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September 11 Intelligence Before The Attacks
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks on the United States, by the al-Qaeda terrorist group, a number of investigations were conducted to determine what intelligence may have existed before the attacks and whether this information was ignored by authorities. Clinton era report In December 1998, the CIA's Counterterrorist Center reported to President Bill Clinton that al-Qaeda was preparing for attacks in the U.S. that might include hijacking aircraft. April 2001 Massoud speech Another warning came from Ahmad Shah Massoud, leader of the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, in April 2001 in a speech before the European Parliament in Brussels, Belgium, in which he asked for humanitarian aid for the people of Afghanistan. Massoud told the parliament that his intelligence agents had gained limited knowledge about a large-scale terrorist attack on U.S. soil being imminent. Massoud was assassinated by al-Qaeda two days before the 9/11 attacks on September 9, 2001. Russian intelligence ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
September 11 Attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and the third into the Pentagon (headquarters of the U.S. Department of Defense) in Arlington County, Virginia. The fourth plane crashed in a rural Pennsylvania field during a passenger revolt. The attacks killed 2,977 people, making it the deadliest terrorist attack in history. In response to the attacks, the United States waged the global war on terror over multiple decades to eliminate hostile groups deemed terrorist organizations, as well as the foreign governments purported to support them. Ringleader Mohamed Atta flew American Airlines Flight 11 into the North Tower of the World Trade Center complex at 8:46 a.m. Seventeen minutes later at 9:03 a.m., United Airlines Flig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Khalid Al-Mihdhar
Khalid Muhammad Abdallah al-Mihdhar (; also transliterated as AL Mihdhar; 16 May 1975 – 11 September 2001) was a Saudi terrorist hijacker. He was one of the five hijackers of American Airlines Flight 77, which was flown into the Pentagon as part of the September 11 attacks. Al-Mihdhar was born in Saudi Arabia. In early 1999, he traveled to Afghanistan where, as an experienced and respected jihadist, he was selected by Osama bin Laden to participate in the attacks. Al-Mihdhar arrived in California with fellow hijacker Nawaf al-Hazmi in January 2000, after traveling to Malaysia for the Kuala Lumpur al-Qaeda Summit. At this point, the CIA was aware of al-Mihdhar, and he was photographed in Malaysia with another al-Qaeda member who was involved in the USS ''Cole'' bombing. The CIA did not inform the FBI when it learned that al-Mihdhar and al-Hazmi had entered the United States, and al-Mihdhar was not placed on any watchlists until late August 2001. Upon arriving in San Diego ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix Memo
The Phoenix Memo is a letter sent to FBI headquarters on July 10, 2001, by FBI Special Agent Kenneth Williams, recommending assembling a worldwide listing of civil aviation schools. Williams, then stationed in Phoenix, Arizona, was investigating students at some of these schools for possible terrorist links. Content The memo states that its purpose is to: Advise the Bureau and New York of the possibility of a coordinated effort by Osama bin Laden to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges. Phoenix has observed an inordinate number of individuals of investigative interest who are attending or who have attended civil aviation universities and colleges in the State of Arizona. The recommendations outlined by Williams were ignored or put aside because of other concerns. At least one dozen FBI officials, including John P. O'Neill, saw the memo. Still, it was never passed to acting director Thomas J. Pickard, his successor Robert Mueller, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Archive
The National Security Archive is a 501(c)(3) non-governmental, non-profit research and archival institution located on the campus of the George Washington University in Washington, D.C. Founded in 1985 to check rising government secrecy, the National Security Archive is an investigative journalism center, open government advocate, international affairs research institute, and the largest repository of declassified U.S. documents outside the federal government. In the four decades of its history, the National Security Archive has spurred the declassification of more than 15 million pages of government documents by being the leading non-profit user of the U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), filing a total of more than 70,000 FOIA and declassification requests. Organization history and accolades Led by founder Scott Armstrong, former Washington Post Reporter and staff on the Senate Watergate Committee, journalists and historians came together to create the National Secu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, businessman, and naval officer who served as United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense from 1975 to 1977 under President Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under President George W. Bush. He was both the youngest and the oldest secretary of defense. Additionally, Rumsfeld was a four-term United States House of Representatives, U.S. Congressman from Illinois (1963–1969), director of the Office of Economic Opportunity (1969–1970), Counselor to the President, counselor to the president (1969–1973), the United States Permanent Representative to NATO, U.S. Representative to NATO (1973–1974), and the White House Chief of Staff (1974–1975). Between his terms as secretary of defense, he served as the CEO and chairman of several companies. Born in Illinois, Rumsfeld attended Princeton University, graduating in 1954 with a degree in political science. After serving in the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
National Security Advisor (United States)
The assistant to the president for national security affairs (APNSA), commonly referred to as the national security advisor (NSA),The National Security Advisor and Staff: p. 1. is a senior aide in the Executive Office of the President, based at the West Wing of the White House. The national security advisor serves as the principal advisor to the president of the United States on all national security issues. The national security advisor participates in meetings of the United States National Security Council, National Security Council (NSC) and usually chairs meetings of the principals committee of the NSC with the United States Secretary of State, secretary of state and United States Secretary of Defense, secretary of defense (those meetings not attended by the president). The NSA also sits on the Homeland Security Council (HSC). The national security advisor is supported by NSC staff who produce classified research and briefings for the national security advisor to review and pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Condoleezza Rice
Condoleezza "Condi" Rice ( ; born November 14, 1954) is an American diplomat and political scientist serving since 2020 as the 8th director of Stanford University's Hoover Institution. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 66th United States secretary of state from 2005 to 2009 and as the 19th U.S. national security advisor from 2001 to 2005. Rice was the first female African-American secretary of state and the first woman to serve as national security advisor. Until the election of Barack Obama as president in 2008, Rice and her predecessor, Colin Powell, were the highest-ranking African Americans in the history of the federal executive branch (by virtue of the secretary of state standing fourth in the presidential line of succession). At the time of her appointment as Secretary of State, Rice was the highest-ranking woman in the history of the United States to be in the presidential line of succession. Rice was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Tenet
George John Tenet (born January 5, 1953) is an American intelligence official and academic who served as the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) for the United States Central Intelligence Agency, as well as a Distinguished Professor in the Practice of Diplomacy at Georgetown University. Tenet held the position as the DCI from July 1997 to July 2004, making him the second-longest-serving director in the agency's history—behind Allen Welsh Dulles—as well as one of the few DCIs to serve under two President of the United States, U.S. presidents of opposing Political party, political parties. He played a key role in overseeing Iraq and weapons of mass destruction, intelligence regarding weapons of mass destruction in advance of the Iraq War. A 2005 Inspector General's report found that Tenet bears "ultimate responsibility" for the United States intelligence community's failure to develop a plan to control al-Qaeda in the lead-up to 9/11. Tenet has been criticized for personally ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chechnya
Chechnya, officially the Chechen Republic, is a Republics of Russia, republic of Russia. It is situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, between the Caspian Sea and Black Sea. The republic forms a part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with Georgia (country), Georgia to its south; with the Russian republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia–Alania to its east, north, and west; and with Stavropol Krai to its northwest. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Chechnya and Ingushetia in the Soviet Union, Checheno-Ingush ASSR split into two parts: the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic. The latter proclaimed the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, which declared independence, while the former sided with Russia. Following the First Chechen War of 1994–1996 with Russia, Chechnya gained ''de facto'' independence as the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria, although ''de jure'' it remained a part of Russia. Russian ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
27th G8 Summit
The 27th G8 summit was held in Genoa, Italy, on 19–22 July 2001 and is remembered as a highpoint of the worldwide anti-globalization movement as well as for human rights violations against demonstrators. Overview The G8#History, Group of Seven (G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia.Saunders, Doug "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," ''Globe and Mail'' (Toronto). July 5, 2008. In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.Reuters "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?", July 3, 2008. The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a par ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smain Lamari
Major General Smain Lamari (, 1941 – August 28, 2007) was the head of an Algerian intelligence service, the Department of Counter-Espionage and Internal Security. Along with Generals Mohamed Lamari (unrelated to him), Khaled Nezzar, Larbi Belkheir and "Toufik" Médiène, he was one of the influential "Algerian Generals".Jeanne CongarMort de Lamari, un des officiers les plus puissants d'Algérie ''Rue 89'', 29 August 2007 Lamari was close to Larbi Belkheir, now ambassador in Morocco. Lamari died from a heart attack in 2007, and was buried in the Cemetery El Alia reserved for high ranking Algerian officials, in the presence of President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and conducting covert operations. The agency is headquartered in the George Bush Center for Intelligence in Langley, Virginia, and is sometimes metonymously called "Langley". A major member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA has reported to the director of national intelligence since 2004, and is focused on providing intelligence for the president and the Cabinet. The CIA is headed by a director and is divided into various directorates, including a Directorate of Analysis and Directorate of Operations. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the CIA has no law enforcement function and focuses on intelligence gathering overseas, with only limited domestic intelligence collection. The CIA is responsibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
