WASHINGTON — By the time a CIA briefer gave President Bush the Aug. 6, 2001, presidential daily briefing titled "Bin Ladin Determined to Strike in U.S.," the president had seen a stream of alarming reports on al-Qaida’s intentions. So had Vice President Dick Cheney and Bush’s top national security team, according newly declassified information released Tuesday by the commission investigating the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.
In April and May 2001, for example, the intelligence community titled some of those reports, "Bin Laden planning multiple operations," "Bin Laden network’s plans advancing" and "Bin Laden threats are real."
The intelligence included reports of a hostage plot against Americans. It noted that operatives might choose to hijack an aircraft or storm a U.S. embassy. Without knowing when, where or how the terrorists would strike, the CIA "consistently described the upcoming attacks as occurring on a catastrophic level, indicating that they would cause the world to be in turmoil," according to one of two reports released by the panel Tuesday.
"Reports similar to these were made available to President Bush in the morning meetings with (Director of Central Intelligence George) Tenet," the report said.
The information offers the most detailed account to date of the warnings the intelligence community gave top Bush administration officials, and provides the context in which a CIA briefer put together a memo on Osama bin Laden’s activities in the Aug. 6 brief for Bush.
The government moved on several fronts to counter the threats. The CIA launched "disruption operations" in 20 countries. Tenet met or phoned 20 foreign intelligence officials. Units of the 5th Fleet were redeployed. Embassies went on alert. Cheney called Crown Prince Adbullah of Saudi Arabia to ask for help. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice asked the CIA to brief Attorney General John Ashcroft about an "imminent" terrorist attack whose location was unknown.
"The system was blinking red," Tenet told the commission in private testimony, the report noted.
In this context, Bush "had occasionally asked his briefers whether any of the threats pointed to the United States," the report said.
A partial answer is contained in the very first sentence of the Aug. 6 brief: "Clandestine, foreign government and media reports indicate Bin Laden since 1997 has wanted to conduct terrorist attacks in the U.S."
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