CIA Scrambles

By DOUGLAS WALLER

Humiliated by the attack on Sept. 11, the CIA is throwing everything it has at Osama bin Laden's network, which spans more than 50 countries overseas. The agency's Counter-Terrorism Center in Langley, Va., has ballooned to 800 analysts, technicians and covert operatives, double what it was before the attack. Nearby conference rooms and snack bars have been commandeered for workstations. A financial team is feeding bank-transfer intelligence to Operation Green Quest, a Treasury Department program to block bin Laden's cash flow. Agency scientists are also using antiterror gizmos like OASIS, a computer that scans thousands of foreign TV broadcasts and plucks out terror suspects by the sound of their voices.

Much of the espionage involves collaborating with overseas intelligence services to round up bin Laden supporters. Some 300 suspects have been arrested in 42 countries, many as a result of intelligence the CIA fed to foreign agencies. Operatives have even been trying to penetrate the Russian mafia for leads on chemical or biological agents that bin Laden has been trying to buy from it. Agents have also been trying to entice Pashtun warlords to turn against the Taliban with offers of cash. But they have had limited success. One reason: drug trafficking in the region has driven up bribe prices, and many are not impressed by agency offers.

--By Douglas Waller