Counter Terrorist
Date: | 07-04-09 |
Host: | Ian Punnett |
Guests: |
Ian spoke with counter terrorism agent Fred Burton, who provided behind-the-scenes details of his work tracking down the people responsible for terror attacks against the United States and its interests abroad. Burton said he began hunting terrorists in the mid-1980s, when he was assigned to the newly formed counter terrorism division of the Diplomatic Security Service. There were only three agents in the unit then. The fledgling group faced many challenges in the early days, Burton noted, including limited penetration and development of human assets within terrorist organizations. The Rewards for Justice program, which paid informants for securing intelligence information, was set up to help solve this problem, he said.
Burton discussed some of this division's success stories, including the capture of Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing. According to Burton, Yousef had been planning to blow up several aircraft as well as kill American and British diplomats before he was arrested in Pakistan. Burton cited the creation of the Counter Surveillance Program and the development of Ballistic Window Film (which prevents glass from flying in the event of bombing) as additional high spots in the counterterrorism unit's record. Burton expressed regret for his group's failure to capture Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the man who planned the 9/11 attack. He also talked about the Oklahoma City bombing, and the likelihood of terrorists detonating a radiological 'dirty bomb' on U.S. soil.
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