The Rise and Fall of Ali Mohamed

Ali Mohamed, a former Egyptian army officer, infiltrated the CIA, the US Army's Special Forces, and al-Qaida, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in his wake.

Born in 1952 to a devout Muslim Egyptian military family, Mohamed grew up near Egypt's border with Israel. His encounters with Israeli border guards as a teenager radicalized him, sowing the seeds of his future role as Osama bin Laden's mole in the US government's most secretive forces.

In 1984, Mohamed approached the CIA's Cairo station, offering his services. Despite quickly outing himself as a CIA plant to a Hezbollah-connected mosque's imam in Hamburg, Germany, he managed to evade detection. His handlers remained unaware of his betrayal, thanks to another CIA plant within the mosque.

Mohamed joined the US Army in 1985 and rose to become a supply noncommissioned officer for the 5th Special Forces Group at Fort Bragg. During this period, he secretly passed classified Army materials to Islamic Jihad members in New York and New Jersey, training them in small arms and providing top-secret SOF training manuals.

In the late 1980s, Mohamed authored the official al-Qaida training manual, "Military Studies in the Jihad Against the Tyrants." This 180-page document outlined ideology and provided detailed instructions on forming sleeper cells, counterfeiting currency, and more.

Mohamed's involvement with al-Qaida spanned nearly a decade, during which he trained fighters in Afghanistan and Pakistan, provided security for bin Laden's move from Afghanistan to Sudan and back, trained al-Qaida's leadership in modern US Army combat operations, set up the cell that bombed US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and trained Somalis fighting American intervention in Mogadishu.

Mohamed's double life finally unraveled after the 1998 embassy bombings. He was secretly arrested and has been held without trial ever since, allegedly cooperating with authorities in the fight against al-Qaida.

Ali Mohamed's remarkable story serves as a stark reminder of the complexities of terrorism and counter-terrorism. His ability to infiltrate and manipulate both the CIA and al-Qaida raises questions about the efficacy of intelligence agencies and their methods. As the Global War on Terrorism continues, Mohamed's case remains a crucial, albeit unanswered, question.