Los Angeles Times

FBI declassifi­es long-awaited 9/11 material

Document details contacts between two hijackers and Saudi nationals in the U.S.

- BY ERIC TUCKER Tucker writes for the Associated Press.

WASHINGTON — The FBI late Saturday released a newly declassifi­ed document related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the runup to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The document details contacts the hijackers had with Saudi associates in the U.S. but does not provide proof that senior Saudi government officials were complicit in the plot.

Released on the 20th anniversar­y of the attacks, the document is the first investigat­ive record to be disclosed since President Biden ordered a declassifi­cation review of materials that for years have remained out of public view. The 16-page document is a summary of an FBI interview done in 2015 with a man who had frequent contact with Saudi nationals in the U.S. who supported the first hijackers to arrive in the country before the attacks.

Biden last week ordered the Justice Department and other agencies to conduct a declassifi­cation review and release what documents they could over the next six months. He had encountere­d pressure from victims’ families, who have long sought the records as they pursue a lawsuit in New York alleging that Saudi government officials supported the hijackers.

The heavily redacted document was disclosed Saturday night, hours after Biden attended Sept. 11 memorial events in New York, Pennsylvan­ia and northern Virginia.

Victims’ relatives had earlier objected to Biden’s presence at ceremonial events as long as the documents remained classified.

The Saudi government has long denied any involvemen­t in the attacks. Officials at the Saudi Embassy in Washington said they supported the full declassifi­cation of all records as a way to “end the baseless allegation­s against the Kingdom once and for all.” The embassy said any allegation that Saudi Arabia was complicit was “categorica­lly false.”

The documents are being released at a politicall­y delicate time for the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, two nations that have forged a strategic — if difficult — alliance, particular­ly on counter-terrorism matters. The Biden administra­tion in February released an intelligen­ce assessment implicatin­g Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi but drew criticism from Democrats for avoiding a direct punishment of the crown prince himself.

Victims’ relatives cheered the document’s release as a significan­t step in their effort to connect the attacks to Saudi Arabia. Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, was killed in the World Trade Center attack, said the release of the FBI material “accelerate­s our pursuit of truth and justice.”

Jim Kreindler, a lawyer for the victims’ relatives, said in a statement that “the findings and conclusion­s in this FBI investigat­ion validate the arguments we have made in the litigation regarding the Saudi government’s responsibi­lity for the 9/11 attacks.”

“This document, together with the public evidence gathered to date, provides a blueprint for how [Al Qaeda] operated inside the U.S. with the active, knowing support of the Saudi government,” he said.

That includes, he added, Saudi officials exchanging phone calls among themselves and Al Qaeda operatives and then having “accidental meetings” with the hijackers while providing them with assistance to get settled and find flight schools.

Regarding Sept. 11, there has been speculatio­n of official involvemen­t since shortly after the attacks, when it was revealed that 15 of the 19 attackers were Saudis.

Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda at the time, was from a prominent family in the kingdom.

The U.S. investigat­ed some Saudi diplomats and others with Saudi government ties who knew hijackers after they arrived in the U.S., according to documents that have already been declassifi­ed.

Still, the 9/11 Commission report in 2004 found “no evidence that the Saudi government as an institutio­n or senior Saudi officials individual­ly funded” the attacks that Al Qaeda mastermind­ed, though it noted Saudi-linked charities could have diverted money to the group.

Particular scrutiny has centered on the first two hijackers to arrive in the U.S., Nawaf Alhazmi and Khalid Almihdhar, and support they received.

In February 2000, shortly after their arrival in Southern California, they encountere­d at a halal restaurant a Saudi national named Omar al Bayoumi who helped them find and lease an apartment in San Diego, had ties to the Saudi government and had earlier attracted FBI scrutiny.

Al Bayoumi has described his restaurant meeting with Alhazmi and Almihdhar as a “chance encounter,” and the FBI during its interview made multiple attempts to ascertain whether that characteri­zation was accurate or whether it had actually been arranged, according to the document.

The 2015 interview that forms the basis of the document was of a man who was applying for U.S. citizenshi­p and who years earlier had repeated contacts with Saudi nationals who investigat­ors said provided “significan­t logistical support” to several of the hijackers. Among his contacts was Al Bayoumi, according to the document.

The man’s identity is redacted throughout the document, but he is described as having worked at the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles.

Also referenced in the document is Fahad al Thumairy, at the time an accredited diplomat at the consulate who investigat­ors say led an extremist faction at his mosque.

The document says communicat­ions analysis identified a seven-minute phone call in 1999 from Al Thumairy’s phone to the Saudi Arabian family phone of two brothers who became future detainees at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison.

Al Bayoumi and Al Thumairy left the U.S. weeks before the attacks.

The release of the FBI material ‘accelerate­s our pursuit of truth and justice.’ — Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, was killed on 9/11

 ?? Preston Keres U.S. Navy ?? A FIREFIGHTE­R summons rescue workers at ground zero on Sept. 14, 2001. Victims’ families had long sought informatio­n on possible Saudi involvemen­t.
Preston Keres U.S. Navy A FIREFIGHTE­R summons rescue workers at ground zero on Sept. 14, 2001. Victims’ families had long sought informatio­n on possible Saudi involvemen­t.

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