In issue 75 of Eye Spy, readers can find a fascinating selection of stories, features, news reports, unique articles and tradecraft presentations related to intelligence, espionage and security. However, the world’s attention at this time is quite rightly focused on America and three sites in particular - Lower Manhattan, Shanksville, Pennsylvania and, the Pentagon complex on the outskirts of Washington DC.

Ten years ago nearly 3,000 innocent folks lost their lives in a series of terrorist acts that no person will, or should ever forget. The filmed broadcasts and commentary played out on our television screens, radios and published in countless newspapers and magazines thereafter remain locked in the memory of all those who watched a tragedy unfold. It was truly an appalling day and a moment in time that will forever remain locked in the history books of this world.

There’s been lots of debate, shows, presentations and memorial services to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. There’s also been plenty of suggestions from so-called ‘experts’ why Osama bin-Laden ordered his thugs to strike in such a manner. I don’t think I’ve found favour with most of them, other than the terror chief’s blind hatred of freedom. Amongst the programmes, were many that reflected the events and emotions of that day. Britain’s ITV produced what I considered the best overview, portraying that fateful day from the eyes of the American public, emergency services, US officials, air traffic controllers, the CIA chief through to President Bush himself. Who can forget the president’s eyes when he was told by the White House’s Chief of Staff that, “a second aeroplane has hit the second tower... Mr President, America is under attack.”

From a UK perspective, I was interested to hear what former MI5 Director-General Dame Eliza Manningham Buller  had to say in two documentaries filmed to coincide with the anniversary. She was head of the Service at that time. There was considered conversation and informed comment, but I was shocked to listen to her comments that the events of that day were a “crime... not an act of war.” I’m sorry, but she is wrong, and her comments have caused a huge furore in the United States intelligence community and the wider media. For the best part of a decade before, Osama bin-Laden and his friends had embarked on building an army of terrorists in Afghanistan. Thousands of operatives trained at specially built sites - some of them conducting appalling poison tests. His recruiters were active on every continent as his financiers sought to accrue monies to support his venture. Other agents were tasked with securing links to organised crime: whilst his scientific arm sought to obtain radioactive active materials for use in ‘dirty bombs’. By 1995, he had formed an inner council - a body created by him to help run his army. And by 2000, he was ready to unleash his agents across the world. Osama bin-Laden had built an army in a country lacking government and the ability to stop him. The group’s tentacles and franchises were already spread far and wide. Bin-Laden sought to legitimise terrorism on a scale not seen before.

Months before 9/11, his followers were studying America and how to attack its heartland: the country’s culture and openness providing a perfect platform for al-Qaida’s agents to hide, work, socialise and train in plain sight. And then they struck. When the hijacked aeroplanes carrying innocent civilians hit buildings and farmland alike, this wasn’t an act that could fall easily into a category known as ‘crime’. At that time, and just like today, most intel and US government officials believed this was indeed an appalling act of war - a declaration of war - performed by an army of terrorists intent to hurt America. Most intel watchers agree with this assessment, including Eye Spy.

Eliza Manningham Buller went on to say that it would be “foolish not to talk to al-Qaida,” this in an attempt to manufacture a political solution. Asked, “who do you talk to,” she didn’t have an answer. It is too simplistic to drop the 9/11 case file into a crime category. And this is evident when one considers all the facts and who perpetrated the attack. For on that September morning, war was indeed declared on world freedom, and in particular on a country where that word still means everything. The words of the skilled UK intel counter-terrorist specialist have not go down well with the people of America.

One special feature in Eye Spy 75 concerns the security of New York City since 9/11. An astonishing twelve significant terrorist attacks have been thwarted by the city’s security services acting with a variety of federal and international agencies, including the UK’s New Scotland Yard and MI5. And, just hours before the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it seems likely a thirteenth plot has evaporated due to countermeasures and intelligence. And yet the real inception date of America’s troubles with al-Qaida started in 1993. This was the first occasion when terrorists first tried to topple the World Trade Center towers. Other incidents followed in the 1990s, but the growing menace of al-Qaida was not properly understood or recognised. And this is the sad part of the 9/11 story: bin-Laden built his army right in front of the intelligence community’s eyes, and on its doorstep.

Mark Birdsall

Editor