Osama Bin Forgotten

C.I.A. Unit on bin Laden Is Understaffed, a Senior Official Tells Lawmakers

Three years after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, the Central Intelligence Agency has fewer experienced case officers assigned to its headquarters unit dealing with Osama bin Laden than it did at the time of the attacks, despite repeated pleas from the unit's leaders for reinforcements, a senior C.I.A. officer with extensive counterterrorism experience has told Congress.

The bin Laden unit is stretched so thin that it relies on inexperienced officers rotated in and out every 60 to 90 days, and they leave before they know enough to be able to perform any meaningful work, according to a letter the C.I.A. officer has written to the House and Senate Intelligence Committees.

The Bush Administration: We used Sept. 11th for our convention, and you really thought we cared? Suckers.


Addendum: I had forgotten this:

The revelation comes months after the Associated Press reported the Bush Treasury Department "has assigned five times as many agents to investigate Cuban embargo violations as it has to track Osama bin Laden's financial infrastructure. It also comes after USA Today reported that the President shifted "resources from the bin Laden hunt to the war in Iraq" in 2002.