CIA Declassifies 9/11 Documents Despite Past Warnings That Explosive-Laden Planes Were Bound for U.S.

The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has released a massive trove of declassified government documents related to al-Qaeda and its then-leader Osama bin Laden on September 12, marking the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe posted on X (formerly Twitter) that day, saying, "To honor those who lost their lives in the 9/11 attacks and the CIA officers who gave their lives in the subsequent war on terror, I have authorized the release of 71 President's Daily Briefs."

Ratcliffe explained that these documents are top-secret materials prepared by U.S. intelligence agencies for the president, marking the first time such a large batch of President's Daily Brief reports has been made public all at once.

The New York Times (NYT) noted that while the released documents do not appear to reveal groundbreaking new facts, they reaffirm what the 9/11 Commission pointed out in 2004: U.S. intelligence agencies repeatedly warned about al-Qaeda at the time, but failed to fully grasp the specific attacks they were planning.

The materials released on that day range from a February 1998 file sent to then-U.S. President Bill Clinton titled "Terrorists Pursuing Weapons of Mass Destruction" to a report dated September 12, 2001—the day after the 9/11 attacks—stating that "the attacks had been planned for two years, and the U.S. Capitol was also a target."

According to U.S. media outlets that analyzed the declassified CIA files, including the Associated Press (AP) and the NYT, a July 1998 report mentioned that "bin Laden has made carrying out attacks inside the United States his top priority" and that "he has shown interest in attacks using chemical and biological weapons."

A report from September of that year noted that "bin Laden favors the option of attacking the U.S. mainland in Washington, D.C.," and also contained information that al-Qaeda could "fly bomb-laden planes into U.S. cities."

Regarding this, the NYT evaluated it as "a prescient warning looking back more than 25 years later."

A December 1998 report even mentioned the possibility of aircraft hijackings, stating that some members of bin Laden's network had received aircraft hijacking training.

The AP reported, "Other documents detail efforts to acquire materials for making a 'dirty bomb,' a conventional weapon embedded with radioactive material," adding that "according to intelligence officials, by around June 1999, bin Laden's operatives had conducted explosive tests to increase energy output."

One of the reports also contained intelligence that bin Laden attempted to purchase enriched uranium to carry out a Hiroshima-style attack (referring to the U.S. atomic bombing during World War II).

Reports from 1999, two years before the attacks, show that U.S. intelligence authorities were also aware that bin Laden was deliberately running a deception operation to make it appear he had no intentions of attacking the United States.

On August 6, 2001, a month before the terrorist attacks, a report titled "Bin Laden Determined to Strike in US" was issued.

At the time, intelligence officials reported suspicious activities consistent with preparations for aircraft hijackings or other types of attacks, including surveillance of federal buildings in New York, and notified that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) was conducting about 70 full field investigations nationwide into cases believed to be connected to bin Laden.

However, the NYT pointed out that prior to the 9/11 attacks, intelligence briefings reported to the U.S. president often showed a pattern where "various threat pieces surfaced and then faded away."

Condoleezza Rice, who served as the White House National Security Advisor during the 9/11 attacks and later as U.S. Secretary of State, said in a speech at the Pentagon memorial ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of 9/11 that day, "Those of us who were in charge that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attacks. We did what we could do, but in the end, it was not enough. I am grateful that there have been no subsequent attacks."
 

(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.