'Most Promising Informant in Years'

When a Jordanian suicide bomber struck a CIA facility in Afghanistan last week, he killed seven CIA operatives—and the U.S. intelligence community's best shot at nabbing top al Qaeda leaders, The New York Times reports. The incident underscores the difficulty in obtaining intelligence about the whereabouts of top al Qaeda leaders, which military analysts say is "more like fortune-telling than serious detective work," according to a military report. The militant, Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, provided credible information about al Qaeda operations, and was considered by spy agencies to be the most promising informant in years, before he detonated himself at the CIA facility. According to The Washington Post, former intelligence officials are starting to raise questions about security procedures at the CIA base, which apparently allowed Balawi to enter without being properly searched, and to position himself inside a huddle of Americans before detonating the bomb.