Libyan defector ‘has secrets to tell,’ analyst says

(CNN) — The surprise arrival of a tall, gray-haired man at a small airport outside of London raised eyebrows – and it also raised hopes of a breakthrough on many fronts.

The man on the plane was Moussa Koussa, Libya’s foreign minister and former intelligence chief, and he was defecting from the regime of Moammar Gadhafi, the highest-ranking official yet to do so.

Koussa was a stalwart defender of the government as recently as a month ago. But in recent weeks, his demeanor visibly changed. At one recent media briefing, he kept his head down as he read a statement and left early.

The British Foreign Office announced late Wednesday night that Koussa had resigned and come willingly to the United Kingdom.

There’s debate about whether his departure from Tripoli will weaken Gadhafi, with some saying it will be a signal to other doubters around Libya’s leader that it’s time to jump ship.

But others argue he was never one in Gadhafi’s innermost circle, and that his departure is a significant blow, but not a critical loss to the regime.

Whether his defection precipitates further crumbling of the government in Tripoli or not, Koussa may be able to shed light on Libya’s exact role in events like the Lockerbie bombing in 1988 and the killing of a British policewoman in 1984.

“Let’s remember, Moussa Koussa is the single most important Libyan official who was responsible for the intelligence service, the planning and execution of (the bombing of) Pan Am 103,” CNN national security contributor Frances Fragos Townsend said.

He was also a key player in Libya’s decision to give up its weapons of mass destruction program, said Townsend, a former homeland security advisor in the George W. Bush administration.

“He was the single individual who had to approve or disapprove my going forward to meet with Gadhafi. And so he really does have secrets to tell,” she said, adding that Libya’s leader confided in Moussa and relied on him.

British intelligence will be questioning him and passing information to the Americans, she anticipated.

And she’s certain he will have arranged everything carefully before he boarded the plane for Britain.

“His finances, his immunity from prosecution and his freedom from extradition process — he would have worked that all before he left,” she said.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Wednesday that Koussa had not been offered any immunity.

CNN’s Nic Robertson, Anderson Cooper and Ben Wedeman contributed to this report.