Between September 12 and December 31, 2001: Senior CIA Official Describes 9/11 as an Intelligence Triumph

A high-ranking official in the CIA calls the 9/11 attacks “a triumph for the intelligence community.” This is according to Robert Baer, a former case officer in the CIA’s directorate of operations. In his memoir, See No Evil, which will be published in January 2002, Baer will write that a reporter friend of his recently told him that “one of the highest-ranking CIA officials had said to him, off the record, that when the dust finally clears, Americans will see that September 11 was a triumph for the intelligence community, not a failure.” Baer will comment on this official’s claim, “If that’s going to be the official line of thinking at the agency charged with manning the front lines in the war against the Osama bin Ladens of this world, then I am more than angry: I’m scared to death of what lies ahead.” [Baer, 2002, pp. xix]