The Clinton administration was warned in September 1998, three years before 9/11, that the terrorist group behind bombings at U.S. embassies in Africa, al-Qaeda, might fly an explosives-laden plane into an American city, according to intelligence reports that the CIA released on Friday.
A Sept. 10, 1998, brief titled “Bin Ladin’s location and intentions” stated that intelligence provided no conclusive information about Osama bin Laden’s future attacks but that his “preferred option is to strike the U.S. on its own soil in Washington.”
The next line stated that “the same group responsible for the bombings in Africa may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a U.S. city.”
Other documents detail al-Qaeda threats against Israel. A March 9, 2000, assessment stated that at least one two- to three-person bin Laden cell was active inside Israel and planning attacks against Israeli interests abroad.
The assessment cited a seized manifesto that proposed attacking landmarks such as the Statue of Liberty or Eiffel Tower without causing deaths. Alternatively, it recommended targeting populated sites, including skyscrapers, airports and nuclear power plants.
A situation report produced hours after the Sept. 11 attacks stated that bin Laden had told Taliban leader Mullah Omar that operations were underway that would cause “great damage” to the United States.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe declassified 71 presidential daily briefing files on Friday, the 25th anniversary of Sept. 11.
“In an act of exceptional transparency, we honor the memory of those we lost on that tragic Tuesday,” Ratcliffe stated.
The CIA described the collection as its largest release of declassified daily intelligence documents related the tragedy. More than 100 pages of analysis are public for the first time, the agency said.
The collection also includes a Dec. 4, 1998, brief stating that a “senior bin Ladin operative from Saudi Arabia” was expected to visit members of the Egyptian terrorist group Gama’at al-Islamiyya in the United States to discuss possible attacks, “perhaps including an aircraft hijacking.”
That document does not allege involvement by the Saudi government.
