He came to the United States working as a translator for Ayman al-Zawahiri who toured California in 1993 following the World Trade Centre bombing, hoping to raise money for al-Jihad from the numerous Islamic charities that still existed from the days of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. While there, Zawahiri encouraged him to infiltrate the United States, claiming to be defecting to the United States. When he simply walked into the CIA office in Cairo and asked to speak to the station chief to offer his services, the Americans assumed he was an Egyptian spy, but nevertheless recruited him to be a junior intelligence officer. When tasked to infiltrate a mosque with ties to Hezbollah, he instead informed the imam he was an American spy intending to collect information. Another loyal American spy was also in the congregation and he reported Mohamed to the CIA, which dismissed him and sought to ban him from entering the United States. However, he later enlisted in the U.S. Army Special Forces, who sent him to the Special Warfare school and encouraged him to pursue a doctorate in Islamic Studies to teach courses on the Middle East.