President Biden orders a broad review of classified 9/11 probes
President Joe Biden ordered a broad declassification review of long-secret documents related to the Sept. 11 terror attacks on Friday, including the terrorists’ possible ties to Saudi Arabia’s government or intelligence agencies.
Recalling his campaign pledge to let people know as much as possible about the attacks, Biden hopes the review will lead to making public details of FBI probes and other government investigations into the attacks on the twin towers and the Pentagon.
“Information should not remain classified when the public interest in disclosure outweighs any damage to the national security,” Biden wrote in an executive order.
The order effectively meets a longstanding demand of 9/11 victims’ families. The families had demanded Biden take steps to make public the documents if he hoped to be welcomed at commemorations of the attacks.
“I made a commitment to ensuring transparency regarding the declassification of documents on the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on America,” Biden added in a statement. “As we approach the 20th anniversary of that tragic day, I am honoring that commitment.”
Under the terms of the executive order, the FBI must complete by Sept. 11, 2021, its declassification review of documents from that probe, which it has referred to as the “Subfile Investigation.”
The order directs the Justice Department and other executive branch agencies to begin a declassification review and requires that declassified documents be released over the next six months. A long-running lawsuit in federal court in New York alleges that Saudi officials provided significant support to some of the hijackers before the attacks
and aims to hold the kingdom accountable.
The Saudi government has denied any connection to the attacks. The families have long asserted that Saudi officials played more of a direct role than the U.S. government has said publicly, citing in part the fact that the first two hijackers to arrive in the U.S. ahead of the attack were welcomed and assisted by a Saudi diplomat. They have long accused the government of stonewalling their demands for documents, and on Thursday, urged the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate the FBI’s apparent inability to locate a photograph, video and other records they seek.
Almost 3,000 people were killed when the attackers hijacked four planes on Sept. 11, 2001. They intentionally crashed two planes into the twin towers in lower Manhattan, New York, bringing down the buildings, and one into the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back against the hijackers.