“[C]oncerned about a U.S. strike, President Bush asked the CIA to prepare a report on the domestic threat posed by al Qaeda. On August 6 [2001], the agency briefed him at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.” The report “said that bin Laden’s organization had plans to hijack a plane and use the hostages to spring […]
Category: quotes
8/6/2001
The August 6, 2001, President’s Daily Briefing (PDB) warned of the potential for bin Laden to attack the U.S. “The document would later become famous, or infamous, but on this morning it seemed maddeningly unspecific, offering information that was sketchy and mostly three or four years old. Nothing on the first page cited current intelligence. […]
8/6/2001
From the August 6, 2001, President’s Daily Brief: ” ‘Clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US. Bin Laden implied in US television interviews in 1997 and 1998 that his followers would follow the example of World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef and […]
8/6/2001
The August 6, 2001, President’s Daily Briefing (PDB) warned of the potential for bin Laden to attack the U.S. “Looking back, [President] Bush admitted that he did not react with the alarm he should have. He did not summon the directors of the FBI and the CIA. He did not order heightened alerts. Nor was […]
8/6/2001
During National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice’s hearing in before the 9/11 commission on April 8, 2004, “There was an audible gasp in the audience as Rice confirmed officially, once and for all, what had long been suspected–that the August 6 [2001] PDB [Presidential Daily Briefing] was an explicit warning from the CIA, only a month […]
8/6/2001
“During the spring and summer of 2001, President Bush had on several occasions asked his briefers whether any of the threats pointed to the United States. Reflecting on these questions, the CIA decided to write a briefing article summarizing its understanding of this danger. Two CIA analysts involved in preparing this briefing article believed it […]
8/6/2001
“President Bush would later claim that the [August 6, 2001] PDB [President’s Daily Brief] contained no ‘actionable intelligence’: ‘There was not a time and place of an attack. It said Osama bin Laden had designs on America. Well, I knew that. What I wanted to know was, is there anything specifically going to take place […]
8/6/2001
The August 6, 2001, Presidential Daily Briefing was titled ‘Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.‘ Though it was a classified document, NBC reported that chemical and biological weapons were discussed. “Over the next 30 days, President Bush had no further meetings about terrorism.” – Craig Unger, House of Bush, House of Saud, Page […]
8/6/2001
Former CIA Director George Tenet commented on possible al-Qa’ida strikes in the U.S.: “Whenever a PDB [President’s Daily Briefing] contained information about possible al-Qa’ida attacks, the president [Bush] would ask his PDB briefer, Mike Morell, what information we had that might indicate an attack could come inside the United States. …That was the origin of […]
8/6/2001
“[O]n August 6 [2001], the president’s [Bush’s] daily brief began with the headline ‘Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US.’ The warning beneath the headline was a very weak piece of reporting. The freshest intelligence in it dated from 1999.” – Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes, Page 554 […]