Declassified 9/11 Files Reveal Warnings About bin Laden Threat

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Washington: Newly declassified US intelligence files released on the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks show that officials had gathered extensive warnings about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.

The documents, released by the CIA, track bin Laden’s movements, support network, financing and plans to target the US. One 1998 briefing warned that he wanted to strike Washington and that al-Qaeda could use an explosive-laden aircraft against a US city.

Other files recorded concerns over possible hijackings, including a 1998 report that members of bin Laden’s network had received hijacking training and had tested airport security in New York.

The intelligence also showed al-Qaeda’s interest in radioactive “dirty bombs” and experiments to increase the destructive power of explosives.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe called the release an “act of exceptional transparency”, describing it as the agency’s largest release of declassified presidential daily briefs.

The files do not appear to reveal major new information about the planning of 9/11, but provide further insight into what US intelligence knew about the threat before the attacks.

Pic Credit: AFP