Conspiracy fans (and I'm not calling you one) generally can't or won't make that distinction.
Agreed. I would bet the CIA knew something was going to happen at some point, but had no idea what, when, or where and who was going to be involved. The claim that the CIA knew exactly what was going to happen on September 11 is pure madness. Of course, what can one expect from the same people who claim the U.S. knew Japan was going to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. In that case, like September 11, U.S. intelligence were fairly sure an attack was coming, but they thought the target would be the Phillipines.