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Newly declassified CIA documents reveal that both President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush received repeated warnings about Osama bin Laden’s plans to attack the United States. The warnings began as early as three years before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The CIA released the files on Friday, marking the 25th anniversary of the Al Qaeda strikes that killed nearly 3,000 people.
What the Declassified Files Show
The documents cover the period from February 1998 to September 12, 2001. They draw from daily intelligence briefings provided by the CIA and other agencies to both Clinton and his successor, Bush. In total, the release amounts to more than 100 pages of formerly top-secret material.
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CIA Director John Ratcliffe described the release as “the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever.” He added in a post on X that “Americans can now see for themselves the intelligence leading up to this tragic day for our Nation.”
The files show a consistent flow of alarming but imprecise intelligence. Analysts warned that bin Laden was preparing to strike the United States, either on American soil or at embassies and military bases abroad. However, many of the documents were heavily redacted. Furthermore, the files contained no major new revelations. Earlier congressional inquiries and official accounts had already established that intelligence agencies knew about the growing Al Qaeda threat.
One briefing from September 1998 came particularly close to anticipating the method of attack. It warned that bin Laden’s supporters “may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a US city.” However, the same document noted that “intelligence provides no conclusive information on bin Ladin’s intentions for future attacks.” Officials wrote that briefing just weeks after bin Laden’s followers bombed U.S. embassies in East Africa and after a failed U.S. attempt to kill the Al Qaeda leader using Tomahawk missile strikes in Afghanistan and Sudan.
A Pattern of Escalating Warnings
After the failed missile strikes on August 20, 1998, a presidential briefing eight days later concluded that bin Laden and other terrorist leaders “survived the US strikes and their communications network remains intact.” It also noted that militant training had resumed at several camps in Afghanistan.
Other intelligence memos described additional threat indicators. Bin Laden’s militants were training to hijack commercial airliners. They also conducted dry runs to test U.S. airport security. In addition, analysts noted that the group experimented with crude chemical and unconventional weapons, plotted hostage-taking operations, and used narcotics trafficking to fund their plans.
The intelligence reports also consistently found that the Taliban regime in Afghanistan had no intention of handing over bin Laden. A memo from March 26, 2001 stated that the “Taliban is not likely to give up bin Ladin for less than full diplomatic recognition and significant reconstruction aid.” By August 6, 2001, the intelligence community delivered another stark assessment to the president, titled “bin Ladin determined to strike in US.” That briefing stated that “clandestine, foreign government, and media reports indicate bin Ladin since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the US.”
9/11 Families Call for Saudi Accountability
The document release came on the same day that 9/11 widow Terry Strada broke with the long-standing tradition of keeping politics out of September 11 memorial events. Strada called on President Donald Trump to hold Saudi Arabia accountable for the attacks. She lost her husband, Tom, in the attacks and raised their three children alone.
Trump attended the memorial ceremony at the Pentagon. Vice President JD Vance represented the administration at the ceremony in lower Manhattan. Strada directed her message at Vance directly. “Vice President Vance, thank you for being here today. Please carry that message back, stand with the families, stand with the survivors, stand with Americans,” she said, adding that her husband Tom always believed that was “the right thing to do.”
Fifteen of the 19 Al Qaeda hijackers were Saudi nationals. Strada is part of a coalition of 9/11 families who believe Saudi Arabia was complicit in the attacks. The group has filed a lawsuit against the Saudi government. Saudi officials deny the claim and continue to fight the case in court.
Strada told NBC News last year that the lawsuit had uncovered critical evidence. She said the FBI gathered information about two Saudi nationals in California as part of an investigation called “Operation Encore.” “Because of this lawsuit we now know there was critical evidence in the hands of the FBI within days of the attacks,” she said. She also stated that officials never properly analyzed or shared that evidence with the 9/11 Commission.
The 9/11 Commission and Its Legacy
The 9/11 Commission was an independent, bipartisan body created to investigate the September 11 attacks. In its 2004 report, the commission concluded that poor communication between the FBI and CIA contributed to the intelligence failure. It also identified a failure to “connect the dots” on Al Qaeda suspects and a broader “failure of imagination” within the U.S. national security apparatus. Together, those failures allowed the terrorists to carry out their plan.
As a direct result of the commission’s findings, Congress established the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Both institutions now play central roles in coordinating U.S. intelligence and security efforts.
