The prize that every intelligence agency seeks against an adversary is to place an agent inside the enemy's ranks to provide information and even disrupt plans. That appears to be just what Saudi and U.S. intelligence did to al-Qaida's most lethal franchise, al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP.

(CBS News) NEW YORK - It's a stunning revelation in the foiled plot to blow up a U.S.-bound airliner: The triggerman chosen by al Qaeda was actually a double agent who was working for the CIA and Saudi intelligence services. He delivered the explosive device to U.S. intelligence officials and provided information on the whereabouts of Fahd al Quso, the senior commander of al Qaeda's wing in Yemen, who was killed in a drone strike last weekend. It's an intelligence victory, but it came with a cost.

The defense of Abd Al-Rahim Al-Nashiri -- the mastermind in the bombing of the U.S. Navy destroyer Cole in 2000 -- has received a boost from a surprising source: Jose Rodriguez, a former high-ranking CIA official. Thankfully, the prosecution has voluminous evidence -- confessions from al-Qaeda members and even interviews with Nashiri himself -- that contradict Rodriguez's version of history. In a new book, Rodriguez takes responsibility for initiating the use of so-called enhanced interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists including Nashiri, and says that waterboarding saved lives. He also downplays Nashiri's importance, writing that "'mastermind' was not an apt description of Nashiri and endorsing a colleague's characterization of Nashiri as the dumbest terrorist I have ever met. Such talk is, of course, music to Nashiri's ears: How can he be prosecuted as the planner of a complicated plot causing the death of 17 U.S. sailors if he's a fool.

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The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee expressed dismay that someone leaked information about a double agent who infiltrated al Qaeda and helped foil a plot to blow up a U.S.-bound plane. Former FBI special agent Ali Soufan, who interrogated al Quso for his role in the Cole bombing, called the coordinated seizure of the bomb and attack on al Quso as "really a brilliant operation."

An al Qaeda plot, hatched in Yemen, to blow up a commercial aircraft over United States air space was exposed by the CIA, but many questions remain unanswered. Ali Soufan, former FBI counter terrorist agent and leading expert on al Qaeda in Yemen, appeared exclusively on Amanpour Tuesday. His unique insights help provide the story behind the story.

Although the latest attempt to take down an aircraft using a bomb hidden in underwear failed, the plot still shows al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula is making "big inroads" as the most active affiliate of the terrorist network, said Michael Leiter, former director of the National Counterterrorism Center.

A day after news broke that the CIA foiled a new al-Qaida plot to bomb an airliner, the official responses were low key on Tuesday. Margaret Warner, former National Counterterrorism Center director Michael Leiter and former FBI supervisory special agent Ali Soufan assess the current reach of the terror network.

Al-Quso was well-known as a top U.S. target who had managed to slip the authorities on multiple occasions. After being picked up in Yemen following the USS Cole attack, which killed 17 American sailors, al-Quso told interrogators he had been tasked with taping the bombing. But in April 2003, he managed to escape from prison ... But less well-known in Al-Quso's saga is that he was also at the center of a debate about whether American intelligence agencies could have prevented 9/11.

The Judge's Reading Material: Defense lawyers questioned Pohl about his fitness to run the trial, asking about his religion (he declined to answer) and reading list ("The Black Banners," by Ali Soufan and about ten pages of the 9/11 Commission report, among other things). Pohl said that he thought journalists tended to get things wrong. ("Gitmo media center groans," tweets Rosenberg.)