Special Report

CIA agents concerned about counter-intelligence "hits" masked as terrorist attacks

By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer

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July 27, 2005 (waynemadsenreport.com)—In the aftermath of the outing by the White House of the identities of covert CIA agents, CIA professionals are concerned about past and future terrorist bombings being used by foreign counter-intelligence agencies and terrorist organizations to selectively assassinate CIA agents and assets identified as being involved in America's counter-WMD proliferation operations.

Of particular concern are small-scale terrorist attacks directed against restaurants, cafes, hotels, and bars where agents and their assets meet.

They point to the July 23 bomb blast at an Istanbul cafe near the Galata Bridge which is frequented by Turks and foreigners. The relatively low yield blast injured two people, a Dutchman and a Turk.

Turkey remains a central focus by U.S. intelligence agencies on WMD proliferation because of its close links to the former Soviet Central Asian states, Pakistan, Israel, and former Warsaw Pact eastern European nations.

The Marriott Hotel in Jakarta was car bombed on August 5, 2003, just a few weeks after the White House leaked Valerie Plame's name and her NOC firm, Brewster Jennings & Associates, to several reporters, including columnist Robert Novak. Some 14 people were killed and 148 injured in the Marriott bombing. According to intelligence sources, a covert team of CIA agents on a classified mission were due to stay and meet at the hotel the day the bombing occurred but they canceled their reservations at the last minute when they were tipped off that they were targets for an attack.

The CIA team was reportedly involved in the capture in Thailand of al Qaeda terrorist chief Hambali, thought to have been involved, in addition to the Bali nightclub and other bombings, in trying to procure radioactive material (cesium-137 and cobalt-60) smuggled from the former Soviet Union via Laos to Thailand.

It is not known whether any Brewster Jennings NOCs or assets were members of the CIA team that captured Hambali but the terrorist's connections to an international network of radioactive material smugglers would suggest CIA Counter Proliferation Division (CPD) involvement at a minimum. Plame and her Brewster Jennings colleagues reported to the CPD. The Jakarta bombing was blamed on Al Qaeda's Indonesian affiliate, Jemaah Islamiya.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based investigative journalist and nationally-distributed columnist. He is author of the forthcoming book, "Jaded Tasks: Big Oil, Black Ops & Brass Plates." He is the editor and publisher of the Wayne Madsen Report.