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A Look Back … Murder at CIA’s Front Gate
![123 Memorial 123 Memorial](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090506002119im_/https://www.cia.gov/news-information/featured-story-archive/cia-route-123-memorial_thumb.JPG)
- On May 24, 2002, Agency officers dedicated the Route 123 Memorial to two fallen colleagues. The Memorial is located on the west side of the Virginia Route 123 entrance (alongside the outbound right lane).
For many CIA employees, waiting for the left turn light at
the main entrance of the compound brings to mind the day when terror came to
CIA’s doorstep. On January 25, 1993, at 10 minutes before 8 a.m., a man named Aimal
Kasi used an AK-47 assault rifle to fire into the cars waiting in the two left
turn lanes, killing two CIA employees: Lansing Bennett, a medical doctor in the
Directorate of Administration (now Directorate of Support), and Frank Darling,
a communications engineer. Their stars are on the Agency’s Memorial Wall. Three
other CIA employees were wounded. The shooting started a manhunt that lasted
for four years.
A Devastating Attack
For his attack, Kasi used an assault rifle he purchased
locally. After firing at several cars, he calmly drove off. Surprised that he
was not immediately apprehended, Kasi returned to his apartment, packed, and
flew back to his family home in Quetta,
Pakistan. His
family bought protection for their son from an Afghan warlord and smuggled him
across the border into Afghanistan.
At the time of the shootings, U.S. officials knew nothing of
Kasi's identity or affiliations. Authorities identified Kasi as the shooter
several days later, after his roommate filed a missing person's report with
local police. Soon after, the FBI placed Kasi on the Most Wanted List, while
the State Department posted a $2 million dollar reward for his capture: it was
later increased to $3.5 million. Yet, for four years, various plans to locate,
track, and capture Kasi failed.
The Capture
As the years passed, Kasi assumed the United States had forgotten about him and began
leaving Afghanistan to visit
friends in Pakistan.
On June 15, 1997, acting on an informant's tip, a combined FBI and CIA team
lured Kasi to a meeting in the Dera Ghazi Khan District of Punjab, Pakistan to
work out details of a supposed business venture involving smuggled arms and
electronics. As the plan unfolded, CIA headquarters established radio contact
with a Chevy Suburban containing a joint CIA-FBI team sitting outside of a
Chinese restaurant and hotel where Kasi waited to meet his alleged new business
partners.
The appointed 4 p.m. meeting time came and went, as Acting
DCI George Tenet anxiously awaited word. At 4:30, according to one account, the
radio cracked "Base, base, this is Red Rover. The package is aloft, the
package is aloft." Kasi was in American hands. Within moments, Tenet
phoned the families of Kasi's victims.
Tenet made a public announcement of the arrest two days later
praising the four-year effort—and ultimate success—of the CIA, FBI, and State
Department.
Justice and Closure
The Justice Department decided that local authorities in Fairfax County should try Kasi on capital murder
charges since federal law did not then provide for the death penalty for
terrorist acts. In court, Kasi acknowledged his role in the shootings, but
pleaded not guilty. Convicted after a jury trial, Kasi received the death
penalty, carried out by lethal injection at the Virginia State Penitentiary in
Jarratt on November 14, 2002.
A permanent memorial to Frank Darling and Lansing Bennett
was erected in May 2002 near the site of the shootings on Route 123.
Posted: Jan 15, 2009 11:37 AM
Last Updated: Mar 19, 2009 10:22 AM
Last Reviewed: Jan 15, 2009 11:37 AM