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Bush, Clinton received multiple warnings on bin Laden hijack plots before 9/11, declassified files show
Confirmed
In Short: Declassified documents reveal that both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton were repeatedly warned about potential hijack plots by Osama bin Laden and his network, according to reports.
Declassified documents released by the Trump administration show that both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton were given multiple warnings about potential hijack plots by Osama bin Laden and his network, according to reports. These warnings spanned two presidential administrations and detailed various intelligence memos and briefings.
According to a Dec. 4, 1998, presidential daily briefing, some members of the bin Laden network had received hijack training, though no group directly tied to bin Laden's al-Qa'ida organization had ever carried out an aircraft hijacking. The documents also indicate that months before the 1998 briefing, a Sept. 10, 1998, PDB memorandum noted that bin Laden's preferred option was to strike on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C.
Weeks before the September 11, 2001, attacks, a daily brief for Bush stated that the FBI was conducting around 70 field investigations throughout the U.S. that it believed were related to bin Laden. The plotters aimed to leverage hijacked flights to demand the release of imprisoned extremists, including Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef, according to newly declassified documents.
The intelligence reports to the White House consistently found that bin Laden was in no danger of being expelled by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, even though some senior figures worried his plotting against the U.S. could put the Taliban in jeopardy. The high-level warnings lacked definitive information about precisely how or when the attacks might take place, according to NBC News.
All of these warnings were drawn from the daily intelligence briefings that were given by the CIA and other spy agencies to Clinton and his successor, Bush. The September 1998 intelligence briefing about the possibility of using an explosive-laden plane to target an American city was written only weeks after bin Laden's supporters bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa, according to NBC News.
The intelligence briefings also detailed other activities, including training for militants to hijack commercial airliners, experimenting with crude chemical or other unconventional weapons, doing dry runs to test U.S. airport security, plotting to take hostages, and trafficking narcotics to fund terrorism plans. Despite these warnings, the attacks on September 11, 2001, still took the nation by surprise, according to reports.
What's confirmed
- Declassified documents released by the Trump administration show that both President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton were given multiple warnings about potential hijack plots by Osama bin Laden and his network, according to reports. These warnings spanned two presidential administrations and detailed various intelligence memos and briefings.
- According to a Dec. 4, 1998, presidential daily briefing, some members of the bin Laden network had received hijack training, though no group directly tied to bin Laden's al-Qa'ida organization had ever carried out an aircraft hijacking. The documents also indicate that months before the 1998 briefing, a Sept. 10, 1998, PDB memorandum noted that bin Laden's preferred option was to strike on U.S. soil in Washington, D.C.
- Weeks before the September 11, 2001, attacks, a daily brief for Bush stated that the FBI was conducting around 70 field investigations throughout the U.S. that it believed were related to bin Laden. The plotters aimed to leverage hijacked flights to demand the release of imprisoned extremists, including Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef, according to newly declassified documents.
- The intelligence reports to the White House consistently found that bin Laden was in no danger of being expelled by the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, even though some senior figures worried his plotting against the U.S. could put the Taliban in jeopardy. The high-level warnings lacked definitive information about precisely how or when the attacks might take place, according to NBC News.
- All of these warnings were drawn from the daily intelligence briefings that were given by the CIA and other spy agencies to Clinton and his successor, Bush. The September 1998 intelligence briefing about the possibility of using an explosive-laden plane to target an American city was written only weeks after bin Laden's supporters bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa, according to NBC News.
- The intelligence briefings also detailed other activities, including training for militants to hijack commercial airliners, experimenting with crude chemical or other unconventional weapons, doing dry runs to test U.S. airport security, plotting to take hostages, and trafficking narcotics to fund terrorism plans. Despite these warnings, the attacks on September 11, 2001, still took the nation by surprise, according to reports.
What's still developing
- 6, 2001, PDB delivered to Bush informed him that the FBI uncovered patterns of suspicious activity inside the U.S.
- The documents, which amount to more than 100 pages, show a steady stream of alarming but imprecise intelligence reports that bin Laden was preparing to attack the United States, either on U.S. soil or at embassies and U.S. military bases abroad.
- 20, 1998, an intelligence brief eight days later to the president concluded that bin Laden and other terrorist leaders based in Afghanistan “survived the US strikes and their communications network remains intact” and that training for militants had resumed at some camps.