Pieces Of The 9/11 Puzzle
U.S. spies knew about `Khalid'--but they didn't know he was here
Officials at the FBI and NSA say they have improved their coordination. Changes in national security laws and procedures have given authorities much more latitude to share information and track potential terrorists inside the United States. In particular, Bush administration officials credit the controversial Patriot Act for easing restrictions on how intelligence and law enforcement agencies share information. "Since September 11, the integration and exchange of intelligence on persons who would do Americans harm, whether it be domestically or overseas, has been augmented dramatically," FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a meeting with U.S. News reporters last week.
But looking back, the missed opportunities surrounding one hijacker in particular are sobering. Al-Mihdar's U.S. calls are only one point in a series of events that could have led U.S. officials to the 9/11 conspiracy. A Saudi then in his mid-20s, al-Mihdar first appeared on U.S. radar in late 1999, when the NSA analyzed calls tied to a suspected al Qaeda associate named Khalid. From eavesdropping on the Yemen safehouse, officials had learned of a now infamous meeting in Kuala Lumpur in January 2000, where planning for the 9/11 attack took place. Al-Mihdar was surveilled as he attended the meeting, along with a handful of other al Qaeda operatives, including another future hijacker, Nawaf al-Hazmi. But the CIA failed to get the two men placed on government watch lists, and they entered the United States within days, settling in San Diego. There is one more quirk of fate pointed out by the congressional inquiry. If intelligence on al-Mihdar had made its way from the CIA, NSA, or FBI headquarters to the FBI's San Diego field office, agents say they would have almost certainly started an investigation. They wouldn't have had to look far: One of the field office's longtime informants had had repeated contacts with al-Mihdar.
But, unwatched by U.S. authorities, al-Mihdar left for the Middle East later that year. He returned in 2001, just as America was celebrating its Inde-pendence Day. Two months later, he and four others boarded American Airlines Flight 77 and plunged it into the Pentagon.
With Edward T. Pound and Chitra Ragavan
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