Free Republic

J. COFER BLACK is GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s chief weapon against Islamo-fascism. The former CIA official chairs Romney’s Counterterrorism Policy Advisory Group. Also, the 9/11 Commission, the Congressional Joint Inquiry on 9/11 and the CIA’s inspector general all condemn him for dropping the ball before Sept. 11, 2001. Black’s spot in Romney’s brain trust raises grave doubts about the former Massachusetts governor’s national-security judgment. At CNN/YouTube’s Nov. 28 debate, Romney said that when pondering terrorist interrogation, “I get that advice from Cofer Black, who is a person who was responsible for counterterrorism in the CIA for some 35 years.”...

Excerpt - WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and former Attorney General John Ashcroft received the same CIA briefing about an imminent al-Qaida strike on an American target that was given to the White House two months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The State Department's disclosure Monday that the pair was briefed within a week after then-National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice was told about the threat on July 10, 2001, raised new questions about what the Bush administration did in response, and about why so many officials have claimed they never received or don't remember the warning. One...

'Bring me the head of Bin Laden' The CIA sent a team to Afghanistan days after 9/11 with orders to kill Osama Bin Laden and bring back his head, a former agent has revealed. Gary Schroen flew out soon after the attacks on New York and Washington, helping to set up the 2001 invasion, he told US National Public Radio. He recalled his orders from the CIA's counter-terrorism chief. "Capture Bin Laden, kill him and bring his head back in a box on dry ice," he quoted Cofer Black as saying. As for other leaders of Bin Laden's al-Qaeda network...

US spy chiefs ordered agents to deliver Osama bin Laden's severed head in a box of dry ice and hoist heads of other Al-Qaeda leaders on pikes, a retired field officer has disclosed. As America reeled in shock days after the September 11 attacks in 2001, former CIA officer Gary Schroen was sent to Afghanistan to help the opposition Northern Alliance to topple bin Laden's hosts the Taliban. He told National Public Radio in an interview broadcast on Monday and Tuesday that he stopped by the office of then-CIA counterterrorism director Cofer Black for final instructions. He said he was...

THE WORLD AFTER 9/11 : The Muslim Brotherhood In America In Search Of Friends Among The Foes U.S. Hopes to Work With Diverse Group By John Mintz and Douglas Farah Washington Post Staff Writers Saturday, September 11, 2004; Page A01 When U.S. immigration officers in New York City whisked away Ishaq Farhan as he stepped off an incoming international flight in May 2000, his Jordanian diplomatic passport was no help to him. Federal agents questioned him for hours before barring his entry into the country. Then they made him pay for the flight back to Jordan. The U.S. Embassy in...

Well, it's time to clean out Foggy Bottom. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000087&sid=a.4Cgi42vYDY&refer=top_world_news

September 26, 2002 Committee Hearing: Cofer Black, Dale Watson, Robert S. Mueller Joint House And Senate Select Intelligence Committee September 26, 2002 SPEAKER: CHAIRMAN LOCATION: WASHINGTON, D.C. WITNESSES: COFER BLACK, FORMER CHIEF OF THE COUNTER-TERRORIST CENTER, CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY DALE WATSON, FORMER EXECUTIVE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, COUNTERTERRORISM AND COUNTERINTELLIGENCE, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ROBERT S. MUELLER, III, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION, STATEMENT FOR THE RECORD BODY: U.S. SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE AND HOUSE PERMANENT SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE HOLD A JOINT HEARING ON PRE-9/11 INTELLIGENCE FAILURES SEPTEMBER 26, 2002 U.S. SENATE SELECT COMMITTEE ON INTELLIGENCE SPEAKERS: U.S. SENATOR BOB GRAHAM...

01 April 2004Black Says al-Qaeda Weaker, but Still a Potent Force Counter-terrorism official urges allies to be flexibleThe U.S. coordinator for counterterrorism says cooperation among nations fighting terrorism has been responsible for drastically reducing the number of al-Qaeda members available to plan or carry out attacks.Ambassador Cofer Black told members of Congress April 1 that 70 percent of al-Qaeda's senior leadership and 3,400 of its lower-level operatives and associates have been killed or detained since September 11, 2001. Moreover, he told the House International Relations Subcommittee on International Terrorism that approximately $200 million in terrorism-related financial assets and accounts...

Iran in contact with al-Qaeda, says Black ISLAMABAD: US State Department’s ambassador-at-large J Cofer Black has claimed that the Iranian government is in contact with al-Qaeda and that it must expel or extradite all members of the network to the countries of their origin. In an exclusive interview with Geo TV, Black said that our intelligence agencies are aware of the presence of some senior al-Qaeda leaders in Iran who are dangerous. He said that "these al-Qaeda operators are not only a threat to the US but they are also a threat to Pakistan". Black appreciated the role of Pakistan...

At Least 11 Killed in Shooting Near Afghan Border Where Anti-Terror Sweep Ongoing Feb, 28, 2004 By Ahsanullah Wazir / Associated Press Writer WANA, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani forces exchanged fire with gunmen in a minibus that failed to stop at a roadblock early Saturday, killing 11 people and injuring six, the army spokesman told The Associated Press. The shooting, in a tribal region that has been a focus of anti-terrorist operations, occurred hours after armed men and soldiers exchanged fire at a military compound in the area. Pakistani forces have been carrying out a sweep for terrorist suspects in...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — The Republican and Democratic leaders of the Congressional investigation into the Sept. 11 attacks plan to issue a final report next week calling for the appointment of a new cabinet-level director of national intelligence who would outrank the director of central intelligence, government officials say. But the Congressional leaders have agreed not to assign blame to any individual government officials for the intelligence failures before Sept. 11, and instead will emphasize proposals for changes to make sure that such devastating attacks never happen again. The final report, summing up the joint panel's nearly yearlong inquiry into...

Key CIA Task Force Leader Moved May 17 — As the Bush administration defends its actions over information it had on possible terror attacks before Sept. 11, ABCNEWS has learned that the chief of the CIA's counterterrorism center has been moved out. The center, led by Cofer Black for the past three years, is the lead CIA team tasked with finding indicted terrorist Osama bin Laden. Sources tell ABCNEWS' Claire Shipman there will be more changes coming among the top figures in the CIA but President Bush still has faith in both George Tenet, the head of the CIA, and...