Dozens of newly declassified presidential briefing documents released Friday, marking 25 years since the Sept. 11 attacks, shed new light on U.S. intelligence about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida in the years and months before the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people.
The documents illustrate security analysts' tracking of bin Laden's movements and support system, as well as concerns about possible threats to U.S. targets.
Proclaiming "an act of exceptional transparency,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the documents were the agency's single largest release of declassified presidential daily briefs - the highly classified briefing prepared by the nation’s intelligence community for the government’s most senior leaders.
The documents range from a February 1998 file - prepared for then-President Bill Clinton - entitled "Terrorists seeking WMD capability” and mentioning bin Laden and other terrorists to a Sept. 12, 2001, report in which a source indicated the attacks had been planned for two years and had also targeted the U.S. Capitol.
Another, from just weeks before the attacks, details how al-Qaida's "flexible operational decision making and broad definition of acceptable targets enable the group to adjust plans to changing conditions.”
Asked for comment on the release, the White House noted the release of another batch of documents by the National Archives, also Friday. That batch, including interviews with national security officials in the Clinton and Bush administrations, was a product of the commission that probed the attacks from 2002 to 2004.
