CIA/DoD Reckless on Jihad: Fallen CIA Operative Family Speaks

Gary Anderson is the husband of Jennifer Matthews, his college sweetheart, his wife of 22 years and a CIA operative on assignment almost 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan, who was killed by a CIA "prized informant" who was actually a jihadi double agent willing to blow himself up to kill the elite CIA team of seven:

Anderson, 50, is seething. He’s angry with the teachings in the Koran that he believes incited the suicide bomber to kill Americans; he’s upset with the CIA for failing to realize that a prized informant was a double agent willing to blow himself up; and he’s hurt by the legion of critics, including Matthews’s uncle, who have questioned her qualifications for the job she was doing.
“The suicide bomber was a bad guy, but at the time, nobody could clearly see it,” Anderson said. “I think the agency prepared my wife to be a chief of the Khost base, but not in terms of preparing for this asset. This guy wasn’t vetted.” And the mother of his three children is dead because of it.

Once again we suffer the bloody consequences when reality meets the fantasists' delusions. And we see it daily. This same newspaper, The Washington Post, just this week ran a headline that the motive was unclear in the jihad attack on the Pentagon, despite the accompanying video of the Muslim recording himself shooting up the Pentagon screaming allahu akbar while incessant Islamic prayer played in the background. The DoD classified an act of war, the Fort Hood jihad, as ''workplace violence" and made no mention of motive in its investigation of Major Hasan's mass murder.

The media, the government, the State department, and the military are hardwired for delusion, and they are taking us all down with them.

For CIA family, a deadly suicide bombing leads to painful divisions The Washington Post (hat tip Doc Washburn)

— Jennifer Matthews was on assignment in Afghanistan in 2009 when a suicide bomber killed her and six other CIA operatives. Now, her relatives break their silence on how her death affected them.

By Ian Shapira, Saturday, January 28, 5:59 PM

The call from the Central Intelligence Agency came on a December afternoon in 2009 while Gary Anderson was skiing with his three children. It’s about your wife, the agency man said.

Standing inside Eagle Rock ski lodge in Pennsylvania, Anderson pleaded for details. The CIA official said simply: Where are you? We’ll meet you.

Anderson suspected dreadful news about Jennifer Matthews, his college sweetheart, his wife of 22 years and a CIA operative on assignment almost 7,000 miles away in Afghanistan. With several hours until the CIA meeting, Anderson and his three children — then 12, 9 and 6 — hit the slopes for one more hour. The father wanted to cling a little longer to normalcy, to a life between before and after.

Finally, the Fredericksburg family got into their silver minivan and headed to a nearby motel. There, in a sterile conference room, CIA officials told Anderson the news: His wife, one of the CIA’s top al-Qaeda experts, had just been killed in an explosion at a base in Khost province, in eastern Afghanistan. There was no mention of a double agent, no indication that six other CIA operatives had died in the deadliest attack on agency personnel in decades.

Anderson, who is commenting publicly on the loss of his wife for the first time, was so stunned that he couldn’t formulate questions, except: Are you sure she’s dead?

Then he summoned his children, who were waiting outside.

“I just said to them, ‘Your mom has died.’ The two oldest fell apart. They started crying,” he remembered. “One of them asked, ‘Is this really true?’ I just kind of hugged them. And then the craziness started after that.”

* * *

A Jordanian double agent’s suicide bombing of the CIA base received days of media coverage. The CIA had been tricked into welcoming one of al-Qaeda’s own onto the agency’s base, enabling him to detonate a vest laden with explosives. On television, pundits and agency retirees called the incident a catastrophe, Langley’s “Pearl Harbor.” Initially, commentators did not utter Matthews’s name, but they did describe the Khost base chief as a “mother of three.” Anderson felt that his wife, however anonymously, was bearing all the blame.

Five months after her burial at Arlington National Cemetery, Matthews’s name became public at a CIA ceremony honoring fallen employees.

Then, in October 2010, the CIA released results of the agency’s internal investigation into the Khost attack, fueling another round of stories that Matthews was partially responsible. Matthews and her team, the report concluded, failed to follow the agency’s procedures for vetting informants. One of Matthews’s severest critics was her uncle, Dave Matthews, a retired CIA official who had helped inspire his niece to join the agency.

Now Anderson and other relatives who once agreed not to speak with the media are breaking their silence to talk about Matthews’s life and death and about how her promotion to a perilous CIA posting has divided them.

On the surface, Anderson, a chemist and devoted churchgoer, accepts his wife’s fate even as he continues to mourn her death at the age of 45. “I loved being married to her,” he said. “She was a great lady.”

But underneath, Anderson, 50, is seething. He’s angry with the teachings in the Koran that he believes incited the suicide bomber to kill Americans; he’s upset with the CIA for failing to realize that a prized informant was a double agent willing to blow himself up; and he’s hurt by the legion of critics, including Matthews’s uncle, who have questioned her qualifications for the job she was doing.

“The suicide bomber was a bad guy, but at the time, nobody could clearly see it,” Anderson said. “I think the agency prepared my wife to be a chief of the Khost base, but not in terms of preparing for this asset. This guy wasn’t vetted.” And the mother of his three children is dead because of it.

[...]

Jennifer Matthews hadn’t always aspired to be a CIA operative. In 1986, she graduated with degrees in broadcast journalism and political science from Cedarville University, a small Christian college in Ohio where she met Anderson. Back then, she was an avid runner with auburn hair who believed deeply in God but also reveled in arguing about theology and politics.

“There were a lot of submissive types there,” Anderson recalled. “She wasn’t that way.”

In 1987, they married and moved to the Washington area, where she wanted to find a job that would enable her to serve God and have an impact on the world.

She sent an application to Langley and landed a job as an intelligence analyst in 1989. Her first assignment involved interpreting aerial photographs from Iran, said Anderson, who was excited about his wife’s new career but quickly realized that he would have to abide by a certain spousal code: Don’t expect too many details about her work.

Her uncle was proud that Matthews was following in his footsteps and thought that his beloved niece was destined to vault up the the agency’s hierarchy. “Hell, I thought she’d be the director of the CIA,” he said. “But then, she got sucked into operations.”

* * *

Matthews became fixated on Osama bin Laden long before most Americans had ever heard of him. By the mid-1990s, she had been assigned to Alec Station, a special unit based in Northern Virginia that was responsible for targeting al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

“Jennifer was one of the visionaries who recognized the threat of al-Qaeda,” said one of Matthews’s colleagues, a CIA counterterrorism officer made available by the agency.The officer works undercover and cannot be named.

Al-Qaeda’s attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998 intensified Matthews’s job. “They were understaffed and overworked,” Anderson said. “It was demoralizing for her. Pre-9/11, they knew something big was going to happen.”

On Sept. 11, 2001, Matthews and Anderson were in Switzerland on vacation when they learned about the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Anderson won’t describe how she reacted. “It was just horror,” he said.

[.....]

* * *

On Dec. 30, 2009, Matthews and six other CIA operatives at Forward Operating Base Chapman were waiting for Humam Khalil al-Balawi, a Jordanian doctor who they believed had infiltrated al-Qaeda’s upper ranks. Balawi had been sending tantalizing video of the cell’s leaders. The CIA thought Balawi might ultimately lead the agency to bin Laden, the world’s No. 1 wanted man.

The CIA arranged for Balawi to be driven to its Khost base for a secret debriefing with several agency officers, including Matthews. She and her team were so eager to meet Balawi that they arrayed themselves in front of his car to greet him.

Balawi, sitting in the back, climbed out and yelled to Allah. Then Balawi, who was wearing a vest laden with C-4 explosives, hit the detonator. A flash lit up the base as the explosion unleashed bits of shrapnel and ball bearings. Shrapnel tore through Matthews’s neck, and one of her legs was so badly burned the bone was exposed, according to “The Triple Agent.”

She died in a helicopter on the way to a hospital. Six other CIA employees and contractors also were killed: Elizabeth Hanson, Darren LaBonte, Scott Michael Roberson, Dane Clark Paresi, Jeremy Wise and Harold Brown Jr.

****

Anderson is grateful to the CIA for etching his wife’s name in the legendary Book of Honor on display in the agency’s main lobby. He appreciates that then-CIA Director Leon E. Panetta attended her memorial service and her graveside service at Arlington National Cemetery, where the spymaster handed Anderson an American flag.

But he is critical of the CIA for being so easily seduced by Balawi, who was discovered in 2008 writing screeds on jihadist Web sites. He was arrested and supposedly turned by the Jordanian spy agency in mere days. The CIA joined in handling him.

“When you look at the history of this guy, he was flipped in a matter of days, which is ridiculous,” Anderson said. “Why wasn’t he checked in transit to the base?”

Anderson was even more baffled after he learned that LaBonte, one of the CIA officers killed in the attack, was sounding alarms about Balawi’s trustworthiness before the Khost meeting.

Read it all.

Comments

[KeithMahone (aka Charles Martel)]

Keystone cops. Don't put the shovels away yet, dumb asses. You're going to need them again soon.

This isn't a game. This isn't a movie. Handle "assets" like you're hosting a dinner party and this is what you get.

Is treachery a surprise to CIA "experts" operating inside a war zone - with people coming and going from command posts of known enemies? Shouldn't it be a pretty good tip off the guy might be a double agent that he has access to high level operators on the other end of the pissing contest? Should the local bank have better security than these spooks of ours? What an embarrassment!

I remember when this story first hit. I was thinking where was the bomb-sniffing dog, why wasn't the guy searched before he got inside the cones, why were numerous high value targets standing around like ducks at a shooting arcade - you know, the usual stuff you can figure out from watching t.v. or playing video games.

I guess they'll "change the procedures" now, but not the real problem - sending indifferent career amateurs and apparatchiks into the crucible to combat lifelong experts, ideologues, and zealots.

[Muslims, the more devout, the more violent]

Whatever it takes, and however long it takes, may the ultimate goal be to get Islam and the Quran banned globally.

"If you will not fight for right when you can easily win without blood shed; if you will not fight when your victory is sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a precarious chance of survival. There may even be a worse case. You may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves." - Churchill

[DOD KALM]

How is the Department of Defense "reckless" in this case? CIA officers failed to successfully vet a CIA agent. Then they invited him into a secure area for a face-to-face. DOD had and has nothing to do with any of that.

[Michael Teuber]

@DOD KALM

The post references two events. The non-reporting of Jihad as the motive for the Pentagon attack, and the tragic death of a CIA agent. The two are causally related only through a common culture of denial regarding the ideology of the Islamist enemy.

Also, I believe Balawi was an informant on loan from the Jordanians and not directly an agent of the CIA in the sense Jennifer Matthews was.

[John]

PLEASE post this video from Norweigan news:

The Religion of Rape… ALL Norwegian Rapists in 2010 Were Muslim

http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/06/the-religion-of-rape-all-norwegian-rapists-in-2010-were-muslim/

[Nat's daughter]

My sincere condolences to this family. I am outraged at the lack of vetting for these potential savages and frankly surprised this does'nt happen daily. I thank Ms. Matthews for her service.

[Kevin Stroup]

People, read what Keith Mahone wrote in the comments section about this. Spot on. Why are not all assets frisked, cavity searched, scanned and forced to change cloths if need be. DUH. Spies should never trust ANYONE. It is the world they live in. Apparatchiks is another term people need to know (thanks to Keith M.). Our federal beaurocracies are filled with them. Our CIA and DOD cannot even admit to themselves that Islam is the problem. How can you fight an enemy when you cannot even identify the enemy?

My condolences to the family. A bad situation all the way around.

[Madeleine]

Thanks for properly telling this story Pam. I am pissed! The enemedia couldn't find their way out of a paper bag, I swear! This mom, wife, CIA agent, had to die because the protocols were not in place BEFORE this suicide DR. got to her and the rest of the sitting ducks, like shooting fish in a barrel...this was not an oversight in my opinion, something is missing! ERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! and shame on her uncle. What a jealous jerk! I hope her husband gathers all his emotions post his wifes death, (now that he's had a few years to regroup) and I hope he throws himself and this story into the ring that you and many of your warriors have been battling because it's Islam which needs to be VETTTED!
Islamic people are required to speak with forked tongue!

[Spencer B in MD]

Needed experience in this position - Someone who could have helped her.
Also, her strong belief in God probably played a role in her recklessness. She probably thought that He would (no doubt) protect her.
I wish that she had listened to her Uncle. He sounds like a no BS kind of guy...
Thoughts and prayers to her family.

[ron g]

G-D Fkn Damn them All for NOT dealing with it full bore, head Fn on and cut the Fn head of the SNAKE IMMEDIATELY

many prayers to the family....

[Disgusted]

So, her husband is mad that someone actually overcame the bonds of political correctness to question whether this desk jockey was really the right person for the job?

Her inexperience and arrogance led to the deaths of better people. Her husband should keep his mouth shut, mourn his wife, and not do any further damage to the families of the truly innocent victims.

[Mama Grizzly]

“Jennifer was one of the visionaries who recognized the threat of al-Qaeda . . .”

And THAT made her a threat to the Obama administration.

First he hands them Seal Team 6, then Matthews.

Obama is offering some payola to his Moslem masters.

Before Obama is done he will have gutted everything he can in terms of military readiness, covert operations, stability in the ME.

Watch it and weep.

It WILL happen.

[Madeleine]

Let me just explain something. G-d cannot take away the free will of humans. People out to destroy due to their evil wickedness will go forward with their plans, and sometimes good people get hurt along the way. However the good Lord takes all negative all the time and turns it to his greater glory, in his time. Even from this sad and tragic story his greatness will reach perfection, you can bet on it!
G-d bless this woman and her family and give her husband the strength to keep the flame of truth alive in his pursuit to right a wrongs portrayed against his wife!

[KeithMahone (aka Charles Martel)]

The big question is whether or not the Jordanians actually believed they flipped Balawi, whether they were actually surprised by his treachery themselves or were simply sending this known a--Qaeda operative into the CIA's midst.

It seems unlikely Balawi could fool the CIA and the Jordanians. Odds are the Jordanians were in on the betrayal with plausible (laughable) deniability. Odds are Balawi didn't have to fool two intelligence agencies from two separate nations because the CIA likely deferred to the Jordanians out of ignorance and laziness. (That was the death warrant for Mrs. Matthews.)

Thus, the relationship is tarnished between the CIA and those Jordanian "allies" who forwarded Balawi, the miraculous "defector". If I were the DCI I'd get to the bottom of that right away. Arrange a meeting with Balawi's Jordanian handlers outside Jordan and coerce the truth out of them at the risk of ruining cooperation between the CIA and Jordan's intelligence apparatus - which is worthless absent a confirmation that the Jordanians (Palestinians) are not wholly duplicitous as a matter of policy.

This is the same shit Saudi Arabia pulls all the time - with impunity. Why should we be surprised that the Jordanians talk out of both sides of their Taqiyya holes?

I recommend more cross-training with Mossad. They're regional experts, terrorism experts, and masters of the game - who stand to lose much more with any false moves. We shouldn't be too proud to ask for help from our real allies. Nor should we hesitate to adopt their dirty tricks. What good is our sterling reputation for being suckers and push overs once we're all dead? (You can't knock out a giant turd without getting shit on your hands.)

The CIA (an agency completely compromised by Marxists from before its inception and now virtually run by America's enemies) should be assassinating heads of state, high government officials and deniable assets all over the Islamic world so the dirty ones can't take a shit without worrying about blowing themselves through the ceiling. If the gloves are still on we're losing.

Like someone else said, how can we expect to vanquish an enemy we won't even allow ourselves to define?

[Auntie Izlam]

Unfortunately under the current administration & the commander in chief, all the people in the military services are at risk because they are not valued by the "powers that be".

The obama admin. has shown nothing but disdain & contempt for the US military, CIA & FBI, unless there's some credit to take as in the case of bin laden's capture.

With the latest cuts to military funding ( so the anointed one can feather his nest) expect more unnecessary deaths of the people who put their lives on the line to protect you.

[Jamadagnii]

This was a very upsetting event first because of the number of people killed, entirely destroying the CIA operation in one moment, but maybe even more so because this tragedy was entirely preventable. That's hard to handle and I can understand why Matthew's uncle is angry. From what I have read it appears that common sense protocols were not followed. Since Matthews was in charge she was responsible. From the point of view of a professional she made this mistake because either she was unprepared or unqualified for this position.

No matter who was to blame, all that died did so in service to their country.

From the little reporting I've seen on this war there have been lots of mistakes. I saw a story about a position taken in a remote valley surrounded by steep hills filled with Taliban who shot down at US soldiers at will and disappeared before air strikes arrived. How many Americans were killed before that hapless position was abandoned? Didn't they read Art of War?

This "double agent" was trusted because he was educated and no one could imagine he would be loyal to a bunch of savages rather than to "do gooding" Westerners. No one imagined a doctor would throw away his life as a suicide bomber. Just like the common belief that poverty causes Muslims to become radicalized or American foreign policies towards Israel or the Arab world causes terrorism.

It's never smart to underestimate or assume the enemy shares your values. Matthews probably did that. She was a good Christian, did she have any understanding of the Muslim mindset?

[Attilashrugs]

Blame game is repugnant.
What can this "teachable moment" teach us?
How about we stop nation-building in regions that have NEVER been nation states, but only tribal confederations?
Why must we be shackled to the Colin Powell Doctrine of "You break it you own it"?
If a regime allows its territory to be used to attack the US and allies, and/or offers sanctuary to those who have planned or are planning attacks upon The West, it must be clearly known that this regime and its friends will be overthrown, decapitated. The host nation's infrastructure will more closely resemble junk than it already does. There will be shock and awe, and NO BOOTS on the ground, other than advanced fire directors with targeting gathering tasks to be immediately removed.
The attack will be overwhelming, it will merciless, it will clearly be non-proportional and extremely unpleasant. And not one dime of "re-investment". Not one American sent to rebuild. Perhaps leaflets in their barbaric languages could be dropped by high flying B-52, beyond visibility, as if messages from the gods: Do Not Mess with US Again. Have a nice day.

[Linda]

Don't blame this on the military. Look above the pay grade of the generals, and you will know who is calling all the shots.

[D]

I'm a former U.S. Navy linguist and I can't believe how many mistakes were made after having just read "Triple Agent".

1. Very surprised that they would put an inexperience ops person who was a female in charge of the base. The extremists Muslims tend to view a woman as a non-person. This would not sit right with a lot of Muslim spies regardless of what side they were on. I am female, was stationed in Turkey for a year, and am familiar with the Muslim culture.

2. Matthews does hold a portion of blame (lining up the officers to meet him and baking a birthday cake--really? Muslims don't celebrate birthdays like we Westerners do. They believe it signifies another year closer to death, bad call by Matthews.

3. I belive one of the agents or security personnel--Labonte, (SP?) went over Matthews' head and called some supervisors and Langely but he was told to butt out and that this meeting really needed to take place.

4. Matthews and the personnel there were never informed of the doubts of the informant's credibility.

5. The coffee clutchers at Langely were so anxious to believe this man that they disregarded any reasonable measures that could have been put in place.