U.S. Intelligence Analyst
Resigned After Cole Attack
By Tabassum Zakaria Oct 25 1:36pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
A U.S. Defense
intelligence analyst
resigned the day after a
bomb ripped into a U.S.
warship in Yemen because
he believed higher-ups had
not given enough weight to analysis that could
have warned of a potential attack, a U.S. senator
said on Wednesday.
``His resignation was due to significant analytical
differences with his management,'' Sen. Pat
Roberts, a Republican from Kansas, said
quoting from a letter the analyst sent to Vice
Adm. Thomas Wilson, director of the Defense
Intelligence Agency (DIA).
The analyst, who was not publicly identified,
worked in the DIA's counterterrorism analysis
office and was an expert in Middle East and Gulf
issues, Roberts told a Senate Armed Services
Committee hearing.
The letter referred to a defense intelligence
assessment dated in June, Roberts said.
``He indicates his analysis could have played a
critical role in DIA's ability to predict and warn of
a potential terrorist attack against U.S.
interests,'' Roberts said.
``He is very troubled by the many indicators
contained in the analysis that suggests two or
three other major acts of terrorism could
potentially occur in the coming weeks or
months,'' the senator said.
U.S. officials have said the United States
received no specific threat of an imminent attack
in the port of Aden against a U.S. warship before
the USS Cole, a destroyer, was crippled on Oct.
12 in an apparent suicide bombing there. The
blast killed 17 U.S. sailors.
The Defense intelligence analyst resigned on
Oct. 13 and sent his letter of resignation on Oct.
14, Roberts said.
The revelation of the analyst's resignation added
to questions raised over whether the United
States should have had an inkling about the
attack in a region known for being inhabited by
anti-Western militant groups.
The Washington Times on Wednesday said the
National Security Agency issued a top-secret
intelligence report on Oct. 12 warning of a
possible attack in the Middle East, but it was not
distributed until hours after the USS Cole was
bombed in Yemen.
The newspaper quoted an official as saying the
report was specific about a possible attack in
Yemen, but said others said the warning was
more general and referred to the Gulf region.
The NSA would not comment on the report, but a
source at the agency told Reuters there were no
intelligence reports dealing specifically with
threats to the USS Cole.
``If that message had contained those specific
factors that indicated not only intent but that there
was an attack imminent ... we would have taken
immediate action,'' Army Gen. Tommy Franks,
head of the U.S. Central Command, testified at
Wednesday's Senate hearing.
Defense Undersecretary Walter Slocombe said
it was ``highly questionable'' whether the
messages in the NSA report were as specific as
suggested by the Washington Times.
U.S. warships have made nearly 30 safe visits to
Aden since January 1999, Franks said, but
conceded that military and U.S. intelligence
agencies knew Yemen had been a haven for
anti-Western groups.
``However, leading up to the attack on USS Cole
on 12 October, we received no specific threat
information for Yemen or for the port of Aden ...,''
he said in testimony prepared for the hearing.
``Had such a warning been received, action
would have been taken by the operating forces
in response.''
The United States has not determined who was
responsible for the bombing, but President
Clinton vowed to hunt down and bring to justice
anyone responsible.
``We are determined to get to the bottom of
this,'' Franks told the Senate Armed Services
Committee. ``We will put the events that led up to
the bombing of the Cole under a microscope.'' |
