The CIA has declassified a batch of intelligence reports revealing that the agency warned the White House for years about the growing threat posed by Al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, before the September 11, 2001 attacks. The documents, released this past Friday to mark the 25th anniversary of the attacks, include partial versions of 71 intelligence reports produced between February 13, 1998, and September 12, 2001.
According to the files, US intelligence officials had flagged the possibility that the terrorist network might attempt to hijack commercial aircraft as a weapon, among other potential attack methods, well before the coordinated hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington, and Pennsylvania. Despite these repeated warnings, the CIA did not specifically predict the exact nature, timing, or scale of the 9/11 plot.
The release of these files comes as the United States continues to reassess the lead-up to one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in its history, offering historians and the public a clearer picture of what intelligence agencies knew—and when—about the looming danger. The timing also coincided with public remarks from President Donald Trump, who used the anniversary to reaffirm a hardline stance on foreign threats, including Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
For more details on the declassified reports and their implications, you can read the original article on El Tiempo’s website.
Source: Desclasifican archivos de la CIA con alertas sobre planes de Al Qaeda para atacar EE. UU. años antes del 11S (eltiempo.com). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Tony Fischer Photography, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).