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Inside the CIA: Secrets and Spies - Season 1 - Episode 02: Patrick Weninger
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00:15The only way you can defeat a network like al-Qaeda is you have to get inside the network,
00:19which means you have to get a mole.
00:21You have to get someone that's willing to come out and basically turn against their ideology.
00:26Recruiting assets in al-Qaeda is paramount.
00:28You desperately need to have someone next to the leadership.
00:35But if a source is going to risk his or her life,
00:42commit espionage to benefit the United States government,
00:46in exchange for that, we owe them and have a responsibility to protect them.
00:55We try to do what's best for the source.
01:01But we also have to factor in what's best for our national security.
01:07And those two things don't always align.
01:24There's an emotional investment in every case, particularly ones that you recruit.
01:32There's a special bond and understanding the sacrifice that they're making is really part of everything you do.
01:39But in the counter-terrorist environment, the majority of these cases have a shelf life.
01:50In the early 2000s, there was a call to arms for case officers to serve in these war zones.
01:58That's where the mission was.
02:009-11 was fresh in everybody's minds.
02:02So there was no shortage of officers that were raising their hands to go.
02:07And it's, you know, it's a tremendous sacrifice because you're away from your family.
02:11You're in a dangerous environment.
02:13When something goes bad, it can often go really bad.
02:16There's real consequences.
02:18There's a chance that I won't come back.
02:20But you do that knowing that there's a need.
02:24Protecting and saving U.S. lives.
02:26My name is Pat Weininger.
02:28I'm a retired case officer from the Central Intelligence Agency.
02:32I had the opportunity to serve in the agency for almost 21 years.
02:38In 2006, I was assigned to go to a war zone.
02:42You know, it was one of those places where it was in the news.
02:44There was a tremendous amount of strife.
02:49Any CIA officer serving, particularly in the Middle East, went into that assignment with the goal of,
02:57one, collecting intelligence that's going to protect our homeland
03:00and to disrupt and degrade the operations and the activities of Al-Qaeda.
03:04And two, to get information that would lead to the demise of Al-Qaeda senior leadership
03:09and ensure that another 9-11 doesn't happen.
03:13So how do you do that?
03:15Spot, assess, develop, recruit agents that are going to give us access to Al-Qaeda leadership plans and intentions.
03:22At that time, Al-Qaeda was very active.
03:26When we've conquered France, we'll come to the U.S.A.
03:28We'll come to London and conquer the whole world.
03:31The banner of Mohammed, peace be upon his head, will be raised from where the sun rises to where it
03:35sets.
03:36And there was a lot coming at us at that time on a daily basis.
03:39There were mortar attacks, death squads, suicide bombings, attacks against religious sites.
03:51Extremely normal to hear massive explosions several times a day.
03:58Car bombs going off.
04:00If I never say to myself, wow, somebody just died.
04:03Everybody to them was a target.
04:05Anything that's not them, their belief, their ideology is a target.
04:10My name is Marwan.
04:11I was the lead interpreter with that.
04:13The U.S. forces were targets to everybody and anybody.
04:18The people that worked with them were targets to everybody and anybody.
04:21It was the wild, wild west.
04:24They called out for a global jihad and they had foreign fighters who all wanted to fight under the Al
04:29-Qaeda banner.
04:30We estimated there would be 300 kidnappings in a given month in Baghdad alone.
04:34So just do the math.
04:35Literally, the campaign was terror.
04:37My name is Dan O'Shea.
04:39I'm a retired SEAL commander and a veteran of both Iraq and Afghanistan.
04:43Al-Qaeda not only was targeting U.S. soldiers and coalition partners,
04:47but what they did to the locals on the ground was even more catastrophic.
04:52This woman screams for her daughters, victims of one of at least four explosions.
04:57Three of the bombs blew up within minutes of each other.
05:04I was leading a team in the counter-terrorist branch.
05:08Our job was to conduct surveillance operations against potential Al-Qaeda targets.
05:13There was a lot of confusion about who all the players were,
05:17who were the decision makers in the group.
05:20Where are they operating?
05:22Where's their location?
05:23And you're constantly trying to piece that together and follow the breadcrumbs, connect the dots.
05:28Not surprisingly, they're using their own level of tradecraft and cover and security to protect their operations
05:36because they know we're looking for them.
05:39They definitely have the advantage.
05:41They speak the language, they understand the culture, they are made up of people of that country.
05:47Whether it be in a traditional environment or against a CT target, you're always trying to get into that inner
05:51circle
05:52where the decision makers are talking.
05:55Building inroads into those networks through recruitment operations was part of that.
06:00To be able to have someone telling what they're saying, knowing their plans, knowing where they're going to hit next,
06:05that intelligence is invaluable.
06:08I'm Erin O'Loughlin. I was employed by the CIA for 10 years. I was a case officer for seven
06:13of the 10 years that I was in the agency.
06:16Recruiting assets in a war zone happens in multiple ways. They usually come to us for a lot of different
06:22motivations such as ambition or just fear.
06:25We were able to put together some lead information on a potential asset.
06:31And that led to an initial contact. We'll call him Ali.
06:41We had indicators that he was looking to communicate with us.
06:49We weren't 100% sure why. We didn't know his motivations.
06:54At the time, he was serving as an advisor to senior al-Qaeda leadership.
06:59But there was a clear and present danger.
07:01Al-Qaeda would like nothing more than to kidnap or kill a CIA officer.
07:06Was he setting us up?
07:08Is he trying to identify who we are so that we can be a target?
07:13Or does he legitimately want to share information because he has another motivation?
07:18You try to do as much vetting as you can ahead of time.
07:21And we were able to assess that he did have direct access to the leadership of this al-Qaeda group
07:27that was operating in this area and was reigning terror.
07:31So it was a unique opportunity and somebody worth the risk of doing a meeting.
07:39There's a tremendous amount of pre-planning that went into it.
07:42How do we ensure that it's secure before the meeting happens?
07:45If this is a provocation, then we don't know when it's too late, when he's in proximity to us, where
07:52he could harm the team.
07:54Or there's another which was in the back of everybody's mind, mind included, that he's being followed.
08:02This guy is very, very well trusted.
08:04You have all this information.
08:07But the leader could say, hey, why don't you go follow him today, you know, see what he's up to.
08:15Getting to the location site in a secure manner was the first step.
08:23There were two schools of thought moving around.
08:26At one, you either convoyed up and became a big target and would always be Ford Expedition SUVs.
08:31You'd take two or three, minimum two, and you would load up.
08:37You'd either go large or you'd go incognito.
08:40You would try and go in maybe a local vehicle, put a headscarf on, try and cover up.
08:44But if you get caught at a checkpoint and then they realize that you're not a local, you're asking for
08:49a potential death sentence.
08:53The ladder is more dangerous because you can't pack as much.
08:57You have to keep a low profile.
09:01Officers in war zones have to wear their Kevlar, their armor, body armor, and their weapons when they go out
09:06anywhere.
09:07There's a danger on a different, almost steroid-like level.
09:10If you left the base, you could be ending your life just by walking outside the gate.
09:19The day of the meeting, it's an early morning.
09:22We're looking at timing our movements so that we could be less obvious.
09:27It's a very bustling, populated city.
09:31We're trying to blend in, not be obvious.
09:45We picked the time and location, which allows us to have more control over the environment.
09:52There are going to be security gates that this person would have to go through before being exposed to us.
10:01This is a bad guy, so we're going to take all kinds of precautions.
10:05You try to make sure that the car that he's in is not a car bomb.
10:10You make sure that he's not wearing a vest.
10:19So he enters the room, and he definitely looked the part.
10:23He was a large, burly man, beard, weathered face.
10:29He looked like what you think an al-Qaeda terrorist would look like at that time.
10:34It was a lot of nerve-wracking.
10:40It's not possible to be 100% on anything when it comes to doing the dangerous things as far as
10:47war zones.
10:49Again, not knowing who we're dealing with 100% and what his intentions were, whether they're real or was this
10:57a setup.
10:58There's an old saying that when you're trying to prevent attacks, we have to be right 100% of the
11:05time.
11:06Al-Qaeda, they only have to be right once.
11:16I like a good handshake to get a feel for the person.
11:20Is he really what he says he is?
11:22Is he going to blow up once we shake hands?
11:26When your life is threatened, you try to find answers within minutes.
11:32By the definition of terrorism, yes, Ali is a bad guy.
11:37But he came highly recommended with lots of very valuable information.
11:45Information that could save hundreds, if not thousands.
11:50Going into a meeting like that, the climate was very hot, temperatures were high,
11:55and of course the stakes were higher and the risks were higher, but that was just the cost of doing
12:03business.
12:03So we quickly get acquainted with this person.
12:07I asked him, why are you here today? What can I do for you?
12:11His motivations were tied to the killing of other Muslims.
12:15He saw firsthand the car bombs, children being killed.
12:20So as part of this ongoing sectarian violence that his group was involved in,
12:26that started to have an impact on him.
12:30He also saw that there was holes in what he described as Al-Qaeda's narrative.
12:38For example, when people agreed to join Al-Qaeda, perhaps to be a fighter or maybe a suicide bomber,
12:45promises were made that financially their family would be taken care of.
12:48And he saw that that wasn't happening.
12:51He recognized that the longer he stayed in Al-Qaeda, the greater risk of him dying.
12:57And he had a young family and children that he was worried about.
13:02So a combination of those factors led him to want to talk to us.
13:08But he viewed us through the lens of Al-Qaeda.
13:14You know, we were bad.
13:15And one of the things that at the time President Bush had said is that we're not at war with
13:20Islam.
13:20The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends.
13:23Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them.
13:29There was a difference. And he saw that. And he saw over time that the intentions of the United States
13:36government to try to bring stability to that environment was an honorable one.
13:42We spent several hours together during that first meeting and, you know, definitely got a sense that he was who
13:49he said he was.
13:50But we were at the front end of the vetting process.
13:53You should always be vetting.
13:55To vet a source, you're always having to kind of test them.
13:59You've got to be able to make sure that they're an appropriate person to work with so that they stay
14:03safe.
14:04And then you also need to make sure that what they're giving you is solid intelligence.
14:08So, I asked him, tell me who's in the network. And he was able to validate what we already knew.
14:15Again, a good vetting strategy, but also providing new information that we didn't know.
14:20So, you know, he made an impression on me that this guy could be the real deal.
14:24And to his credit, he was willing to assume the risk that came along with choosing this path.
14:32This was a once-in-a-lifetime kind of an opportunity that he didn't hide anything, of course.
14:39He did say a couple weeks ago, if he'd seen me, he would have shot me.
14:48I told them that if we ever learned of him being compromised, that we would do everything that we could
14:54to protect him.
14:55And that meant a lot to him.
14:57We definitely walked away from that meeting feeling better about the relationship.
15:12We started him with smaller operations.
15:16He was probably expecting that we would put him at the maximum risk immediately.
15:22And we just weren't willing to do that.
15:23We have a responsibility to help protect them.
15:28There's a lot of pressure when you're trying to protect an asset and you're working with them.
15:31You hold their lives in your hands.
15:33You're constantly talking to them about staying safe.
15:36You're doing what you can to make sure the person you're working with stays alive,
15:39their family stays alive.
15:40That can be hard on your psyche because they're killed immediately,
15:44if they're even suspected of working with you.
15:48He would always say, don't push me. Just be patient. I'll get you what you want. Please be patient.
15:56You're convincing someone to trust you. And it takes a long time.
15:59It's like building any relationship. It's just this guy happens to be a terrorist.
16:05One of the areas where we were able to build trust with him was the fact that we were not
16:11haphazardly putting him at risk. We were looking out for his interests, not just ours. And that
16:18resonated with him.
16:20Over time, we asked him to do bigger and potentially riskier things. We want to,
16:26you know, crawl, walk, run. And we're teaching him levels of tradecraft along the way also,
16:34like not being too aggressive in how he collected the information. Don't ask to be part of a meeting.
16:39Let them ask you. Don't be so curious about details. You know, simple things like that. And it worked.
16:48After a couple of months, we started putting out intelligence reporting based on his information.
16:54He got plans on attacks, car bombs and IEDs, names of leaders.
17:01As he starts becoming more vetted, he starts providing locational data. You know, where they
17:07were doing meetings, where they slept at night, what we call their bed down locations.
17:11Locations are the most important thing. It's very, very rarely revealed to anybody. So when you have
17:18a source with that kind of information, it's very significant.
17:28Over time, the military started acting on it. I was working very closely with an elite U.S.
17:36Special Operations Force. They knew that I had a source and I was giving them context to the
17:41reporting. They were acting on this information and had a series of very successful operations.
17:49Intelligence is key to everything. Intelligence drives operations. They drive each other and good
17:54operations will bring in more intelligence because they collect intelligence off every target.
17:57They go hand in hand. Obviously, working with our partners in the military
18:01military had a tremendous positive impact on the war on terror. I was tremendously proud.
18:09I have this loyalty to the military because I grew up in a military family.
18:14My parents were both immigrants. My dad was from Peru. He joined the military when he was 18 and got
18:23a
18:23citizenship through that and worked in the Special Operations community. It was a Green Beret and posted at
18:29Fort Bragg, North Carolina. So my brother and I are born and raised there and grew up in this community
18:35of service before self. My dad had served in Vietnam, several tours, had been wounded, received
18:42Purple Hearts. You know, he was that guy. He was a native Spanish speaker serving in the 7th Special
18:49Forces Group. So if you go back to the 80s, these shadow wars that were happening in El Salvador,
18:56Honduras and Nicaragua and then later Panama. I mean, he was involved in all of those, spent a lot of
19:05time
19:05away from us. But he was working in these faraway locations doing secretive work, which we fully
19:14didn't understand at the time. And I got to appreciate as I got older in life. But I got a
19:19commission in the
19:19military. I was an intelligence officer for eight years in the U.S. Air Force. And eventually, I had
19:28the opportunity to visit Langley. And it really piqued my interest. On a whim, I decided to apply,
19:33thinking I'd never have a chance to get in. And lo and behold, got in. But to make the decision
19:40to leave
19:40the Air Force wasn't an easy one, just because the military had been really good to me.
19:44So I spoke to a senior officer, a general. And his remark was, well, what are you waiting for?
19:51Because you don't have to wear your uniform to serve your country. And that was very powerful for me.
20:02We had just gotten ourselves into a very good position with Ali to penetrate these Al-Qaeda networks.
20:18Ali's information led to the removal of many targets off the battlefield.
20:25Coalition forces raided two locations when terrorists was killed and four suspects detained in the operation.
20:32He saw the successes firsthand. Like he would see that his reporting led to two nights later,
20:40somebody being captured and the whole network's talking about it. And he inside knows that it was
20:47him that was directly responsible for that. Ali was a treasure trove. It made him the source of
20:53that era. He starts to be empowered by this. You know, that's a good thing. But it's also,
21:02it can be a very dangerous thing. It's a double-edged sword, where if he becomes too aggressive,
21:07then he's potentially exposing himself and taking unnecessary risks. And that's when things,
21:13you know, become dangerous for him.
21:19As the case progressed, Ali came to me and said, hey,
21:24there's a concern that somebody in the group is talking and they're looking.
21:32Operation-wise, that was a huge deal. You're concerned if his cover is blown.
21:40The fact that the intel that was coming in was allowing the military to strike more and more
21:44targets. Al-Qaeda realized, okay, we have a mole. Someone is obviously leaking.
21:53As time went by, it got more and more dangerous. And the terrorist groups, they are very sophisticated
22:01with how they identify those that were working for the US forces.
22:06From my perspective, we want to be really careful about how we're operating. But in this case,
22:15he was not concerned. He was like, I'm fine. You have to trust me on this.
22:21I know these people better than you. And he wasn't wrong.
22:25And I'm like, well, it's my job to worry about these things. You know, he didn't necessarily know
22:31tradecraft and security. Maybe he wasn't thinking about some of the things that we were thinking
22:36about. But that's just the reality that, you know, sources can bring in a lot of good information,
22:41but the more successful they are at that target, the more risk and more of a target you put on
22:46the head
22:46at that source. So we took measures to protect him. We were able to do some things
22:56to mitigate the threat. And he was super appreciative of that.
23:11He just downplayed any scrutiny that could have been associated with him.
23:18And, you know, he was able to maintain his credibility through that time. And he was
23:23very appreciative of the steps that we took. Seemed to settle down for a couple of weeks.
23:29And then three weeks later, we were in contact, and he indicated that he had been asked to meet
23:39with a senior al-Qaeda leader, someone he had not met before. But he was being asked to meet with
23:45them
23:45the following day. And that he viewed this as a very positive step, that his role as an advisor,
23:53he was making an impact, he was trusted. He said, this is a good thing.
23:59My first reaction was, this seems really out of pattern. He had just been under scrutiny a few
24:05weeks earlier. So suddenly being chosen to go meet a senior al-Qaeda guy,
24:11are you sure this isn't a setup? And he's like, no. This is good for us. I'm going to have
24:17more
24:17access to more senior people. We're going to be able to do more damage against this network. And again,
24:23I was very concerned about this. It just seemed to pop up out of nowhere.
24:28Everybody had a lot of those. But when the high command say to anybody, you're doing this,
24:34you're doing this. It put everything in jeopardy. When anything happens, you're a goner.
24:43After receiving this information, I advised the special operations unit that I was working with,
24:49and obviously the station, and asked for more resources so that we could be better positioned
24:55to monitor what was happening with Ali the following day. If he was indeed having a meeting with a more
25:03senior al-Qaeda leader, we want to be positioned to understand what that looked like.
25:12The day of the meeting, he was told to be at a certain place at a certain time through his
25:18network.
25:20Emissaries picked him up at a certain place and started to employ what we know as, you know,
25:27al-Qaeda tradecraft. Surveillance detection to make sure nobody's following them. They're doing car swaps,
25:36things like that, which we had seen before.
25:40Al-Qaeda does employ tradecraft, and they're very good at it. When it comes to hiding Osama bin Laden,
25:46that was pretty top-notch. The art of war, Sun Tzu said it himself, never underestimate your enemy.
25:52Learn about them, where they're coming from. Understand they're not dumb at all. They're
25:56very strategic. They're very smart. They know how to stay alive.
26:02So, as the day went on, this started to look like he might actually meet someone more senior. And
26:11suddenly, he was at gunpoint asked to leave his vehicle
26:25and blindfolded and put into the trunk of the second vehicle.
26:30And at that point, I realized, they're going to kill him.
26:45That's not something they normally do with trusted al-Qaeda members.
26:51Every time you saw someone being put in the trunk of a car, they were being kidnapped. That was
26:56virtually the calling card. Would generally move them car to car and then ultimately put them in a
27:01place where they were going to be held. Soon after, he was taken to this house in this residential area
27:08that we were not familiar with. I had this feeling like this is not al-Qaeda tradecraft.
27:15This is not part of the plan.
27:29Marwan and I left the station, jumped in the vehicle and went down to the special operations unit that we
27:35were working with and highlighted that, hey, I'm concerned about this.
27:39Marwan and there was a discussion and I met with the commander and we talked through this.
27:44They thought this was a protocol. He had disagreed. He highly disagreed.
27:50So there was that debate. Is he actually going to a meeting with a senior al-Qaeda guy and let's
27:55just let
27:56it play out or are they going to kill him? And it was a valid debate to say, maybe this
28:00is just
28:00all al-Qaeda tradecraft to protect the senior leader. My gut was that they were going to kill him.
28:06I didn't know that conclusively, but I felt that way. And the special operations unit commander agreed with me.
28:15To his credit, he suggested, we're going to go save this guy. We'll go get him.
28:22This unit specifically had benefited from his reporting tremendously in the amount of successful
28:27operations they had, that the detail of his reporting actually provided some level of force protection
28:33for the unit acting on that. And the fact that this unit was willing to take the risk to try
28:40to save him,
28:41that was the game changer. Very few people have the, the cojones to, to, to say, okay,
28:48let's go launch the boys. But we memorize things like the Ranger Creed. We all have a stanza in our
28:54mottos that others might live, leave no man behind. And we don't just mean that for our brothers to our
29:01left and right. With this information in hand, they were able to pull out a map, pinpoint the location,
29:09and very quickly, in a matter of minutes, put together an operational plan right away and start
29:17kitting up to go do it.
29:22I can't speak to the specific TTPs, the tactics, techniques, and procedures of how this unit does
29:28their business, but they're in a very impressive elite unit. They were getting into the right mindset,
29:36getting their game face on to go do this really high risk, dangerous operation in broad daylight
29:42against Al Qaeda, where there's a lot of unknown variables. It's just a matter of minutes.
29:48You're ready to get on the helicopter at a moment's notice because your gear is always ready. You're
29:51already prepped. You have established standard operating procedures. So the normal military mission
29:56planning cycle of 96 hours can be down to nine minutes to certain units that are at that capability.
30:01So very few units around the world are at that level. It's a very, very elite unit. One of these
30:07guys is worth 20, if not more.
30:14The plan was basically a ground element and a rotary element. One helicopter simultaneously
30:21hitting the objective at the same time. Now it was all done under the auspices of a raid. There was
30:28legitimate targets at this house, potentially. We weren't sure who was inside. We just know that
30:33there was two to three Al Qaeda guys outside providing security around the house.
30:40Prior to their departure, I showed them a picture of Ali, which was the first time they got to know
30:49who
30:49the source was so that if they did enter the house, they'd be mindful of who he is and hopefully
30:54not accidentally shoot him. But again, most kidnapping cases, they entered in tragedy.
31:03Hostile rescue missions are inherent with dangerous and they're not always successful.
31:11This is the middle of the afternoon in a bustling environment in a location that previously had not
31:19been known to us. So a lot of unknowns and doing it in broad daylight, you know, the stakes are
31:24higher.
31:25Time was of the essence. I'm also concerned too, like, hey, we're risking American lives.
31:30That's the last thing that I'd want to see. This is a risky operation, for sure.
31:42The helicopter launches and a ground element launch at the same time.
31:55Listening on the radio, they arrive at the house as planned.
32:01As the helicopter lands on the roof, the operators take out the security element while the ground
32:08element is arriving. And the combination of that was instantaneous.
32:14So even though it was broad daylight, they had an element of surprise.
32:18And you can't have hesitancy. A hostage rescue mission is a no-fail mission because the stakes are
32:23so high. You either get the hostage back out alive or you don't. And if you fail in bringing the
32:27hostage
32:27home alive, you failed the mission. The ground element entered the house.
32:31There was a firefight. And, you know, hearing things on the radio. At this moment, we still didn't
32:38know what was happening with Ali. I mean, we could have showed up and he was already executed.
32:44You never have 100% intelligence. There's never 100% accuracy that the bad guy is in the room that
32:50you're going after or the hostage is there. That can mean the difference between life or death for the
32:56hostage itself. As the raid is ongoing and unfolding, we still didn't know what was happening.
33:04It took a few minutes.
33:11And they neutralized the threat inside.
33:16And they called jackpot, which meant they had secured Ali and that he was alive.
33:26The fact that no Americans were injured or harmed was a relief. And then the fact they got Ali, obviously,
33:33was also a big relief. His story was a miracle. The commanders made that time-sensitive decision,
33:42launched the unit, and they pulled off an epic hostage rescue.
33:48Four individuals were taken off the objective. But again, this was all under the ruse of a raid,
33:56not a rescue operation. They asked everybody their name. He stated his, so they knew it was him.
34:03Ali was treated as if he was an Al-Qaeda member. So the same measures that they used against the
34:10other
34:10three, they used against him in order to continue to protect him. We didn't want anyone to know what
34:15the nature of his true relationship was. I was surprised he made it alive. And that was
34:20the ultimate reward. The four were brought back to a facility for the legal debriefings.
34:29And they, the four were standing in a hallway, blindfolds on. And I approached Ali and forcefully
34:38moved him so the others could hear that, to continue that ruse that he was now going to be
34:46and he debriefed and brought him into a private room separated from the other three Al-Qaeda members
34:52and sat him down. I had the blindfold removed from Ali. At that moment, he looked at me and he
35:01started crying.
35:05He saw us and, and he broke down.
35:10And it was a pretty emotional moment. It took a few minutes for him to gather himself to tell us
35:16the story.
35:18Turns out that Al-Qaeda had suspected him of being the mole. And therefore they had set up this entire
35:24day to get him to a location and execute him.
35:30So when he arrived at the location, he said there was two members that he didn't know that were waiting
35:37for him, both armed with pistols. And they basically started to interrogate him and accuse him of working
35:44with the Americans. There was no senior Al-Qaeda meeting. They were there to kill him. They were being
35:51extremely hostile with him. They didn't have any specific information to point to that compromised him
36:01other than, you know, to threaten him. I think hoping that he would admit to it and he wouldn't.
36:08But either way, the group was intent on eliminating a group of people that they suspected of potentially
36:15been working for the Americans. And unfortunately this was his day. Eventually it got to the moment
36:21where they were done talking and pointed both their pistols to his face. They asked him if there was
36:28anything he wanted to say before they executed him. And he said, I'd like to pray. And they granted him
36:36that wish. As Ali describes it, there was a prayer rug. He knelt and began praying.
36:45And as he was praying, he said that he was praying for his family. And he had remembered
36:51what we had talked about, that if he had ever gotten in trouble, that we would do whatever it
36:57took to try to forewarn him, protect him and save him. And as he was praying for that, he heard
37:06the
37:06helicopter land on the roof. The ground element was coming through the door. And in that moment,
37:13it was enough of a distraction where they didn't pull the trigger. And to see it turn the other way
37:20like that, he felt really, really lucky and fortunate. And that's why when we removed
37:26the blindfold, he just burst out with emotions. It was a very significant moment. It was a very,
37:36very strong moment. Yeah. I got a little bit emotional. I'm sure Pat did too.
37:45It's a very powerful moment. It's hard to believe.
37:52And he was, you know, very thankful. And I kept assuring him, like, it's okay. Just,
38:02it's all right. You're going to be all right. But, you know, it was an extremely emotional day.
38:07You know, from beginning to end, the highs and lows, the unknowns, the bravery of our American
38:15colleagues in the Special Operations Unit to go do this operation in broad daylight. Pretty harrowing.
38:28I remember I was serving in a war zone and the commander of the 7th Special Forces Group came
38:36to my location. He was there because he had teams deployed in that area. I started telling him, like,
38:41well, you know, I'm from Fayetteville. And he said, really? And I was like, yeah, in fact, my dad worked
38:46in the 7th Group. He's like, who's your dad? And I told him. And he was like, oh my God,
38:50that's your dad?
38:51Wow, that guy's a legend. He trained me. You know, when I was a young captain, your dad,
38:57he was the real deal in those shadow wars in Central America. Truth be told, my dad wasn't there for
39:06many of the milestones when I was younger. Like, he didn't come to my high school graduation.
39:11When I graduated college, I was commissioned into the military. He wasn't there for that because he
39:16was deployed. I remember early on, I regretted that. But as I got older and entered into the military and
39:22got into the Special Operations Committee myself, and then later the CIA, you learn to understand it
39:29and appreciate it. So here I was, far away in the war on terror. And this guy is telling me
39:37about my dad.
39:40And I had a chance to share that with my dad. And he was pretty proud about that, as was
39:45I.
39:47And I think it's through the work that I did at the agency. And I think that definitely brought us
39:52closer together.
39:54So it helped put things in perspective about the sacrifices that officers make, that our military
40:02makes, and the sacrifices that our agents make to benefit our country. Sacrifice is always going to
40:10be part of the mission. Within the CIA, we try to do what's best for the source, but we also
40:18have to
40:19factor in what's best for our national security. And those two things don't always align. In Ollie's case,
40:25he was lucky that they did. And, you know, this Special Operations Unit was willing to go rescue him.
40:32And fortunately, this one ended in a way where everybody was still alive.
40:41It rarely is a Hollywood ending. It is a miracle he wasn't executed, to be honest.
40:45There's a lot of amazing stories of resilience, of bravery, of heroics. It's just a testament to,
40:52you know, that case officer. It takes a special breed, but thank God we still, you know,
40:57raise men and women that are willing to go do those things.
41:00I was very thankful. He was successfully rescued, and three others were taken off the battlefield.
41:07But the majority of these cases have a shelf life. And I thanked him, you know, for all that he
41:13had done.
41:14But also recognized that this was kind of the end of the line for this operation.
41:20The interesting thing about all of it was Ollie didn't think so.
41:24He still felt like he had utility, but we recognized that he did not.
41:29From my perspective, he had really paid the rent. And he was a courageous,
41:36brave agent that did a lot to protect lives, prevent attacks.
41:44We were able to provide him with the necessary resources so that he could relocate himself to
41:50another place that was much safer and better for him and his family.
41:54So it's never easy saying goodbye. But in this case, we knew that he was moving on to a better
42:01situation than the one that he had been in. So there's solace in that.
42:06These people who do work with us are desperate for a return to normalcy in their country, to peace,
42:15stability. And that's why they're doing what they're doing. That's something you just can't duplicate.
42:18I have a mentor who says, we don't leave agents on the corner. That means when it gets difficult
42:25for them, there's a problem, we go help them, right? That's part of our credo. And that's
42:30instilled in our DNA from day one.
42:33The CIA is dedicated to their assets, their well-being, their safety. They'll do everything and
42:39anything that can be done. Because the alternative was, you know, losing an agent. But he felt it was
42:47worth the risk. Every step taken is a risk. But you are part of that risk knowing that the reward
42:56is
42:56some guy in his 30s with a couple of children just coming home from work providing for his family
43:04is saved. Some U.S. soldiers from the Dakotas, a private, is saved. Some diplomat is saved.
43:15Only God knows how many lives we have saved. That's a very, very big deal.
43:22It's a challenge on all fronts. But that's what we do. We value what our agents are doing for us.
43:29And, you know, I'm forever grateful to them. And that's never lost on us.
43:34If we take time to have a doubt. But that's why we Principle
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