September 11 intelligence before the attacks

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[edit] Clinton era report

In December 1998, the CIA's Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the U.S. that might include hijacking aircraft.[1][2]

[edit] April 2001 Massoud speech

Another warning came from Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, in April 2001, in a speech before the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium where he asked for humanitarian aid to the people of Afghanistan. Massoud told the parliament that his intelligence agents had gained limited knowledge about a large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil being imminent. Massoud was assassinated by al-Qaeda two days before the 9/11 attacks on September 9, 2001.[3]

[edit] Bush era reports

[edit] May 1, 2001

On May 1, 2001, the CIA informed the White House that "a group presently in the United States" was in the process of planning a terrorist attack.[4]

[edit] June 29, 2001

The President's Daily Brief on June 29, 2001 stated that "[the United States] is not the target of a disinformation campaign by Usama Bin Laden". The document repeated evidence surrounding the threat, "including an interview that month with a Middle Eastern journalist in which Bin Laden aides warned of a coming attack, as well as competitive pressures that the terrorist leader was feeling, given the number of Islamists being recruited for the separatist Russian region of Chechnya."[4]

The CIA reiterated that the attacks were anticipated to be near-term and have "dramatic consequences".[4]

[edit] July 1, 2001

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[edit] July 9, 2001

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[edit] July 10, 2001

In July 2001, J. Cofer Black, CIA's couterterrorism chief and George Tenet, CIA's director, met with Condoleezza Rice, the National Security Advisor, to inform her about communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence showing the increasing likelihood that al-Qaeda would soon attack the United States. Rice listened but was unconvinced, having other priorities on which to focus. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld questioned the information suggesting it was a deception meant to gauge the U.S. response.[5][6]

[edit] July 11, 2001

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[edit] July 24, 2001

[icon] This section requires expansion. (February 2013)

[edit] August 6, 2001

On August 6, 2001, the President's Daily Briefing, entitled Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US warned that bin Laden was planning to exploit his operatives' access to the U.S. to mount a terrorist strike: FBI information... indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country, consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attack.[6] Rice responded to the claims about the briefing in a statement before the 9/11 Commission stating the brief was "not prompted by any specific threat information" and "did not raise the possibility that terrorists might use airplanes as missiles."[7]

[edit] References

  1. ^ Schmidt, Susan (July 18, 2004). "1998 Memo Cited Suspected Hijack Plot by Bin Laden". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
  2. ^ "Bin Ladin Preparing to Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks". Director of Central Intelligence. December 4, 1998. Retrieved 2011-09-03. 
  3. ^ Boettcher, Mike (November 6, 2003). "How much did Afghan leader know?". CNN.com. Retrieved June 11, 2011. 
  4. ^ a b c Eichenwald, Kurt (2012-09-10). "The Deafness Before the Storm". The New York Times. Retrieved 2013-02-12. 
  5. ^ Washington Post, Two Months Before 9/11, an Urgent Warning to Rice http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000282.html
  6. ^ a b Blanton, Thomas S. (2004-04-12). "The President's Daily Brief". National Security Archive. 
  7. ^ "Transcript of Rice's 9/11 commission statement". CNN. 19 May 2004. Retrieved 14 March 2012. 

[edit] Further reading

  • Boraz, Steven C. (2007-06-01). Reforming Intelligence: Obstacles to Democratic Control and Effectiveness. Thomas C. Bruneau (ed.). University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292716605. 
  • Caraley, Demetrios (2002-08). September 11, Terrorist Attacks, and U.S. Foreign Policy. Academy of Political Science. ISBN 1884853013. 
  • Posner, Gerald (2003-09-02). Why America Slept: The Failure to Prevent 9/11 (1 ed.). Random House. ISBN 0375508791. 
  • Posner, Richard A. (2005-09-08). Remaking domestic intelligence. Hoover Press. ISBN 9780817946821. 
  • Posner, Richard A. (2005-03-22). Preventing Surprise Attacks: Intelligence Reform in the Wake of 9/11. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. ISBN 074254947X. 
  • Intelligence Issues and Developments. Terrance M. Paulson (ed.). Nova Science Pub Inc. 2008-05. ISBN 1604564474. 
  • Twenty-First Century Intelligence. Wesley K. Wark (ed.). Routledge. 2004-12-23. ISBN 0415349702. 

[edit] See also

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