In a memo on December 3, 1998, then-CIA Director George Tenet wrote: “I wanted no resources or people spared in the effort to go after al-Qa’ida. …While many people were focused exclusively on one man [Usama bin Ladin], al-Qa’ida had a leadership structure, with training facilities, all residing in Afghanistan. Our strategic objective was to get more intelligence–human, signals, and imagery–not just to target Usama bin Ladin but also to deal with a movement that was operating in sixty countries. The hub of the enterprise was Afghanistan, and from that hub spoked sanctuaries and, farther afield, other countries where significant operational capacity existed.”
– George Tenet with Bill Harlow, At the Center of the Storm, Pages 118-119