Ali Soufan was on the ground in Yemen on September 11, 2001, investigating the October 2000 al-Qaeda bombing of the USS Cole as an FBI supervisory special agent. A few hours after the attacks, as he prepared to board a flight home to join the investigation, he was instructed to stay in Yemen and interrogate al-Qaeda operative Fahd al-Quso, then in Yemeni custody. Mr. Soufan is now chief executive officer of the Soufan Group LLC. A former FBI counterterrorism agent with extensive experience interrogating al-Qaeda operatives, he also serves as executive director of the Qatar International Academy for Security Studies. He is the author of the 2011 book, The Black Banners: The Inside Story of 9/11 and the War Against al-Qaeda.
