Comment It was one of the darkest days in CIA history: Seven agents were killed after being lured by a rogue informant into a deadly trap. In the years since, memories of the 2009 disaster in eastern Afghanistan have helped fuel a worldwide intelligence agency search for an elusive terrorist believed to have played a key role in the officers’ deaths. That terrorist was Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader who was killed on Saturday in a CIA-led attack. Nothing in official US statements describes Zawahiri’s death as payback for US losses in Khost, Afghanistan, some 12 years earlier. But many former and current Secret Service officers say that’s exactly how he felt. The CIA, as is standard practice, has publicly acknowledged no role in the launch of the missile that struck Zawahiri as he stood on the balcony of an apartment building in Kabul, the Afghan capital. But since Monday, confirmation of the 71-year-old Egyptian’s death has sparked an emotional reaction at the agency’s Langley, Va., headquarters, as well as with former colleagues, friends and family members of those killed or injured in 2009. “This is an incredibly personal moment,” said Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA operations division official who served with several of the five service men and two women killed at Camp Chapman, a CIA base on the outskirts of Khost. the agency conducted covert missions against al-Qaeda and Taliban militants. In addition to the seven CIA operatives, a senior Jordanian intelligence officer and an Afghan driver were also killed. Polymeropoulos described the deaths at Camp Chapman as “the starkest example of the tragic cost of the fight against terrorism.” Many current and former CIA officials marked the news of Zawahiri’s death with social media posts paying tribute to the CIA officers and security team members who died in the Khost attack, the deadliest against the CIA. since eight employees were killed in a bombing at the US Embassy. in Beirut in 1983. “Just remember. They are heroes,” former CIA director and retired general Michael N. Hayden tweeted. In an interview, Hayden recalled working with two of the slain officers, Host Base Chief Jennifer Matthews and Elizabeth Hanson, and learned of their deaths while at CIA headquarters on the day of the attack. “I went out to my car and cried,” Hayden said. CIA Director William J. Burns, in response to a question from the Washington Post, would not comment on the details of the operation against Zawahiri, but said the events were “deeply personal for the CIA.” Zawahiri appeared on his balcony. The CIA was ready to kill him. “In the hunt for Ayman al-Zawahiri, a brutal attack claimed the lives of seven CIA officers in Khost in 2009,” Burns said. “While terrorism remains a very real challenge, Zawahiri’s removal reduces that threat and offers a measure of justice.” Zawahiri’s role in al-Qaeda’s astonishingly complex operation against the CIA base was chronicled in a 2011 book and also described in articles and essays about the attack. The key figure was a Jordanian national, Humam al-Balawi, a doctor who got into trouble in his country for posting pro-al Qaeda messages on social media. After being interrogated by Jordanian intelligence, he was persuaded to become a counter-terrorism informant. Balawi eventually agreed to travel to Pakistan to gather information that could aid the CIA’s investigation of Osama bin Laden and other top al Qaeda and Taliban leaders. After disappearing for months, Balawi emerged in late 2009 with a startling claim: He had established high-level contacts with the community of al-Qaeda fighters hiding in the lawless tribal region along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. As proof, Ballawi began providing evidence of his interactions — including cell phone videos of senior al Qaeda leaders — to his Jordanian handlers, who passed the information on to the CIA. Jordan’s Directorate General of Intelligence regularly works with US counterparts to monitor and prevent terrorist operations around the world, and the two countries discussed the Balawi case closely. In late December 2009, the CIA was eager to meet with the Jordanian spy, sensing a potential breakthrough in the agency’s long-dormant search for bin Laden and other terrorist leaders behind the September 11, 2001, attacks. Seemingly reluctantly, Balawi agreed. at a meeting at the CIA base in Khost. Then, in a move that ensured an enthusiastic reception from the Americans, he showed a particularly tantalizing new detail: the doctor was providing medical care to Zawahiri, then Al Qaeda’s No. 2. Balawi shared vague details about Zawahiri’s physical condition, including his various chronic ailments and his scars from years of torture in Egyptian prisons. The details matched what the CIA already knew about Zawahiri and appeared to confirm that Balawi was indeed in close contact with the al Qaeda MP. The meeting was set for December 30, 2009, with several CIA counterterrorism experts planning to attend. Ballawi arrived by car and, due to the extreme sensitivity surrounding the encounter, the CIA postponed any physical search of the informant until he was well inside the agency’s compound. Balawi did have a mission, but his loyalty was to al-Qaeda, not to Jordan or the CIA. Under his cloak he hid a bomb of high explosive C4. After getting within striking distance of the CIA team, he detonated the device. The attack prompted an extensive investigation and prompted numerous operational changes, including strengthening counterintelligence safeguards. Agency officials have not been able to determine the full extent of Zawahiri’s involvement in planning the 2009 attack, but at least he allowed himself to become bait for a complex operation that allowed a suicide bomber to infiltrate a highly secure and top-secret CIA facility. current and former officials said. Zawahiri’s path to a global terrorist leader That’s why many in the CIA saw Zawahiri’s death as justice, after years of waiting. On Tuesday, a printed copy of a Washington Post article was placed at the grave of Matthews, the Khost base commander who was killed in 2009. “US Kills Al Qaeda Leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Drone Strike in Kabul,” it read. title. The photo was revealed in a Twitter post on Tuesday by Kristin Wood, a former CIA officer who worked with Matthews. “Rest in peace, sister,” the tweet read.
