Word: al-qaeda
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...jihadi websites, had seemed to be an ideal candidate for a top-priority espionage mission: penetrating the al-Qaeda circle around Ayman al-Zawahiri, the movement's top ideologue and second-in-command who is believed to be hiding in Pakistan's tribal wilds. Al-Balawi was a known presence on radical Islamic websites; he was Arab; and, like al-Zawahiri, he was a trained doctor whose medical skills were needed in treating al-Qaeda and Taliban war casualties...
...Jordan's spy agency, the General Intelligence Directorate (GID), was respected and trusted by the CIA for its ability to infiltrate agents into radical Islamists groups. A mole planted by the Jordanians in al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq had provided the key intelligence tip that allowed U.S. forces to kill the group's leader, Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi, in a June 2006 air strike. (See an audio slideshow about the war in Afghanistan...
...senior Jordanian intelligence source tells TIME that al-Balawi was sent to Pakistan at the behest of the CIA, with a plausible cover story: he was to be a medical student pursuing advanced university studies. An official in Amman, who like his colleagues requested anonymity, says that once al-Balawi set himself up in Pakistan's border region and sent out feelers to jihadi militants, "he was very helpful, and the CIA were grateful to him." This source tells TIME that al-Balawi pinpointed several al-Qaeda targets, which were attacked by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, and that "al-Balawi...
...al-Balawi, a seemingly trusted agent, switch sides? The Jordanian intelligence sources who spoke to TIME speculate that al-Balawi had become enraged at the Americans for killing a high number of civilians in their hunt for al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders. And al-Balawi, who felt partly responsible for these deaths because of his role in pointing out the targeted villages in which al-Qaeda militants had been hiding, may have been consumed by guilt. "It's very possible that he decided to take revenge for the death of these Muslim civilians," says a senior Jordanian official. (See pictures...
...While these officials admit to feeling "deep embarrassment" over al-Balawi's betrayal, they remain confident in their ability to penetrate al-Qaeda's leadership circles. "We've done it before, and we can do it again," an official says. "We won't stop trying...