‘9/11 kingpin KSM wanted to design a vacuum cleaner’

Mohammed had endured the most brutal of the CIA’s harsh interrogation methods and had confessed to a career of atrocities. But the agency had no long-term plan for him. Someday,he might prove useful. Perhaps,he’d even stand trial one day. And for that,he’d need to be sane. “We didn’t want them to go nuts,” the former senior CIA official said.

So,using schematics from the Internet as his guide,Mohammed began re-engineering one of the most mundane appliances.

That the CIA may be in possession of the world’s most highly classified vacuum cleaner blueprints is but one peculiar,lasting byproduct of the controversial US detention and interrogation programme.

By the CIA’s own account,the programme’s methods were “designed to psychologically dislocate” people. But once interrogations stopped,the agency had to try to undo the psychological damage inflicted on the detainees.

The CIA apparently succeeded in keeping Mohammed sane. He appears to be in good health,according to military records.

Mohammed was subjected to harsh interrogations in Poland. Agency officers and contractors forced him to stay awake for 180 hours,according to a CIA inspector general’s report. He also underwent 183 instances of waterboarding,or simulated drowning.

After the CIA prison in Poland was closed in September 2003,Mohammed was moved to Bucharest,to a black site code-named Britelite. Soon the CIA was trying to find ways to entertain Mohammed as his intelligence value diminished.

The prison had a debriefing room,where Mohammed,who saw himself as something of a professor,held “office hours”,as he told CIA officers. While chained to the floor,Mohammed would lecture the CIA officers on his path to jihad,his childhood and family. Tea and cookies were served.

Along with the other five detainees in Bucharest,Mohammed was given assignments about his knowledge of al-Qaeda,or “homework”,as CIA officers called it. He was given Snickers candy bars as rewards for his studiousness.

In Romania,the prison provided books for detainees to read. Mohammed,former officials said,enjoyed Harry Potter. For the CIA officers at the prison,not so much. For security reasons,after a prisoner finished a book,they tediously checked every page to ensure detainees weren’t passing messages. They once caught Mohammed trying to hide a message in a book warning his prison mates not to talk about Osama bin Laden’s courier.

Mohammed graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1986. It’s not clear whether Mohammed was interested in designing a better vacuum or had ulterior motives. He might have intended to use the plans to conceal secret information or trick jailers.

In Graham Greene’s thriller Our Man in Havana,a vacuum salesman in Cuba agrees to work for MI6. He dupes the British into believing his vacuum designs are military installations.

It remains a mystery how far Mohammed got with his designs or whether the plans still exist. The secret CIA prison in Romania was shuttered in early 2006 and Mohammed was transferred later that year to Guantanamo Bay Naval Base prison,where he remains. It’s unlikely he was able to take his appliance plans to Cuba.

Playing with the master’s mind

Khalid Sheikh

Mohammed,or KSM,admitted mastermind of the 9/11 attacks,graduated from North Carolina A&T State University with a degree in mechanical engineering in 1986

The CIA’s interrogation programme was ‘designed to psychologically dislocate’ people

Mohammed had endured the most brutal of the CIA’s harsh interrogation methods and confessed to a career of atrocities

Agency officers and contractors forced him to stay awake for 180 hours. He also underwent 183 instances of waterboarding,or simulated drowning

Mohammed was given assignments about his knowledge of al-Qaeda,or ‘homework’,as CIA officers called it. He was given Snickers candy bars as rewards for his studiousness

Mohammed also enjoyed reading the Harry Potter series