The kingdom of Jordan is widely acknowledged for its internal contradictions. It accepts peace with Israel, and its intelligence service has been praised for its work against al Qaeda. But as disclosed by CIA director Leon Panetta and described in the Washington Post this week, a Jordanian terrorist, Humam al-Balawi, succeeded at the end of last year in circumventing U.S. and Jordanian safeguards against infiltration of antiterror operations, with devastating effect. Promising he could lead U.S. agents to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s chief deputy, al-Balawi got inside the CIA’s secure facility in Khost, Afghanistan, where he blew himself up along with five agency officers, two contractors, his Jordanian contact, and a driver. The attack was the worst suffered by the CIA in a quarter century.

Jordan also tolerates a powerful branch of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. So where does the country’s monarchy finally stand in the conflict with Islamist extremism?