Ali Mohamed Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed , ( علي محمد ) ( born June 3 , 1952 ) is a double agent who worked for both the CIA and Egyptian Islamic Jihad simultaneously , reporting on the workings of each for the benefit of the other . He came to the United States working as a translator for Ayman al - Zawahiri , who toured California mosques to raise money to fight the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan . While there , Zawahiri encouraged him to infiltrate the United States , to whom he later presented himself as defecting . Since he simply walked into the CIA office in Cairo and asked to speak to the station chief and offered 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 simply informed the leadership he was an American spy intending to collect information ; since a loyal American spy was also in the congregation , he reported Mohamed ' s bizarre behaviour to the CIA , who dismissed him and sought to ban him from entering the United States . Ironically however , he was simply picked up by the Special Forces in the American army , who sent him to the Special Warfare school and encouraged him to pursue a doctorate in Islamic Studies and teach courses on the Middle East . In the 1980s Mohamed trained anti - Soviet fighters en route to Afghanistan . FBI special agent Jack Cloonan called him " bin Laden ' s first trainer " . Mohamed was charged with the August 7 , 1998 bombings of the United States embassies in Nairobi , Kenya and in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania . In October 2000 , he pleaded guilty to five counts of conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States and to destroy U . S . property . Mohamed has been described as " Six - foot one , 200 pounds , and exceptionally fit , . . . a martial artist and skilled linguist who spoke fluent English , French , and Hebrew in addition to his native Arabic . He was disciplined , clever , and gregarious , with a marked facility for making friends . " Mohamed was a major in the Egyptian army ' s military intelligence unit , until being discharged for suspected fundamentalism in 1984 . He enlisted in the U . S . Army and used U . S . military information to train al - Qaeda and other Muslim militants , and write al - Qaeda ' s multivolume terrorist training guide . In Afghanistan . During the 1980s , Ali Mohamed was involved in the training of the anti - soviet forces which included members of the mujahideen , the local force of Afghanistan established to fight the Soviet Union . Ali Mohamed conducted training during the war to small classes which included the likes of Osama bin Laden ( Past leader of the al - Qaeda terrorist faction ) , Ayman al - Zawahiri ( current leader of al - Qaeda ) , and the terrorist members responsible for the bombings of the two US embassies . His training took place in training camps in Afghanistan . He also spent much time fighting in Afghanistan himself against the Soviet forces . After moving to the United States and joining the US army , Ali Mohamed gathered intelligence about the US army and infrastructure during his time as a drill instructor and support Sargent . In 1988 , Ali returned to Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union . During this time , it is widely believed that he continued to train cells of terrorists using the information learnt while living in the US . After a month he returned to the United States . In 1990 , Ali Mohamed returned once again to Afghanistan , and once more , trained terrorist in the art of guerilla and unconventional warfare which include hijacking , suicide bombing , kidnapping , and IED bombs . During this time , it is also known that he began planning the embassy bombings with Osama bin Laden and Ayman al - Zawahiri . Later on , Ali Mohamed was key in assisting the movement of Al – Qaeda from Afghanistan to Sudan . He moved back and forth , assisting in key movements of camps . In 1992 , Ali Mohamed made several trips to Afghanistan as part of the training of terrorist cells . During that year he made at least 58 trips whilst under the surveillance of the CIA . He fought and trained in the Civil war that ensued after the defeat of the Soviet forces . In this time he trained the Al - Qaeda generals in the art of intelligence warfare . This included surveillance , counter - surveillance , assassinations , kidnapping , codes , and ciphering codes . , < ref name = " San Francisco Chronicle 9 / 21 / 2001 " > San Francisco Chronicle 9 / 21 / 2001 < / ref > The system of cell structures and groups within a terrorist faction was developed by Ali around this time as a means of making it harder to destroy terrorism by spreading members out . Bin laden and Ali Mohamed worked closely to create cells in Tanzania and Kenya to help prepare for the bombings of the embassies . After planning ended , Ali moved to Nairobi where he helped set up a terrorist cell . He funded the cell by creating companies in the fishing and car business . After setting up , he moved back to Afghanistan where Osama and other members of Al - Qaeda discussed plans for the bombings and other information . In the United States . In 1984 Mohamed offered his services to the CIA in Cairo station and was stationed in Hamburg , Germany . There he " entered a mosque associated with Hezbollah and immediately told the Iranian cleric in charge that he was an American spy assigned to infiltrate the community . " The mosque had already been penetrated and his announcement was passed on to the CIA , which , according to Lawrence Wright , " terminated Mohamed " and " sent out cables labeling him highly untrustworthy . " By this " time , however , Mohamed was already in California on a visa - waiver program that was sponsored by the agency itself , one designed to shield valuable assets or those who have performed important services for the country . " In America he married an American woman from Santa Clara , California after a 6 week courtship and became a U . S . citizen . He enlisted in the U . S . Army and managed to get stationed at the John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg , North Carolina until 1989 . " His awed superiors found him ' beyond reproach ' and ' consistently accomplished ' . " According to Cooperative Research , Mohamed was a Drill sergeant at Fort Bragg , and was hired to teach courses on Arabic culture at the John F . Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School . In 1988 Mohamed informed his superior officers in the U . S . Army that he was taking some leave time to fight Soviets in Afghanistan . " A month later , he returned , boasting that he had killed two Soviet soldiers and giving away as souvenirs what he claimed were their uniform belts . " Mohamed ' s commanding officer , Lt . Col . Robert Anderson , said he wrote detailed reports aimed at getting Army intelligence to investigate Mohamed — and have him court - martialed — but the reports were ignored . " I think you or I would have a better chance of winning Powerball , than an Egyptian major in the unit that assassinated Sadat would have getting a visa , getting to California . . . getting into the Army and getting assigned to a Special Forces unit , " he said . " That just doesn ' t happen . " It was equally unthinkable that an ordinary American GI would go unpunished after fighting in a foreign war , he said . Anderson said all this convinced him that Mohamed was " sponsored " by a U . S . intelligence service . " I assumed the CIA , " he said . Mohamed also took maps and training manuals off base to downsize and copy at Kinko ' s and used them to write al - Qaeda ' s multivolume terrorist training guide that became playbook . Mohamed also conducted clandestine military and demolition training through the Al Kifah Refugee Center . While in the United States , he helped train a number of jihadis , like El Sayyid Nosair and Mahmud Abouhalima , who assisted Ramzi Yousef in his 1993 attack on the World Trade Center . In the early 1990s Mohamed returned to Afghanistan , where " he trained the first al - Qaeda volunteers in techniques of unconventional warfare including kidnappings , assassinations , and hijacking planes , which he had learned from the American Special Forces . " According to FBI special agent Jack Cloonan , in one of Mohamed ' s first classes were Osama bin Laden , Ayman al - Zawahiri , and other al - Qaeda leaders . In 1993 Mohamed also traveled to Africa to survey embassies in Africa such as the Nairobi , ( Kenya ) embassy which Al - Qaeda later bombed . He became an informant . In 1994 , al - Qaeda operative Mohammed Atef refused to allow Mohamed to know which name and passport he would be traveling under , expressing concerns that Mohamed could be working with the American authorities . In a televised interview Mohamed explained his rationale for his efforts : " Islam without political dominance cannot survive . " Arrest and Trial . In 1998 , two weeks after the bombings , FBI agents searched Ali ’ s apartment . They found evidence of terrorist activities which included plans and scripts of Al - Qaeda training . Ali Mohamed had made plans to leave the country to meet with Osama bin Laden . However he was subpoenaed to testify in the trial of the other suspects . The same day of the trial , Mohamed was arrested as a key suspect in the embassy bombings . Just before the trial , the FBI ordered for a Polygraph test to be conducted on Mohamed but later was discarded after Mohamed struck a guilty plea to receive life sentence without parole . The deal between Mohamed and the government was struck on October 13 , 2000 . He was charged with 5 counts of conspiracy . The sentencing trial as shown below identified the specific counts that Ali Mohamed was to be indicted . The first count charges a violation of title 18 , under the United States code , section 2332 ( b ) which is the conspiracy to kill nationals of the United States of America wherever they are in the world . in such case , the citizens were located at the embassy of the United States of America in Kenya and Tanzania . The second count was conspiracy to murder , kidnap and maim outside the United States . This would include the conspiracy to kill US nationals employed by American military in the embassies . Count three was conspiracy to murder , through violating sections 1114 or 1116 . Under section 1116 , Ali sought to kill United States government employees under their roles as employees of the United States of America . Count five charges a conspiracy to destroy buildings or property owned or leased by the United States government . The government proved that Ali attempted and planned to destroy or damage building or property owned or leased by the United States government . Finally , count six is the conspiracy to destroy national defense utilities of the United States government . Ali told the court that he had been involved with the Egyptian Islamic Jihad in the 1980s and was introduced to Osama bin Laden in the 1990s . “ In 1992 , I conducted military and basic explosives training for al Qaeda in Afghanistan . Among the people I trained were Harun Fadhl and Abu Jihad . I also conducted intelligence training for al Qaeda . I taught my trainees how to create cell structures that could be used for operations ” . Ali then included information in the events leading up to the embassy bombings ; “ In the early 1990s , I assisted al Qaeda in creating a presence in Nairobi , Kenya , and worked with several others on this project . Abu Ubaidah was in charge of al Qaeda in Nairobi until he drowned . Khalid al Fawwaz set up al Qaeda ’ s office in Nairobi . A car business was set up to create income . Wadih el Hage created a charity organization that would help provide al Qaeda members with identity documents ” . Ali then told the court that he was asked by bin Laden to identify possible targets of which he conducted surveillance on the American Embassy building . Speculated cooperation with US Intelligence . In October 2001 , the " Raleigh News & Observer " noted that Ali Mohamed may be cooperating with the US government . " Defense lawyers and many other observers believe that Mohamed , who has not yet been sentenced , is now cooperating with the United States , though the government has never confirmed this . When he is sentenced he could receive as little as 25 years under his plea agreement . " In his book " The Mission , The Men , and Me : Lessons from a Former Delta Force Commander " , former Delta Force commander Pete Blaber indicates he met Ali Mohamed who gave him information on how to infiltrate Afghanistan , find Al Qaeda commanders , and operate in country undetected in late 2001 . Further news sources in 2001 seem to suggest that Ali Mohamed is providing information on al - Qaeda in an attempt to reduce his sentence , and that his sentencing " has been postponed indefinitely . " . In 2006 , Mohamed ' s wife , Linda Sanchez , was reported in 2006 as saying , " He ' s still not sentenced yet , and without him being sentenced I really can ' t say much . He can ' t talk to anybody . Nobody can get to him . They have Ali pretty secretive . . . it ' s like he just kinda vanished into thin air . "