CIA files reveal alerts to Clinton and Bush before 9/11
This is the largest public collection of CIA intelligence analysis related to 9/11.
Years before the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 (9/11) in America, American intelligence agencies had warned then-President Bill Clinton and George W. Bush multiple times about Osama bin Laden and his terrorist network's plans related to hijacking planes. This information has emerged from a large collection of classified documents released by the Trump administration.
According to a report by Fox News, these declassified documents made public on Friday include intelligence reports provided daily to the President, known as the ‘Presidents Daily Brief’ (PDB), and high-level intelligence memos from the CIA.
According to these reports,
suspected terrorists linked to Al-Qaeda had even tested escaping security checks at an unknown airport in New York nearly three years before the attack on the World Trade Centre. Intelligence indicated that terrorists could hijack large commercial planes to attack America. Their plan also included using the hijacked planes to exert pressure for the release of imprisoned extremists, including names like Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef.
A daily intelligence report prepared for the President on December 4, 1998 (PDB) stated that, according to various sources,
some members of bin Laden's network had received training in hijacking planes. However, by that time, no group directly linked to bin Laden's Al-Qaeda organization had carried out a hijacking incident. The report also expressed concern that bin Laden might be considering some other form of action against American planes.
Just a few months earlier, a PDB report dated September 10, 1998, indicated that,
bin Laden's priority was to attack American soil, and his primary target could be Washington DC. The report warned that the terrorist network responsible for the bombings of American embassies in East Africa could attempt to crash a plane filled with explosives into an American city.
CIA documents indicate that,
throughout 1998, American intelligence agencies were continuously monitoring bin Laden's activities and his supporting network. Intelligence officials had also identified his associates and supporters active in several U.S. states, including New York, California, Texas, Michigan, and Florida. These warnings were not limited to just one presidential administration. President George W. Bush, who took office after Bill Clinton, was also provided with several such intelligence reports.
A prominent PDB presented to Bush on August 6, 2001, was titled—
bin Laden is determined to attack inside the United States.
This report informed President Bush that,
the FBI had detected several suspicious activities within the United States that could be related to preparations for hijacking or other potential terrorist attacks. It also mentioned recent surveillance of Federal buildings in New York.
The document stated that Al-Qaeda members, some of whom were American citizens, had been living in or traveling to the United States for several years. The organization had developed a mechanism in the U.S. that could facilitate carrying out terrorist attacks. The report also noted that after the U.S. missile strikes on his bases in Afghanistan in 1998, bin Laden had told his supporters that he wanted to take revenge in Washington.
In another daily intelligence report given to President Bush a few weeks before the September 11 attacks (PDB) it was reported that the FBI was investigating nearly 70 such cases across the United States that were believed to be related to bin Laden.
The Trump administration has made these documents public as part of a broader effort to reveal what information American intelligence agencies had before the 9/11 attacks. CIA Director John Ratcliffe stated in a statement released on the social media platform ‘X’ that he had authorized the release of 71 daily intelligence reports from the President to honor those who died in 9/11 and those CIA officers who lost their lives in the subsequent fight against terrorism.
CIA has released 69 of these 71 documents for the first time. According to Ratcliffe,
this is the largest public collection of CIA intelligence analysis related to 9/11 to date. Previously, during Donald Trump's second term, classified files related to the murders of President John F. Kennedy, his brother Robert F. Kennedy, and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. were also released.
According to a report by The Jerusalem Post, the emergence of these new documents may reignite an old debate in Washington. The question is whether the failure to prevent 9/11 was due to the intelligence agencies' inability to connect the dots in time, or whether political leadership and the national security establishment failed to take adequate action despite receiving continuous warnings.
The 9/11 Commission concluded in its investigation that no single agency could be held responsible for this failure. The commission cited several reasons for it, including the failure to imagine the potential threat, weak coordination among different government agencies, and a lack of solid intelligence that could have thwarted the attack plot.
CIA has also maintained for years that,
There were several indications related to al-Qaeda's attempt to attack America, but before September 11, there was no specific information regarding the date, location, aircraft, or targets of the attack. In the absence of such information, it was not possible to directly prevent the attack.
The new documents do not change this old assessment, but they add an important aspect to the historical record. They reveal that years before the killing of nearly 3,000 people by 19 al-Qaeda terrorists hijacking four passenger planes, the U.S. intelligence apparatus had already recorded concerns about an aircraft being used to attack an American city. This warning had reached the highest levels of the U.S. government, including intelligence officials.
According to the documents,
at least 18 intelligence reports prepared for the President in 2001 mentioned bin Laden. However, one significant question remains unanswered—
did President Bill Clinton personally read that 1998 report, or was he directly informed about its contents?
This could not be confirmed from the available records.
This document was previously mentioned in the 9/11 Commission report as a 'threat-related report.' However, the Commission did not disclose at that time that this information had also been conveyed to officials receiving the President's Daily Brief (PDB).
The most crucial message from these documents is that while U.S. agencies may not have known the exact timing, target, and method of 9/11, warnings about bin Laden's intention to attack American soil, al-Qaeda's presence within the country, and the potential plan to use aircraft had been received for years.