The Black Banners

USS Cole investigation. Later he was promoted to assistant director in charge of the FBI’s New York office.

Debbie Doran: FBI special agent on the I-49 squad; from a family of FBI agents. She played an important role in many operations. These included the 1998 East Africa embassy bombing investigation, the recruitment of L’Houssaine Kherchtou, and the DocEx program.

Maj. Gen. Michael E. Dunlavey: Commander of Joint Task Force 170 at Guantanamo; responsible for military interrogations from the opening of the base until November 8, 2002, when he was replaced in command by Maj. Gen. Geoffrey Miller. Many FBI and military personnel were critical of his leadership and attitude toward detainees, although my interactions with him on the whole were positive.

Ed (not his real name): CIA interrogator whom I first met in Yemen while investigating the USS Cole bombing. We worked together during [5 words redacted], and later we partnered a few times at Guantanamo. He was unhappy with the coercive interrogation techniques the CIA contractors were using on Abu Zubaydah, and demanded that his superiors provide in writing orders that he go along with the contractors.

Joe Ennis: FBI special agent nicknamed “Alabama Joe” because of his pride in his roots; he joined us in Yemen during the USS Cole investigation. The material witness warrant for Jose Padilla was issued based on an affidavit sworn to by him.

Jamal al-Fadl (alias Abu Bakr Sudani): Nicknamed “Junior” within U.S. government circles, he was an early al-Qaeda member who served as bin Laden’s secretary before turning himself over to the United States in 1996 after getting caught stealing $110,000 from al-Qaeda. The information he gave us was central to our understanding of how the organization operated and evolved up till 1996, and he also became a key witness in subsequent trials against al-Qaeda members. He is in the U.S. Witness Protection Program.

Khalid al-Fawwaz: A trusted bin Laden lieutenant who first led al-Qaeda’s cell in Nairobi; once it was operational he went to London to run al-Qaeda’s operations there, focusing on logistics and public relations. In 1999 I helped the British build a case against Fawwaz and other members of the al-Qaeda–Egyptian Islamic Jihad cell in London. We won the case. Fawwaz is still awaiting extradition to the United States.

Harun Fazul (alias of Fazul Abdullah Mohammed; known mainly as Harun; another alias is Yaqoub al-Dusari): Al-Qaeda operative who served as Wadih el-Hage’s secretary in Nairobi and helped investigate the drowning of Abu Ubaidah. He also helped plan and execute the 1998 East African embassy bombings, and often wrote reports for al-Qaeda leaders. He ran al-Qaeda operations in the Horn of Africa until his death, on June 10, 2011.

Carlos Fernandez: FBI special agent whom I served alongside in many operations.

Patrick Fitzgerald: Worked closely with the FBI when he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York. He played a central role in gaining the cooperation of several al-Qaeda members, including Mohamed al-Owhali and L’Houssaine Kherchtou, and I worked closely with him on operations in London, Italy, and Yemen. He also successfully prosecuted many terrorists, including Omar Abdul Rahman, and al- Qaeda members involved in the 1998 East African embassy bombings.

Fred (not his real name): CIA official who wrote faulty cables during the Millennium Operation in Jordan that had to be withdrawn, and who tried disrupting George Crouch’s successful interrogation of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Liby. Some of his other errors are discussed in the CIA inspector general’s report on the CIA’s coercive interrogation program.

Louis Freeh: Director of the FBI from September 1993 to June 2001. Aware of problems we were having during the Cole investigation, he flew to Yemen to speak to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, an effort that greatly helped us.

Stephen Gaudin: FBI special agent who was my partner in [4 words redacted]. [19 words redacted] During the 1998 East African embassy bombing investigation, he helped gain the confession of Mohamed al-Owhali, and after 9/11 he served as the FBI Legat in Yemen.

Ahmed al-Hada: Yemeni al-Qaeda member whose son Jaffar and sons-in-law Ahmed al- Darbi and Khalid al-Mihdhar (one of the 9/11 hijackers) also belonged to the organization. During the 1998 East African embassy bombing investigation, we discovered that his phone number in Yemen served as a virtual switchboard for al-Qaeda. The Yemenis only let us question him after 9/11; the interrogation was conducted by Bob McFadden, Andre Khoury, and me.

Wadih el-Hage: Lebanese al-Qaeda member who moved to the United States (and became a citizen) and was inspired by Abdullah Azzam to join the mujahideen. After the Soviet jihad he worked for bin Laden as his secretary, and in Nairobi he replaced Khalid al-Fawwaz (who had been sent by bin Laden to London). El-Hage was later arrested and sentenced to life in prison in the United States for his role in the 1998 East African embassy bombings.

Hambali: Commonly used name of Riduan Isamuddin, a commander of the Southeast Asian terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah with responsibility for Singapore and Malaysia. A disciple of Abdullah Sungkar, he was sent by him in 1996 to train in Afghanistan, where he built a relationship with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Through KSM he pledged allegiance to bin Laden and was central to cementing the relationship between al-Qaeda and JI. On August 11, 2003, he was arrested by Thailand’s Special Branch. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Salim Hamdan (alias Saqr al-Jadawi): Al-Qaeda member who joined the organization as part of the Northern Group in 1996. He is the brother-in-law of Abu Jandal, and served as bin Laden’s driver and confidant. I interrogated him at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with George Crouch, and gained his confession and cooperation. Without our knowledge, or that of assistant U.S. attorney David Kelley, who was prosecuting the case, Hamdan was labeled an enemy combatant by the Bush administration and barred from cooperating with us anymore. I served as the main witness in his eventual trial. He was convicted, but because of the mishandling of the case by the Bush administration (the enemy combatant label), he was sentenced to only five and a half years in prison. Based on time served, he was released after only a few months in prison. Today he is free in Yemen.

Mustafa al-Hawsawi: Al-Qaeda financial operative who worked with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s nephew Ammar al-Baluchi in helping to coordinate the 9/11 hijackers’ travel and money. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

John Helgerson: Inspector general of the CIA who investigated the agency’s coercive interrogation program after receiving complaints from CIA professionals unhappy with what was being done, and whose report was very critical of the program.

Edmund Hull: Barbara Bodine’s replacement as ambassador to Yemen; served there from 2001 to 2004.

Ibn al-Shaykh al-Liby: An independent terrorist who worked closely with al-Qaeda, he was the internal emir of the Khaldan training camp—Abu Zubaydah’s partner. After his capture he was interrogated by George Crouch and another FBI colleague, and provided actionable intelligence. He was taken away from the FBI and rendered by the CIA to another country, where he was tortured and forced to admit to false connections between al-Qaeda and Saddam. His “confession” was used by Bush administration officials to build its case for war with Iraq. He was later transferred to Libya, where he was put in prison and died under suspicious circumstances.

Abdul Hadi al-Iraqi: One of al-Qaeda’s military commanders. A member of the shura council, after 9/11 he was appointed commander of all the Arabs in Afghanistan. In April 2007 it was reported that he had been arrested. The exact date of the arrest is unclear. He is being held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Kenneth Karas: We worked together when he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York, gaining the conviction in the UK of members of the al-Qaeda–Egyptian Islamic Jihad cell in London. He is a federal judge.

[70 words redacted]

David Kelley: We worked closely together on many operations while he was an assistant U.S. attorney from the Southern District of New York, including during the USS Cole investigation and while building a case against Salim Hamdan. He later became the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York but still continued to personally oversee the USS Cole case.

Khallad (alias of Walid bin Attash; other aliases: “Silver,” Saleh Saeed Mohammed, Sa’eed bin Saleh