According to a declassified CIA information report from December 3, 1998: “Bin Ladin was planning to execute new operations against the United States (U.S.) targets in the near future. Plans to hijack a U.S. aircraft were proceeding well. Two individuals from the relevant operational team in the U.S. had successfully evaded security checks during a trial run at ‘New York airport [redacted] Bin Ladin hoped that the operation would be implemented before the start of Ramadan. [Redacted] Circa 20 December.) The objective of the operation is to obtain the release of [World Trade Center bombing conspirator] blind Shaykh ‘Umar Ahmad ‘Abd al-(Rahman), [World Trade Center bomber] Ramzi (Yousef) and Muhammad Sadiq (Odeh), a suspect in the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.”
– CIA, “[Title Excised] Planning by Usama Bin Ladin to Hijack U.S. Airplane, Successful Circumvention of Security Measures in U.S. Airport,” The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, Dec. 3, 1998