Who 'shredded' DemocRAT's 'terrorist intelligence reports'?
Posted on 05/16/2002 4:36:34 PM PDT by Dallas
WASHINGTON, May 16 (Reuters) - Following is a timeline of intelligence information provided to U.S. President George W. Bush and other officials about possible threats to U.S. targets before Sept. 11 as disclosed on Thursday by the White House.
U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice gave the chronology as the White House defended itself against charges it may not have done enough to prevent the Sept. 11 attacks and questions about why it did not disclose Bush's Aug. 6 briefing on the possibility of hijackings by Osama bin Laden's network.
December 2000 - U.S. intelligence community begins to report increase in "traffic" concerning terrorist activities.
April-May 2001 - Specific threat that al Qaeda attacks against U.S. targets or interests might be in the works, with main concern among U.S. officials the possibility of attack overseas, notably the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula and Europe.
June 2001 - "Threat spike" in intelligence reports.
June 22, 2001 - Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issues an "information circular" to commercial airlines citing concern about possible hijackings.
June 22, 2001 - State Department issues worldwide caution to U.S. citizens, noting indictment of 14 people for the 1996 bombing that killed 19 U.S. servicemen at a Saudi housing complex, and saying Americans and U.S. interests "may be at increased risk of a terrorist action from extremist groups."
Late June 2001 - U.S. government counterterrorism security group meets to discuss possible threats.
July 2, 2001 - FBI tells local law enforcement agencies that it is worried about threats overseas and, while it did not foresee a domestic attack, it could not rule one out.
July 2, 2001 - FAA issued another information circular citing possible threat of an attack using explosives in an airport terminal.
July 5, 2001 - Threat reporting sufficiently "robust" with "a lot of chatter in the system" that Bush asks Rice to see what U.S. government is doing about such threats.
July 5, 2001 - Rice, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card, National Security Council counterterrorism official Dick Clarke meet. Core counterterrorism security group (CSG) meets and decides to bring domestic agencies into threat discussion.
July 6, 2001 - CSG core players meet because of very high concern about potential attacks in Paris, Turkey, Rome. CSG bars U.S. counterterrorism officials from nonessential travel.
Mid-July 2001 - Rice cites "major threat spike" related to Group of Eight (G8) summit in Genoa, Italy, including specific information about a threat to Bush.
Summer 2001 - Central Intelligence Agency makes major push to try to deal with potential attacks, manages in concert with foreign countries to disrupt attacks in Paris, Turkey, Rome.
July 18, 2001 - FAA issued information circular saying there were terrorist threats overseas, and while there were no specific threats directed at civil aviation, tells airlines to use "highest level of caution."
Late July 2001 - FAA issues information circular citing no specific target or credible information of attack to U.S. civil aviation but warning airlines terrorist groups are planning and training for hijackings and urging carriers to use caution.
July-August 2001 - CSG meets several times a week; no new threat information discovered.
Aug. 1, 2001 - FBI issues another alert to local law enforcement on upcoming third anniversary of bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, reiterating warning from July 2, 2001.
Aug. 6, 2001 - Bush gets a one-and-a-half page "analytic report" during his daily intelligence briefing on vacation in Crawford, Texas discussing bin Laden's historical methods of operation. Rice says the report cited general possibility of "traditional" hijackings by al Qaeda, perhaps to demand the release of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the radical Muslim who plotted the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Aug. 16, 2001 - FAA issues information circular warning carriers to be on alert for potential attack by people using weapons disguised as cellphones, key chains or pens.
Sept. 11, 2001 - Suspected al Qaeda operatives crash two commercial aircraft into the World Trade Center in New York, causing both towers to collapse, and a third into the Pentagon near Washington. A fourth airliner crashes in a Pennsylvania field after a scuffle between the hijackers and passengers.
About 3,000 people die in the attacks.
Were any of the passenger manifest of all flights on that day ever fully investigated? I'd love to know specifically if there were more suicide bombers on other flights.
Is there any group more despicable than the Democratic Party?
Thinking is that the St. Louis plane was to be hijacked..
Armed Pilots Banned 2 months before 9-11, FAA rescinded guns in cockpits just before Terror Attacks
However, several agents report late to scheduled diversity training sessions.
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