Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet issued a top secret report on March 19, 2004. Regarding the search for Usama Bin Ladin (UBL), it read: “September 1998–Afghan tribal assets initiated a search and rendition operation in their area of influence. Efforts by this group continued until 11 Sep 2001 without significant results. On 9 Aug 2000, an ambush operation was reportedly launched against a convoy in which UBL was a passenger; it was unsuccessful. We have been unable to confirm that this operation actually took place.” [The 15th of the month used for date sorting purposes only.]
– CIA, “DCI Report: The Rise of UBL and Al-Qa’ida and the Intelligence Community Response,” (Draft, CIA Analytic Report), The Central Intelligence Agency’s 9/11 File:, The National Security Archive, March 19, 2004