-Caveat Lector-
BILL GERTZ
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Oct 25, 2000
NSA's warning arrived too late to save the Cole; Tardy
transmission at fault
The National Security Agency issued a top-secret intelligence
report on the day the destroyer USS Cole was bombed, warning that
terrorists were planning an attack in the region, The Washington
Times has learned.
The warning was not received until after the ship was attacked.
Intelligence officials say this raises questions about whether
the military could have taken steps to prevent the attack if the
alert had been received earlier.
Despite worldwide instantaneous communications, the agency
usually requires 24 to 48 hours to gather, translate and
disseminate the highly classified reports. The information
contained in the report could have been known before the attack,
the officials said.
The final report was not distributed until several hours after
the bombing, which took place in the early morning hours of Oct.
12, Washington time. The blast killed 17 sailors and wounded 39,
and ripped a 40-foot hole in the hull of the Cole.
The NSA warning stated that terrorists, whom intelligence
officials did not identify, were involved in ``operational
planning'' for an attack on U.S. or Israeli personnel or property
in the Middle East.
One official said the warning was specific to an attack in Yemen,
but other officials said it was more general and referred to the
Persian Gulf region. U.S. intelligence and military officials
said the warning was not disseminated soon enough and was not
reported on the U.S. intelligence community's worldwide computer
network called Intellink, the most widely used intelligence
reporting channel.
``There was nothing in the normal intelligence reporting on
this,'' said one official. NSA reports normally are not widely
disseminated within government because of their sensitivity. The
system for reporting terrorist threat alerts is carried out
through separate reporting channels.
NSA reports are sent to the CIA, Defense Intelligence Agency,
State Department intelligence and the intelligence arms of the
military services for inclusion in their reporting. Those reports
then are made available to the policy-makers and military
commanders.
The NSA reported that members of the group were tracked to Dubai
and Beirut as part of planning for the terrorist operation, said
officials familiar with the report who spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The Pentagon, meanwhile, announced yesterday that it had received
a ``specific threat'' of attack in the past 48 hours that
prompted commanders to order U.S. forces in Qatar and Bahrain to
go to their highest state of alert.
``Given the circumstances, the recent attack on the Cole and the
generally higher level of threat throughout that region, we
thought it was simply the prudent thing to do, to go to that
higher threat condition in those two specific areas,'' Pentagon
spokesman Rear Adm. Craig Quigley told reporters. About 1,100
military personnel are posted in Bahrain where the Fifth Fleet
has a headquarters. About 50 troops are in Qatar to manage a
stockpile of war material that could be called on for a regional
conflict.
The issue of specific warnings and the Pentagon's handling of the
Cole incident will be discussed during a House Armed Services
Committee hearing set for today. Defense Intelligence Agency
Director Rear Adm. Thomas Wilson is scheduled to testify.
The terrorist organization identified in the NSA report was
described by the officials as ``a known group,'' but was not
identified.
Suspects for the attack have been identified by U.S. officials as
terrorists linked to Saudi expatriate Osama bin Laden and an
associated group, Egyptian Islamic Jihad. In examining
intelligence reports leading up to the bombing, intelligence
officials uncovered several key indicators but no solid
information about the specific attack.
The officials said that in addition to the NSA report, two other
pieces of intelligence are being investigated:
{{}bullet}{nl}A Yemeni national was invited on board one of two
U.S. Navy destroyers that docked in Aden in August. The Yemeni
was invited to a meal in an officers' stateroom but insisted on
eating on the mess deck _ the same area that was hit on the
Cole's midsection as sailors were eating a meal.
Intelligence officials suspect the Yemeni could have been
conducting surveillance of the ship.
On previous Navy ship visits to Aden, no visitors were on the
shoreline. However, when the Cole arrived in port, its docks were
lined with people, an indicator that local residents may have
anticipated some type of attack. Spokesman for the CIA, NSA and
the Pentagon declined to comment on the NSA report, citing a
policy of not commenting on intelligence.
An intelligence official said that ``if such a threat report
existed, you can be sure that it was disseminated widely and
certainly shared with the military.''
A senior military official said since the bombing that
intelligence officials checked the message traffic and found no
specific terrorist threat warnings issued on Oct. 12. ``We have
no traffic that points to a specific threat to Yemen regarding
Cole or a ship visit,'' the official said.
The Navy on Friday revised its account of the bombing. It
initially stated that the suicide bombers had been part of a
group of boats about 21 feet to 25 feet long that were helping
the Cole tie up to a refueling buoy.
The blast initially was said to have occurred at 12:15 p.m. local
time, or 5:15 a.m. EDT, as the ship was being helped by the small
boats in tying up to a refueling buoy. The later account said the
blast occurred at 11:18 a.m. (4:18 a.m. EDT) after the ship had
moored. The revised account is significant because it indicates
the ship was attacked by a lone boat as the ship was in the
process of refueling. It also indicates a possible breakdown in
security.
Defense officials said the latest warning of an attack was
received in the past two days and was specific enough to alert
U.S. forces to increase their defensive posture from Threat
Condition Charlie to Threat Condition Delta _ the highest alert
status.
Adm. Quigley, the Pentagon spokesman, said local military
commanders around the world are apprised of terrorist threat
information and are in charge of taking precautions against
attack.
``The information on the threats that was perceived by the
intelligence community against the U.S. forces in those areas is
communicated not only to the local commanders but up and down the
chain of command,'' he said. ``So it was not like it was only
shared with the local commanders.''
He described the warning system as ``a continuous iterative
process.''
The threat condition at the time of the Cole bombing was Threat
Condition Charlie, the second to highest alert level.
The warning announced yesterday covers the staff of the U.S.
Fifth Fleet and support activities related to it in Bahrain and
Qatar.
The Threat Condition Delta is based on conditions when a
terrorist attack has occurred, ``or intelligence indicates likely
terrorist action against a specific location,'' Adm. Quigley
said.
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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