The US CIA today declassified more than 70 presidential intelligence memos regarding the jihadist organization "Al Qaeda" and its former leader, Osama bin Laden, 25 years after the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The release of these documents offers "unprecedented transparency" in this sensitive case, as they cover the years before 2001 and the day after the attack, "one of the darkest moments in our history," as the CIA described it in its statement.
The documents have captured the "history of the changing perception" that CIA analysts had of al-Qaeda and their efforts to determine Osama bin Laden's plans, despite fragmentary, vague and incomplete information," he added.
In one of the documents, dated September 10, 1998, the CIA warns that al-Qaeda could “drop an airplane packed with explosives into an American city.” In another, dated December 4, 1998, the agency says that Osama bin Laden “and his allies are preparing for attacks on the United States, including the hijacking of an airplane.”
On September 11, 2001, 19 members of Al-Qaeda hijacked four airliners in coordinated suicide attacks on New York and Washington, which killed approximately 3,000 people. ©LAPSI.al
To commemorate the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the CIA released 71 President's Daily Briefs to give Americans a glimpse into our most sensitive intelligence from the years before and days after one of our Nation's darkest moments. https://t.co/Z2QIjcuvAj pic.twitter.com/N8ZoZ2OvtZ
— CIA (@CIA) September 11, 2026
