2: 4. The Birth of the Counterterrorism Center and Early Warnings of Bin Laden Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA Following the Cold War, the CIA lacked a clear mission. However, a terrifying series of terrorist incidents
Update: 2025-10-19
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4. The Birth of the Counterterrorism Center and Early Warnings of Bin Laden Liza Mundy Book: The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
Following the Cold War, the CIA lacked a clear mission. However, a terrifying series of terrorist incidents in the mid-1980s, including the 1985 Malta hijacking handled by Heidi August, led to the formation of the small, low-prestige Counterterrorism Center (CTC). Heidi, traumatized after calling the mother of a dead civilian victim, chose to devote her career to fighting terrorism. The CTC, located in an undesirable office, attracted an odd assortment of people, including future key figures like analysts Cindy Storer and Barbara Sude. Cindy Storer, initially relegated to the Afghanistan desk, was the first to recognize the threat posed by Arab jihadist fighters dispersing globally and being funded by a mysterious financier: Osama bin Laden. Despite gathering critical intelligence, the CTC's analysts (Directorate of Intelligence—DI) struggled to be heard, facing contempt from the clandestine spies (Directorate of Operations—DO) and difficulty publishing their findings due to required corporate buy-in.
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