Long before the fateful morning of 11 September 2001, the threat to Americans and U.S. Osama bin Laden and his al-Qaeda ("Base") network of terrorists were well-documented and closely monitored. Two U.S. agencies, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), each supported units devoted to bin Laden. In 1998 and 2000, al Qaeda attacks on U.S. targets were precipitated intense research that yielded a wealth of knowledge about the terrorist operation. These attacks have also contributed to the expansion of cooperation between the FBI and the CIA, who regularly exchange personnel and information. In addition, during the summer of 2001, there was the steady drumbeat of warnings of terrorist attacks, the U.S. government to consider seriously. U.S. travelers abroad, U.S. embassies, businesses and military installations were all in a state of high alert. Federal Aviation issued a general warning airline. FBI office reported the suspicious Middle Eastern men taking flying lessons in Phoenix, aviation student in Minnesota has been arrested. The CIA, the FBI was notified that two suspected members of al-Qaeda were in the U.S.. This event brings together accounts of what U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies knew about al-Qaeda before the September 11, 2001 and raised the question of why this knowledge, tips, satellite photos, intercepted communications, defector reports, Hall testimony, not to disrupt the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington. This footage, in particular, the problem of synthesis of intelligence difficulties in assembling seemingly random incidents in the whole picture and the difference between reliable warnings and false alarms. It can be used as a means to discuss intelligence collection itself, but also the state of inter-agency and inter-agency coordination.
HKS Case Number 1662.0 "Hide
by Kirsten Lundberg, Ernest May 47 pages. Publication Date: 01 Oct 2002. Prod. #: HKS078-PDF-ENG
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