Declassified files show warnings about bin Laden hijack plots before 9/11

Newly released documents show that U.S. intelligence warned presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush about possible hijacking plots linked to Usama bin Laden before the September 11 attacks. The files include presidential daily briefs and CIA memorandums that said al Qaeda operatives had discussed using commercial aircraft as weapons and had carried out a test run at a New York airport years earlier. The documents also describe concerns that bin Laden’s network had support inside the United States and could use hijacked planes to pressure the government into releasing imprisoned extremists. According to the release, warnings continued into the summer of 2001, when an August brief to Bush cited suspicious activity inside the U.S. that appeared consistent with hijacking preparations and surveillance of federal buildings in New York. CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the declassification was meant to honor the victims of 9/11 and the intelligence officers who died in the later fight against terrorism.