others continued patrolling under the windows, all in a seemingly relaxed mode. When we returned, Arnold Kyle rose and addressed the small audience. I counted the participants. There were nine men and two women. Nobody looked younger than twenty-five or older than fifty-five. There was one African-American woman. Two of the men looked Hispanic.
“We are here in connection with our continued effort to combat terrorists by drying up their funding. This particular meeting focuses on Iran’s role in terror financing. In addition to a new member from the FBI’s Counterterrorism Unit, Matt Kilburn, we’ve another new member from the Justice Department’s Office of Asset Recovery and Money Laundering, Anthony Blackthorn. Matt and Tony, please identify yourselves.”
All eyes turned to me and to Kilburn, who sat across the room. Both of us nodded. Kyle continued.
“Matt has been working with us during the past two months in connection with our investigation of the affairs of Nada Management. Tony is a money-laundering expert who is currently investigating bank fraud perpetrated by an individual who may be helping finance Iran’s clandestine terrorist activities. Iran continues, behind a curtain of strict confidentiality, to promote terror through proxies. You can find details in the notes we handed you earlier. Please read and return them to me before the conclusion of this meeting. No written material leaves this room.” He paused to sip from his goblet. “Now, just as we sought cooperation with other nations to join a coalition to fight an overt war against Saddam, we are seeking collaboration in the covert war against terror. As you’re well aware, terror is stateless, but its sponsors are not. Our role here”-he circled his hands as if to grasp us-“is to break the lifeline between terror and its sponsors. In one word, money.”
He sipped again from his water goblet and continued. “Among the foreign intelligence organizations with which we’ve a history of mutual cooperation is the Israeli Mossad. Israel has a clear interest in joining our combat. This isn’t only because we are close allies, but because Israel has been, and continues to be, victimized by terror. Some of it, and it is growing in frequency and severity, is Iranian backed. To make things worse from Israel’s perspective, Iran is leveling direct threats against Israel by announcing that it is starting to enrich uranium, and that it has long-range missiles that could reach Europe. In case anyone missed the hint, Israel is situated halfway between Iran and Europe. So,” he concluded, “we’ve asked the Israeli Mossad to send their representative to brief us and explore ways in which we can collaborate in combating terror financing as one battle of many against terrorism and its backers. Although much smaller than us, the Mossad is one of the big guys when we talk about Arab terrorism.”
Kyle signaled a person at the door, and Benny Friedman walked in, escorted by a sleek young woman in her late twenties. Benny smiled at me when he sat next to Kyle. The woman who came with him sat near him.
“Let me introduce Mr. Benjamin Friedman, head of the Foreign Relations Division of the Mossad, and his assistant.” Kyle then pointed at me. “And I’m sure you know Tony.”
I nodded at Benny with a smile. He was too experienced to give any hint that Tony was an alias. Just for a moment I wondered why we would need to use aliases in a secret meeting, when all participants were government agents and the two foreign representatives were there to cooperate, not to snoop. But I knew the answer. The identities of U.S. covert agents and their relationship with the U.S. intelligence community are protected by a special federal statute, the Intelligence Identities Protection Act, enacted in 1982. If any of the participants in the meeting ever defected, or were captured and forced to talk, he or she would be unable to identify other agents by name, since no names are ever revealed, and aliases always change. Flies never visit an egg that has no crack.
Benny cleared his throat, drank soda water from a crystal goblet that had probably always been used before for wine, but not for Benny, who’d drink only kosher wine, and said, “Ladies and gentlemen. I’ll be brief. The United States and Israel have a joint enemy: terror.” He paused. “We’ve long realized that the battle against world terror cannot be complete or won unless we cut their lifeline-money to finance their operations.”
Benny then commenced with a brief history of Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism, saying that world terror is the Iranians’ illegitimate son. He said that the Iranians make terror a strategy, not a tactic. They’re the masters of implementing the slogan, “Hit and weep.” They have managed always both to be the assassin and to claim to be the victim or assume the role of the good neighbor showing sympathy, and have reaped the benefits of all positions. He talked about Iran’s nuclear aspiration to help them become the kings of the oil-rich region. He described the good relationship Israel once had with Iran, which had stopped when fanatic Islam took over and friends became foes.
“If you want to defeat terrorism, we’ve a unique joinder of interests here,” Benny said.
Benny sipped from his goblet and continued. “The Mossad has recently learned of a link between Iran and financial institutions in the United States and Europe. That unholy alliance is one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Iranians. As you well know, since the Islamic Revolution of 1979, Iran has had a policy of exporting the revolution, first to Islamic countries that don’t follow Iran’s extreme interpretation of Islam, and then to other parts of the world. In their dictionary, ‘exporting the revolution’ means a reign of terror to undermine legitimate governments of other countries by wreaking havoc, fear, and uncertainty.
“The manner in which they export their doctrine is always through third parties, never directly. Look at the Hezbollah in Lebanon, or Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. These organizations take money, weapons, and instructions from Iran. Of course, they all deny any such relationship, but nobody takes these denials seriously. We certainly don’t. The facts are strong and clear. There are also indirect links that tie Iran with Al-Qaeda, the Gamaa Islamiya in Egypt, and Al Taqwa in Europe.
“I won’t go into too many details here; you know the facts. There are also ties between the various organizations, not necessarily through Iran, but certainly with its blessing. Many foreign intelligence agencies, including your agencies, have evidence that after the nine eleven attacks, Al-Qaeda received financial assistance from Nada, which is Al Taqwa’s new name. The terror they’re financing has no borders, no territory, and no government. Therefore we must abandon conservative thinking, which has always been simplistic. If your enemy attacks you, you retaliate or conquer. But now? Your enemies could be in a bordering country, but they could also be five thousand miles away, planning how to send their tentacles to hurt you. They have no tanks and planes that you can match against yours to create a balance. All they need are explosives and good Organization. They don’t want to conquer your country. They want to wreak havoc so that your government will implode.”
Benny continued with his presentation for another hour, overwhelming his listeners with the amount of information the Mossad had gathered on Iran’s major role in terror financing. Benny paused dramatically to see how deeply his audience was concentrating. I looked around; it couldn’t have been deeper. Benny had their complete attention.
“Any questions so far?”
None were asked.
“OK,” said Benny. “Let’s move to more current events. At the end of my presentation you will see how all the pieces fall into place in a current event.”
Benny continued.
“I’ve my government’s consent to cooperate with you in combating terror financing. Needless to say, the consent is general in nature. Before we take joint action Mossad must be convinced that any suggested plan is reasonably possible.”
“Why do you need our cooperation? You’ve done fine so far. And more importantly, why does the U.S. need you in this matter?” asked Kyle.
“It’s a valid question, and I’m happy it has been asked,” said Benny. “The terror-fighting arena has become crowded. There were quite a few cases where we ran into American and other Western intelligence services. That has caused several problems. First, it took us-and probably you, also-time to realize that the other guy working on the same matter was a friend, not a foe. Obviously agents don’t wear uniforms or carry other identifying credentials such as name tags with the name of their organization. The hairy guy with a week-old beard who reeks of tobacco may be one of us, rather than a conniving terrorist.
“Second, the law of supply and demand works here as well. If we compete with others on sources, the price goes up, and most likely the quality goes down, because the suppliers don’t particularly care about after-sale service or warranty. These things create friction we want to avoid. We know that in the battle against terrorism, if you claim exclusivity and superiority, all other players are in your way and must leave the stage to you. But, as a sovereign nation with life-and-death interests in fighting terrorists, we can’t outsource our national security. Therefore we aren’t going anywhere. The conclusion is, let’s work together.”
“I see your point,” said Kyle. “Thus far our achievements in the battle against global Islamic terrorism have
