T3 B8 Final Report Sections 3 Of 3 Fdr- Entire Contents- Withdrawal Notices- Emails- Hurley Memoriam Re Helge Boes

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Section 5.4 and 5.5

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WITHDRAWAL NOTICE RG: 148 Exposition, Anniversary, and Memorial Commissions SERIES: Team 3,9/11 Commission NND PROJECT NUMBER:

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Section 9.2

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Section 12.1-12.3

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An American Hero

C. Michael Hurley

Andrews Air Force Base, Washington, D.C., February 9, on a tarmac of tears. At precisely 11:00 A.M. the massive, green-gray United States Air Force C-17, with the Stars and Stripes emblazoned on its towering tail, slowly rolled to a stop. Arriving from Afghanistan, it had just carried 32 year-old Helge Boes on his final journey home. Helge's family stood in silent sorrow near the plane as an Air Force Color Guard gently placed his flag-draped casket in an awaiting hearse. Just behind his family, many officers of the Central Intelligence Agency's Counterterrorism Center, choked with emotion, paid their respects to their fallen friend and colleague. Helge—husband, son, brother, friend, and lawyer—was a CIA officer. On February 5 he died in a tragic accident in northeastern Afghanistan. It was his second deployment to the country. Americans need to know what we lost that day, because we lost so much. In spring 2002, having just completed months of rigorous training culminating in his certification as a CIA Operations Officer, He~Tge was one of the first of his peer group to volunteer for service in Afghanistan. I first met him in Kabul in early April where he was one of many dedicated officers acquiring the intelligence needed to shape the decisions of Washington policy makers. He told me that he would "give anything to go down range" in Afghanistan, the better to track and locate the Al-Qa'ida perpetrators of 9/11. "Do I have a place for you," I said. And so, four weeks later, a helicopter, having weaved through treacherous mountain passes, its pilots relying on infra-red-vision devices, swooped down and dropped him in the dead of night at a U.S. Forward-Firebase in a remote, high desert in southeastern Afghanistan, as sporadic gunfire from our unseen enemy whistled past. It was then among the harshest and most dauntingly hostile environments in which CIA officers and military counterparts were operating: Pockets of terrorists and hard-core Taliban threatened from the mountains that ringed the site; Operation Anaconda, the largest military campaign against terrorists in Afghanistan, had ended only weeks before his

arrival; Irrational, recalcitrant warlords heightened the regional dangers by launching frequent, unannounced attacks against ethnic rivals, the cross-fire placing American and allied personnel in dire and constant jeopardy; And land mines were everywhere, and could leap out of the ground like lethal fiends. In coming to this outpost, Helge went as far out on the pointed-end of the spear as one can reach in our fight against our enemies. This young officer rolled up his sleeves and went to work, unfazed by wretched living conditions in a mud-walled hut with no heat and no running water. Aware of the high threat—how could he not be? During his time deployed forward our garrison was mortared, rocketed, and machinegunned; and our adversaries emplaced mines on routes we could not avoid—he was undeterred by it, remained cool and_ composed, and performed his work with steadfast resolution. Helge7s first responsibility was to collect intelligence on Al-Qa'ida; he did this commendably. His reporting was razor-sharp, brilliant, and witty. The admiration he won from the local Afghan population helped advance directly another priority: protecting the U.S. and Coalition Forces deployed in the area. In his first days, Helge helped deliver life-saving medicine to local hospitals and needed supplies to the impoverished —girls' and boys' open-air schools on the edges of our ~ compound. Such humanitarian aid impressed on suspicious locals that our presence was benevolent, that we were not like the Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan. He unfailingly treated the Afghans with dignity and decency. His incandescent, 10,000-watt smile gave them hope that the Americans would stay, and helped pull them out of their misery. And they responded by warning us of imminent enemy operations that would do us harm. Educated at Harvard Law School, Helge put his legal training to work in ways neither he, nor I daresay his professors, likely ever envisioned. In a setting reminiscent of a cross between Mad Max and the Old Testament, in a series of confrontations held in tents with menacing warlords interested—only in expanding their power, Helge, with impressive self-assurance and firmness, rationally dissected their positions, and exposed their demands for what they were: nothing more than selfaggrandizement .

What in his background could have prepared Helge for directing a 1,000-man Afghan militia? For functioning as paymaster, quartermaster, and all-around problem solver? Yet he rose to the occasion brilliantly. He commanded— that's the right word—the respect of tough-as-nails mujahedin fighters. They were mesmerized by Helge's quick mind and decision-making ability, and followed his instructions as though they came from a senior American general. Experience with U.S. soldiers in military interventions over the past decade taught that they could regard with a stiff dose of skepticism civilians, albeit ones possessing elegant, academic credentials, who were short on their combat experience and who at first blush may have appeared to lack their survival skills and fortitude. The old way of thinking was that the military had no credibility with civilians and, conversely, the civilians none with the military. In the current environment, to defeat terrorism the military and civilians have had to invent a new way of fighting. Sometimes it is hard to recognize the new tactics as they are evolving. Helge was in on the ground floor of this development and helped cement it. He was deployed side-by-side with, shared the same discomfort and faced the same dangers as, battle-h-ardened, grizzled Special Forces troops with scorching experience wrung from hellholes all over the world, and with decorated soldiers from our nation's most highly-trained hostage-rescue and reconnaissance units, and with the best of our principal allies' military elite. These were, in short, tough customers. In their world, the highest compliment they could pay to anyone—and it was reserved for a very few—was to describe him as "high speed". After seeing Helge in action, many of them gave him the nickname "High Speed." They also called him "brother", and so did we all. Try as he might, it was impossible for Helge to keep his extraordinary gifts, his high-octane intellect under a bushel basket: his brain gave off too much candlepower for that. He listened to the military and gave his views. Invariably, they were so well-reasoned, they could not be argued with. He led through example, arrogance was not part of his make-up, and this was not lost on his military colleagues. On learning of Helge's death, a hard-nosed "I've-seen-it-all-done-it-all" Staff Sergeant whose

detachment was deployed with Helge summed up his unit's opinion of him: "We believe we had the best team in Afghanistan," he said, "and Helge was one of the reasons. It sure did help to face the challenges with highest quality officers like him." Fostering that credibility, degree of trust, and mutual respect was, in itself, invaluable to the country. There were no diversions at our compound: no cable, no CNN, no Internet, no movies. So we invented our own entertainment to take the edge off the stress. We built a fire circle and each night we—Agency officers, American and Allied Soldiers, and our Afghan commanders—would gather around a wood-stoked blaze and stare, sometimes transfixed, at the flames. We called it "Ranger T.V." Our surroundings were bleak; at the same time there was a raw beauty to the desert. At 7,500 feet elevation-with no city lights we could easily recognize constellations. The proximity of a roaming enemy and ever-present tracer fire served to focus the mind and stimulate conversation, made us think of what we missed, what was important. Around the fire in this godforsaken place, Helge spoke of his love for his wife, his family, and his country. I learned- he had a broad-ranging, incisive mind and was intensely interested in government and politics._ He said that one day he hoped to serve on the National Security Council to help craft policy. With—his boots-on-the-ground experience he would have brought to that organization a much-needed perspective. During one of these sessions, curiosity impelled me to ask why Helge had left the practice of law. He said that he had only left it in one sense, after all he was helping establish the rule of law in Afghanistan and aiding in bringing to justice murderous criminals. He explained that he had left traditional practice to seek something more meaningful. He said that he wanted to be among those who were doing incredible things in defense of the United States, in defense of freedom, and that is why he had come to CIA. When I think of Helge, I think of John Fitzgerald Kennedy. Like JFK, Helge was intelligent, attractive and charismatic. In Profiles in Courage, Kennedy defined courage as "grace under pressure" and wrote "a man does what he must—in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures." A providential

characteristic of our country is that in times of crisis and peril it produces leaders of admirable ability and courage. Sometimes they are found selling saddles in Galena, Illinois; sometimes they come from Harvard Law School. Although junior in tenure, Helge Boes had the makings of a leader, and based on snippets from many conversations, it became clear he believed that to assert a moral claim to leadership he had to risk it all. I always had the sense, although he never would have said it, that Helge volunteered to lead the fight against terrorism because he knew he was the best, and that therefore it was his duty. True heroism may be broader than specific acts of bravery. It is best exhibited in self-sacrifice, doing hard things in hard places, sustained effort to achieve a worthy goal. Helge, who could have led a sedate and monetarily enriching life as a high-powered lawyer, chose to put himself in harm's way to protect his country—that is ipso facto heroic. _ The pain to Helge Boes's family is unbearable. Like them we will mourn him for the rest of our days. But like them, too, we will take deep and lasting pride in what he achieved, the adversity he overcame, what he stood for, and what he contributed to our common good and security. Helge Boes gave his prodigious talents and his "last futi measure of devotion" to the United States. The country must remember him; he is an American hero.

Michael Hurley works in The Counterterrorism Center and was deployed with Helge Boes in southeastern Afghanistan in spring 2002

Mike Hurley From: Sent: To:

Cc: Subject:

Daniel Byman Monday, May 10, 2004 11:24 AM Gordon Lederman; Serena Wille; John Roth; Scott Allan; Nicole Grandrimo; Caroline Barnes Mike Hurley Section 9.3

I've sent you this section by classified e-mail. Please review your own subsection and make any necessary changes in _tracking mode_ and return it to me by classified e-mail. Please also fix any missing/incomplete footnotes. I would also welcome your thoughts on the section as a whole. Right now it sprawls, which may be the nature of the best. It is meant to be a transition chapter, so I've avoided the hard analysis (which will appear later in the report). I'm assuming the FO will modify it substantially to make sure it serves as the proper bridge between the 9/11 sections of the report and the "recommendations for today" section. I'll be passing this along by COB Wed, so please try to pass me your changes by then. Dan

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Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Monday, May 10, 2004 10:53 AM

To:

Team 3

Subject: CMH Section 9.2

Team: If you get a chance over the next day or so, give my draft Section 9.2 a glance. Don't use the version I emailed to your classified email. I've tweaked it since then, and incorporated comments from Scott and Len (who looked at an early version). Suggest you just go to classified/shared/cru/t3/team 3 final reports sections/CMH Section 9.2 and print off a hard copy. I wouldn't spend a lot of time on it. You all have your own work to do. Warren intends to spend a bit of time on it. I'd like to move it forward to Stephanie in the next couple of days. Thanks, Mike

5/10/2004

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Mike Hurley From:

Daniel Byman

Sent:

Monday, May 10, 2004 12:30 PM

To:

Gordon Lederman; Nicole Grandrimo; Serena Wille; John Roth; Kelly Moore; Scott Allan; Caroline Barnes

Cc:

Mike Hurley

Subject: Section 9.3 Is attached. Please review your section and make all the necessary edits and changes (including footnotes) in _tracking_ mode. Comments on the rest of the draft very welcome. As I explained in my unclass e-mail, this is neither fish nor fowl, so I'm not happy with the current emphasis on description over analysis, though I did check this with the FO. I hope to put this to bed by COB Wednesday. Thanks again for all your help. Dan

5/10/2004

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Mike Hurley From:

Warren Bass

Sent:

Sunday, May 09, 2004 4:05 PM

To:

Tom Dowling

Cc:

Chris Kojm; Mike Hurley

Subject: NSC materials

Tom, With Chris's blessing, I've sent along some draft writing that I've done for the final report. You can find it in your classified email; just let me know if somehow didn't come through. The writing is based off of NSC materials in 1998-99, and it features some interesting tidbits along the way related to AQ ties with several Arab states. Chris and I both thought you should see this stuff. I'm still not sure what use will be made of the piece; Philip asked me to write it up Friday to try to ensure that the NSC side of the story continued to be told in chapter 3 (which had been split up into intel, military, and diplomatic sections). So some of this material might be used in other sections, perhaps including yours. Anyway, hope this is helpful. Warren

5/9/2004

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Mike Hurley From:

Warren Bass

Sent:

Friday, May 07, 2004 8:58 PM

To:

Stephanie Kaplan; Antwion Blount

Cc:

Team 3

Subject: NSC additions to chapter 3 Here's the addition that Philip suggested. Warren

5/8/2004

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Section 9.3

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Mike Hurley From:

Mike Hurley

Sent:

Wednesday, June 02, 2004 4:52 PM

To:

Stephanie Kaplan

Cc:

Team 3

Subject: Team 3 Chapter 5 edits

Stephanie and Team 3, Please check your classified email for a message from me containing as an attachment Team 3's edits to Chapter 5. Thanks, Mike

6/2/2004

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Section 5.4 (2 pp) and handwritten editorial notes (1 p.)

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