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Ali Soufan

(Redirected fromThe Soufan Center)

Ali H. Soufan(born 1971) is aLebanese-AmericanformerFBIagentwho was involved in a number of high-profileanti-terrorismcases both in theUnited Statesand around the world. A 2006New Yorkerarticle described Soufan as coming closer than anyone to preventing theSeptember 11 attacksand implied that he would have succeeded had theCIAbeen willing to share information with him.[2]He resigned from the FBI in 2005 after publicly chastising the CIA for not sharingintelligencewith him which could have prevented the attacks.

Ali H. Soufan
Soufan in 2022
Born1971 (age 52–53)[1]
Beirut,Lebanon
NationalityLebanese-American
Alma materMansfield University of Pennsylvania(BA)
Villanova University(MA)
Known forFBIagent
WebsiteSoufanGroup

In 2011, Soufan published a memoir which includes some historical background onal-Qaeda:The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda.[3]In 2017, he publishedAnatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State.He is the CEO of The Soufan Group[4]and founder of The Soufan Center, "a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving as a resource and forum for research, analysis, and strategic dialogue related to global security issues and emergent threats." Soufan is aPhi Kappa Thetaalumnus and winner of the Kennedy award in 2018.

In 2023, an honoree by theCarnegie Corporation of New York'sGreat Immigrant Award.[5]

Early years

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Soufan was born inBeirut,Lebanonin 1971. He comes from a Sunni Muslim family. He graduated fromMansfield University of Pennsylvaniain 1995, receiving his B.A. inpolitical science.He later graduated fromVillanova Universityin 1997, receiving his M.A. inpolitical science.He is an admirer of the poetKhalil Gibran.[6]

FBI career

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In 1999, Soufan was called toJordanto investigate theJordan Millennium Bombing plot.Here he discovered a box of documents delivered by Jordanian intelligence officials prior to the investigation, sitting on the floor of the CIA station, which contained maps showing the bomb sites. His find "embarrassed the CIA", according to a 2006New Yorkerprofile of him.[2]

Soufan in Afghanistan (2001)

In 2000, he was made the lead investigator of theUSSColebombing.[2]When given a transcript of the interrogations ofFahd al-Quso,he noticed a reference to a one-legged Afghan named "Khallad", whom he remembered as a source identified years earlier asWalid bin 'Attash;this helped the FBI to track downAbd al-Rahim al-Nashiri.[2]

Following theSeptember 11th attacks,Soufan was one of only eight FBI agents in the entire country who spokeArabic,and the only one inNew York City.[7]Colleagues reported that he would sit on the floor with suspects, offer them tea, and argue over religion and politics in fluent Arabic, while drawing out information.[6]Soufan has been described as having had a close working relationship with FBI counter-terrorism agentJohn P. O'Neill,who was killed on September 11.[8]

While in Yemen investigating the September 11th attacks, Soufan received intelligence that the CIA had been withholding for months. According toThe New Yorker,"Soufan received the fourth photograph of the Malaysia meeting—the picture of Khallad, the mastermind of the Cole operation. The two plots, Soufan instantly realized, were linked, and if the CIA had not withheld information from him he likely would have drawn the connection months before September 11th."[2]He was tasked with the "intensive interrogation" ofAbu Jandalover the course of five days in Yemen, during which time Jandal gave up the names of a number of members ofal-Qaeda.[9]It was his questioning ofMohammed al-Qahtanithat led to the terrorism charges againstAli Saleh Kahlah al-Marriin Chicago, whom al-Qahtani had mentioned as being a relative.[6]

In 2005, Soufan approached a Florida doctor,Rafiq Abdus Sabir,pretending to be an Islamist militant, and asked him whether he would provide medical treatment to wounded al-Qaeda fighters in theIraq War.[10]When Sabir agreed to provide medical treatment, he was arrested and sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment for supporting terrorism.[11]

Role in Guantanamo military commissions

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Soufan obtained a confession fromSalim Hamdan,accused of being a driver and bodyguard forOsama bin Laden.Soufan testified before his military tribunal that Hamdan was a hardened terrorist who had possessed advance knowledge of theSeptember 11th attacks.[12][13]He also obtained a confession fromAli al-Bahlul,an al-Qaeda propagandist and bin Laden media secretary accused of making a video celebrating theColeattacks, and testified at his military tribunal as well.[14]

Post-FBI career

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Soufan resigned from the FBI in 2005 and founded the Soufan Group.[15]He continues to be frequently called upon to serve as an expert commentator. Soufan was a former member of theHomeland Security Advisory Council.[16]

Senate testimony

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On May 14, 2009, Soufan testified in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee for its hearing on torture.[17]The hearing followed President Barack Obama's declassification of what is known as the "torture memos".[18]

Most notably, Soufan claimed in his testimony that hisinterrogation of Abu Zubaydahhad resulted in actionable intelligence, such as the identity of convicted terroristJosé Padilla;and that thereafter, whenwaterboardingwas performed onAbu Zubaydah,the flow of intelligence stopped. Soufan's statement contradicts the one made in the "torture memos", which were intent on making a legal case in favor of—and justification for—the use of waterboarding and other so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques"(EITs). Soufan re-stated his claims in an April 22, 2009, op-ed forThe New York Timesentitled "My Tortured Decision",[19]which was published shortly after the memos were released, and similarly two months later.[20]

According to one of President George W. Bush's speechwriters,Marc Thiessen,writing in theNational Reviewin October 2009, both Soufan's testimony and his April 2009 op-ed inThe New York Timesare contradicted by CIA documents that state that Abu Zubaydah revealed the actionable intelligence only during the CIA's interrogation, which included rougher treatment than the FBI had used.[21]However, in turn, Thiessen's argument is contradicted by the 2008 Department of Justice's Inspector General Report,[22]which quotes FBI sources stating that "Zubaydah was responding to the FBI's rapport-based approach before the CIA assumed control over the interrogation, but became uncooperative after being subjected to the CIA's techniques."

Soufan's argument was also supported by the CIA Inspector General's 2004 Report into the program.[23]After investigating claims about the effectiveness of enhanced interrogation techniques, the report stated that while the regular interrogation approach achieved many successes, "measuring the effectiveness of the EITs, however, is a more subjective process and not without some concern."

The Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility report,[24]published July 29, 2009, states that "the CIA Effectiveness Memo provided inaccurate information about Abu Zubaydah's interrogation." The CIA memo stated that "Zubaydah's reporting led to the arrest of Padilla on his arrival in Chicago in May 2003." However, the OPR report states, "In fact Padilla was arrested in May 2002, not 2003," and so "the information 'leading to the arrest of Padilla' could not have been obtained through the authorized use of EITs."

In 2020, the CIA declassified more of his memoir, which was reprinted in a revised edition.[25]

Bloomberg op-ed criticizing Jose Rodriguez

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On May 8, 2012,Bloomberg Newspublished an op-ed by Ali Soufan criticizing a book recently published by former CIA officialJose Rodriguez.[15]Rodriguez's duties included supervising the CIA's enhanced interrogation program. Soufan strongly disputed Rodriguez's claims that the CIA's enhanced interrogation program was effective at securing reliable, useful information.[15]

Soufan questioned whether the marked differences in Rodriguez's description of al-Nashiri's role in theUSSColebombingfrom that of the prosecution would undermine the case against al-Nashiri.[15]Soufan wrote that al-Nashiri was the bombing's mastermind; Rodriguez disputed that al-Nashiri was not intelligent enough to be a "mastermind".

The Soufan Center

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In 2017 Soufan founded The Soufan Center (TSC), "an independent non-profit center offering research, analysis, and strategic dialogue on global security challenges and foreign policy issues...".[26]As of 2021,Michael G. Mastersis President of the Center, while Naureen Chowdhury Fink is the Executive Director.[27]

Jamal Khashoggi Memorial

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Jamal Khashoggi,a journalist withThe Washington Post,and an expatriate fromSaudi Arabia,who had stirred the ire of the Saudi government, was a friend of Soufan's. When Khashoggi was assassinated in October 2018, Soufan helped erect a memorial to him in Washington DC.

Threats

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In May 2020, CIA officials contacted Soufan to inform him they were monitoring al-Qaeda militants who were plotting against him.[28][29]He also started to receive threatening messages via social media.[30]Cybersecurity experts hired by the Soufan Group determined the social media threats were orchestrated not by al-Qaeda, as the CIA claimed, but by the same Saudi government officials who had targeted his friend Jamal Khashoggi, prior to assassinating him.[31]

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In theHuluminiseriesThe Looming Tower(2018), based on Soufan's time in the FBI, he is portrayed by actorTahar Rahim.[32]In the 2019 filmThe Report,he is portrayed byFajer Al-Kaisi.

Works

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  • The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda.W. W. Norton & Company. 2011.ISBN978-0-393-07942-5.
  • Anatomy of Terror: From the Death of Bin Laden to the Rise of the Islamic State.W. W. Norton & Company. 2017.ISBN978-0-393-24117-4.
  • The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11,W. W. Norton & Company, 2020.ISBN978-0-393-34349-6

References

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  1. ^"Ali Soufan Q&A:" Hotel California is the story of my life "".newstatesman.June 20, 2018.
  2. ^abcdeWright, Lawrence(July 10, 2006)."A Reporter at Large: The Agent".The New Yorker.Archivedfrom the original on July 17, 2008.RetrievedAugust 29,2011.
  3. ^"An Interrogator Writes 'The Inside Story Of 9/11'".NPR -Fresh Air.September 13, 2011.RetrievedSeptember 13,2011.
  4. ^"The Team".The Soufan Group.Archivedfrom the original on February 13, 2011.
  5. ^"Pedro Pascal and World Bank's Ajay Banga among those named to Carnegie's 2023 Great Immigrants list".AP News.June 28, 2023.RetrievedJune 17,2024.
  6. ^abcMayer, Jane(2008).The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals.p. 191.
  7. ^"Q. & A.: Missed Opportunities".The New Yorker.July 10, 2006.Archivedfrom the original on April 7, 2008.RetrievedAugust 29,2011.
  8. ^Edmonds, Sibel (September 10, 2011)."The Boiling Frogs Presents Ray Nowosielski & John Duffy".Sibel Edmonds' Boiling Frogs.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  9. ^Wright, Lawrence(2006).The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11.p. 364.
  10. ^Neumeister, Larry (May 21, 2007)."Doctor Convicted of Providing Support to Terrorists".The Sun (New York).Archived fromthe originalon January 31, 2020.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  11. ^"U.S. v. Sabir".Leagle.October 15, 2007.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  12. ^"Guantanamo war crimes judge penalizes U.S. prosecutors in Hamdan case".Canadian Press.July 29, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon August 12, 2008.RetrievedJuly 29,2008.
  13. ^"'Bin Laden's driver knew hijackers aiming for attack'".Gulf News.July 23, 2008. Archived fromthe originalon July 25, 2008.RetrievedJuly 14,2008.
  14. ^"Guantanamo Yemeni claims Al Qaeda's 'best video'".Daily Times.October 21, 2008.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  15. ^abcd Ali Soufan (May 8, 2012)."Will a CIA Veteran's Book Save a Terrorist?".Bloomberg News.Archived fromthe originalon May 9, 2012.Retrieved2012-05-10.The defense of Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri -- the mastermind in the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole in 2000 -- has received a boost from a surprising source: Jose Rodriguez, a former high-ranking CIA official.
  16. ^"Homeland Security Adnisory Council Members".U.S. Department of Homeland Security.RetrievedMay 1,2021.
  17. ^"Testimony of Ali Soufan".United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary. May 13, 2009. Archived fromthe originalon December 17, 2012.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  18. ^"United States Department of Justice: Office of Legal Counsel Memoranda".Archived fromthe originalon May 7, 2009.
  19. ^Soufan, Ali (April 22, 2009)."My Tortured Decision".The New York Times.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  20. ^Soufan, Ali H. (September 5, 2009)."What Torture Never Told Us".The New York Times.Archivedfrom the original on October 16, 2011.RetrievedAugust 29,2011.
  21. ^Thiessen, Marc (October 31, 2009)."New Documents Show the CIA, Not the FBI, Got Zubadayh to 'Cough Up' Jose Padilla".National Review Online.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  22. ^"A Review of the FBI's Involvement and Observations of Detainee Interrogation in Guantanamo Bay, Afghanistan, and Iraq"(PDF).U.S. Department of Justice.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  23. ^"Counterterrorism Detention and Interrogation Activities"(PDF).Special Review.CIA. May 7, 2004.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  24. ^Office of Professional Responsibility Report(PDF).US Department of Justice. July 29, 2009. Archived fromthe original(PDF)on July 28, 2011.RetrievedMay 10,2013.
  25. ^Savage, Charlie; Rosenberg, Carol (August 29, 2020)."C.I.A. Uncensors Memoir of F.B.I. Agent Who Protested Torture of Terrorists".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.RetrievedSeptember 14,2022.
  26. ^"About".The Soufan Center.March 4, 2021.RetrievedJuly 29,2021.
  27. ^"The Soufan Center Team".The Soufan Center.March 4, 2021.RetrievedJuly 29,2021.
  28. ^ Dexter Filkins (July 16, 2020)."Is the Saudi Government Plotting Against Another U.S.-Based Critic?".The New Yorker.RetrievedJuly 24,2020.Two weeks later, Soufan, who lives in the New York area, became the target of a virulent campaign on social media. The campaign, amplified by trolls and bots, featured menacing statements. "Mr. Ali," one Twitter user wrote, "Make yourself dead, beginning of the end."
  29. ^"For Ex-FBI Interrogator Ali Soufan, Sept. 11 Still Frames His Life".NPR.org.RetrievedSeptember 14,2022.
  30. ^ "Former FBI agent Ali Soufan fears Saudi government is targeting him: Report".Middle East Eye.July 16, 2020.RetrievedJuly 20,2020.Zachary Schwitzky, one of the experts hired by the Soufan Group to examine data collected about the Twitter accounts attacking the men, said the information recovered showed "classic signs of a state-supported campaign", according to the New Yorker.
  31. ^ "Warnings of Saudi Arabia's assassination of Ali Soufan in Qatar".Saudi 24 News.July 19, 2020.RetrievedJuly 24,2020.It appears that some people from the team that previously targeted Jamal Khashoggi, who was killed by Saudi intelligence agents in October 2018 at the Kingdom's consulate in Istanbul, participated in the campaign.
  32. ^Lesley Goldberg; Kate Stanhope (January 27, 2017)."Hulu's 'The Looming Tower' Finds Lead in 'Last Panthers' Grad".The Hollywood Reporter.
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