Presidential Warnings on 9/11: Declassified Files Reveal Intelligence Alerts

Newly released documents show that former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush received multiple warnings about Usama bin Laden’s plans to hijack large commercial jets to attack the United States. The documents, made public by the Trump administration, include presidential daily briefs (PDBs) and CIA intelligence memorandums. They reveal that members of bin Laden’s network had already conducted a trial run at a New York airport, evading security checks three years before the 9/11 attacks.

The documents indicate that the hijackers intended to use hijacked flights to demand the release of imprisoned extremists such as Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman and Ramzi Yousef. A former USS Cole commander shared a chilling memory of a 9/11 warning from the CIA just minutes before the first plane hit. During a ceremony on the 25th anniversary of the attacks, former President Bill Clinton greeted former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama at the National 9/11 Memorial & Museum.

An intelligence briefing on December 4, 1998, noted that some members of the bin Laden network had received hijack training. However, no group affiliated with bin Laden’s al-Qaida organization had ever executed an aircraft hijacking. The warning suggested bin Laden was considering other types of operations against US aircraft. Another memorandum on September 10, 1998, described bin Laden’s preference for striking within the US, possibly flying an explosive-laden plane into an American city.

Throughout 1998, intelligence agencies tracked bin Laden’s movements and identified associates and sympathizers in several states including New York, California, Texas, Michigan, and Florida. The August 6, 2001, PDB delivered to President Bush reported FBI findings of suspicious activity consistent with hijacking preparations and surveillance of New York federal buildings. Additionally, it was noted that al-Qaida members, including US citizens, had resided in or traveled to the US, maintaining a support structure capable of aiding attacks.

After US missile strikes on bin Laden’s base in Afghanistan in 1998, he expressed a desire to retaliate in Washington. Days before the 9/11 attacks, President Bush received a daily briefing indicating the FBI was investigating approximately 70 cases possibly related to bin Laden. These declassified documents were part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to increase transparency about intelligence knowledge prior to the attacks.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe authorized the release of 71 Presidential Daily Briefs to honor those who died on 9/11, as well as CIA officers who sacrificed their lives in the subsequent battle against terrorism. Trump’s administration has also declassified files on the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King Jr.