Al Qaeda Double Agent Hawks Tell-All Book to Mainstream Media

A Danish al-Qaeda recruit turned CIA informant is taking full advantage of the mainstream media’s fascination with his “de-radicalization.”

Native-born Danish bad boy Morten Storm set the Internet ablaze after he converted to Islam, got high-fived by al Qaeda, then turned CIA operative. And why all the fuss over this former jaded mullah, often referred to as the Forrest Gump of radical Islam? Even an armed robber turned Bandito turned “double-agent” can cash in on his tawdry life by penning a book: Agent Storm: My Life Inside al-Qaeda and the CIA.

Now Storm is getting his 15 minutes of fame, including a TV special via CNN: Double Agent: Inside al Qaeda for the CIA. Why would any reputable news organization spend so many resources on a thug who has as many aliases as President Obama has golf caddies? Storm’s book contains the stuff of a spy thriller and is coedited by CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank and Tim Lister. Both are CNN contributors. But Storm didn’t just stop there. He recently sat down with CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson.

Storm’s biggest claim to fame, besides de-radicalizing himself, is that he was so valued by senior al Qaeda officials that he set one up with a European wife. Count on this story getting more air time on CNN, decent book sales, and giving us even more reasons to wonder what the CIA is really up to when recruiting misfits like Storm in the first place. But then again, it does give top CNN terrorism analysts, contributors, and producers something to chew on other than defending president Obama’s controversial and increasingly unpopular foreign policy (or lack of one).

Jen­nifer Hanin is an award-winning writer, influ­en­tial blog­ger and social media maven, and co-founder and for­mer Exec­u­tive Edi­tor of Act For Israel. She is co-author of the critically-acclaimed What to Do When You Can’t Get Preg­nant: the Com­plete Guide to All the Options for Cou­ples Fac­ing Fer­til­ity Issues (Da Capo, 2013; 2005) and Becom­ing Jew­ish: The Chal­lenges, Rewards and Paths to Judaism.