in France, was under scrutiny (on a terrorist-alert list), but was still able to fly, go to Afghanistan, come back, and to commit murders. You'd be surprised to know how many are on the terrorist-alert list, but are still able to fly from and to western countries pretty easily.
Exactly. And them thinking their bomb was easier to detect then they thought would fit in that category (psychological warfare), it would have left them wondering how it was detected. And they did not need to know the guy was a british spy, they didn't need to know the guy was a spy at all.
What "sharpened point"? that they mistakenly trusted one guy? I already said that I don't think any info should be released at all. We may not know who the agent is, but I am guessing that "meager info" was more then enough for Al Qaeda to figure out who he is, not to mention that there is probably already a few fatwas against him because they now know he was an agent.
Which reminds me of the helicopter that was shot down shortly after OBL was killed, with many guys who were on the same team as the ones who killed OBL. Pure coincidence? maybe ... Again on this, my opinion is that the less they know about these operations, the better it is. We shouldn't have been told which team took OBL down either, it was enough to know that a group of courageous guys did it, we didn't need to know which team it was (and Al Qaeda didn't need to know either).
This said, I understand your point of view forkchops, and you are entitled to your opinion, but I guess we will have to agree to disagree, we simply have different points of view on the best strategy.
No way! Jose.
yes. do not reveal who he is.
All anyone needs to know is he's one brave son of a bitch. That took balls of steel to do what this man did.
Amen Toasty.
Toasty, I can't believe I'm saying this, but you are dead on, I agree with you.
I don't understand why this was "Breaking News." Not that the whole scenario isn't big news. But why is it worthy of the red breaking news banner that the spy was British? Or American? Or Vietnamese? Or whatever else the nationality could have been?
Why are you (the news services) doing this? This guy HELPED US. But giving clues to his identity, you are putting his life, and the life of his family, in danger! How can we expect help if you can't keep your mouth shut? This is as close to "aiding and abetting the enemy" as it gets.
Uh, the guy's already out of Al Qaeda...
Stupid report! What a give-away to the al-Qaida!
(1) British national
(2) Middle Eastern origin
(3) Was in al-Qaida
Now the bad guys will kill him.
While I agree with your sentiment, I am sure he was already pulled from assignment the moment he handed over the bomb. Obviously Al Qaeda would have instantly known what he had done when he didn't blow himself up and the bomb ended up in American hands.
I think the bad guys figured that out on their own. After-all, they should know who was recruited to wear the underwear and who took the bomb.
So now this man has to leave the Middle East and probably find a new career because of the press - that's if he can get away in time before they kill him. Why not use a little bit of common sense before reporting this kind of stuff.
There is stupid going on all right...but it's not the report!
Uh, Victor? This man isn't undercover any more...
M Dot: He's ALREADY out of the mid-east and probably had been before the plot was revealed. We don't know what his "career" was, he was recruited specifically for this job. Recruited, as in he wasn't with MI6.
Don't you think it likely that there were already plans in place to help the guy "disappear" with a new identity, a new place to live, a lot of money, etc.? He's a hero who put it all on the line, I'm sure he'll be well taken care of.
Thanks for your answers. Now that everyone knows who he is, they still won't be able to use his expertise anymore which seems pretty sad for someone who did this job so well.
All lies! And idiots believe this made up bull @!$%#.
Your right Gary! It is all lies! Obama is actually an undercover Al Qaida operative and Bush was a Russian Spy. Clinton blew up the home of those people that were trying to get him impeached (prior to the blow job), and Kennedy actually shot MLK. thanks for your input as it was extremely insightful!
It's time for your meds, Gary.
The world is not flat and a spaceship made it to the moon and back........
my beer is flat...and i'm walking to the seven eleven and back...with a 2 pack...
I think Gary makes a legit point. I don't think it's all lies but it would seem likely that there's a some dis-information being put out.
The idiot reporters shouldn't be talking about this at all.
Terrorists can get all the info they need these days just by turning on the news.
Its a disgrace.
RELAX, the bad guys already knew who he was, or at least his secret identity. As so many posters above have pointed out, they would have figured it out when the guy disappeared and the bomb didn't go off.
Amazing the "source" and the reporter should visit G-Bay for an extended stay vacation and now! Is th American media so blind and so rabid to be first that they cannot put saving lives first...guess so. Disgusting
Why in the world are we giving this information out to the world. It is obvious that we as country are not helping our cause at all if we are leaking this information out! We may as well have put a bulls-eye on this persons back. This is not information that we needed to know at all. This is doing more harm than good! It really disturbs me to know that we do not value not only our secret intelligent gatherers, we don't apprently care about others that are helping us. I, as a citizen of the United States, do not want to know everything. Please keep me, my family, the troops and all the other citizens safe. But don't divulge how you are dong it every step of they way! For that matter the media should not be leading off with this information either. Again I say, you are going more harm than good by releasing these stories to the public. And shame on whom ever leaked it to the press!
Slow down and think about it. Who knew all the details? British, Saudi, American and other western intelligence services. They are the only people that could have leaked any info because they were the only ones who HAD the info. They leaked it on purpose for reasons that none of us know. More than likely the leaks, and who knows if this info is even true, were done to further advance what they are doing.
AQAP and al queda are now freaking out wondering who else is a plant. They can no longer trust the people that were most useful to them; people of Arab descent with western passports and entry visas who could much more readily pass through airport security without causing suspicion, just like the "undies" bomber in Detroit.
For all any of us know the guy isn't even British. There is probably a lot of dis-information in these "leaks" just to keep the bad guys guessing. This will sow an enormous amount of distrust and dissension within their ranks.
If the intel people were intelligent enough to pull this off one would think that they're intelligent enough not to leak anything of any value. It's not the "evil" media that you people love to hate that is leaking this info, it's the intel services and as I said, they have their reasons, they're not stupid.
oops I missed it. Write NBC today and ask them why they are supporting terrorists!
do ya see...a person with a depends on ... and freak out cause...your skeerd they might blow up...
The media is being VERY irresponsible in trying to name this person! They endager his life if they succeed!
BAD MOVE NBC!
Great reporting - lets reveal who the people are who are helping prevent terrorist attacks...that way the terrorists can improve their recruiting strategies...The anonymous source should be disgusted with themselves, and the news reporter who "broke" this story should be fired immediately or reassigned to Yemen. There's a point where responsibility should be placed at a higher premium than getting the story. Not advocating anything against free speech, just simple common sense.
Thoroughly disgusted with this reporter and the story and extremely disappointed in NBC.
007 to the rescue!!!! yay!!!!
'Bad guys will kill him' ???
Apparently, you haven't been keeping up with the story. This was a fake 'attempt', planned and executed by the CIA and MI6 just to see if they could get away with it again. The only Terrorists we have to worry about are working for the 'conservative' parties within our governments, NOT foreign nationals.
haha yea you are right all mighty one. The Republican'ts have ruined this country while the Democraps have done such a bang up job themselves. Keep up the fairy tales smokey!
Your tin foil hat is attracting too much solar radiation into your brain.
Disinformation......
Create a false sense of security or lack thereof. The "bad" guys don't know who or what to trust and believe in. Everyone and everything becomes suspect. The trust they thought they had is destroyed and potential recruits are even more suspect than before.
It really IS a brilliant strategy to help destroy a network that doesn't know who or what it could believe before. It just reinforces the fear factor for them in trusting anyone else.
Of course it can backfire, by driving the "believers" even deeper underground and being more secretive and selective in the future.
And if you doubt this.... just read the responses to the article. NO ONE KNOWS if it's true, a concocted MI6/CIA plot, or if it was just a contrived story with NO substance to it.
Right, because the terrorists are going to get angry, or scared, that the US foiled a made up attack that they weren't planning.
WOW MSNBC! Really? I cant believe this information is getting leaked....taking it too far.
The number of people commenting here who actually have absolutely NO information about the events described is truly EMBARRASSING !!!
Good Job reporter Robert, you should know better. Maybe you are reporting on this for the terrorists so they know who ratted them out. How do you sleep at night.
this is just misinformation to make them suspect their people. im guessing there is a report somewhere saying that a certain percentage of alquida is of british decent. if you pay attention to the first story it says nothing about the guy working for the us and that he had been detained. then they said that he was working for them. now hes a british spy. pretty much like how the fbi said that the hacker sabu was working for them even though they put him in jail for some trumped up charges. everyone know if you work with a certain group then you dont go to jail. so dont be worried for some fictional person in harms way because he doesnt exist.
I guess the media won't rest until this guy is asassinated by al-Quaida, buried and no longer a story.
I bet it's Tony Blair!
what if the underwear bombers go comando?
#1. break out the camo huggies...
Is it Al-Qaeda or Al-Qaida..Was it Usama Bin Laden Or Osama Bin Laden? Does anyone know the Correct Spelling?Anyway i am greatful for the Intelligent people who can Stay Focused,React and Respond,with a Sense of Urgency.And I am Impressed..No Prostitutes..This Time.Smart..Very,Very..Smart!!
Why are we so compelled to disclose to the world the fact that Western agents penetrated AQAP and as a result thwarted this underwear plot? Do we honestly believe that this will be the last plot we expect to see? Shall we infer that we have several other agents now undercover with AQAP and thereby put their lives (and our future security) at risk?
We might have been better served by merely disclosing that the plot was discovered (and thwarted) by western intelligence - without necessarily divulging details (of penetration of AQAP) which might inspire our enemy to change tactics and make it more difficult to thwart future plots.
heh. heh. you said penetrated. heh. heh. ho. ho. heh. yup. yup. heh. heh..
yup...divulging details of penetration...he's typing with one hand...
Actually it was reference to Beavis and Butthead. They always laughed when people said certain words like penetration.