Page 88

COUNTERTERRORISM

EVOLVES

I n c hap te r 2 , we described the growth of a new kind of terrorism, and a
new terrorist organization--especially from 1988 to 1998, when Usama Bin
Ladin declared war and organized the bombing of two U.S. embassies. In this
chapter, we trace the parallel evolution of government efforts to counter ter-
rorism by Islamic extremists against the United States.

We mention many personalities in this report. As in any study of the U.S.

government, some of the most important characters are institutions. We will
introduce various agencies, and how they adapted to a new kind of terrorism.

3.1 FROM THE OLD TERRORISM TO THE NEW:

THE FIRST WORLD TRADE CENTER BOMBING

At 18 minutes after noon on February 26, 1993, a huge bomb went off beneath
the two towers of the World Trade Center.This was not a suicide attack.The
terrorists parked a truck bomb with a timing device on Level B-2 of the under-
ground garage, then departed.The ensuing explosion opened a hole seven sto-
ries up. Six people died. More than a thousand were injured. An FBI agent at
the scene described the relatively low number of fatalities as a miracle.

President Bill Clinton ordered his National Security Council to coordinate

the response. Government agencies swung into action to find the culprits.The
Counterterrorist Center located at the CIA combed its files and queried
sources around the world. The National Security Agency (NSA), the huge
Defense Department signals collection agency, ramped up its communications
intercept network and searched its databases for clues.

The New York Field

Office of the FBI took control of the local investigation and, in the end, set a
pattern for future management of terrorist incidents.

Four features of this episode have significance for the story of 9/11.

Final1-4.4pp 7/17/04 9:12 AM Page 71