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6
FROM THREAT
TO THREAT
174
I n c hap te r s 3 and 4 we described how the U.S. government adjusted its
existing agencies and capacities to address the emerging threat from Usama Bin
Ladin and his associates. After the August 1998 bombings of the American
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, President Bill Clinton and his chief aides
explored ways of getting Bin Ladin expelled from Afghanistan or possibly cap-
turing or even killing him. Although disruption efforts around the world had
achieved some successes, the core of Bin Ladin's organization remained intact.
President Clinton was deeply concerned about Bin Ladin. He and his
national security advisor, Samuel "Sandy" Berger, ensured they had a special
daily pipeline of reports feeding them the latest updates on Bin Ladin's
reported location.
1
In public, President Clinton spoke repeatedly about the
threat of terrorism, referring to terrorist training camps but saying little about
Bin Ladin and nothing about al Qaeda. He explained to us that this was delib-
erate--intended to avoid enhancing Bin Ladin's stature by giving him unnec-
essary publicity. His speeches focused especially on the danger of nonstate actors
and of chemical and biological weapons.
2
As the millennium approached, the most publicized worries were not
about terrorism but about computer breakdowns--the Y2K scare. Some gov-
ernment officials were concerned that terrorists would take advantage of such
breakdowns.
3
6.1 THE MILLENNIUM CRISIS
"Bodies Will Pile Up in Sacks"
On November 30, 1999, Jordanian intelligence intercepted a telephone call
between Abu Zubaydah, a longtime ally of Bin Ladin, and Khadr Abu Hoshar,
a Palestinian extremist. Abu Zubaydah said, "The time for training is over."
Suspecting that this was a signal for Abu Hoshar to commence a terrorist
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