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CIA knew about the Sept 11 hijackers, but did nothing: Report
New York, June 03: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) knew months before September 11 terrorist attacks that two of the hijackers, living in America and taking flight lessons, were al Qaeda terrorists but did nothing, a media report said.
New York, June 03: The US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) knew months before September 11 terrorist attacks that two of the hijackers, living in America and taking flight lessons, were al Qaeda terrorists but did nothing, a media report said.
A few days after a crucial secret planning meeting of al Qaeda in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur in January 2000, the CIA tracked one of the terrorists, Nawaf Alhazmi, as he flew from the meeting to Los Angeles, the Newweek magazine said in its upcoming issue.
It quoted some US counter-terrorism officials who said this might be most puzzling and devastating intelligence failure in the critical months leading up to the attacks.
Agents discovered that Khalid Almihdhar, another hijacker had already had a multiple-entry visa that allowed him to enter and leave US as he pleased. Yet, CIA did nothing with this information. Neither the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services), which could have turned them away at the border nor FBI, which could have covertly tracked them to find out their mission, was properly informed, Newsweek said.
During the year and nine months after the CIA identified them, Alhazmi and Almihdhar lived in the US, using their real names, obtaining driver's licenses, opening bank accounts and enrolling in flight schools - until September 11 morning, when they walked aboard American Airlines flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon, it added.
Bureau Report
It quoted some US counter-terrorism officials who said this might be most puzzling and devastating intelligence failure in the critical months leading up to the attacks.
Agents discovered that Khalid Almihdhar, another hijacker had already had a multiple-entry visa that allowed him to enter and leave US as he pleased. Yet, CIA did nothing with this information. Neither the INS (Immigration and Naturalization Services), which could have turned them away at the border nor FBI, which could have covertly tracked them to find out their mission, was properly informed, Newsweek said.
During the year and nine months after the CIA identified them, Alhazmi and Almihdhar lived in the US, using their real names, obtaining driver's licenses, opening bank accounts and enrolling in flight schools - until September 11 morning, when they walked aboard American Airlines flight 77 and crashed it into the Pentagon, it added.
Bureau Report