In THE FIRST DAYS following the 9/11 attacks, I spent my time at Headquarters trying to join whatever office would head up CIA’s response. That proved to be harder than I’d thought it would be.
In the immediate aftermath of the attacks, it was unclear which office would be given the lead responsibility for CIA’s role: NE Division or the Counterterrorist Center, known as CTC. NE’s area of responsibility included the Taliban-ruled country of Afghanistan that served as al-Qa’ida’s sanctuary. This meant that NE owned the turf, in terms of the U.S. intelligence interests and operations there. CTC, on the other hand, had no territorial responsibilities, but was charged with the worldwide counterterrorist mission. Not knowing which office would take the lead, I hedged my bets by staying on leave status for several days, even as I walked the sterile corridors of Headquarters trying to learn as much as I could about what was happening.
Soon I heard that CTC would be in charge and had already organized a team that would be deploying to Afghanistan. The CTC team’s mission was to link up with the Northern Alliance, an Afghan organization made up of Tajik, Uzbek, Turkmen, and Hazara minorities that had been fighting the Pashtun Taliban for years. Importantly, the Northern Alliance was the only organized anti-Taliban force that held territory in Afghanistan. The CIA team, whose formal designation was the Northern Alliance Liaison Team (NALT), code-named “JAWBREAKER,” would be led by Gary Schroen, a highly experienced and decorated operations officer. Gary was in the agency’s retirement transition program on 9/11, but given his relevant and much needed experience, he was asked to delay his retirement in order to lead the NALT. Gary readily accepted the dangerous assignment.
CIA was not a stranger to the Northern Alliance, having maintained contact with the organization for years. During that time, CIA teams had made trips inside Afghanistan to keep up the liaison contact. Complicating Gary’s task, however, was the recent assassination of Ahmad Shah Masood, the Northern Alliance’s charismatic and legendary military leader, who was killed only days before the 9/11 attacks by a suicide al-Qa’ida team posing as journalists. With Masood gone, it was not clear how the Northern Alliance would be impacted in its ability to continue the fight against the Taliban.
The NALT’s mission was especially critical as it was the first step of the U.S. strategy developed by CTC under the leadership of Cofer Black. Importantly, in keeping with the Bush Administration’s preference, the strategy avoided the use of conventional U.S. ground forces. Instead, it called for small, combined teams of CIA and U.S. Special Forces personnel to deploy to Afghanistan to work directly with the Northern Alliance forces, as well as other armed Afghan groups. Their mission would be to locate and destroy al-Qa’ida, and as necessary, Taliban forces. A major component of the plan would be U.S. air power that would be used to attack strategic enemy targets and provide close air support to the friendly Afghan fighters acting as the surrogate maneuver forces on the ground.
After I heard about the formation of the NALT, I talked to NE Division management and obtained their agreement that I could stay on with CTC for the next several months. I immediately set out to find Gary Schroen to let him know I was available and would like to join his team. It took me a couple of days to run him down, as he proved to be a moving target, busy as he was trying to put his team together and make the necessary preparations for deploying.
I knew Gary from earlier in my career but not particularly well, and I had never worked directly with him. I really wasn’t sure he would even remember me. I decided that, if presented with the opportunity, I had to make a good case for why he should take me with him. Finally, purely by chance, I ran into him at the NE Division front office.
“Hi, Gary. I understand you’re putting together a team to deploy to Afghanistan.”
“Yeah, Duane, how are you doing?
Well, at least he remembers me, I thought.
“I’m finalizing the arrangements right now,” he continued.
“If it’s not too late, I’d like to join your team. I just came back from a COS position with CTC, and I’m available to deploy. I’m a former Army Special Forces officer and I speak Farsi.”
I figured my military background, although admittedly dated, would be valuable given the team’s destination and mission, so I made sure Gary knew about it. I also threw in the part about speaking Farsi as he himself was a Farsi speaker, and the Persian Farsi was similar to the Dari spoken in parts of Afghanistan.
Gary looked at me for a second.
“Well, it’s not clear when we’re going to leave, but it could be any day. I’ve got a meeting right now, but let me check into it. I’ll get back to you tomorrow.”
Although my encounter with Gary was brief, my goal was accomplished, and the next day I met with him again. The news was positive.
“You better start getting some gear together ASAP. Things are moving quickly and there’s a good chance we’ll leave very soon.”
It looked like I was going to get what I had asked for, but with possibly just a day or two to prepare there was very little time to get myself organized. The family and I were still living out of suitcases in a temporary apartment, and I had no gear or clothing with me that would be suitable for the environment and the mission. Gary had said I should go out and buy what I needed, as the Agency had no clothing or gear to issue me at Headquarters.
The only good thing about the timing of all this was that my wife, who had been stranded in Europe for several days trying to get a flight home, was finally back and she could take the lead in running the household so I could focus on getting ready for imminent deployment.
But my worrying about how I would get everything together in such a short time was wasted energy. It turned out the team’s departure had suddenly been moved up and on 19 September, the same day that Gary and I had last talked, the team left—without me.
Too late in my effort to join Gary’s team, my only alternative was to join the office that would oversee the Afghanistan effort and then try to get on another team. After a couple of false leads as to the office’s location, I finally was directed to a suite in the New Headquarters Building. At first I thought the place was deserted, but then I found a little corner office with three people sitting in it. I introduced myself to a clear-eyed man of bearish stature who, because he sat behind the only desk, seemed to be in charge. His name was Frank, and he told me I had come to the right place.
With a sweep of his hand he said, “This is CTC/Special Operations, and we’re going take the war to al-Qa’ida.”
I glanced over at the only other people around, a man and woman who did not appear to be doing much of anything at the moment, and said, “Well, it sure looks like you could use a little more help.”
Frank laughed, “Oh yeah, we’re just getting started. Hank Crumpton has just been selected to be our chief, and he’s still en route from overseas. Other than Joanne and John here, and a few stray dogs and cats, this is all the staff we have for the moment.”
“How do I sign on?”
“Well, we’re looking for qualified volunteers, but this is going to be a different kind of mission than the D.O. typically takes on. Hank has said we’ll vet everyone before official acceptance. I’ll have to review your file and confer with him when he gets to Washington. Then, I’ll let you know.”
I knew Hank already. He had been one of my Headquarters overseers while I was a COS in Latin America. I was glad to hear he would be in charge. When it came to CT operations, he was deadly serious. In fact he had been pushing for a much more aggressive policy against al-Qa’ida long before 9/11. I figured this was why he had been chosen to head up the CIA’s response to the attacks.
“Sounds like a plan,” I said. “I’m not sure who is holding my personnel file right now, CTC or NE.”
“Don’t worry. We can track it down.”
Frank jotted down his secure number on a post-it and handed it to me. “Check back with me in a couple of days.”
In two days I called him. He apologized, saying he had been unable to lay his hands on my file. Apparently neither CTC nor NE could find it.
“I’ll see if I can run it down,” I told him.
My efforts were also futile. My file was nowhere to be found, and I was starting to get more than a little frustrated. I knew time was of the essence. I had already missed being part of Gary’s team, and now, because my file had apparently fallen in a large crack between CTC and NE, I was wasting my time walking the halls of Headquarters. This should not be this hard, I thought to myself.
A day or two later, I ran into Frank. “Hey, I was just about to call you. Forget about looking for your file,” he said. “Hank is here, and I ran your name past him. You’re in. Welcome to CTC/SO.”