Terror alerts "lit up" ahead of September 11, CIA chief tells inquiry

Yahoo! News ^ | 3/24/04 | AFP - Washington

[NormsRevenge]

WASHINGTON (AFP) -

Warnings of an imminent terrorist strike "lit up" in the weeks before September 11, CIA (news - web sites) director George Tenet said as the official inquiry into the attacks highlighted confusion and missed opportunities to kill Osama bin Laden (news - web sites).

Tenet took centre stage on the second day of public hearings by the inquiry commission that has criticised the administrations of President George W. Bush (news - web sites) and his predecessor Bill Clinton (news - web sites) over their count-terrorism strategy before the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington that left about 3,000 dead.

The Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) chief backed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's statement on Tuesday that the attacks could not have been prevented even if bin Laden had been killed before.

But Tenet told the Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States of a surge in indications in the Gulf and Europe of an imminent strike in the weeks before September 11.

"Our collection sources 'lit up' during this period," Tenet said. "They indicated that multiple spectacular attacks were planned and that some of the plots were in their final stages.

"The reporting was maddeningly short on actionable details. The most ominous reporting hinting at 'something big' was also the most vague," he said.

"The only occasions in this thread of reporting where there was an explicit or implicit location appeared to point abroad, especially to US interests in the Middle East."

The big one turned out to be four airliners that were hijacked at US airports and crashed into the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Defense Department headquarters in Washington. A fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania without reaching its intended target.

When asked what went wrong, Tenet said: "We didn't steal the secret that told us what the plot was.

"We didn't recruit the right people or technically collect the data notwithstanding enormous efforts to do so."

Tenet also blamed a wall between law enforcement and intelligence that impeded the sharing of information.

A preliminary report into September 11 also highlighted failed efforts to kill or capture the al-Qaeda leader.

It said some top CIA officials had "criticised policymakers for not giving the CIA authorities effective operations against bin Laden."

A report released by the commission on Tuesday told of at least three occasions when bin Laden could have been killed while in Afghanistan (news - web sites).

Each time doubts about the veracity of the intelligence, fears over killing civilians, and worries over alienating allies in the region were cited as reasons for not acting, according to the commission which gave new details in its preliminary assessment on the intelligence services.

Agents in Afghanistan "reported on about half a dozen occasions before 9/11 that they had considered attacking bin Laden, usually as he traveled in his convoy along the rough Afghan roads.

"Each time the operation was reportedly aborted. Several times the Afghans said that bin Laden had taken a different route than expected. On one occasion security was said to be too tight to capture him.

"Another time they heard women and children's voices from inside the convoy and abandoned the assault for fear of killing innocents."

There was also confusion about what the CIA could do.

While President Clinton (news - web sites) had authorised action up to killing bin Laden, the report said the message did not get through to CIA operatives.

"CIA senior managers, operators, and lawyers uniformly said that they read the relevant authorities sing by President Clinton as instructing them to try to capture bin Laden," it said.

The commission was also to hear Wednesday from Richard Clarke, the former White House counter-terrorism chief, who has charged in a new book that Bush administration did not do enough to confront the al-Qaeda threat before the September 11 attacks.

The White House has strongly denied the accusations and condemned Clarke's motives.

The commission is to finish its work in July and a public version of its report will be released in August, just ahead of the November 2 presidential election.

[NormsRevenge]

Wed Mar 24, 1:05 PM ET

US Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) Director George Tenet testifies
before The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States on
Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.(AFP/Luke Frazza)

Wed Mar 24, 1:05 PM ET

US Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites) Director George Tenet testifies
before The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States on
Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.(AFP/Luke Frazza)

[af_vet_1981]

When asked what went wrong, Tenet said: "We didn't steal the secret that told us what the plot was. "We didn't recruit the right people or technically collect the data notwithstanding enormous efforts to do so." Tenet also blamed a wall between law enforcement and intelligence that impeded the sharing of information.

Well said.

[El Gato]

Tenet and Clark, two Clinton hold overs whose heads should have rolled (figurative!) on 9-12-01.

[CyberAnt]

I heard that there were over 2 years of documents in Arabic which needed to be translated at the time 9/11 occurred.

[af_vet_1981]

I heard that there were over 2 years of documents in Arabic which needed to be translated at the time 9/11 occurred.

I would like to discuss this but this is neither the appropriate time nor forum for that discussion.

[happygrl]

I heard that there were over 2 years of documents in Arabic which needed to be translated at the time 9/11 occurred.

I would like to discuss this but this is neither the appropriate time nor forum for that discussion.

This topic has been discussed on this forum, based on articles posted here. CyberAnt is correct in that the translators were months behind, allegedly because the translators were playing "go-slow" in an attempt to pad the bureaucracy (FBI) with their friends.

These translators were also sympathetic to the Islmacists, and actually cheered on 9-11.

I would like the 9-11 Commission to look into this.

I don't care about political correctness, not when it cost the lives of 3000 people.

[af_vet_1981]

Depending on your situation, you may be free to discuss it.

[swarthyguy]

YOu wanna hear my proto theory

NORAD/NRO had an exercise planned that day.

Jihadis piggybacked on it. How, via software companies like PTECH whose software was all over the USG infosystems, customised stuff, the ancillary benefits of installing it giving one a great picture of dataflows and decisionpoints.
They knew the decision making process.

On 9.11 all conditions came together; USG initially confused because of exercise taking place that day! Talk about coinkydinkies!

JIhadis knew they had a good chance for success because officials might be a little confused because of the exercise taking place that day.

SaudiPakis ran longterm disinfo fake cooperation campaign against US. US officials fooled.

Concurrently, USG depended on Saudis to take care of Osama, bribing him whatever. They failed or rather did not try hard. IMO, not knowing the very people claiming fraternity might very well be jihadis. Or not that concerned if the US got hurt and humiliated and might change; if no change, hurting the US not a bad backup goal either.

Of course, if you believe SaudiPak allies then this is BS.

if you buy a concerted wahhabi campaign to undermine and humiliate US, with the help of our "allies" and under the noses of the USG......

[swarthyguy]

Ping.

[Shermy]

Shah Massood.

[happygrl]

I see we're back up and running.

YOu wanna hear my proto theory

Yeah.

NORAD/NRO had an exercise planned that day.

Never heard about this.

Interesting.....

Jihadis piggybacked on it. How, via software companies like PTECH whose software was all over the USG infosystems, customised stuff, the ancillary benefits of installing it giving one a great picture of dataflows and decisionpoints.
They knew the decision making process.

So, foreigners, or Fifth Column Turncoats, with access due to installation contracts Tapped in and Listened.

They warned us during the Y2K run-up that some of the upgrades that were out-tasked could be infiltrated later.

Is this the gerneral idea ?

On 9.11 all conditions came together; USG initially confused because of exercise taking place that day! Talk about coinkydinkies!

Coinkydinkies.

Cute.

[swarthyguy]

Senior Corporate EXecs and financiers of PTECH covert members of Islami Internationale; Americans, probably unwitting when installing software; Senior PTECH execs now have access to decision points and data flows.

A longterm stealth project to get inside the commnet and decision making process of the USA. Perhaps using Y2K as a trojan horse to find out details of applications etc.

http://www.dvmx.com/911crashexercise.html

Associated Press, August 22, 2002

WASHINGTON -- In what the government describes as 'a bizarre coincidence', one U.S. intelligence agency was planning an exercise last Sept. 11 in which an errant aircraft crashed into one of its buildings. But the cause wasn't terrorism -- it was to be a simulated accident.

Officials at the Chantilly, Va.-based National Reconnaissance Office had scheduled an exercise that morning in which a small corporate jet crashed into one of the four towers at the agency's headquarters building after experiencing a mechanical failure.

Will see if I can find the item about NORAD but don't recall where I read it. BUt there's the NRO scenario, and in a scenario like this, I dont use how NORAD wouldn't be a part of the exercise.

It may account for the alleged standdown and supposed delay in getting reactions to the hijackings.

[happygrl]

Worse, far worse, than I'd ever imagined.

Thanks for the info.

[mtbopfuyn]

Now that's scary. If it wasn't a coincidence, then how did Atta know about it? Did he have insiders?