Killings Rock Afghan Strategy

WASHINGTON - The attack that killed seven Central Intelligence Agency officers on a U.S. base in Afghanistan appears to stem from a strategy of calculated risk in running the spy agency's informant network, posing a sharp challenge as operations ramp up for the Obama troop surge.

U.S. intelligence and military officials said Friday that Wednesday's attacker had been recruited as a possible informant and brought onto Forward Operating Base Chapman, passing through at least one checkpoint. He detonated his charge shortly before being searched, blowing himself up, killing seven and wounding six.

It was a "high-level asset meeting gone bad," said one former intelligence official familiar with the incident.

In providing additional details of the Wednesday homicide bombing, the agency's worst loss of life since 1983, former and current U.S. intelligence officials painted a clearer picture of how the agency has battled Taliban and allied militants.

In particular, Chapman appears to have taken a less strict line on security than at other U.S. military bases. Only modest searches are performed there, some U.S. officials say, in the hopes of establishing trust with those who may furnish information. Through its efforts in the region, the CIA has been able to create a large network of informants about the activities of Al Qaeda and other militants.

"The CIA team there was very professional, and they knew there was a risk to their security protocols," the official said. "But they felt the need to gather viable, time-sensitive intelligence was so pressing that it justified the trade-off."

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