Newly declassified CIA documents reveal that US intelligence officials believed Osama bin Laden and Al-Qaeda were considering attacks in the United Kingdom years before the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The CIA released the documents to mark the 25th anniversary of 9/11. They include intelligence assessments dating back to the late 1990s.
One briefing from August 28, 1998, titled “Bin Ladin Terrorist Network Still a Threat”, said bin Laden was considering further attacks against both the United States and the UK.
The assessment was prepared following US missile strikes against Al-Qaeda-linked targets in Sudan and Afghanistan.
“Hours before the US missile strikes, Bin Laden was looking at options for further attacks against the US as well as the UK,” the document stated. However, officials said he did not identify specific targets or dates.
The document also mentioned a US embassy in an unnamed country as a possible target. It claimed a man had been authorised by bin Laden to investigate possible attacks inside the United States.
Another intelligence assessment from 1998 warned of a “significant near-term threat” from bin Laden.
“We have strong indications that he would like to attack the US and allies such as the UK and Israel on their own soil,” the memo stated.
A separate document from August 1999 suggested that arrests of key Al-Qaeda members had weakened the organisation. It also referred to the arrest of the person described as the head of bin Laden’s organisation in the UK.
The files show that US intelligence agencies had limited and sometimes unclear information about Al-Qaeda’s plans before 9/11.
Some assessments even discussed the possibility of aircraft being hijacked. One document raised concerns that a group could potentially fly an aircraft packed with explosives into a US city.
On September 11, 2001, Al-Qaeda members hijacked four commercial planes. Two were flown into the World Trade Center towers in New York, while another hit the Pentagon. A fourth aircraft crashed in Pennsylvania.
The latest CIA release contains 71 partially redacted briefing documents, including two that had previously been made public.
The CIA said the release is intended to give the public a look at sensitive intelligence from the years before and immediately after 9/11. The documents also show how the agency’s understanding of Al-Qaeda developed during that period.
