CIA Declassifies 71 Pre-9/11 Presidential Briefs

Did the 71 briefs merely warn of a vague threat, or did they hand the White House specifics it failed to act on?

Published 22 hours ago

CIA Declassifies 71 Pre-9/11 Presidential Briefs

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Above: Firefighters walk towards one of the World Trade Center towers after it was hit in New York City on Sept. 11, 2001. Image credit: Jose Jimenez/Primera Hora/Getty Images

The Spin

Pro-establishment narrative

These 71 briefs confirm the threat was known, but they don't rewrite history. Warning that bin Laden wanted to hit America is a world away from knowing the date, the targets or the men holding the box cutters. Intelligence only matters when policymakers act on it, and the hard truth is that the reporting never delivered the timing and specifics needed to stop the plot.

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Establishment-critical narrative

Call it what it was: a failure at the top. The CIA told the White House in December 1998 that bin Laden was preparing to hijack U.S. aircraft, named New York, and flagged a trial run that beat airport security. Add the August 2001 brief titled "Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in U.S." and the excuse about missing specifics collapses. This was incompetence at best, and the question remains, why were all the warnings missed?

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Cynical narrative

This release changes little about how the system failed, with so much still withheld. Only 18 Bush-era PDBs from before 9/11 were released, while warnings dating to 1996 and additional 2001 material remain missing. Plus, much of what was released is heavily redacted, and key questions about what Abu Zubaydah told CIA debriefers about senior Saudi royals and Pakistan's air force chief remain buried. When will the full, unredacted record be released?

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