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Afghan Suicide Bomber Killed C.I.A. Operatives
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 30, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest killed at least eight American civilians, most of them C.I.A. officers, at a remote base in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to NATO officials and former American intelligence officials.
The New York Times
The attack at the C.I.A. base, Forward Operating Base Chapman, in Khost Province appeared to be the single deadliest episode for the spy agency in the eight years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It also dealt a significant blow to the often insular, tight-knit organization, which has lost only 90 officers in the line of duty since its founding in 1947.
One former C.I.A. official said that eight agency employees had been killed but cautioned that early reports from the field were often incorrect. The official, who spoke anonymously because the agency had not commented publicly on the attack, said the final number of dead could be higher because at least six American civilians were wounded. It was unclear how many of the dead were full-time C.I.A. officers and how many were contract employees.
A C.I.A. spokesman did not return calls seeking comment. Previously, the spy agency has revealed that four of its officers have been killed since the Sept. 11 attacks, all of them memorialized with stars carved into a marble wall at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va.
The attack occurred as the agency has steadily increased its presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the past year, sometimes sending operatives to remote bases instead of to heavily fortified embassies in Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan.
In recent years, the C.I.A. has been at the forefront of American counter terrorism operations in South Asia, launching a steady barrage of drone attacks against Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
<for the rest of this story>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/world/asia/31khost.html?th&emc=th
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This will set us back many years for the knowledge/complete understanding of the area that these people covered...that kind/type of hands on training just doesn't happen over night. How sad for the families and how sad for the people that work along with and the locals that helped those men!
By ALISSA J. RUBIN and MARK MAZZETTI
Published: December 30, 2009
KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber wearing an explosive vest killed at least eight American civilians, most of them C.I.A. officers, at a remote base in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, according to NATO officials and former American intelligence officials.
The New York Times
The attack at the C.I.A. base, Forward Operating Base Chapman, in Khost Province appeared to be the single deadliest episode for the spy agency in the eight years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. It also dealt a significant blow to the often insular, tight-knit organization, which has lost only 90 officers in the line of duty since its founding in 1947.
One former C.I.A. official said that eight agency employees had been killed but cautioned that early reports from the field were often incorrect. The official, who spoke anonymously because the agency had not commented publicly on the attack, said the final number of dead could be higher because at least six American civilians were wounded. It was unclear how many of the dead were full-time C.I.A. officers and how many were contract employees.
A C.I.A. spokesman did not return calls seeking comment. Previously, the spy agency has revealed that four of its officers have been killed since the Sept. 11 attacks, all of them memorialized with stars carved into a marble wall at C.I.A. headquarters in Langley, Va.
The attack occurred as the agency has steadily increased its presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan over the past year, sometimes sending operatives to remote bases instead of to heavily fortified embassies in Kabul and Islamabad, Pakistan.
In recent years, the C.I.A. has been at the forefront of American counter terrorism operations in South Asia, launching a steady barrage of drone attacks against Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the mountains along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border.
<for the rest of this story>
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/31/world/asia/31khost.html?th&emc=th
**********************************
This will set us back many years for the knowledge/complete understanding of the area that these people covered...that kind/type of hands on training just doesn't happen over night. How sad for the families and how sad for the people that work along with and the locals that helped those men!
