The Great War of Our Time: The CIA's Fight Against Terrorism--From Al Qa'ida to ISIS
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Brandon has mitochondrial disease. Mitochondria are components of every cell in the body, except red blood cells, and they are responsible for producing 90 percent of the energy in the body. In those who suffer from the disease, the mitochondria do not function properly, which robs the body of the energy it needs to sustain life and maintain growth. Depending on the particular mitochondria that are malfunctioning, symptoms of the disease can include muscle weakness and pain, gastrointestinal disorders, swallowing difficulties, poor growth, developmental delays, susceptibility to infection, heart disease, liver disease, and many others.
Brandon has long suffered from some of these symptoms, but the disease has not diminished his amazing spirit. Nor had it dampened his desire to visit the Agency and “catch bad guys,” a request that we gladly granted. Brandon spent hours at the Agency. Analysts from the Counterterrorism Center put together mock intelligence reports that Brandon pieced together to uncover a terrorist plot, identify the terrorists, and pinpoint their location. Then our security officers suited up Brandon in fatigues (to size) and a battle helmet and led him on a raid that resulted in the capture of the “terrorists.” His final responsibility was to come to the deputy director’s office to brief me on what he had accomplished. I met him at the door to my office and he introduced himself with a strong handshake, looking me straight in the eyes. I led him to the sofa in my office and offered him some of the fresh chocolate chip cookies that the director’s dining room had prepared for the visit. Brandon, ignoring the cookies, said, “Sir, I am here to brief you.” Without touching a cookie, he proceeded to walk me through the analysis, the preparation for the operation, and the operation itself. I told Brandon that his was one of the best briefings ever in my office, and I meant it. I was immensely proud of what my officers had done to make Brandon’s visit to the Agency so memorable for him.
Brandon struck me immediately as special. He was whip-smart, inquisitive, kind, and full of love. I certainly fell in love with him. Since his initial visit to my office, my family and I have spent many hours with Brandon and his family—when he was feeling well and not so well. But he is always full of life; he always has something new to show us, something new to share.
When the news broke about the president’s selecting John Brennan to lead CIA, I got a personal note from Brandon. It read as follows:
Dear Mr. Morell,
It’s me Brandon. I wish you had got the job of Director of the CIA. I was really rooting for you. You will always have my vote! I know that being Deputy Director of the CIA is still a very important job and one of the most important in the world. You are my hero! I can’t wait to see you!
Your friend,
Brandon
Shortly after I retired, my family and I were at Brandon’s house the evening the CBS program 60 Minutes aired an interview with me in which I commented on Syria. I was nervous; it was my first time on television. Brandon told me over and over again that it was going to be OK. It was. Before we left that night I mentioned to Brandon that I had received many gifts from my former colleagues as I was leaving the Agency. I invited him over to see “my loot.” His big black eyes lit up.
Brandon’s visit coincided with a time when I was agonizing over what to title this book. I shared a number of possible titles with family and friends and none of them worked. Fault was found with every one—major fault with many, and all of those were my ideas. I was stuck. On the morning of the day that Brandon was to come and see my gifts, I decided to go into the closet in the attic, go through the gifts, and bring out the really special ones for Brandon to see—a pistol that had belonged to Confederate officers in the Civil War, a dagger that had been carried by officers of the Office of Strategic Services during World War II, a knife that had been used by the Polish resistance fighting the Nazis, and much more. As I was rummaging through the closet, I came across the gift from CTC. It was a reminder of a significant victory in the fight against al Qa‘ida when I was acting director, following Leon Panetta’s departure for the Department of Defense. The plaque read “Thank you for your unconditional support to the Team in the Great War of Our Time.” It hit me instantly. I had the title.
* * *
In addition to the CIA Officers Memorial Foundation, a portion of my proceeds from the book will go to the Brandon Heschel Leach Research Fund of the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, which is working hard to cure the disease that afflicts my very good friend Brandon.
CIA headquarters from the air. The Original Headquarters Building (OHB in CIA parlance) is in the foreground. The New Headquarters Building (NHB) is to the rear. (© 2011 Greg E. Mathieson Sr./MAI Photos)
The iconic seal of the CIA, in the main lobby of the Original Headquarters Building. (CIA photo)
The Memorial Wall at the CIA’s headquarters, which had forty-three stars honoring Agency officers killed in the line of duty when I first arrived in 1980. As of early 2015 that number had reached 111. (CIA photo)
The 258 acres of the CIA’s headquarters, named in honor of the eleventh director of central intelligence, who went on to be the forty-first president of the United States. (CIA photo)
Former president George H. W. Bush at the ceremony to name our headquarters compound after him, April 26, 1999. (CIA photo)
With my dad on my front lawn in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, May 1966. (Author’s personal photo)
My mom and me, 1963. (Author’s personal photo)
Graduating from the University of Akron, May 1980. (Author’s personal photo)
CIA director Tenet and his staff in 1999. From left to right, Tenet, Counselor Buzzy Krongard, Special Counsel Ken Levit, Chief of Staff John Nelson, and me. (CIA photo)
Director of Central Intelligence Tenet presenting me with the Director’s Award, one of the most prestigious awards at CIA, 1999. (CIA photo)
The cover of the President’s Daily Brief, within which resides the most sensitive secrets collected by our nation. (CIA photo)
On the morning of September 11, 2001, at Booker Elementary School. The president is on the secure telephone and White House officials point to television coverage of the attack on the World Trade Center. I am on the left. (Photo by Eric Draper, courtesy of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum)
At President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas, with Barney and Spot, January 2002. (Official White House photo)
With CIA director General Mike Hayden and his deputy Steve Kappes in 2008. The three of us were a team running the Agency from 2006 to 2008. (CIA photo)
With President Obama in the Oval Office on May 2, 2011, the day following the operations in which Usama bin Ladin was killed. (Official White House photo)
Briefing the president and his senior aides on a particularly sensitive intelligence issue, July 2012. (Official White House photo)
An Oval Office briefing for President Obama, about an operational breakthrough against a key intelligence target, July 2012. (Official White House photo)
With Senator Dianne Feinstein, chair of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, 2013. (Courtesy of Senate Select Committee on Intelligence staff)
During one of my many trips to Iraq, a visit to Saddam’s former palace, which at the time (2009) was the headquarters of coalition forces in Iraq. (Personal photo taken by Agency officer)
On one of my many trips to Afghanistan as deputy director. A meeting with General John Allen, ISAF commander, September 2011. (International Security Assistance Force photo)
On one of my many visits to one of our country’s most important allies. A meeting with His Majesty King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman, spring 2012. (Courtesy of the Royal Hashemite Court)
The scale model of Bin Ladin’s compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, built by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency and used to brief senior officials. A copy of the model is now on display in a museum in CIA’s headquarters. The original is at NGA. (CIA photo)
The moment we heard we’d gotten Bin Ladin, in the CIA director’s confer
ence room, May 1, 2011. (CIA photo)
Obama and his national security team discussing when to publicly announce the Bin Ladin operation, May 1, 2011. (Official White House photo)
The night Bin Ladin was killed, crowds outside the White House were chanting “USA, USA, USA” and “CIA, CIA, CIA.” I never experienced anything like it. (© 2011 Greg E. Mathieson Sr./MAI Photos)
Weapons found in Bin Ladin’s bedroom in Abbottabad. (CIA photo)
A brick from Bin Ladin’s home in Abbottabad. (Photo by author)
A charity basketball game Director Panetta and I played in on behalf of the Combined Federal Campaign. (CIA photo)
The CIA departure ceremony for Leon Panetta as he leaves to become secretary of defense, June 2011. The emotion was heartfelt. (CIA photo)
The announcement that John Brennan would be the next CIA director, January 7, 2013. (Official White House photo)
Walking with President Obama along the West Wing colonnade following the announcement of John Brennan as the next CIA director, January 2013. (Official White House photo)
A farewell gift to me from my security staff, a Washington Nationals jersey with my security call sign, August 2013. The 33 signifies the years I spent at the Agency. (CIA photo)
At my going-away ceremony, August 2013. Director John Brennan displays the photo used for my first CIA badge in 1980. (CIA photo)
A book of letters from employees, provided as a gift upon my retirement. The book has hundreds of pages, each containing four or five letters. (Photo by author)
My most precious retirement gift: personal notes, framed together, from the two presidents I served most closely. Nothing better demonstrates the nonpartisanship of our country’s intelligence officers. (Photo by author)
Brandon Leach, on his visit to CIA, preparing to conduct a mock raid against terrorists. (CIA photo)
A sign outside the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center reminding everyone of the need to be vigilant. (CIA photo)
One of the stars etched on the Memorial Wall in the lobby of CIA’s headquarters. I kept this photo above my desk for the last eight years of my career to remind me of the sacrifices made by Agency officers. (CIA photo)
Acknowledgments
Perhaps the most difficult part of writing this book is crafting this passage, which will attempt to thank the many people who played important roles in helping me accomplish whatever successes I have enjoyed in my career, who helped me survive when I experienced failures, and who helped me write this book. The process of thanking people is fraught with peril because I don’t want to leave anyone out but I know that I inevitably will.
While it is impossible to know where to stop in thanking people, it is easy to know where to start: with my parents—Joseph and Irene Morell. Neither went to college—my father was a blue-collar worker at Chrysler and my mother a homemaker—but they gave me two great gifts that I am absolutely certain were largely responsible for whatever success I’ve enjoyed at CIA and in life.
My mother gave me the gift of hard work. She taught me to work hard at whatever I was doing. She would not rest until all her work was completed. She modeled this behavior, for example, by not sitting down to eat dinner with the family, instead getting a head start on cleaning the kitchen as soon as the meal had been served. Odd? Perhaps. A powerful lesson in how hard work is done? Absolutely.
My father gave me the gift of pursuing excellence at whatever I do. He insisted—sometimes bringing me to the point of tears as I was growing up—that I always do my best. I remember, as a young boy, building a birdhouse in my father’s elaborate carpentry shop in our basement. He repeatedly looked at my effort and said, “Not good enough. Try again.” When I protested, he took a hammer and smashed what I had done. I started over, and when I was finally done, I had a near-perfect birdhouse. Was he tough on me? You bet. Did he teach me to pursue perfection in whatever I did? Absolutely.
Put these two lessons together and you have a very powerful combination—hard work and the pursuit of excellence. Nothing has been more responsible for my success.
Once I began my professional career there were countless people whom I worked for who took the time to mentor me, to demonstrate the joy of hard work and to take the hammer to any of my efforts that were inadequate—much as my mom and dad had done. Some of those mentors have previously been mentioned in this book but many more have not. I owe enormous debts of gratitude to Jim Clapper, George Tenet, Mike Hayden, Leon Panetta, Dave Petraeus, John Brennan, Scott Redd, John McLaughlin, Steve Kappes, Hugh Turner, Jami Miscik, Winston Wiley, Dave Cohen, Mike Barry, Marty Petersen, Tom Elmore, Mary Meyer, Kent Harrington, Jim Harris, Len Litke, Gary Coene, and Deane Hoffman. All of them taught me a great deal.
There were innumerable coworkers as well. They were not bosses, but people I worked alongside who called me boss. I will never be able to cite all or even most of them, but a few cannot go unthanked because they gave me the great gift of telling me when I was wrong. (I will use only first names and last initials, even for the one or two who have been mentioned elsewhere in the book.) These are my special assistants when I was acting director and deputy director, Lisa O. and Brenda O.; my chief of staff, Greg T.; and my immediate subordinates Meroe P., Sue B., Fran M., Glen G., Mike S., John B., Frank A., John P., and Sue G. These are some of the strongest leaders that CIA ever produced.
I also want to specifically thank the following groups of people, without whom I could not have done my job: my daily intelligence briefers, who kept me up-to-date on the latest intelligence and who routinely provided me with my most enjoyable meeting of the day; my executive assistants, who put up with my endless requests and my varying moods; and the many members of my security detail, who were always at my side. Over my three and a half years as acting and deputy director, these dedicated and talented security officers became members of my family and role models for my children. I owe them a great deal. Likewise, the officers of the Agency’s protocol staff, led by Sheila S., and the officers of the Agency’s dining room staff did their job of supporting me with the utmost skill and professionalism.
I cannot write this chapter without thanking the men and women who served or still serve in CIA’s Counterterrorism Center. No one works harder at keeping the country safe. No group worked more directly with me during my three years as deputy. They were and are an inspiration to me. Two of those officers deserve special recognition—the longtime chief of the center, Roger, and the longtime chief of one of the Center’s key units, Emma. The country owes them a huge debt of gratitude—because no two individuals have done more to protect the country from another attack than they have.
In my thirty-three years at CIA I worked for six presidents. I was privileged to get to know two of them very well. I will be forever indebted to President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, who gave me incredible opportunities to serve them and our country in ways I would never have dreamed of. I am grateful for their confidence and leadership. Both men have their critics—but for the most part, those critics have no understanding of the complexity of the issues that come before presidents of the United States. I can say with absolute certainty that both George W. Bush and Barack Obama always had the interests of the United States at the very top of their priority list.
My time in government was certainly an adventure and so too has been my new life in the private sector. My transition has been made infinitely easier by Mike Hayden, who gave me invaluable advice and who introduced me to many in the private sector; George Tenet, Peter Corsell, John Scarlett, John Cushman, Mel Immergut, and Glenn Gerstel, who offered wisdom, guidance, and friendship; Tom Donohue Sr., the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce; his son Tom Donohue Jr., the CEO of Adelphi Capital; Rich Kramer, the chairman and CEO of Goodyear Tire and Rubber; Jeff Fager and David Rhodes, the chairman and president, respectively, of CBS News; Steve Feinberg, the managing partner of Cerberus Capital Management; Josh Mayne, the CEO of Orbis Operations; Mark French, the CEO of Leading Authorities; and Mark
Testoni, the CEO of SAP/NS2—all of whom gave me early opportunities in the private sector.
My Agency afterlife includes hanging my hat at Beacon Global Strategies, a Washington, D.C., firm specializing in helping US companies navigate the never ending geopolitical complexities of our world. Beacon is managed by four former US government officials, Michael Allen, Jeremy Bash, Philippe Reines, and Andrew Shapiro, who each dedicated more than a decade of their professional lives to national service both as individuals and in support of their bosses: Michael for President George W. Bush on his NSC staff and for Mike Rogers as his staff director on the House Intelligence Committee, Jeremy as Leon Panetta’s chief of staff at both the CIA and the Pentagon, and Philippe and Andrew at the State Department for Secretary Hillary Clinton. Like me, public service is part of their DNA, and I simply love the work and team at Beacon, and the values they uphold in everything they do. A special thanks to Meredith Steen, an associate at Beacon without whom I could not function. When I contemplated returning to the administration at the end of 2014, Beacon was understanding and supportive—so long as I didn’t take Meredith with me!