President-elect George W. Bush received a national security briefing by former Secretary of Defense William Cohen on January 10, 2001. “Bush received a second critical national security briefing a few days later. CIA Director George Tenet and his deputy for operation, James L. Pavitt, gave Bush, [Vice President Dick] Cheney and [National Security Advisor Condoleezza] Rice the so-called secrets briefing. …Tenet and Pavitt agreed there were three major threats to national security. One was Osama bin Laden and his al Qaeda terrorism network, which operated out of a sanctuary in Afghanistan. Bin Laden terrorism was a ‘tremendous threat’ which had to be considered ‘immediate,’ they said. There was no doubt that bin Laden was going to strike at United States interests in some form. It was not clear when, where, by what means.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– Bob Woodward, Plan of Attack, Page 12