The magic box was an improvised cell-phone locator that two CIA Directorate of Science and Technology officers built during the 2002 hunt for Abu Zubaydah. John Kiriakou recounts that, given the target’s phone number, the two officers went into a Pakistani bazaar, bought “a couple of pieces of wood and some wires and a soldering iron,” and returned with a box fitted with a telephone keypad and a small speaker.[1][2] After punching in the number, the team waited twelve hours; when the phone came on and made a call, the box pinged a direction — but by the time they grabbed their guns, he had switched it off, far too fast to follow through a city of 18 million.[3][4]
Magic box
An improvised cell-phone locator that two CIA Directorate of Science and Technology officers built from parts bought in a Pakistani bazaar during the hunt for Abu Zubaydah; it could point toward a phone when switched on, but too slowly to act on.
References
- ↑ Bits On Tape, 2025-08-18 — 14:12 on YouTube · Transcript
- ↑ Bits On Tape, 2025-08-18 — 15:16 on YouTube · Transcript
- ↑ Bits On Tape, 2025-08-18 — 15:48 on YouTube · Transcript
- ↑ Bits On Tape, 2025-08-18 — 16:19 on YouTube · Transcript
Categories: Operations