December 9, 2001: CIA’s Bin Laden Unit Boss Becomes New Chief of CIA’s Kabul Station During Tora Bora Battle

Rich B, a manager at the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center who was responsible for Alec Station, the CIA’s bin Laden unit, from mid-1999 through 9/11, is made chief of the CIA’s new station in Kabul. Rich B replaces Gary Berntsen, who had effectively led the CIA’s war effort against the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Berntsen is unhappy with being replaced, saying: “It felt as though someone had just thrown a bucket of cold water in my face. I couldn’t believe they were doing this in the middle of the most important battle of the war.” The battle of Tora Bora begins around this time and, although the US thinks it has Osama bin Laden cornered there, he somehow manages to escape (see November 16, 2001, November 26, 2001 and Early December 2001). Berntsen’s staff are also unhappy with the decision, and slap their hands over their heads and groan when they find out. They tell Berntsen, “No disrespect to Rich, but when you leave, we leave.” Berntsen will attribute Rich B’s selection to his closeness to CIA Director George Tenet and Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt, and will also hint that Rich B strongly desired the job. [Berntsen and Pezzullo, 2005, pp. 296-7, 306] Berntsen pushed hard for US troops to be deployed to catch bin Laden (see Late October-Early December 2001), but it is not known whether Rich B is in favor of using US troops or not. Rich B will also instigate the transfer of Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi from the FBI to Egypt shortly after arriving; this is the first such transfer of a major figure after 9/11 (see Shortly After December 19, 2001).

Entity Tags: Central Intelligence Agency, Gary Berntsen, Rich B.

Timeline Tags: Complete 911 Timeline