U.S. Admits: Jailed ‘Diplomat’ Actually Works for CIA

He didn’t fire off any drone strikes. At one point, he worked for the most infamous private security firm on the planet. But U.S. officials have finally given up the ghost: the “diplomat” detained in Pakistan for shooting two men is part of its spy apparatus.

Raymond Davis, who holds a diplomatic passport, is the source of a widening diplomatic rift between Washington and its frenemies in Islamabad. Pakistani authorities arrested him in Lahore last month after an incident in which he shot two men he claims were trying to rob him. In Davis’ possession were some non-standard diplomatic items, like a Glock and a telescope.

U.S. officials have insisted for weeks that Davis is a diplomat, assigned to the U.S. consulate in Lahore. Pakistani media have speculated widely that he’s a spy. After reports circulated this weekend quoting officials with Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence confirming Davis’ CIA affiliation, U.S. officials lifted their request to news organizations about hiding his CIA ties.

So who’s Davis? Piecing together reports, he’s a contractor working for the agency, not a spy himself. Davis is a Special Operations veteran who began working in Pakistan as a contractor in early 2010, protecting CIA case officers as they move through Pakistan to meet with their contacts. The Washington Post reports that the unit Davis protects conducts “surveillance of militant groups in large cities” and has ties to the military’s elite terror-hunters in the Joint Special Operations Command At some point, he worked for Xe Services, formerly known as Blackwater, and it’s unclear if he still does. An anonymous official told the Wall Street Journal that it’s “simply wrong” to assert that Davis has anything to do with drone strikes.

Of course, the Pakistani government is complicit in the lethal strikes against terrorist targets on its territory. But it resents additional U.S. spying in Pakistan, and is refusing Washington’s insistence that Davis possesses diplomatic immunity. (Diplomatic cover is a time-honored cover for spy work.) Cynically, the security services and the press have presented Davis as a whipping boy for the unpopular partnership with the U.S., even leaking the above video of Davis’ initial police interrogation, which has circulated on Pakistani TV.

Davis is held at Lahore’s Kot Lakhpat prison, where U.S. officials fear for his safety. The Guardian reports that dogs are sniffing and even tasting his food for poison. Yesterday, State Department officials told reporters that he’s still entitled to diplomatic protection even if the CIA pays his bills, and it told Pakistani authorities that last month.

Still, Pakistan shows no sign of relenting in its desire to prosecute Davis for the shootings. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton gave a speech on Friday affirming that the U.S. needs a united diplomatic front with Pakistan if it’s going to figure out a negotiated end to the Afghanistan war. But Davis is a bone in the Pakistanis’ throat. How will the U.S. get him out?