The Central Intelligence Agency has closed a unit that for a decade had the mission of hunting Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants. The unit, known as Alec Station, was disbanded late last year and its analysts reassigned within the CIA Counterterrorist Centre, the New York Times revealed yesterday. Intelligence officials said the realignment reflects a view that al-Qaeda is no longer as hierarchical as it once was, as well as a growing concern about al-Qaeda-inspired groups that have begun carrying out attacks independent of bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Agency officials said that tracking bin Laden and his deputies remained a high priority, and that the decision to disband the unit was not a sign that the effort had slackened. Instead, it reflects a belief that the agency can better deal with high-level threats by focusing on regional trends rather than on specific organisations or individuals, the paper reported. "This is an agile agency, and the decision was made to ensure greater reach and focus," CIA spokeswoman Jennifer Millerwise Dyck told the paper.
The decision to close the unit was first reported by National Public Radio, the Times said.