Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (Arabic: خالد شيخ محمد‎; also transliterated as Khalid Shaikh Mohammed) (KSM) is an Islamist terrorist who was a part of Osama bin Laden's terrorist group Al-Qaeda and is currently in custody at Guantanamo Bay. He confessed to his involvement in 911 attacks.^[1]

Prior to 911, there was a missed opportunity to catch KSM while being in Qatar as the terrorist was tipped off there, he got away,^[1]^[2] ending up in Afghanistan.^[3]

He helped plan the Bojinka plot.

KSM also claimed responsibility for the beheading of Daniel Pearl.

References

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1

“

CBS: Frank Pellegrino joins me now.

Frank, I'm indebted to you for appearing on the program. Help my audience understand why your pursuit of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed began in 1993.

FP. Well, in 1993, we discovered that a man named Khalid from Doha had sent $660 to one of Ramzi Yousef's associates. At that point, we didn't know much about Khalid from Doha, but it was obviously something we were looking into.

We later determined that it was a relative of Ramzi Yousef, who then really came on our radar after Ramzi Yousef, was picked up in the Philippines. And we found out that KSM was heavily involved in what we call the Bojinka plot, which was a plot to blow up airliners flying from Southeast Asia to the United States.

CBS How close did you ever come to getting KSM?

Well, it's tough looking for somebody around the world. And to do that, you need a lot of cooperation. We came close once in Doha, Qatar. We knew he was there. We had set up a rendition team to capture him. He was already indicted for the Bojinka plot. Unfortunately, while we were there and trying to work out a plan to grab him, he was somehow advised that we were there and he was able to flee. And that was the biggest missed opportunity that we had.

We were kind of on some ideas after that, which I think if they could have been pursued a little bit more intently, maybe we would have gotten lucky. But there were a couple of shots that were unsuccessful.

CBS Frank, if the U.S. government had been collectively more aggressive about the fear and the threat that KSM posed, might you have gotten him?

FP. Well, that's interesting because everybody likes to think like that, looking through glasses that have already seen 9-11. I try to look at it because I was there at the time prior to 9-11. And there was a lot going on. We had the embassy bombings. We had 20 fugitives or so from the [1988: East African] embassy bombings. We had the [2000: USS] coal bombings. There was a lot going on. So, of course, I wish that there was more help. But I understand that there are limited resources and only so much could be done.

Now, obviously after 9-11, when it was discovered in April of 2002, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind, well, then every aspect of the U.S. government got involved in trying to locate him.

But there were missed opportunities before. And you always have to wonder what else could have been done to possibly have picked him up. And if we had picked him up, I just, I can't imagine that an event like 9-11 would have happened.

CBS. Let's fast forward, Frank, to 2007. You're in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You have an interrogation with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. What does he tell you?

FP. Well, without getting into specifics, he voluntarily, in my view, came out and was very happy to tell us that what he was involved in and tried to explain to us every aspect of the 9-11 plot and what happened and who was behind it and how it was done. He told us about other plots as well. And it was an interesting conversation. We went back to talk about some of his relatives in Ramzi Yousef. And we spoke a lot of history with him. But the main point of the interview was to get him to talk about the events of 9-11, which he voluntarily and cooperatively done, did.

CBS. So, Frank, I know this has not been released publicly, but it's been reported by the New York Times and others and defense attorneys who are part of this process at Guantanamo, the military tribunal have said this is true. The military judge has ruled that, quote, unquote, confession or that interrogation is inadmissible in the case of two to go to trial in 2028. Do you believe that is true? And if it is true, what is your reaction?

FP. Well, it's true. I know that the judge did hand down a ruling and in the ruling he said that the statement we took from him, what we call the clean confession, was inadmissible. I disagree with his reasoning behind it. He based it all on the fact that it seemed to me that we were unable to separate our interview with what was done to him prior to our interview.

CBS. A harsh interrogation tactics after he was captured, 2003 to 2006.

FP. Exactly. There have been some court rulings saying if you separate time, place, questioners, other issues that those clean confessions could be admissible. I just thought some of the pieces that the judge picked out to indicate that what we had done wasn't sufficient, I thought were not accurate. But you have to live with the holdings. It looks like, from what I understand, it's not going to be appealed. So the government's going to have to go forward with the evidence that we have and exclude the confession.

CBS. Do you believe he will be brought to justice, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?

FP. This is a death penalty case after all, quite obviously. It's been a long time. It's been 25 years, a lot of ups and downs. I think we all want justice. I hope it comes to a trial. We have a trial date. I hope we get to it. I believe that even without the confession that these prosecutors are incapable and they'll be able to present the evidence needed to have him convicted, at this point, after all these years, it's hard for me to be confident about anything. I certainly hope it happens. I think the American people and the victim's families, most of all, including the families of Liz Miller and Jess Trant, that they need to have some closure on this. I think the best way to do that is to have a trial, let everybody see what we have, this way we can show the American people that we don't just arrest people and put them in jail, that we arrest people and then we show the evidence that we have so that we can convict them and then send them to jail.

”

Frank Pellegrino, an FBI special agent who interrogated Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks — reflects on the hunt to bring him to justice and the questions that remain ahead of the alleged plotter's trial in 2028. CBS. Sep 11, 2026.

↑ Qatar Is Responsible For Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's 2,977 Murders On 9/11 – That Are Only Some Of 31 Attacks And Plots That He Outlined In His Own Confession. August 5, 2024 | By Yigal Carmon. Qatar | MEMRI l Daily Brief No. 630. [1] Arch.
↑ How '9/11 mastermind' slipped through FBI's fingers. BBC. Sep 5, 2021. Mohammed seems to have been tipped off about the US interest in him and fled Qatar, ending up in Afghanistan.

[fp-1] 1.0 ^1.1

“
CBS: Frank Pellegrino joins me now.
Frank, I'm indebted to you for appearing on the program. Help my audience understand why your pursuit of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed began in 1993.
FP. Well, in 1993, we discovered that a man named Khalid from Doha had sent $660 to one of Ramzi Yousef's associates. At that point, we didn't know much about Khalid from Doha, but it was obviously something we were looking into.
We later determined that it was a relative of Ramzi Yousef, who then really came on our radar after Ramzi Yousef, was picked up in the Philippines. And we found out that KSM was heavily involved in what we call the Bojinka plot, which was a plot to blow up airliners flying from Southeast Asia to the United States.
CBS How close did you ever come to getting KSM?
Well, it's tough looking for somebody around the world. And to do that, you need a lot of cooperation. We came close once in Doha, Qatar. We knew he was there. We had set up a rendition team to capture him. He was already indicted for the Bojinka plot. Unfortunately, while we were there and trying to work out a plan to grab him, he was somehow advised that we were there and he was able to flee. And that was the biggest missed opportunity that we had.
We were kind of on some ideas after that, which I think if they could have been pursued a little bit more intently, maybe we would have gotten lucky. But there were a couple of shots that were unsuccessful.
CBS Frank, if the U.S. government had been collectively more aggressive about the fear and the threat that KSM posed, might you have gotten him?
FP. Well, that's interesting because everybody likes to think like that, looking through glasses that have already seen 9-11. I try to look at it because I was there at the time prior to 9-11. And there was a lot going on. We had the embassy bombings. We had 20 fugitives or so from the [1988: East African] embassy bombings. We had the [2000: USS] coal bombings. There was a lot going on. So, of course, I wish that there was more help. But I understand that there are limited resources and only so much could be done.
Now, obviously after 9-11, when it was discovered in April of 2002, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was the mastermind, well, then every aspect of the U.S. government got involved in trying to locate him.
But there were missed opportunities before. And you always have to wonder what else could have been done to possibly have picked him up. And if we had picked him up, I just, I can't imagine that an event like 9-11 would have happened.
CBS. Let's fast forward, Frank, to 2007. You're in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You have an interrogation with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. What does he tell you?
FP. Well, without getting into specifics, he voluntarily, in my view, came out and was very happy to tell us that what he was involved in and tried to explain to us every aspect of the 9-11 plot and what happened and who was behind it and how it was done. He told us about other plots as well. And it was an interesting conversation. We went back to talk about some of his relatives in Ramzi Yousef. And we spoke a lot of history with him. But the main point of the interview was to get him to talk about the events of 9-11, which he voluntarily and cooperatively done, did.
CBS. So, Frank, I know this has not been released publicly, but it's been reported by the New York Times and others and defense attorneys who are part of this process at Guantanamo, the military tribunal have said this is true. The military judge has ruled that, quote, unquote, confession or that interrogation is inadmissible in the case of two to go to trial in 2028. Do you believe that is true? And if it is true, what is your reaction?
FP. Well, it's true. I know that the judge did hand down a ruling and in the ruling he said that the statement we took from him, what we call the clean confession, was inadmissible. I disagree with his reasoning behind it. He based it all on the fact that it seemed to me that we were unable to separate our interview with what was done to him prior to our interview.
CBS. A harsh interrogation tactics after he was captured, 2003 to 2006.
FP. Exactly. There have been some court rulings saying if you separate time, place, questioners, other issues that those clean confessions could be admissible. I just thought some of the pieces that the judge picked out to indicate that what we had done wasn't sufficient, I thought were not accurate. But you have to live with the holdings. It looks like, from what I understand, it's not going to be appealed. So the government's going to have to go forward with the evidence that we have and exclude the confession.
CBS. Do you believe he will be brought to justice, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed?
FP. This is a death penalty case after all, quite obviously. It's been a long time. It's been 25 years, a lot of ups and downs. I think we all want justice. I hope it comes to a trial. We have a trial date. I hope we get to it. I believe that even without the confession that these prosecutors are incapable and they'll be able to present the evidence needed to have him convicted, at this point, after all these years, it's hard for me to be confident about anything. I certainly hope it happens. I think the American people and the victim's families, most of all, including the families of Liz Miller and Jess Trant, that they need to have some closure on this. I think the best way to do that is to have a trial, let everybody see what we have, this way we can show the American people that we don't just arrest people and put them in jail, that we arrest people and then we show the evidence that we have so that we can convict them and then send them to jail.
”

Frank Pellegrino, an FBI special agent who interrogated Khalid Sheikh Mohammed — the self-proclaimed mastermind behind the 9/11 terror attacks — reflects on the hunt to bring him to justice and the questions that remain ahead of the alleged plotter's trial in 2028. CBS. Sep 11, 2026.

[2] Qatar Is Responsible For Khalid Sheikh Mohammad's 2,977 Murders On 9/11 – That Are Only Some Of 31 Attacks And Plots That He Outlined In His Own Confession. August 5, 2024 | By Yigal Carmon. Qatar | MEMRI l Daily Brief No. 630. [1] Arch.

[3] How '9/11 mastermind' slipped through FBI's fingers. BBC. Sep 5, 2021. Mohammed seems to have been tipped off about the US interest in him and fled Qatar, ending up in Afghanistan.

[1]

[2]

[3]

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed

References

Navigation menu

Search