Then-CIA Director George Tenet wrote, after the 9/11 attacks, the CIA wanted to use their tribal sources in Afghanistan to track down those responsible. “The president [Bush] approved our recommendations on Monday, September 17 [2001], and provided us broad authorities to engage al-Qa’ida. As [Chief of CIA’s Counterterrorist Center] Cofer Black later told Congress, ‘the gloves came off’ that day.”
– George Tenet with Bill Harlow, At the Center of the Storm, Page 208