The CIA’s analysts described bin Laden at the time as an active, dangerous financier of Islamic extremism, but they considered him more a money source than a terrorist operator. To senior career officers in the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, the TRODPINT tribal team now beckoned as a way to watch bin Laden in Afghanistan. The paid Afghan agents could monitor or harass the Saudi up close under CIA control — and perhaps capture him for trial if the White House approved such an operation. Operators and analysts in the bin Laden unit argued passionately for more active measures against him. Jeff O’Connell, then-director of the Counterterrorist Center, and his deputy, Paul Pillar, agreed in the summer of 1997 to hand them control of the TRODPINT agent team, complete with its weapons and spy gear. As bin Laden’s bloodcurdling televised threats against Americans increased in number and menace during 1997, the CIA — with the approval of the Clinton White House — turned from just watching bin Laden toward making plans to capture him.
