http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N14165388.htm
14 Apr 2004 23:43:38 GMT
Spy first: CIA covert ops head testifies in public

By Tabassum Zakaria 
WASHINGTON, April 14 (Reuters) - In a first for the spy world, a serving
head of the CIA's clandestine unit which recruits foreign agents and
conducts covert operations came out from the shadows to testify in public on
Wednesday. 
"By virtue of my position in the CIA, I am not a public person. Indeed, in
the history of the CIA, no one in my position has ever testified publicly
before," James Pavitt, CIA deputy director for operations, told the national
commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. 
Pavitt has on occasion given a public speech, and has been spotted slipping
into closed-door congressional hearings, but the unprecedented step of
giving public testimony even made some of the commissioners nervous. 
"My stomach's been churning as Mr. Pavitt's been answering questions here
this afternoon. This should not be a precedent for the DDO to be called
before any public hearing," said Bob Kerrey, a former Democratic senator who
had been a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee. 
He suggested the commission get documentation "on the record that this is an
extraordinary situation and it's not to become a precedent for the future." 
Clandestine operations have been behind some of the most "dramatic
takedowns" of the al Qaeda network, Pavitt said. 
But even the demise of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and his deputy Ayman
al-Zawahri, who are in hiding, would "be a sign post, not, not a turning
point," he said. 
"All of us ... must realize that this is a war with no clear end in sight,"
he said. 
He described some of the changes since the Sept. 11 hijacked plane attacks,
which killed nearly 3,000 people. 
"Two and a half years ago, we would have listed our top concerns -- Yemen,
Saudi Arabia, Southeast Asia," Pavitt said. "And we remain concerned about
extremists operating in those areas. But today, for example, almost every
senior target is gone in Yemen; killed or captured." 
Pavitt ended his statement by offering condolences to the families of the
victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, on behalf of his covert operatives who
cannot appear in the public eye. 
"We sounded an alarm. We knew the threat was lethal, unambiguous, and we
knew it was coming at us," Pavitt said. "We put our hearts and our souls
into disrupting and preventing those attacks. We did all we knew how to do
and we failed." 
Pavitt said they would do everything to make sure to "never let that failure
happen again."