Triple Cross: How bin Laden's Master Spy Penetrated the CIA, the Green Berets, and the FBI

by Peter Lance

"A chilling account of a killer who slipped through the hands of a daft justice system….Triple Cross chronicles one of the most vicious spies of our time."—Toronto Sun

In the years prior to 2001, no single agent of al Qaeda was more successful in compromising the U.S. intelligence community than Ali Mohamed. For almost two decades the former Egyptian army commando succeeded in living a double life—marrying an American woman, becoming a naturalized citizen, and infiltrating the CIA in Europe, the Green Berets at Fort Bragg, and the FBI in California—even as he helped orchestrate the campaign of terror that culminated in the 9/11 attacks.

Triple Cross is award-winning investigative reporter Peter Lance's chilling true account of the career of the master spy known to his al Qaeda brothers as "Ali the American"—an explosive narrative revealing the gaping holes in our nation's security net. Finally, coming off his previous FBI exposé, Cover Up, Lance also chronicles the collapse of the Brooklyn murder trial of former FBI agent Lin DeVecchio, a case that could well have revolutionized public understanding of the background of 9/11.

Genres: History, Terrorism, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, Crime, Politics, The United States Of America

1078 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 21, 2006

About the author

Peter Lance is a five-time Emmy-winning investigative reporter now working as a screenwriter and novelist. With a Masters Degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and a J.D. from Fordham University School of Law, Lance spent the first 15 years of his career as a print reporter and network correspondent.

He began his career as a reporter for his hometown paper, The Newport, R.I. Daily News. There, while a student at Northeastern University in Boston, he won the coveted Sevellon Brown Award from the A.P. Managing Editors Association. Lance next moved to WNET, the PBS flagship in New York, where he won his first New York area Emmy and the Ohio State Award as a producer- reporter for Channel 13′s news magazine THE 51ST STATE.

Later, while working as a writer and producer for WABC-TV Lance won his second Emmy along with the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism prize for WILLOWBROOK: THE PEOPLE VS. THE STATE OF NEW YORK, an exposé on a notorious institution for the mentally retarded. He also was awarded The National Community Service Emmy for that same documentary.

While getting his law degree, Lance worked as a Trial Preparation Assistant in the office of the District Attorney for New York County. Moving to ABC News as a field producer, Lance won his fourth Emmy for his investigation of an arson-for-profit ring in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago: “Arson and Profit.”

In 1981 Lance became Investigative Correspondent for ABC News. For his very first investigative piece on 20/20 Lance won his fifth Emmy for “Unnecessary Surgery,” an exposé of unnecessary surgery in an Arkansas hospital. He won two more Emmy nominations in 1982 for 20/20 investigative pieces on Formaldehyde “The Danger Within” and toxic waste: “Deadly Chemicals, Deadly Oil;” a piece that also won the National Headliner Award.

Over the next five years he covered hundreds of stories worldwide for ABC NEWS 20/20, NIGHTLINE, and WORLD NEWS TONIGHT.

He was a member of the first American crew into Indochina after the end of the Vietnam War. He chased rebel insurgents through the Plaine Des Jarres in Laos and members of the Gambino Family through the toxic wastelands of New Jersey. He tracked knife-happy surgeons in the Deep South and nuclear terrorists through the twisted streets of Antwerp. Then, in 1987, he took a break from non-fiction.

Lance came to L.A. and began working as a writer and story editor for Michael Mann on two of his acclaimed NBC series: CRIME STORY and MIAMI VICE.
In 1989 Lance became the co-executive producer and “show runner” on the fourth season of WISEGUY for CBS and in 1993 he co-created MISSING PERSONS, for ABC. In recent years, he has served as a writer and consulting producer on such series as JAG (NBC) and THE SENTINEL (UPN).

In 1997 Lance’s first novel FIRST DEGREE BURN became a national best seller, ranking No. 24 on The Ingram A-List The Top 50 Requested Titles in Mystery- Detective Fiction. The film-noir mystery features FDNY Fire Marshal Eddie Burke.

Following the 9/11 attacks Lance began investigating the origins of the FBI’s original probe of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Ahmed Yousef. He authored 4 books on counter terrorism and org. crime for HarperCollins between 2003-2013.

In 2020 his investigation of the murder of Eduardo Tirella killed in 1966 by Doris Duke was the lead piece in Vanity Fair's July/Aug. issue. During sequestration Lance expanded into a 438 page book HOMICIDE AT ROUGH POINT published in 3 editions on 2.23.21 with the Audible edition which he narrated published on 3.10.21

Email: pl@peterlance.com

Reviews

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMG this book gave me nightmares. I read it, then went back and read Lance's other book "1000 years for revenge" - now plan to re-read this one this summer, if I can stand it.

Peter Lance is an amazing investigative journalist. I heard him interviewed by Gene Burns on the radio a couple of times and everything just resonated, and explained some of the puzzle about the whole 9-11 episode...or whatever the right word is for it. With Patrick Fitzgerald becoming some sort of media hero, this made me cringe even more.

If anyone can tell me how this book is wrong, or how Lance has missed the boat, I'd like to hear it...it seems pretty meticulously researched and sourced to me.

[Maureen Sepulveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes, I felt like the book repeated itself and it’s already 15 years old so some information is dated. However, there were obviously massive intelligence failures leading up to 9/11 and this author did extensive research to document this. This book is a must read for anyone interested in understanding 9/11.

[N. Jr. · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is clear that Mr. Lance's efforts have resulted in the most comprehensive book on the enigmatic figure of Ali Mohamed, and as such it stands among the most useful books for anyone trying to understand the radical Islamic terrorism in the 1990's that culminated in the 9/11 attacks. As a resource book, it is invaluable.

However, having said that, the author slips into a weakness that too many books of this ilk are prone to, that of infusing interpretation and speculation into the mix of facts. Further, his take on Mr. Mohamed tends to vacillate at times. Was Ali Mohamed, a US agent who infiltrated Al Qaeda, or an Al Qaeda agent who infiltrated the FBI and the CIA? For whom did he actually work? Whom did he deceive? While the author sticks mainly to the bungled/incompetence theory implicating 3 US agencies (CIA, FBI, Military Intelligence) as a bunch of fools, there are moments when even he himself questions the extent of all these gaffes, hinting at incredulity.

In the background context of this Al Qaida account, Lance mentions other incidents which suggest that there's more suspicious evidence behind the scenes, for example, the fastidious FBI surveillance on Mohamed's group (responsible for the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993) so that the FBI knew their every move, and even more frightening, the description of the "Planes Operation" (i.e. 9/11 attacks) found on Ramzi Yousef's computer in the Philippines, frightening because the Filipino investigating officer made a copy of the data because he "did not trust the US government," and wanted to cover his ass in case anything like that came off.

It seems that Mr. Lance is presenting this information to make the reader question the US government's relationship to these terrorist acts, yet is afraid to state any such interpretation for fear of the consequences (condemnation, ridicule, tainted reputation). In other words, he's playing it safe by minimizing any controversy over the book.

One clearly negative element of the book is the obvious promotion of his previous works (1000 Years for Revenge: International Terrorism and the FBI--the Untold Story, and Cover Up: What the Government Is Still Hiding About the War on Terror and his next book (Deal With The Devil: The FBI's Secret Thirty-Year Relationship With A Mafia Killer), which, while offering some interesting information, this information was mostly irrelevant and deviated from the main focus.

In summary, the topics presented in this book are so significant, it seems worthy of a blog post, which I intend to do in the near future.

[Jackrabbit · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is required reading for every American regardless of political affiliation.

I say this because it illustrates in exquisite detail how the national security state has failed to keep us safe and in fact has made us significantly more unsafe.

Thanks to the lack of accountability our intelligence services enjoy American taxpayer dollars have funded terrorism and religious fundamentalism at home and around the world.

In this book we zoom in on the details leading up to the 9/11 attacks as well as the failures of the commission established to investigate it afterwards.

It is an excellent companion to the more broad reaching Management of Savagery (https://www.versobooks.com/books/2868...) by Max Blumenthal who connects the dots to how the American Security state has ushered in a much more dangerous and less democratic world and has given us Trump.

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Triple Cross is Peter Lance’s third investigative book on the intelligence failures that allowed the terrorists acts of September 11, 2001, to happen. ( Interestingly, I largely finished the book on the 20th anniversary of the attack on the Wold Trade Center and the Pentagon.) With each book, Lance has learned more and more about the many complications and convoluted connections that allowed Sept. 11 to happen, and this third volume is probably the most complex, though I have not read Lance’s prior two books.

One key point that emerges is that the FBI—which Lance has cast as the most culpable of all of the government agencies involved—was never set up to do intelligence work, nor track terrorists, nor really try to prevent crime, though I have read of some successes in the preventive area recently. But back in the 1990s, it appears that the agents didn’t have the training or instincts to “connect the dots” as Lance says over and over. But other government entities clearly did, such as the military, which had a unit that could run immense computer algorithms, and which did come up with a map of the connections between various suspected terrorists and their contacts. But not only did this work get destroyed by some sort of despicable CYA act by higher-ups, the members of the unit that did the work and later revealed it were undermined and persecuted by their own agencies.

One of what I suspect is Lance’s apparent lack of legal training. While it is hard to parse all of his allegations, it is much easier to make connections between people whose names and crimes you now know than to be starting with a few names and no actionable crimes against them. Clearly, at some point Ali Mohamed should have been looked at more closely, and the evidence from the Philippine law enforcement officers taken seriously. But several of the things Lance makes hay about—a mailbox, for example—are things that at the time may have not appeared worth pursuing because there was nothing they could do with the information.

The book is difficult to read because it pursues so many lines of inquiry and seeming conspiracies within various agencies to suppress evidence or information in order to protect the reputations and careers of those involved. The DOJ attorneys and the one dirty cop are particularly interesting. I would like to know more about what happened to them and how some of these decisions were made “off stage,” so to speak. That would make for an interesting fourth book.

[Max · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was not written in an appealing way but I do finally understand how the massive us national security apparatus let 9/11 happen and in some situations directly enabled it- an incredible amount of incompetency followed by cover-ups for obvious, stupid mistakes that got people killed. It’s like, departmental politics, except their years of screwups and ass covering resulted in 3000 people dying from an event they had seriously hundreds of chances to prevent. the degree of incompetence they displayed in the decade leading up to 9/11 is so extreme that it actually feels just as bad as I imagine it would feel to believe the us government committed 9/11 itself. Really thorough and sourced and everything

[Carl Muller · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very informative about the history of a spy who was as damaging as Robert Hansen, one who could be described as the biggest reason for the world advancement of the Al-Qaeda group. The book tended to overly repeat information over and over leading it at times to be a page dragger. If you have read his previous books on the subject, it will retell some of the information from those books. The book would have been better off with the information more condensed. It became so redundant I had to put it down for a week or two and read something else before I returned to it, which is rare for myself.

[Navysquid · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read by Lance! Incredible to know how far our intelligence community allows "sources" to infiltrate our gov't and country to "protect" its citizens. We need to demolish and rebuild our justice and security institutions as we see over and over how often these early warnings turn into disasters upon our shores. Must read as we are still dealing in 2022 with these dominos that began back in the late 70's and early 80's.

[Bryan Mcquirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the middle, or bridge book, in the author's FBI criminal negligence trilogy. Starting with Cover Up, and continuing after this book with Six, Six, Six, Lance brutally hangs the FBI and DoJ by their own retards.
Using their own receipts, Lance demonstrates that 9/11 did not happen because of a series of missteps, but instead was borderline criminal malfeasance, perpetrated to cover up the greed, incompetence, and outright criminal behavior of FBI agents and AUSA's.
4.5 stars.

[richardphoto.jpg (Rich) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I *think* I read this book. It was some time ago, but it was a very detailed accounting of lapses in both the foreign and domestic security apparatus of the United States. It's stuck with me to this day, years later, and I still remember many of the names. Ramzi Yousef, Ali the American. I've really got to read it to make sure this is the book I am thinking of.

[Frank Hickey · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fascinating and well-researched book on the human nature and government oversights that still plague our intelligence community.
Lance does an excellent job of pointing out both our flaws and our triumphs in this vital subject.

[Alex Linschoten · Rating 2 out of 5]

Far too long and repetitive. Also has the tendency to see connections between EVERYTHING. Still, and nevertheless, there are some interesting details and stories in this book.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling book albeit endlessly repetitive and overflowing with shameless references to his other tomes

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

If your going to read this book you may want to go ahead and build a link diagram as you go... thats the only way you're going to be able to keep up w/ all the people and connections. The author is critical of high ranking leaders in the FBI and federal prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald for overlooking indicators of the 911 attacks. The book centers around a former Egyptian Army officer who ran training for anti-soviet fighters in Afghanistan. He later volunteered his services to the CIA but was let go for being untrustworthy. He then moved to the US where he served as a translator for Ayman al-Zawahiri who was touring mosques in California to raise money to support mujahideen's fight against the soviet invasion. He quickly married and enlisted in the US army and was assigned to the JFK Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, NC. He was later arrested as a key suspect in the bombing of the U.S. embassies Kenya and Tanzania. The author Peter Lance has written several other books, I will probably read some more of his work.

[Bliss Tew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent book which I read during September 2009. It exposes many mistakes and coverups by the FBI and other intelligence and law enforcement agencies. It reveals much about al-Qaeda and about the cooperation enjoyed by al-Qaeda from nation-states,as well as raises questions about how an al-Qaeda operative could be granted access to America, enlisted into our army, and depended on by our FBI and other agencies supposedly without anyone catching on to his spy status.

I hope that Peter Lance will go deeper in his investigations so he can uncover the links of top al-Qaeda leaders to the Soviet KGB/FSB.

[William West · Rating 1 out of 5]

Poorly written, obvious attack on Patrick Fitzgerald. This book was written by someone with little or no idea on how the military or federal government works. Despite massive open source quotes, Mr. Lance appears to want to write in the "Watergate" exposure genre. The one redeeming quality is that it serves as an example for why operational security and coordination is necessary. No wonder I got this book so cheap!

[Kathryne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like this more than I did. The opening chapters were a bit off-putting as the writing felt rather misogynist to me. Constant references to the woman who ran the triple mole that talked about her competency, abilities all seemed to be related to the fact that she was female. It became exhausting to get through for me as a result. I eventually just had to walk away from this one because I just felt irritated.

[Jeff Carpenter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The evidence that puts together the inside story of 9/11... the outrageously bold story hidden so masterfully; perhaps the greatest deception in history. Many of the new tools of propaganda were developed for 9/11, or were used to their fullest effect, like the CIA's 1967 scheme to coin the phrase "conspiracy theory" as a disdainful term to repudiate any theory that doesn't conform to "conventional wisdom."

[Joseph Myers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is PACKED with tons of information covering a rather large time period in the breakdown of government agencies from around the early 1990's, to 911...If you want to get a behind the scenes look at some of the issues the FBI, CIA, and NSA deal with, read this book

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by ABC Journalist Peter Lance painstakingly detailed account of what the U.S. 9/11 commision buried in their report. This is journalism at it's finest.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those books where, having it read, the world suddenly makes more sense.

[Steven]

This was a very interesting "conspiracy theory" book. Author had some very valid points in the failures to stop 9/11. Good read.

[A.J. Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute must read. Lance's third and final book on the subject. Read it and weep.

[Maggie Guevara · Rating 5 out of 5]

How the path to 9-11 unfolded and then some...

[Christiaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fantastically nerve-rattling exposé. An absolutely critical read for anyone interested or involved in the intelligence community and counterterrorism.

[Jeff]

An absolutely intense look into many historical national tragedies and how they may tie into each other. I loved it!

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

An eye opener!

[Peter L · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as read many "true" spy books. This one was interesting but difficult to follow in places.