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JUDY WOODRUFF: Almost 20 
years, American embassies 
in Africa were attacked 
by al-Qaida, making

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the terror group's 
leader, Osama bin Laden, 
an infamous household 
name, three years before

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the horror of 
September 11, 2001.

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During that period, MI6, 
which is the British 
foreign intelligence 
service, had an agent

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inside al-Qaida.

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He has now unmasked himself.

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And he spoke with Jonathan 
Rugman of Independent 
Television News.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: He 
calls himself Aimen Dean.

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For eight years, he worked 
for MI6 as a double agent, 
mostly inside al-Qaida.

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And now one of the West's most 
important spies has broken 
cover to tell his story.

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AIMEN DEAN, Former Undercover 
Agent: If you spend eight years 
under cover, at some point,

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basically, you will start 
to feel the effects.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: In 1996, 
Aimen Dean underwent al-Qaida 
training in Afghanistan.

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The teenager from 
Bahrain already fought 
as a jihadi in Bosnia.

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Now he swore an oath of 
allegiance to Osama bin Laden.

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Did he impress you?

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You write that he was 
tall, he was softly spoken.

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AIMEN DEAN: Absolutely, someone 
who was -- who could have had 
a luxury life in Saudi Arabia,

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someone basically who could 
have had an easy life, and yet 
he gave all that up in order

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to serve a cause 
bigger than him.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: Al-Qaida's 
bombings of U.S. embassies in 
Kenya and Tanzania left hundreds

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dead and Aimen Dean 
outraged by the carnage.

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Then three years later, 
September the 11th, 
almost 3,000 people 
killed, and Dean had known

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one of the hijackers.

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By now, though, he'd moved 
to London, using the need for 
medical treatment as cover to

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become a British spy.

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Your job was to carry radios 
and phones into Afghanistan that 
enclosed MI6 bugging devices.

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Was that it?

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AIMEN DEAN: Well, 
more than that.

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My job was basically to 
report on locations of 
camps, the new training 
methods, the individuals

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coming in and out, and also 
at the same time keeping up 
with al-Qaida's WMD program at

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the time.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: But if you 
were doing all that, why did 
an attack like September the

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11th happen?

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AIMEN DEAN: If you wanted to 
stop 9/11, you have to have at 
least 12 spies inside al-Qaida,

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and each one inside one of 
the different departments.

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Only then, you could 
have stopped it.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: What was 
your biggest intelligence 
coup, as far as you're 
concerned, in terms

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of what you managed to prevent?

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AIMEN DEAN: Well, 
there were several.

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I mean, there was a plot to 
attack the New York subway with 
chemical weapons, a chemical

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device that was invented 
during my time actually in that 
specialist lab in Afghanistan.

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And I was reporting 
on it regularly to the 
U.K. secret services.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: He never 
visited MI6 headquarters.

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Before any meeting, he would 
call his handlers from a series 
of phone boxes to be given a

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rendezvous and to allow 
spotters from MI5 to check 
he wasn't being followed.

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His spying career ending 
in 2006 during a boat 
ride on holiday in Paris.

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He was told the Americans 
had leaked details of his 
identity to a journalist.

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MI6 ordered him back to London.

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Do you have any lasting regret 
that you betrayed people whom 
you had become friends with?

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AIMEN DEAN: No.

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I did not betray a state.

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I betrayed a bunch of 
criminals, as simple that.

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JONATHAN RUGMAN: Aimen Dean 
lives quietly somewhere in the 
British Isles, his code name,

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Lawrence, as in Lawrence of 
Arabia, an identity he left 
behind over a decade ago.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: That 
was Jonathan Rugman of 
Independent Television News.