FBI agent Ali Soufan was in Yemen, investigating the bombing of the USS Cole when 9/11 occurred. He had been requesting information from the CIA, but was not receiving it, on account of ‘the wall.’ On September 12, 2001, the CIA eventually showed him three surveillance photos of the terrorist summit held in Malaysia in January 2000. The photos featured 9/11 hijackers Khaled al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi, and apparently Cole suspect Fahad al-Quso as well. While interrogating Quso September 13, 2001, “the CIA finally gave Soufan the fourth photo of the Malaysia meeting, which it had buried until now. Quso grudgingly identified the figure in the picture as Khallad… the mastermind of the Cole. The photo was the first link between al-Qaeda and 9/11.”
– Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower, Page 409