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The U.S.
Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...
's Mission Center for Counterterrorism (often referred to as the Counterterrorism Mission Center or CTMC, formerly the Counterterrorism Center, or simply CTC) was established in 1986, and is a division of the CIA's Directorate of Operations. It was renamed during an agency restructuring in 2015, and is distinct from the
National Counterterrorism Center The National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) is a United States government organization responsible for national and international counterterrorism efforts. It is based in Liberty Crossing, a modern complex near Tysons Corner in McLean, Virgin ...
(NCTC), which is a separate entity. The most recent publicly known Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Mission Center was Chris Wood who led the organization from 2015 to 2017.Coll, Steve (2018). ''Directorate S: The CIA and America's Secret Wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan''. New York:
Penguin Press Penguin Group is a British trade book publisher and part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by the German media conglomerate Bertelsmann. The new company was created by a merger that was finalised on 1 July 2013, with Bertelsmann initiall ...
. pp. 11–16. .


Foundation and early years

The Counterterrorism Mission Center was established as the Counterterrorism Center in February 1986, under the CIA's Directorate of Operations, with
Duane Clarridge Duane Ramsdell "Dewey" Clarridge (April 16, 1932 – April 9, 2016) was an American senior operations officer for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and supervisor for more than 30 years. Clarridge was the chief of the Latin American division ...
as its first director. It was an "interdisciplinary" body; many of its personnel, and most its chiefs, were drawn from the CIA's Directorate of Operations, but others came from the Directorates of Intelligence and Science and Technology. Observing that terrorism knew no geographical boundaries, the CTC was designed to cut across the traditional region-based bodies of the CIA. Discredited by the Iran-Contra scandal of 1986, the original aims later gave way to a more analytical role. This did not prevent the Center contemplating an "Eagle"
drone aircraft An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without any human pilot, crew, or passengers on board. UAVs are a component of an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), which includes adding a ground-based controller ...
project in 1986–7, which could have been used to spy on hostage-takers in
Lebanon Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
. The idea was unrealistic in terms of the technical abilities of the time, but can be compared to the
Predator drone The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator (often referred to as the predator drone) is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agenc ...
eventually inaugurated in 2000. Notable early members included
Vincent Cannistraro Vincent Cannistraro was Director of Intelligence Programs for the United States National Security Council (NSC) from 1984 to 1987; Special assistant for Intelligence in the Office of the Secretary of Defense until 1988; and Chief of Operations and ...
, Chief of Operations and Analysis from 1988 to 1991,
Robert Baer Robert Booker Baer (born July 11, 1952) is an American author and a former CIA case officer who was primarily assigned to the Middle East.Robert Bae"Don't Assume Ahmadinejad Really Lost" ''Time'' website, June 16, 2009 He is ''Times intell ...
, from the Directorate of Operations, and Stanley Bedlington, a "senior analyst."


The 1990s

In the early 1990s, the CTC had no more than a hundred personnel, divided into about a dozen branches. Besides branches specializing in Lebanon's
Hezbollah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramil ...
, and secular groups like the
Japanese Red Army The was a militant communist organization active from 1971 to 2001. It was designated a terrorist organization by Japan and the United States. The JRA was founded by Fusako Shigenobu and Tsuyoshi Okudaira in February 1971 and was most active i ...
, another concentrated on
Sunni Sunni Islam () is the largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word ''Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia ...
Islamist radicalism, primarily in
Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...
. Former CTC Director Cofer Black illustrates the evolution of the organization's priorities throughout the 1990s during the
9/11 commission The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks", includin ...
, explaining:
During the early and mid 1990's,
al-Qa'ida Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremism, Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arab, Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military ta ...
was not our principal counterterrorism target. Until September 11,
Hizballah Hezbollah (; ar, حزب الله ', , also transliterated Hizbullah or Hizballah, among others) is a Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and militant group, led by its Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah since 1992. Hezbollah's paramili ...
had killed more Americans than any terrorist group. The
Egyptian Islamic Jihad The Egyptian Islamic Jihad (EIJ, ar, الجهاد الإسلامي المصري), formerly called simply Islamic Jihad ( ar, الجهاد الإسلامي, links=no) and the Liberation Army for Holy Sites, originally referred to as al-Jihad, and ...
,
Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni- Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Br ...
,
Shining Path The Shining Path ( es, Sendero Luminoso), officially the Communist Party of Peru (, abbr. PCP), is a communist guerrilla group in Peru following Marxism–Leninism–Maoism and Gonzalo Thought. Academics often refer to the group as the Commu ...
in
Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = National seal , national_motto = "Firm and Happy f ...
, Abu Saayef in
the Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
, 17 November in
Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
, were all threats to Americans or American interests. Personnel and financial resources, management attention, policymaker interest were spread among these groups.
In January 1996, the CTC opened the
Bin Laden Issue Station The Bin Laden Issue Station, also known as Alec Station, was a standalone unit of the Central Intelligence Agency in operation from 1996 to 2005 dedicated to tracking Osama bin Laden and his associates, both before and after the 9/11 attacks. It ...
to track
Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until his death in 2011. Ideologically a pan-Islamist, his group is designated ...
and
al-Qaeda Al-Qaeda (; , ) is an Islamic extremist organization composed of Salafist jihadists. Its members are mostly composed of Arabs, but also include other peoples. Al-Qaeda has mounted attacks on civilian and military targets in various countr ...
, with
Michael Scheuer Michael F. Scheuer (pronounced "SHOY-er"), (born 1952) is an American former intelligence officer for the Central Intelligence Agency, blogger, author, commentator and former adjunct professor at Georgetown University's Center for Peace and Sec ...
, formerly in charge of the CTC's Islamic Extremist Branch, as its first head. The reasons were similar to those for the establishment of the CTC itself. The new station, unlike the traditional country-based ones, was not geographically limited and drew its personnel from across the U.S. intelligence community. Geoffrey O'Connell was Director of the CTC from 1997 until Cofer Black became Director in June 1999, as part of a reshuffle by CIA chief
George Tenet George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Pr ...
, who was embarking on a plan to deal with al-Qaeda. At the same time Tenet made one of his executives Richard Blee head of the unnamed section in charge of the Bin Laden Station. Paul Pillar became chief of analysis in 1993, and by 1997, he was the center's deputy director. But in summer 1999 he suffered a clash of styles with Cofer Black. Soon after, Pillar left the organization. He was replaced as deputy director by Ben Bonk. Henry Crumpton was head of operations in the late 1990s, and came back after 9/11 as chief of a new Special Operations section. In the late 1990s, the CIA began to set up
Counterterrorist Intelligence Center A Counterterrorist Intelligence Center (CTIC) is, according to a ''The Washington Post'' November 18, 2005 front page article by Dana Priest, a counterterrorist operations center run jointly by the Central Intelligence Agency and foreign intellig ...
s, in collaboration with the intelligence services of individual countries to deal with Islamist militants. The CTICs spread widely after the
September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...
, existing in more than two dozen countries by 2005. Officers from the host nations serving in the CTICs were vetted by the CIA, and usually supervised by the local CIA chief of station.


"The Plan" (1999–2001)

In December 1998 CIA chief George Tenet "declared war" on Osama bin Laden. Early in 1999 Tenet ordered the CTC to conduct a review of the CIA's operational strategy, with the aim of creating "a new, comprehensive plan of attack" against al-Qaeda. By mid-September, the result of this review, known simply as "The Plan", had been briefed to CIA operational level personnel, and to the
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...
, the FBI, and other partners. Once Cofer Black had finalized his operational plan, Charles E. Allen, associate deputy director of Central Intelligence for Collection, created a dedicated al-Qaeda cell with officers from across the intelligence community. This cell met daily, focusing on penetrating the Afghan sanctuary, and ensuring that collection initiatives were synchronized with operational plans. Allen met with Tenet on a weekly basis to review initiatives. The CIA increasingly concentrated its diminished resources on counterterrorism, so that resources for this activity increased sharply, in contrast to the general trend. At least some of the Plan's more modest aspirations were translated into action. Intelligence collection efforts on bin Laden and al-Qaeda increased significantly from 1999.


The core 9/11 hijackers emerge

Beginning in September 1999, the CTC picked up multiple signs that bin Laden had set in motion major terrorist attacks for the turn of the year. The CIA set in motion what Black later described as the "largest collection and disruption activity in the history of mankind". They focused on known al-Qaeda terrorists, and on senior personnel both inside and outside Afghanistan. Amid this activity, in November–December 1999
Mohamed Atta Mohamed Mohamed el-Amir Awad el-Sayed Atta ( ; ar, محمد محمد الأمير عوض السيد عطا ; September 1, 1968 – September 11, 2001) was an Egyptian hijacker and the ringleader of the September 11 attacks in 2001 in which f ...
,
Marwan al-Shehhi Marwan Yousef Mohamed Rashid Lekrab al-Shehhi ( ar, مروان يوسف محمد رشيد لكراب الشحي, , also transliterated as Alshehhi; 9 May 1978 – 11 September 2001) was an Emirati al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist who served a ...
,
Ziad Jarrah Ziad Samir Jarrah ( ar, زياد سمير جراح, '; May 11, 1975 – September 11, 2001) was a Lebanese terrorist and one of the perpetrators of the September 11 attacks. He was the hijacker-pilot of United Airlines Flight 93, crashing the pl ...
, and
Nawaf al-Hazmi ) , birth_place = Mecca, Saudi Arabia , death_date = , death_place = Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. , death_cause = Plane crash , nationality = Saudi Arabian , relatives = Salem al-Hazmi (broth ...
visited Afghanistan, where they were selected by al-Qaeda for the 9/11 operation. In late 1999, the
NSA The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collectio ...
picked up traces of an "operational cadre" consisting of al-Hazmi, his younger brother Salem, and
Khalid al-Mihdhar Khalid al-Mihdar ( ar, خالد المحضار, translit=Khālid al-Miḥḍār was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attac ...
, who were planning to go to
Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...
,
Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federal constitutional monarchy consists of thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two regions: Peninsular Malaysia and Borneo's East Malay ...
, in January 2000. A CTC officer sought permission to conduct surveillance on the men. At about this time the SOCOM- DIA data mining operation " Able Danger" also identified a potential al-Qaeda unit, consisting of the future leading 9/11 hijackers, and termed them the "Brooklyn cell". Altogether, the operation found five cells, including two of the three cells involved in the 9/11 attack. The CIA erratically tracked al-Hazmi and al-Mihdhar as they traveled to and attended the al-Qaeda summit in
Kuala Lumpur , anthem = ''Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , sub ...
in early January 2000.


The Predator drone (2000–2001)

In autumn 2000, a series of flights over Afghanistan by
Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill t ...
drones, under the joint control of the U.S. Air Force and the CTC, produced probable sightings of bin Laden. CTC Director Black advocated arming Predators with missiles to try to launch a
targeted killing Targeted killing is a form of murder or assassination carried out by governments outside a judicial procedure or a battlefield. Since the late 20th century, the legal status of targeted killing has become a subject of contention within and bet ...
of bin Laden, but there were legal and technical issues. Black continued to lobby for Predators armed with adapted Hellfire anti-tank missiles under the new Bush administration in 2001. On Black's advice, Director George Tenet raised the matter at the long-awaited Cabinet-level Principals Committee meeting on terrorism on September 4, 2001, and received authorization to deploy the system.


9/11 and the War on Terror (2001–2015)

After the September 11, 2001 attacks on the
World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...
and
the Pentagon The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metonym ...
, some CTC staff were exempted from an order to evacuate the CIA headquarters building at Langley. They included the shift of the ''Global Response Center'' on the exposed sixth floor, which Black had argued was essential to keep operating during the crisis. Tenet finally agreed with Black that their lives would have to be put at risk. The CTC obtained passenger lists from the planes used in the attack, and identified
Khalid al-Mihdhar Khalid al-Mihdar ( ar, خالد المحضار, translit=Khālid al-Miḥḍār was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attac ...
and
Nawaf al-Hazmi ) , birth_place = Mecca, Saudi Arabia , death_date = , death_place = Arlington County, Virginia, U.S. , death_cause = Plane crash , nationality = Saudi Arabian , relatives = Salem al-Hazmi (broth ...
, whose names they had first linked with terrorism in the winter of 1999–2000. Tenet later proposed inserting CIA teams into Afghanistan to assist local warlords in the fight against al-Qaeda. The CIA geared up to take the lead in the attack on al-Qaeda and the
Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalist, militant Islamist, jihadist, and Pasht ...
in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is border ...
. The Northern Afghanistan Liaison Team (NALT) team, led by Gary Schroen, entered the country once more on September 26. A new branch was added to the CTC, named CTC Special Operations, or CTC/SO, headed by Henry Crumpton, with the aim of locating and destroying al-Qaeda resources. Execution of this mission was nowhere more evident than at Qala-i-Jangi, a 19th-century fortress on the outskirts of the northern Afghan town of
Mazar-i-Sharif , official_name = , settlement_type = City , image_skyline = , pushpin_map = Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia , pushpin_label = Mazar-i-Sharif , pushpin ...
, when it fell to American allies. A CIA Directorate of Support security wing being
paramilitary A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...
, under the innocuous title Global Response Staff (GRS) was created after 9/11. ''
Scorpions Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
'' known for operating in Iraq, was a creation of the CIA’s. Gina Haspel, who would later become CIA Director, requested a transfer to CTC in 2001. Her first day was September 11, 2001. She continued at CTC for three years following the attacks.


Restructuring to CTMC (2015–present)

In 2015, Director of CIA John Brennan introduced sweeping changes to the agency in a modernization effort. In addition to the creation of the first new directorate for the agency in nearly fifty years, many of the changes surrounded the creation of 10 new “mission centers” modeled on CTC, which combine analysts and operators in hybrid units focused on specific regions or security threats. Most track longstanding CIA assignments, with centers devoted to weapons proliferation, for example, and the Near East. These centers largely replicated the structure of CTC, which by 2015 had grown in size and mission from the war on terror. The changes narrowed CTC's scope, led to the reassignment of its director, Michael D'Andrea, to the newly formed Iran Mission Center, and gave CTC a new name, the Mission Center for Counterterrorism. The name was in line with the nine other announced mission centers, but was criticized by members of the agency even otherwise in support of the changes, for being clunky. With the move, the role of Director of the Counterterrorism Center was renamed Assistant Director for Counterterrorism Mission Center, and Chris Wood was the first to occupy the newly renamed office. Reviews of the implementation of the changes at CTMC and elsewhere with the new mission centers have been mixed, with parochialism reportedly continuing to belabor the reorganization. In 2017, the Agency announced the creation of the Korea Mission Center, the 11th such group modeled on the structure of CTC, charged with tackling the threat posed by
North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu (Amnok) and ...
. In March 2020, the Trump administration acting
Director of National Intelligence The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Comm ...
Richard Grennell relieved CTMC Deputy Chief of Analysis, and 40 year intelligence veteran Russel Travers from his position as Acting Director of the National Counter-Terrorism Center (NCTC) during a surprise reshuffle. Reports initially suggested he was fired in order to be replaced with Christopher C. Miller, and while ODNI insisted Travers was afforded the opportunity to return to CIA, former coworkers insisted to the Washington Post that he was afforded only the opportunity to retire. Long seen as redundancy by some in departments of the constituent agencies of the Intelligence Community for having a similar and sometimes overlapping mission with what they see as the territory better left to their units like CTMC, the
Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the 45th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican from New York City, took office following his Electoral College victory ...
's larger move to downsize NCTC was less surprising to most than the abrupt dismissal. Travers' deputy on loan from the
National Security Agency The National Security Agency (NSA) is a national-level intelligence agency of the United States Department of Defense, under the authority of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI). The NSA is responsible for global monitoring, collect ...
was also relieved in the shakeup, and returned to a position at NSA. In November 2020,
president-elect An ''officer-elect'' is a person who has been elected to a position but has not yet been installed. Notably, a president who has been elected but not yet installed would be referred to as a ''president-elect'' (e.g. president-elect of the Uni ...
Joe Biden reportedly considered Darrell M. Blocker, who served as former deputy director of the Mission Center, as a candidate for the role of CIA Director.


Director history


See also

* '' 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi'' *
Counterterrorist Intelligence Center A Counterterrorist Intelligence Center (CTIC) is, according to a ''The Washington Post'' November 18, 2005 front page article by Dana Priest, a counterterrorist operations center run jointly by the Central Intelligence Agency and foreign intellig ...
*
Private military company A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...


References

{{Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Agency Central Intelligence Agency, Counterterrorist Center