Years before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. security officials repeatedly warned that terrorists were plotting to use airplanes in an upcoming attack, according to documents released Friday by the CIA.
“Bin Ladin [sic] Preparing To Hijack US Aircraft and Other Attacks,” was the title of the Daily Presidential Briefing for President Bill Clinton on Dec. 4, 1998. The document was among 71 redacted reports released by the agency in what it called a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the attack. The attack killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, led to two wars and vastly reshaped the U.S. security apparatus.
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Reporting “suggests Bin Ladin and his allies are preparing for attacks in the US, including an aircraft hijacking,” the report said. It cites an unidentified “source” claiming a member of the Gama’at al-Islamiyya terrorist organization said the organization “had completed planning for an operation in the US on behalf of Bin Ladin but that the operation was on hold.”
The report goes on to say one leader in the group was “planning to hijack a US airliner,” and that members of al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden’s network “received hijack training,” but had not yet done so.
A Dec. 11, 1998, report says there have been “several reports of impending anti-US terrorist operations” and notes a person or group is “planning to hijack aircraft before Ramadan …”
A Senior Executive Memorandum dated April 9, 2001, during President George W. Bush’s administration, reads, “Bin Ladin’s al-Qa’ida organization and the two Egyptian groups previously have considered taking hostages—possibly including hijackings…”
Another document, dated Aug. 6, 2001 is titled “Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US.” It notes that security officials “have not been able to corroborate some of the more sensational threat reporting.” But the report refers to a source — whose name is redacted — saying in 1998 that “Bin Ladin wanted to hijack a US aircraft,” to gain the release of U.S.-held prisoners.
Despite that lack of corroboration, the report says FBI information “indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York.”
Finally, on Aug. 28, 2001, a report described Bin Laden’s operations as “expert and flexible.”
Exactly two weeks later, Bin Laden’s followers flew four hijacked planes into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
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