CIA Declassifies 71 Pre-9/11 Intelligence Reports on Bin Laden, al Qaeda
WASHINGTON — The CIA on Friday released 71 intelligence reports tied to the years and months before the Sept. 11 attacks, opening a new window
WASHINGTON — The CIA on Friday released 71 intelligence reports tied to the years and months before the Sept. 11 attacks, opening a new window on what U.S. spy agencies told Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush about Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda. The documents were declassified as the nation marked 25 years since the attacks.
The release includes 70 reports written before the 2001 strikes and one from the day after. Most were drawn from the President’s Daily Brief, the tightly held intelligence summary delivered to the president and senior officials. Two had surfaced earlier during the work of the 9/11 Commission.
The files do not show that U.S. intelligence knew the exact plot that unfolded on Sept. 11. But they do show repeated warnings. One report from Sept. 10, 1998, warned that bin Laden’s supporters “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city.” Another assessment from that period said al Qaeda could attempt to attack an American city with an “explosive-laden plane.”
Warnings that missed the full picture
The newly public material shows that intelligence officials had tracked bin Laden’s threat for years. They warned of danger, but not the full shape of the attack that would later kill nearly 3,000 people. The reports did not identify the targets, the timing or the use of multiple hijacked commercial aircraft.
Still, the language inside the briefs is stark. One memo said intelligence offered no conclusive information on bin Laden’s intentions for future attacks. Another said he was determined to strike the United States. Short. Direct. Unforgiving.
Largest release, CIA says
CIA Director John Ratcliffe called the disclosure “the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever.” In a statement, he said the attacks “struck a blow to our Nation, but they did not break us,” and added that generations of CIA officers have worked since then to secure justice for the victims and make sure al Qaeda could never again harm the United States.
The documents, posted on the CIA’s website, cover the period from February 1998 through Sept. 12, 2001. The release comes as governments and security services around the world continue to examine how intelligence signs were read, missed or discounted before one of the deadliest attacks in modern history.
The new cache gives researchers, historians and the public a fuller look at what presidents were being told in the years before the attacks. And it ends with a reminder from the agency that the warnings were there. “The single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever,” Ratcliffe said.
