CIA thwarted an effort to assassinate Osama Bin Laden in 2000. 8 months before the 9-11 attack? Pictured here satellite controlled Predator Drone firing laser guided hellfire missile.
Richard Clarke, former national coordinator for security and counter-terrorism in his remarkable book: “Your Government Failed You! – Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters” relates and incident where the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) actually thwarted his plan to kill Osama bin Laden, through a targeted drone strike in early 2000 – less than 8 months before the September 11, 2001 attacks that killed almost 3000 Americans.
For those of you unfamiliar with the name, Richard Clarke served in the Pentagon, the State Department, the Intelligence Community and the National Security Council for over 30 years (under three different presidents).
He is a man who would be in a position to definitely recognize an intelligence failure when he sees it.
Clarke describes the CIA’s interference this way:
“When in 2000 l proposed using an unmanned aircraft, the Predator* to go after bin Laden, (James) Pavitt** (then Deputy Director for Operations at the CIA) told an internal CIA staff meeting that Al-Qaeda would figure out that the CIA was involved and ” every CIA officer around the world would be at risk.” I had thought, in fact, that every CIA officer was already at risk from Al-Qaeda. I had thought that being a CIA officer abroad met running some risk to eliminate terrorists threatening the United States.” Pg 145.
* The General Atomics MQ-1 “Predator” drone is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by General Atomics and used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Initially conceived in the early 1990s for reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator carries cameras and other sensors but has been modified and upgraded to carry and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions. The aircraft, in use since 1995, has seen combat over Afghanistan, Pakistan, Bosnia, Serbia, Iraq, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia. The USAF describes the Predator as a “Tier II” MALE UAS (medium-altitude, long-endurance unmanned aircraft system). The UAS consists of four aircraft or “air vehicles” with sensors, a ground control station (GCS), and a primary satellite link communication suite.[4] Powered by a Rotax engine and driven by a propeller, the air vehicle can fly up to 400 nmi (460 mi; 740 km) to a target, loiter overhead for 14 hours, then return to its base.
The HELLFIRE II missile is a combat–proven tactical missile system that can be launched from multiple air, sea, and ground platforms. Offering multi–mission, multi-target capability and precision–strike lethality, the HELLFIRE II missile is the primary 100 lb class air–to–ground precision weapon for the armed forces of the United States and many other nations.
**See more on Pavitt http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Pavitt
See related article: CIA directly responsible for failures in preventing 9-11https://groundreport.com/cia-directly-responsible-for-failures-in-preventing-9-11/
See also video: See video: Richard Clarke – “We failed you, I failed you!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZTCMB-twie8