Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield

38. The CIA’s Dating Service

DENMARK AND YEMEN, 2010—While the US manhunt for Anwar Awlaki in Yemen intensified, Morten Storm was busy trying to find Awlaki a European wife. Unbeknownst to Awlaki, the Danish intelligence asset was coordinating his bride search with the CIA. Storm had posted messages on websites frequented by Awlaki’s fans and soon received a note from a Croatian woman who had recently converted to Islam. “Aminah” was the name she had adopted after her conversion, though she was raised as a Catholic. She had been a track star in high school and worked with troubled youth in Zagreb. “I was wondering will he search for second wife, I proposed him a marriage. I don’t know how silly it is,” Aminah wrote to Storm. “I deeply respect him and all the things he do…. I would go with him anywhere. I am 32 years old and I am ready for dangerous things. I am not afraid of death or to die in the sake of Allah.”

Storm continued corresponding with Awlaki and told him about Aminah. He also informed the PET, the Danish intelligence agency, that he was in the process of arranging a marriage for Awlaki. The PET contacted the CIA. Storm claimed the intelligence officials were “overjoyed.” Together, the intelligence agencies came up with a plan, should the marriage plans work out: Storm would provide Aminah with a suitcase outfitted with a tracking device that would ultimately reveal Awlaki’s location.

Awlaki contacted Storm again on February 17, 2010, and said he wanted to meet Aminah. “If you visit her, I can upload a video recording of myself as [an] encrypted file, and you can get her to hear it, so she is sure that [it] is me,” he wrote. Days later, Awlaki wrote again to describe his improved living conditions: “I currently do not live in a tent, but in a house [that] belongs to a friend. I’m not leaving the house, and am in a situation for my wife to be with me all the time. I prefer this residence [to] a tent in the mountains, because it gives me ability to read, write and research.” Following the message, Storm said he met with CIA and PET officials in Helsingør, Denmark. Taking part in the meeting was a veteran Denmark-based CIA contact who went by the name Jed and, according to Storm, a CIA official who flew in from Washington and called himself Alex.

Storm met with Aminah in Vienna, Austria, on March 8, 2010, outside the international bus station. His trip was verified by multiple receipts reviewed by the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. Storm claimed that when he met Aminah, he was shadowed by his PET and CIA handlers. Aminah, Storm alleged, convinced him she was willing to accept the potential consequences of her decision to travel to Yemen to marry Awlaki. Storm taught the young woman to send encrypted e-mails at Awlaki’s request, and at a second meeting, he showed her a video the cleric had made for her. “This recording is done specifically for Sister Aminah at her request and the brother who’s carrying this recording is a trustworthy brother,” Awlaki said in the video. “So having said that, I pray Allah guides to that which is best for you in this life and in the hereafter. And guides you to choose what is better for you regarding this proposal. I would also suggest, if possible, if you could also do a recorded message and send it over. That would be great.” According to Storm, the video moved Aminah to tears.

Aminah responded with two videos of her own. In the first she wore a hijab, leaving only her face visible. She described feeling “nervous” and said the experience was “awkward.” In the second video, she removed her veil. “Brother, it’s me without the scarf, so you can see my hair,” she said in accented English. “I hope you are happy with me, inshallah.” The two agreed to marry in Yemen.

Awlaki sent Storm an encrypted e-mail describing the things Aminah would need to bring to Yemen: “Warm weather clothing, her personal hygiene stuff, etc. Anything she would need during a month to two month period. She shouldn’t have more than a medium sized suitcase and a carry-on bag. She should have with her at least $3,000.” The CIA then contacted Storm. In a document obtained by Jyllands-Posten, Awlaki is referred to as “the Hook” and Aminah “the sister.” The CIA suggested that Storm could “use the Hook’s guidance as a reason to give the sister the suitcase and the cosmetic case.”

Storm returned to Vienna on May 18, 2010, to purchase Aminah’s ticket to Yemen and provide her with clothing and $3,000, all of which he said was paid for by the CIA. He also gave Aminah the bugged suitcase that, if things went according to plan, would set her and Awlaki up for execution by drone. Aminah flew to Yemen on June 2. Storm said he went to a safe house rented by the CIA and PET in Denmark. “We sat there, had a barbecue and had a great party,” Storm told Jyllands-Posten. Aminah’s journey, he recalled, was constantly monitored.

Two days later Storm received a text message from his Danish handler. “Congratulations brother, you just got rich, very rich,” it read. The intelligence agent included smiley face emoticons in the text message. Storm claimed he collected his reward on June 9, 2010, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel near Copenhagen, adding that both a CIA and PET officer were present at the exchange and that the PET officer was handcuffed to the briefcase that contained his reward. The suitcase was filled with $250,000 in bundled $100 bills. Storm asked for the code to open the suitcase. “Try 007,” the CIA agent told him. Storm snapped a photo of the cash in the briefcase and later provided it to Jyllands-Posten as evidence to support his story. Multiple sources confirmed that he received the payment.

The CIA and its allies celebrated what they believed would be a break in the hunt for Awlaki, but their plot soon ran into trouble. Aminah was scheduled to attend a language school in Sana’a for two weeks before meeting her groom-to-be. When Awlaki’s aides arrived to pick her up to bring her to Awlaki, they told her she could not bring her suitcase but could only bring a plastic bag containing her belongings. The CIA’s bugged suitcase would not make the trek. Soon after, Awlaki and Aminah were married. The CIA had inadvertently found a European wife for one of its most-wanted targets. Awlaki later sent Storm a message thanking him for the hookup.