“As the threats from bin Laden began to grow, the CIA’s Counterterrorism Center in January 1996 established a separate unit with the sole mission of collecting intelligence on the Al Qaeda leader [Osama bin Laden] and disrupting his network. In an unprecedented action, the unit became a separate CIA ‘station’ [known as ‘Alec Station’]–the only one focused on a single individual rather than a country. …While the chief of the station was from the CIA, his deputy was from the FBI. Three years later, the FBI also created a bin Laden unit.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.
– James Bamford, A Pretext for War, Page 205