美國中央情報局遭受重大打擊

美國中央情報局在阿富汗戰爭中遭受重大打擊
The CIA Takes a Big Hit in the Afghan War
By BOBBY GHOSH / WASHINGTON Bobby Ghosh / Washington – Fri Jan 1, 3:25 am ET
Updated
The U.S. intelligence community is reeling from one of the worst days in the CIA's history: the death of seven employees in a suicide bombing in Afghanistan on Wednesday. In keeping with its practice, the Agency will not comment on the deaths until it has formally informed the families of those killed. But several former CIA officers tell TIME the deaths will cast a pall over the Agency. "People walking into [CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia] will look at that Memorial Wall in a different way today," one former operations hand. "On a day like this, you want to stop in front of those black stars and bow in silence." There are currently 90 stars on the CIA's Memorial Wall at the Agency's headquarters: each star represents an employee killed in the line of duty. Many of their names remain secret. (See a pictorial history of the CIA.)
在美國中央情報局的歷史中，美國情報界正在遭受其中一些最糟糕的日子：在阿富汗週三的自殺性爆炸事件日有7名僱員死亡。為保持其一貫做法，未正式通知死者家屬，該機構不會對死亡發表評論。但一些前中情局官員告訴時代週刋，死亡將對機構投下陰影。 “今天人們走進[弗吉尼亞州蘭利的中情局總部]將對該紀念牆有不同形式的看法。”一位前行動員說“在這樣的一天，您想要停低並在黑星前面沉默躹躬，鞠躬默哀。”目前有90顆星在美國中央情報局總部的紀念牆上：每顆星代表一名執行責任時被殺害的僱員，但他們許多的名字仍然保密。
Because of the very nature of their work, the death of CIA employees is rarely reported, and it can take years for the Agency to acknowledge them with a star. "We avoid publicity over our tragedies," says the former operations hand. "The American public doesn't always know when it happens." Early reports had the toll at eight but a memo released on Thursday from CIA Director Leon Panetta put the number at seven. The Agency waited until it had informed the families of the victims before confirming the deaths. "Families have been our Agency's first priority," Panetta said in his memo. "Before sharing this information with anyone else, we wanted to be in contact with each of them. This is the most difficult news to bear under any circumstances, but that it comes during the holidays makes it even harder." (See an aerial view of a U.S. military forward operating base in Khost.)
But there's no hiding the latest tragedy: the seven killed on Wednesday in Khost, near the border with Pakistan, were victims of a suicide bombing at a forward operating base. The bomber seems to have targeted a gym at the base and appears to have simply walked in. Says Bruce Reidel, a former CIA officer and author of President Obama's first Afghanistan-Pakistan review: "This underscores the Afghan war is going to be long and costly. The enemy has come to know us better than we know them. Reversing that intelligence gap is imperative and hard to do." (See pictures of Gen. Stanley McChrystal, leader of the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan.)
It's unclear how the bomber gained access to the base, but reports say the CIA has used it to recruit Afghans. "It is important to remember that the mission of the CIA in Afghanistan is to work closely with Afghans," says Robert Grenier, a former CIA stationchief in Pakistan. "That mission necessarily carries a high degree of risk, especially given the prevalence of suicide bombers."
Supposedly secure Western fortifications have been attacked before in Afghanistan. In October, five British soldiers were killed when an Afghan policeman fired on a U.K. training team inside a checkpoint in Helmand Province. But Grenier says that given the breadth and depth of the CIA's operations in Afghanistan, the death toll among employees has been "almost miraculously light." He adds: "Fate may have caught up with us today." The Khost death toll is second only to the record for the number of CIA staffers killed in a single day. On April 18 1983, eight members of the Agency were killed when the US Embassy in Beirut was blown up by a Hizballah suicide bomb. A retired officer who was then in active service says the Agency "was in shock for about one day... and then we got mad."
Khost is just across the border from North Waziristan, the lawless Pakistani tribal area from where al-Qaeda and the Taliban routinely launch attacks on U.S. and NATO positions in Afghanistan. The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack, but U.S. authorities have released few details. "We mourn the loss of life in this attack," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said. Hank Crumpton, who headed the CIA's counterterror ops in Afghanistan after 9/11: "This horrible attack underscores the risk that CIA officers, men and women, undertake every day in Afghanistan and around the world. They are America's most important resource in this war, and this is a tragic blow."
See pictures of the U.S. Marines' offensive in Afghanistan.

Related articles on Time.com:
This Just Doesn't Happen
Losing Hearts and Minds and Lives in Afghanistan
How The CIA Can Be Fixed
The CIA Says, "Shhh..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20100101/wl_time/08599195089000
美基地襲擊者為培養中"線人"

美中情局局長帕尼塔對喪生特工人員表示哀悼
根據最新披露的細節，造成7名美國CIA特工喪生的自殺炸彈襲擊者為美中情局意欲培養的"線人"。
星期三的襲擊是CIA 25年來最慘重的一次人員損失。

本台BBC駐喀布爾的記者說，由於自殺襲擊者是發展中的線人，所以他是被邀請到美國在阿富汗南部霍斯特省查普曼基地而且在進入基地時沒有對他進行適當的搜身檢查。

早些時候，塔利班一名發言人對BBC表示，發動這次襲擊的，是一名在阿富汗軍中服役的塔利班成員。
查普曼基地
據美聯社報道，死亡的美國特工中包括一位有三個孩子的母親，她是阿富汗南部霍斯特省查普曼行動基地的負責人。

美聯社引述中情局前官員的話說，這位中情局基地負責人應該是負責霍斯特省情報收集工作。該省由於靠近巴基斯坦動蕩的部落地區，塔利班的活動頻繁。

分析人士說，這次攻擊事件使人們對聯軍反滲透的能力產生懷疑。

奧巴馬高度評價CIA貢獻
白宮新聞辦公室31日發表聲明說，美國總統奧巴馬致信中央情報局，高度評價中情局為捍衛美國國家利益所做的傑出貢獻，並對該局工作人員日前在阿富汗遇襲身亡表示哀悼。

奧巴馬說，中情局人員幫助美國人民理解一個現實的世界，並冒著巨大風險保護這個國家，沒有他們數十年的努力，美國的自由與安全將難以為繼。「9·11」事件後，中情局一直在反恐前線為保護美國及其盟友與伙伴的安全而努力。
http://www.bbc.co.uk/zhongwen/trad/world/2010/01/100101_cia_afghan_attack.shtml