CIA releases presidential reports on Al-Qaeda 25 years after 9/11

A disclosure “unprecedented transparency about the US’s most sensitive intelligence dossier, covering the previous years and the period following one of the darkest moments in our history,” the U.S. intelligence agency said.

These presidential reports “reconstitute the history of the varying understanding of CIA analysts about Al-Qaida and their efforts to reveal Osama bin Laden’s plans for attacks, despite scarce, vague and imperfect information,” the agency added.

One of the memos, dated September 10, 1998, warns that Al-Qaida “could launch an airplane loaded with explosives against an American city.”.

Another, on December 4, 1998, indicates that Osama bin Laden “and his allies are preparing for attacks in the United States, including the kidnapping of a plane.”.

Another document, dated a few weeks before the attacks, details how Al-Qaida’s “flexible operational decision making and broad definition of acceptable targets” allowed the group to adjust its plans as conditions changed.

Asked about the disclosure, the White House highlighted the disclosure of another batch of documents by the National Archives, also today.

This set, which included interviews with national security officials of the Clinton and Bush administrations, was produced by the committee that investigated the attacks between 2002 and 2004.

On September 11, 2001, two planes hijacked by Al-Qaida terrorists hit the World Trade Center Twin Towers in New York City, causing the buildings to collapse two hours after impact, while a third device hit the Pentagon outside Washington.

A fourth plane, believed to have targeted the Capitol (Congress Headquarters) or the White House (United States Presidency), crashed near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, after passengers and crew members tried to regain control of the aircraft.