New CIA files reveal warnings about Osama Bin laden before 9/11

WASHINGTON: The US Central Intelligence Agency has released dozens of previously classified documents related to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, shedding fresh light on warnings and intelligence assessments that emerged in the years leading up to the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The documents were made public to coincide with the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, offering a glimpse into how US intelligence agencies assessed the threat posed by bin Laden and his organisation before the attacks that transformed global security policy.

According to an Arab media report, one of the documents shows that then-US President Bill Clinton was briefed in August 1998 that bin Laden had a preference for striking targets on American soil, particularly in Washington.

The assessment also raised the possibility that al-Qaeda could use an aircraft packed with explosives to attack a US city, highlighting concerns over the group’s evolving methods and ambitions.

Another report from December 1998 contained further warnings. According to the released material, some of bin Laden’s associates had received training related to hijacking aircraft and had reportedly tested their ability to evade security measures at an airport in New York.

The disclosures provide additional insight into the intelligence concerns surrounding al-Qaeda several years before the September 11 attacks.

The documents also reportedly contain references to bin Laden’s efforts to obtain radioactive material for bomb-making, as well as experiments involving explosives. Such intelligence reflected fears within the US government that al-Qaeda was seeking increasingly sophisticated ways to carry out mass-casualty attacks.

One of the most significant documents is dated September 12, 2001, just one day after the attacks. According to the report, planning for the operation in the United States had been underway for approximately two years.

The document also indicated that Washington had been included among the intended targets, underscoring the scale of the plot and the threat posed to the US capital.

The release comes as the United States marks a quarter-century since the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania and triggered a sweeping transformation of American foreign and security policy.

The newly released material is likely to attract renewed attention from historians, security experts and researchers examining the intelligence failures and warnings that preceded 9/11.

The documents do not simply revisit the events of September 11; they also provide a window into the growing warnings about bin Laden and al-Qaeda during the late 1990s, when the organisation was already emerging as a major international security threat.

Their publication offers a rare opportunity to examine how US intelligence understood the danger before the attacks and how those assessments evolved in the aftermath of one of the defining events of the modern era.