Cooperation from foreign intelligence called 'unprecedented'

Copyright APonline

By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (October 6, 2001 11:36 p.m. EDT ) - It's the kind of communication between nations that goes on beneath the public pronouncements of diplomats and politicians, but in many ways it's far more important. Especially since Sept. 11.

Since last month's attacks, the back channels between the United States and both its allies and adversaries have been lighting up, filled with a crush of intelligence from some 100 countries related to the investigation into the attacks and the worldwide effort to prevent more.

The challenge - as is true with the reams of data acquired from U.S. satellites, spies and communications taps - is sifting through the secrets, looking for a scrap of hard truth amid piles of rumor.

That information is called "actionable intelligence," something Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has said the armed forces want and need to track down terrorism suspect No. 1 Osama bin Laden and his associates in Afghanistan. That's information so current, and so solid, that the United States can take action: launch a missile, raid a camp or send in troops.

So far, information is pouring in from 100 nations, including some that previously had little interest in sharing their intelligence, U.S. officials said. The cooperation is unprecedented, one official said.

When foreign intelligence comes in, U.S. analysts and field officers must try to confirm it - and consider the source.

British intelligence is top notch, former intelligence officers say. Saudi Arabian and Jordanian intelligence is excellent in the Middle East region - when those nations share.

But intelligence experts warn that data coming in from some foreign sources may be subjective or otherwise suspect - perhaps designed as much to meet their own political ends as to hunt terrorists. Israel and Pakistan's intelligence services have provided such selective information in the past, one former senior officer said.

"You have to look at it very critically and see if it is corroborated by other evidence you've got," said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief, adding much of it is useless.

Nonetheless, the Pakistani government, the only one that still maintains diplomatic ties with Afghanistan's Taliban regime, has already provided useful information. Its intelligence sources said bin Laden moved immediately after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

Russia also has intelligence and combat experience in the region, dating back to the Soviet Union's war in Afghanistan in the 1980s. Russia has offered to share information with the United States.

NATO allies are part of the equation, as well. German intelligence provided a crucial link in the investigation by intercepting phone conversations of bin Laden supporters who were celebrating the attacks.

But even some countries on the U.S. list of states that harbor terrorists have been providing support, including Libya and Sudan.

"We're beginning to share intelligence amongst our nations," President Bush said at a recent speech at the Federal Emergency Management Agency. "We're finding out members of the al-Qaida organization (run by bin Laden), who they are, where they think they can hide, and we're slowly but surely bringing them to justice."

Cooperation between the CIA and its foreign counterparts is a long tradition, transcending even public difficulties between nations.

Such intelligence "liaisons" sometimes are carried out under the table with the knowledge and support of top government officials. But the cooperation in the hunt for bin Laden exceeds the normal back-channel flow by large measure.

The intelligence sharing has been working both ways: The United States is providing foreign leaders with what it considers evidence of bin Laden's direct involvement in the Sept. 11 attacks.

And traditional allies are getting more details than others - in particular Britain, whose Prime Minister Tony Blair publicly released a dossier laying out evidence against bin Laden, including direct ties to several of the 19 hijackers in the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

-- Anonymous, October 07, 2001