Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda Operations

Bin Laden is believed to have both trained and financed Algeria’s Armed Islamic Group, which is thought to be responsible for a minimum of 100,000 deaths in the 1990's. His first contact with Algerian Islamists probably came in Afghanistan when bin Laden financed the recruiting and organization of the so-called “Afghan Arabs,” who fought side-by-side with U.S.-financed Afghan fighters against the  Soviet Union in the 1980s.

Among the first “students” at his Sudanese terrorist training camps beginning in January 1994 were Algerians from the GIA. In December 1995, British authorities were able to track wire transfers from bin Laden’s then- headquarters in Khartoum, the Sudan, to a London cell of the GIA.

Bin Laden is closely involved in all al Qaeda plans. The operations are meticulous, with some plans in the works for years. For instance:

The World Trade Center bombers cased the twin towers multiple times, analyzing security and determining positions from which an explosion could do the most damage.

The East Africa embassy bombers phoned in threats to the embassy, and then observed the embassy response prior to the actual attacks.

The 1995 attempt to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Ethiopia was based on surveillance of Mubarak’s security arrangements in Ethiopia two years earlier. Similarly, bin Laden operatives videotaped security arrangements at President Clinton’s 1994 visit to Manila, knowing he had already committed to visiting the Philippine capital for an Asian-Pacific summit two years later.

U.S. officials also believe the 1995 Paris subway bombings had the support of bin Laden.

The official line is that bin Laden has been seen near Jalalabad, in eastern Afghanistan. He moves three or more times a week, living in mud huts, tent cities, and caves. He is accompanied by an entourage, which includes heavily armed bodyguards as well as anti-aircraft guns mounted on trucks. Often, multiple sites are set up for his use and he chooses a site at the last minute. He is believed to have about 400 operatives in Afghanistan, most of whom arrived with him from Sudan in 1996

Each operation has a planning cell and an execution cell, with the execution cell arriving on the scene in some cases only weeks before the attack is carried out. In most cases, an outsider recruits locals, usually no more than 10, to operate as a cell. Bombers, planners and operators are generally under the age of 30.

The minimum planning time appears to be four to six months, with some plans evolving over several years. The surveillance of the East Africa embassy bombings began in 1993, five years before the bombing was carried out.

Plans are made in one location, and the bomb is made in another. This was the case for both the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and the embassy bombing in Nairobi.

The total cost of the World Trade Center bombing was about $18,000, including purchase of equipment, rental of the van used in the bombing, purchase of a car, rental of two apartments, a garage and the storage space as well as plane tickets. Not included in the cost: $6,000 in unpaid phone bills. Bin Laden’s wealth is thought to be in the hundreds of millions. “Terrorism is not an expensive sport,” said a senior Treasury Department official who tracks terrorists’ money.

U.S. officials note that the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania were to be accompanied by other, near simultaneous bombings in other world capitals. One in Tirana, Albania, was foiled days before it took place. A series of coordinated attacks is well within his operational capabilities. ”(Bin Laden) is planning several hits and at some point he’s going to break through,” said one U.S. official.

Officials say bin Laden’s operations are rigid, and subject to cancellation if there is a suspected breech of security. If operatives encounter something unexpected, they will “go back to square one,” said an official who tracks the movement. “There is little autonomy, little spontaneity in operational matters and changes in plans must be approved at higher levels” In most cases, bin Laden’s people will trade time for security, and it may take up to six months to re-start the operation.

Al-Qaeda operatives specialize in identity theft in America and elsewhere, and employ computer 'hackers' who use the internet and unsuspecting citizens' identity to cloak their operations, including wire transfers of operating capital and international phone calls.

Their expertise includes the ability to breach firewalls without detection of banking systems, telephone companies and utilities.

More than 1000 of his operatives have been arrested worldwide since the embassy bombings in August 1998 on every continent but Australia and Antarctica. Five men accused of conspiring in the embassy bombings are in U.S. custody, awaiting trial in Manhattan. Another is awaiting extradition in London. The U.S. has, it believes, thwarted a planned attack on U.S. facilities in London in early 1999 and an attack on FBI Headquarters in Washington.

Even so, a Pentagon official said bin Laden’s organization continues to regenerate and improve. "We keep stopping him; he keeps coming back,” the official said.

U.S. intelligence has improved its grasp on how bin Laden operates and where. “We are getting better at finding him. There are days and days where we don’t know where he is,” said one American official. On other days, the U.S. has “different degrees of specificity as to where he is.” At the time of the double U.S. embassy bombings in Africa, the U.S. had no idea where he was.