Post 9/11 CIA has become a killing machine focused on hunting down terrorists 'faster than they can grow them'



The CIA has become ‘one hell of a killing machine’ after 9/11 with a focus on hunting terrorists rather than gathering intelligence, according to reports.



Agents working for the organisation say it been transformed by a renewed focus on finding Al Qaeda operatives and killing them if necessary.



A series of drone strikes and close co-operation with Special Forces has ensured the CIA has a hand in hunting terrorists like never before, the Washington Post reported.



Al Qaeda number two Osama bin Laden was killed by Navy SEALS in Pakistan

The head of the main section responsible for the operations has gone so far as to tell colleagues: ‘We are killing these sons of bitches faster than they can grow them now’.



According to the Washington Post, the CIA pre 9/11 was completely different to what it has now become.

Agents have described it as ‘chugging along’ with a primary focus on traditional goals of gathering intelligence and using it to pursue America’s interests.



Now the CIA drone programme has killed more than 2,000 militants - and civilians - since 2001.



It was also deeply involved in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s mansion hideout in Pakistan. The operation was carried out by Navy SEALs but under CIA authority and planning.



On at least five other occasions similar operations have taken place to test the ability of the two groups to work together.



The focus of the push has been the CIA’s Counter-terrorism centre (CTC) which numbered 300 people on 9/11 and now stands at almost 2,000 - more than Al Qaeda’s core membership.

New mission: US Special Forces and the CIA are collaborating in daring raids

The CIA's Counterterrorism wing has grown nearly sevenfold in the past decade exceeding al Qaeda membership

CTC now accounts for one in ten of the agency’s entire workforce and has offices in almost all overseas posts.



The bin Laden raid was the most stark example to date of the close collaboration between the organisation and outside bodies.



‘You couldn't tell the difference between CIA officers, Special Forces guys and contractors,’ a U.S. contractor said about his recent tour of Afghanistan.



‘They're all three blended together. All under the command of the CIA.’



According to the Washington Post, a CIA veteran who asked the boss of the CTC about the drone strokes against Al Qaeda was told: ‘We are killing these sons of bitches faster than they can grow them now’.



Another former official told the Washington Post: ‘You’ve taken an agency that was chugging along and turned it into one hell of a killing machine’.



While some within the CIA are concerned that it is being distracted from its key objectives, campaign groups have been harsher in their criticism.



Hina Shamsi, the director of the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union, said: ‘We're seeing the CIA turn into more of a paramilitary organisation without the oversight and accountability that we traditionally expect of the military’.



Fran Moore, head of the CIA's analytic branch, agreed that the organisations work on many issues had expanded.



But she said: ‘The vast majority of analysts would not identify themselves as supporting military objectives’.

