“In February [2001], [future 9/11 hijacker] Hani Hanjour, who had been studying at Arizona flight schools since 1996, began training on flight simulators. …during this time the FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] was informed of ‘concerns’ by instructors at Pan Am International Flight Academy that Hanjour lacked the necessary English skills to fly multi-engine jets. The […]
2/14/2001
From a CIA analytical report on February 14, 2001: “Bin Ladin and his associates have experimented by crude means to make and deploy biological agents. [Redacted] the recipes have been shared among extremists, including via the Internet. [Redacted] Bin Ladin has sought to acquire military-grade biological agents or weapons.” – CIA, “Afghanistan: Bin Ladin’s Interest […]
2/14/2001
”Though [President] Mr. Bush never used the phrase today [February 14, 2001], the movement he endorsed is known within the military establishment as the ‘revolution in military affairs.’ It takes many forms, but focuses on the development of new weapons, often designed to attack not only enemy states, but small groups of terrorists who, like […]
2/14/2001
According to testimony of captured terrorist Essam al-Ridi on February 14, 2001, “Most of the thousands of employees in bin Laden’s vast array of businesses had no idea that al-Qaeda existed. That was a secret; to know of the group’s existence you had to be a member. Salaries for al-Qaeda members ranged from $500 to […]
2/14/2001
“At moments in today’s [February 14, 2001] speech, [President] Mr. Bush echoed a theme that President Bill Clinton often returned to in talking about new threats to the United States: the fear of a biological or nuclear attack, perhaps delivered in a small container to an American city, by terrorists rather than a hostile state. […]
2/10/2001
“The United States, citing United Nations sanctions, has told the Taliban rulers of Afghanistan to close their office in New York, the State Department spokesman, Richard Boucher, said today [February 10, 2001].” – New York Times Staff, “U.S. Tells Taliban to Close New York Office,” The New York Times, Feb. 10, 2001 […]
2/8/2001
“A briefing memo circulated on February 8, 2001, by the Project on Defense Alternatives…challenged military planners to address the three ‘paradoxes’ of post-Cold War U.S. policy: first, that ‘defense spending has remained near Cold War levels…and is now rising, despite the continuing decline in the magnitude of military threats to U.S. interests’; second, that ‘Ten […]
2/8/2001
In testimony before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on February 8, 2001, CIA Director George Tenet failed to reference Iraq as a country willing to use weapons of mass destruction to support terrorism. “Mr. Tenet also warned that the threat from the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction remained high in flashpoints like the […]
2/8/2001
“The decentralized command structure of Mr. bin Laden’s organization makes it far more difficult to investigate. Al-Qaeda, [CIA Director] Mr. [George] Tenet noted [in testimony to the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence on February 8, 2001], ‘is continuing to place emphasis on developing surrogates to carry out attacks in an effort to avoid detection, blame […]
2/7/2001
According to the February 7, 2001, testimony of Jamal al-Fadl: “The Saudis tried to dissuade bin Laden from his campaign against them. Saad al-Fagih says, ‘I know personally of three delegations that went to the Sudan to ask him not to target Saudi targets. They told him: *Your fight is with the United States, not with […]