Above the Tearline: Trusted Security Personnel Who Kill
Video Transcript:
Vice President of Intelligence Fred Burton examines the assassination of Ahmed Wali Karzai and the risks posed to VIPs from trusted security personnel.
Editor’s Note: Transcripts are generated using speech-recognition technology. Therefore, STRATFOR cannot guarantee their complete accuracy.
In this week’s Above the Tearline, we are going to examine the risk posed by trusted security personnel in the aftermath of the killing of Wali Karzai in Afghanistan.
President Karzai's half-brother Wali was shot and killed in Kandahar on July 12 by a trusted security official known to the family by the name of Sardar Mohammed. According to the police official investigating the case, the victim was shot once in the chest with a second round in the head. The victim, Wali Karzai, is no stranger to controversy. He was linked to the CIA in Afghanistan and also allegedly tied to drug smuggling in the country. Although the Taliban has claimed credit for his assassination, the investigating police officer said that he could not rule out a foreign hand. Having said that, if Wali Karzai was engaged in the drug running business there could be other motives in play which caused his death.
This killing in Kandahar shows how trusted security personnel can be utilized because of their access, means and opportunity. One of the tremendous weaknesses in this arena is the selection and vetting of personnel that you're going to place in these positions of trust and confidence. The challenge exists in developing countries like Afghanistan with your inability to have robust process and procedures to identify candidates as well as an aggressive update process to make sure that person has not been flipped by a terrorist organization.
There is a historical precedence for security personnel being engaged in high-profile killings. Going back to the Lincoln assassination at Ford’s Theatre, when the police officer had abandoned his post allowing John Wilkes Booth to come in and shoot President Lincoln. You can also look in the international arena with the 1984 assassination and Indira Gandhi by one of her personal bodyguards.
The Above the Tearline aspect with his video is: who watches the watchers? The fear and vulnerability of this kind of threat exists in pretty much every protection agency around the globe. You have individuals with guns that are placed in positions of trust and confidence. The challenges of vetting these personnel abroad are always going to be there. And at the end of the day, if someone is committed and willing to die, in all probability he would be successful.
