The Summer Of 2001: How Tom Wilshire Failed The United States

In the summer months months of 2001, Tom Wilshire, the former deputy Chief of the CIA's Bin Laden Issue Station, is detailed with the FBI to help with its counterterrorism work regarding Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda. However, Wilshire, unbeknownst to his FBI counterparts, was the sole reason why an important cable was not shared with the FBI. Information regarding two known Al Qaeda operatives who were linked to the USS Cole attacks in 2000, Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazi, which involved photographs of their passports that also had dual US visas. This information was shared and known to over 50 CIA case officers at the Bin Laden Issue Station and at the Counterterrorism Center. . Later, when it became known to the FBI detailed at the CIA station, it was Wilshire who denied the FBI to share it outside of the station. Later, both al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi entered the United States, this too was also known to Wilshire back in January of 2000, and once again, did not share this with the Justice department or the State department. Leading to the inclination over whether Tom Wilshire was a mole or asset to the FBI's counterterrorism unit in Washington DC