The CIA has released 71 previously classified intelligence reports spanning from 1998 through September 12, 2001, revealing the warnings both the Clinton and Bush administrations received about al-Qaeda before the attacks.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe called the disclosure “the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever,” revealing in a statement: “25 years ago, the 9/11 attacks struck a blow to our Nation, but they did not break us. Generations of CIA officers have since dedicated their careers to securing justice for our fallen Americans and ensuring al-Qa’ida would never again harm our country.”
The documents include 70 reports drafted before the September 11 attacks and one dated the day after, with only two of the documents having been made public prior to this release. The earliest report, dated February 13, 1998, warned that Osama bin Laden had “met [redacted] and agreed to procure unspecified chemical, biological, and nuclear substances from open markets.” That same assessment noted he “has legitimate companies, business relationships, and a financial empire that could assist his pursuit of” obtaining weaponry.
Another February 1998 document revealed bin Laden and others had called “for all Muslims to attack US interests and civilians worldwide until the US ‘retreats’ from Saudi Arabia and ‘Palestine.'” The reports also tracked bin Laden’s growing involvement in Afghanistan’s drug trade alongside Taliban leader Mullah Omar.
A September memo warned that al-Qaeda operatives “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city,” though it added there was no “conclusive information on Bin Ladin’s intentions for future attacks.” Reports from the summer of 2001 indicated a postponed plan to attack the United States, and the August 2001 memo titled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US”—declassified in 2004—noted data “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.”
The 9/11 Commission, which investigated the attacks, stated that “[m]ost of the intelligence community recognized in the summer of 2001 that the number and severity of threat reports were unprecedented.” The commission added: “Many officials told us that they knew something terrible was planned, and they were desperate to stop it.”
The final document in the release is dated September 12, 2001, the day after hijackers crashed four commercial aircraft—two into the World Trade Center towers in New York, one into the Pentagon in Virginia, and a fourth into a Pennsylvania field after passengers attempted to retake the plane. That report stated: “Mounting evidence indicates Sunni extremists in Afghanistan and the Persian Gulf recently were aware Usama Bin Ladin-directed attacks were imminent.” It also noted that “[redacted] the existence of a probable operation was widely known among extremists in Afghanistan and speculated Bin Ladin may have relocated to Kabul to avoid conflict over his activities with the Taliban leadership in Kandahar.”
The attacks killed 2,977 people, with bin Laden identified as the mastermind who directed the hijackers. The CIA released the documents on September 11, marking the 25th anniversary of what the agency’s materials describe as “the darkest day in America’s history.”