For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
April 10, 2004
Fact Sheet
The August 6, 2001 PDB
The August 6, 2001 Pdb Item Entitled "bin Ladin Determined to Strike in US" was prepared in response to questions asked by the President
about the possibility of attacks by al-Qaida inside the United States.
The PDB article did not warn of the 9-11 attacks. Although the
PDB referred to the possibility of hijackings, it did not discuss
the possible use of planes as weapons.
The PDB was based largely on background information about past
terrorist attacks conducted by al-Qaida and general threats from the
late 1990s.
The only recent information concerning possible current activities
in the PDB related to two incidents. There is no information that
either incident was related to the 9-11 attacks.
Q: Why was this PDB prepared?
DCI Tenet has already described the genesis of this PDB item in a
letter to the 9-11 Commission dated March 26, 2004.
This PDB item was prepared in response to questions President Bush
asked his PDB briefer.
The President had seen previous intelligence reports about
possible al-Qa'ida threats to U.S. targets outside the United
States.
The President had asked whether any of the information pointed to
a possible attack inside the United States.
When this PDB item was presented to the President on August 6,
2001, his PDB briefer told him that it was prepared in response to
the President's previous questions.
Q: What information does this PDB item contain?
The article advised the President of what was publicly
well-known: that Bin Ladin had a desire to attack inside the
United States.
Bin Ladin had stated publicly in 1997 and 1998 that his followers
would try to "bring the fighting to America."
Most of the information in the article was an analysis of
previous terrorist attacks by al-Qaida and a summary and
discussion of general threat reporting from the late 1990s.
The draft was prepared by CIA after consultation with an FBI
analyst.
Q: Did the PDB item include any warning of the 9-11 attack?
No. The only recent information concerning possible current
activities in the PDB related to two incidents. There is no
information that either incident was related to the 9-11 attacks.
The first incident involved suspected "recent surveillance of
federal buildings in New York." This information was based on a
report that two Yemeni men had been seen taking photographs of
buildings at Federal Plaza in New York. The FBI later interviewed the
men and determined that their conduct was consistent with tourist
activity and the FBI's investigation identified no link to terrorism.
The second incident involved a call made on May 15, 2001 by an
unidentified individual to the U.S. Embassy in the UAE "saying that a
group of Bin Ladin supporters was in the US planning attacks with
explosives." The caller did not say where or when the attacks might
occur. o On May 17, 2001, the NSC's counterterrorism staff
convened the Counterterrorism Security Group, whose members include
State, DoD, JCS, DoJ, FBI, and CIA, and reviewed the information
provided by the caller. o The information was also shared with
Customs, INS, and FAA. o The PDB article advised the President
that CIA and FBI were investigating the information. o We had no
information, either before or after 9/11, that connects the caller's
information with the 9/11 attacks.
Q: The PDB item stated that "al-Qa'ida members have resided in
or traveled to the US for years, and the group apparently maintains a
support structure that could aid attacks." Was this new information
and what was being done about it?
The presence of individuals associated or affiliated with al-Qaida
in the United States was not new information.
This information had been well-known to the intelligence and law
enforcement communities for a number of years.
The FBI was actively investigating individuals associated or
affiliated with al-Qaida in the United States -- a fact noted in the
PDB article.
As also noted in the PDB article, the FBI was conducting
approximately 70 full-field Bin-Laden-related investigations.
Q: Why is the term "patterns of suspicious activity" used in the
PDB and what does it refer to?
The CIA author of the PDB item judged, after consulting an FBI
colleague, that there were suspicious patterns of activity that were
worrisome, even though nothing pointed to a specific operation in a
specific location. o In that vein, the author was concerned that
one of the East African bombing defendants had told FBI officers
earlier in 2001 that Bin Laden would retaliate if the defendants in the
trial were convicted -- four were convicted in New York on May 29 --
with a major attack, something the FBI interpreted to mean possibly in
the United States. o In addition, the CIA author understood that
there had been possible recent surveillance of federal buildings in New
York.
Except for the information relating to the possible surveillance
of federal buildings in New York, which was later determined by
the FBI to be consistent with tourist-related activity, the PDB item
contained no information from FBI investigations that indicated
activities related to the preparation or planning for hijackings or
other attacks within the United States.
None of the information relating to the "patterns of suspicious
activity" was later deemed to be related to the 9-11 attacks.
From June through September, the FAA and FBI issued a number of
warnings about the possibility of terrorist attacks. FAA warnings
included specific warnings about the possibility of a hijacking to free
imprisoned al-Qaida members inside the United States and the
possibility of attacks in response to law enforcement actions against
al-Qaida members.
Q: Why has information been redacted from the PDB?
The copy of the PDB that has been released is a copy of the PDB
prepared for the President, except that three redactions have been made
to protect the names of foreign governments that provided information
to CIA.
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