The CIA knew in some capacity that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were going to happen because of their intelligence on Al Qaeda, the former director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center said Monday.
J. Cofer Black, the current vice chairman of private security firm Blackwater Worldwide, spoke of his experiences as a former CIA counterterrorist operative in Afghanistan during a lecture at Boston University School of Law on Monday, in which he spoke to more than 60 attendees.
‘I was responsible for all analysis done on terrorism, all operational activity, all covert action, protecting innocent men, women and children from harm,’ he said.
The CIA knew an attack like 9/11 would happen because the information they gathered on Al Qaeda’s beliefs and actions indicated that nothing less would occur, Black said. After 9/11, then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked him what his course of action would be toward Afghanistan.
‘We have to go on a war footing now,” Black said he told Rice.
Black said many world officials doubted the CIA and the information its operatives had gathered.
‘Persons in the European Union had stated, ‘You’ve come up with this Al Qaeda thing as a funding mechanism,” he said. ‘There was an element of denial.’
Black, who worked on Al Qaeda strategy from 1999 to 2001, said military action, in comparison to CIA action, was not effective against Al Qaeda because counterintelligence was able to pinpoint terrorist locations more effectively, Black said. The problem was that the military saw terrorism as a law enforcement issue and could not take the proper action against it.
‘We had been working on this for years,’ Black said. ‘We were the most well-positioned. We were psychologically prepared and we were expecting it [9/11].’
BU National Security Law Society President Michael Greenwald said NSLS, which hosted the lecture, asked Black to speak because of his influence in national security.
‘He understands the idea of public service, especially relating to law and law students,’ Greenwald, a LAW graduate student, said.’
College of Arts and Sciences sophomore Jonathan Leo said he attended the lecture because of its pertinence to today’s government, especially with President Barack Obama’s efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison camp, the U.S. detention center in Cuba known for torturing terrorists.’
‘Its use has become more of a controversial topic in recent months with the new Obama administration, as well as its ever-growing importance to the war on terror,’ Leo said. ‘I wanted to hear from a person who had substantial experience in counter-terrorism.”
Leo said he was impressed with Black’s knowledge of events leading up to the war in Afghanistan.
‘The fact that the CIA had about six years of information in Afghanistan prior to [Operation] Enduring Freedom helped lead to the successful use of U.S. Special Forces in the area,’ Leo said.
Black told the Daily Free Press the point of his lecture was to encourage service amongst students.
‘People that do counter-terrorism are not Arnold Schwarzenegger,’ Black said. ‘They are like you and me.’
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