*

Withheld from public release

by National Archives and
Records Administration
under 36 C.F.R. 1256.58

MEMORANDUM

E.O. 13526, section 1.4(c)(d)

FOR THE RECORD

DECLASSIFIED

UNDER AUTHORITY

OF THE

Event: Interview ofl_...:.*=--__

INTERAGENCY SECURITY CLASSIFICATION
Date: February 11, 2004
E.O. 13526, SECTION 5.3(b)(3)
Special Access Issues: ...;f37SCI
IS CAP APPEAL NO. 2012-048, document no. 6
Prepared by: Sarah Webb Linden
DECLASSIFICATION DATE: July 8, 2015
Reviewed by: Yoel Tobin
Team Numbers: One
Location: FBI Headquarters
Participants:
9-11 Commission: Yoel Tobin, Thomas Dowling, Sarah Linden
Federal Bureau of Investigation: Robert Sinton
Interviewee

APPEALS PANEL,

Background

CU) [Bhas
worked for the FBI for 17 years. He has been an analyst within the
Counterterrorism Division since 1992. Initially he worked Iran and Hezbollah matters; in 1993,
after the first World Trade Center bombing, he transferred to the Sunni Islamic Extremist unit.
In 1996 he was temporarily assigned to the Khobar Towers bombing investigation. With the
exception of the year he spent working on Khobar Towers, ~has
focuse1d primjrilY on
Southeast Asia fundamentalists such as Ramzi Yousef and the Bojinka plot. *
is currently
assigned to the FBI's Counterterrorism Division, International Terrorism Operations Section,
Extraterritorial Investigations Unit.

Khobar Towers
(U) ~did
not recall many details of the Khobar Towers bombing investigation. He
left the investigative team prior to the U.S. indictment of subjects. On the specific subject of Al
Qaeda involvement with the plot, []LJ commented that they investigated all available Al Qaeda
sources and connections and realized that the facts did not support Al Qaeda involvement.
-'-_.l.-"":*...:.......Jhad
never been part of an investigation as heavily compartmentalized
as
Khobar. Case information was highly restricted, with as few as 20 people initially allowed
access. Because the FBI agents on-scene were not allowed to conduct any unilateral interviews
or investi ations on Saudi soil

.0.13526,

section 1.4(c)(d)

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

~~worked
on matters concerning Khalid Sheikh Mohammed CKSM) from 1995
through 2003. He read some, though not all, ofKSM's post-capture interrogation reports.

-+S-J ~
stated that in 1996 KSM was in Doha, Qatar. He had been there since at least
1993, working for the Ministry of Water and Electricity. After the U.S. indicted KSM for his
involvement in the Manila Air case, the FBI sent a rendition team to the Gulf. Part of the team

.0.13526,

TOP SECRETI

section 1.4(c)(d)
1

E.O. 13526, section 1.4)(d)

--,

Withheld from public release

by National Archives and
Records Administration
under 36 C.F.R. 1256.58

dvanced to Doha, Qatar in preparation for his capture. The remainder of the team waited in
with a plane, ready to travel to Qatar and pick up KSM and his captors. After
L..-_-:--:--_-:-'
several days the Qatari government informed the U.S. that KSM had been under surveillance and
had somehow escaped .

.k85 [IJdid
not know exactly who funded KSM's travel while he was working for the
Qatar Ministry of Water and Electricity. He speculated that Qatar's Ministry for Religious
Endowment paid KSM to travel around and distribute cash to organizations and Islamic charities.
[iJdid
not feel that UBL was the likely source ofKSM's travel monies .
.k8J ~
believed that KSM did not join Al Qaeda until after the 1998 East Africa
bombings. As late as 1997, KSM was aligned with Abdul Rasul Sayef, who was one ofUBL's
adversaries. Even after he joined Al Qaeda, KSM was not considered a significant player in the
organization until after 09/11/2001. Immediately following the attacks, a variety of U.S.
intelligence sources pointed to KSM (or "Ramzi Yousef's cousin") as the source of the
operation.

E.O. 13526, section 1.4(c)(d)

Bojinka
A-.'L.-_-'I....I_*=-_Ididnot believe that Bojinka was an Al Qaeda plot. Wali Khan was
linked to UBL (they had fought together in Afghanistan), but had never sworn bayat because
Khan wanted to remain independent. Khan and KSM were part of a loose network of extremists

Withheld from public release

by National Archives and
Records Administration
under 36 C.F.R. 1256.58

TOP

SECRETI

II

E.O. 13526, section 1.4(c)(d)

who had trained in Al Qaeda camps but were not Al Qaeda operatives. As for Khalifa, there was
no evidence he funded or knew of the plot, despite his close association with Wali Khan. Ramzi
Yousefwas brought in by Wali Khan, and had no prior affiliation with Khalifa or UBL.
~
did not see thousands of dollars moving to support Bojinka and considered it a
fairly low-cost operation. There was no requirement for casing flights, since flight schedules
could be obtained from the airlines. ~was
certain the operatives had little funding because
Wali Khan onl
ot bailed out of prison
E.O. 13526, section 1.4(c)(d)
l---JKhan in the Philippines.
stated that no money came from Riduan
Isomuddin'slHambali's
Malaysian company Konsijoya, which had at that point only conducted
one (failed) business transaction.

CD

~
knew of only five operatives involved in Bojinka: KSM, Abdul Hakim Murad,
Rarnzi Y ousef, Wali Khan and
with the rest because the FBI had

periphery of the Bojinka group:

like Khalifa, he knew the players but not t e p ot.

TOP SECftET~L-

E.O. 13526, section 1.4(c)(d)

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