On the 25th anniversary of the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government declassified dozens of presidential briefing documents, detailing intelligence gathered about Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda leading up to the hijackings that killed nearly 3,000 people and upended American national security.
Capitol. 12, 2001, report in which a source indicated the attacks had been planned for two years and had also targeted the U.S.
Proclaiming “an act of exceptional transparency,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the documents were the agency’s single largest release of declassified presidential daily briefs — the highly classified briefing prepared by the nation’s intelligence community for the government’s most senior leaders. The documents range from a February 1998 file — prepared for then-President Bill Clinton — entitled “Terrorists seeking WMD capability” and mentioning “bin Ladin and other Islamic extremists” to a Sept.
