Biden orders more 9/11 declassifications as 20th anniversary nears
WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden on Friday directed the declassification of certain documents related to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a supportive gesture to victims’ families who have long sought the records in hopes of implicating the Saudi government.
The order, issued a little more than a week before the 20th anniversary of the attacks, is a significant moment in a yearslong tussle between the government and the families over what classified information about the run-up to the attacks could be made public. That conflict was on display last month when many relatives, survivors and first responders said they would object to Biden’s participation in 9/11 memorial events if the documents remained classified.
Biden said Friday that he was making good on a campaign commitment by ordering the declassification review and pledged that his administration “will continue to engage respectfully with members of this community.”
“The significant events in question occurred two decades ago or longer, and they concern a tragic moment that continues to resonate in American history and in the lives of so many Americans,” the executive order states. “It is therefore critical to ensure that the United States Government maximizes transpar
ency, relying on classification only when narrowly tailored and necessary.”
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.
The FBI said in a statement that it “will continue to work in coordination with the Department of Justice and other agencies to declassify and release documents related to the 9/11 investigation.” The Justice Department declined to comment.
Some 9/11 families immediately praised the executive order. One group, 9/11 Families United, which represents more than 10,000 people affected by the attacks, said in a statement that Biden’s order “looks like a true turning point.”
“We have been fighting the FBI and intelligence community for too long,” said Terry Strada, whose husband, Tom, was killed in the World Trade Center. “There is much more work to be done to secure justice for our murdered loved ones and to rectify the immense damage the 20-year shroud of secrecy has caused, but we now are optimistic that President Biden will be helping us achieve those goals.”
Brett Eagleson, whose father, Bruce, was among the World Trade Center victims and who is an advocate for other victims’ relatives, commended the action as a “critical first step.” He said the families would be watching the process closely to ensure the Justice Department follows through and acts “in good faith.”
“The first test will be on 9/11, and the world will be watching. We look forward to thanking President Biden in person next week as he joins us at ground zero to honor those who died or were injured 20 years ago,” Eagleson said.
Several members of Congress, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., said they supported Biden’s decision.
Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said the committee would closely oversee the review process “to ensure that all agencies adhere to the president’s guidance to apply the maximum degree of transparency allowed by law when conducting the review.”
NO PROOF SO FAR
Still, the practical impact of the executive order and any new documents it might yield was not immediately clear. Public documents released in the past two decades, including by the 9/11 Commission, have detailed numerous Saudi entanglements but have not proved government complicity.
A long-running lawsuit in federal court in New York aims to hold the Saudi government accountable and alleges that Saudi officials provided significant support to some of the hijackers before the attacks. The lawsuit took a major step forward this year with the questioning under oath of former Saudi officials, and family members have long regarded the disclosure of declassified documents as an important step in making their case.
The Saudi government has denied any role in the attacks.
Fifteen of the hijackers were Saudi, as was Osama bin Laden, whose al-Qaida network was behind the attacks.
Particular scrutiny has centered on the support offered to the first two hijackers to arrive in the U.S., Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar, including from a Saudi citizen with ties to the Saudi government who helped the men lease an apartment in San Diego and who had earlier attracted FBI scrutiny.
Though many documents examining potential Saudi ties have been released, U.S. officials have long regarded other records as too sensitive for disclosure. On Thursday, victims’ families and survivors urged the Justice Department’s inspector general to investigate the FBI’s apparent inability to find key pieces of evidence that they’ve been seeking.
The Justice Department revealed last month that the FBI recently had completed an investigation examining certain 9/11 hijackers and potential co-conspirators, and that it was working toward providing more information.
Under the terms of the executive order, by Sept. 11 the FBI must complete its declassification review of documents from that inquiry, which it has referred to as the “Subfile Investigation.” Additional documents, including phone and bank records and investigative findings, are to be reviewed with an eye toward disclosure over the next six months.
It is possible after that review that officials could decide to keep significant materials under wraps. But Biden seemed to direct the bureau to favor disclosure in questionable calls, writing that material should not stay secret if there was “significant doubt” about the need for it to remain classified, and that the attorney general and others should determine “whether the public interest in disclosure of the information outweighs the damage to the national security that might reasonably be expected from disclosure.”
Biden has not yet made public his plans for the 20th anniversary of the attacks. Last year, while campaigning for president, he attended Sept. 11 memorial events in Lower Manhattan and Shanksville, Pa.
“My heart continues to be with the 9/11 families who are suffering, the president said Friday. “I welcome their voices and insight as we chart a way forward.”
Biden had vowed, if elected, to direct the U.S. attorney general to “personally examine the merits of all cases” where the government had invoked state secrets privilege and “to err on the side of disclosure in cases where, as here, the events in question occurred two decades or longer ago.”