9/11 Attack Information Concerning Saudis and Saudi Arabia Collected by the FBI and Related Agencies

9/11 Attack Information Concerning Saudis and Saudi Arabia Collected by the FBI and Related Agencies

This collection contains a total of 4,857 pages.

On September 11, 2001, the September 11 Attacks, also commonly referred to as 9/11 occurred, in which the militant Islamist terrorist group al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, coordinated four terrorist attacks in the United States of America, killing 2,977 people and injuring approximately 6,000 others.

This collection contains:

FBI Files Released by Executive Order 14040 on November 3, 2021

The 742-pages in this new release date from to September 20, 2001, to September 8, 2021.

This set of documents shows that the FBI spent almost 20-years investigating the potential involvement of Saudi officials in the 9/11 attacks as part of its Operation Encore, which ended in March of 2021. The files show the FBI investigation was particularly vigorous during its first 10 years with agents traveling the world interviewing leads. The case got renewed attention in 2019 and was closed on March 21, 2021.

An FBI document date May 27, 2021, states about the re-evaluations, "No additional information was obtained as part of those interviews and no material contradicting statements were made as compared to the initial interviews." The FBI document further states that, "After nearly twenty years after the attack, the FBI has not identified additional groups or individuals responsible for the attack other than those currently charged which is consistent with the final conclusion of the 9/11 Commission Report.”

An October 23, 2007, FBI memo states, "Scenarios in which the foreign power involved could be AQ (Al Qaeda), Saudi Arabia, specifically the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, or both. The group that AL-MIHDHAR and AL-HAZMI were able to exploit and/or utilize could be 1) a group of AQ operatives who had infiltrated the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and who were unbeknownst to the Saudi government utilizing the resources of the Ministry for their own objectives, 2) a radical element within the Ministry of Islamic Affairs unaffiliated with AQ or 3) a collaboration of AQ operatives and certain radical elements within the Ministry of Islamic Affairs for mutually beneficial goals."

Consistent mention of Mohdar Abdullah is made in the documents. Mohdar Abdullah, a 23-year-old Yemeni university student, befriended hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar in San Diego. After 9/11 he was held in custody as a material witness for 3 years. After pleading guilty to immigration violations, he was deported to Yemen in 2004.

The 9/11 Commission final report states, "Mohdar Abdullah, recalled a trip with Hazmi and Mihdhar to Los Angeles in June when, on their arrival, the three went to the King Fahd Mosque. There Hazmi and Mihdhar greeted various individuals whom they appeared to have met previously, including a man named "Khal-lam." In Abdullah's telling, when Khallam visited the al Qaeda operatives at their motel that evening, Abdullah was asked to leave the room so that Hazmi, Mihdhar, and Khallam could meet in private. The identity of Khallam and his purpose in meeting with Hazmi and Mihdhar remain unknown."

This later released files has the full name “Mohdar Abdullah” mentioned 58 times in its 742 pages. 

9/11 Attack Information Concerning Saudis and Saudi Arabia Collected by the FBI

458 pages of 9/11 - September 11th Terrorist Attack investigation documents containing information concerning Saudis and Saudi Arabia collected by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other government agencies as discovered through interviews conducted in 2003 and 2004 by staff members of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States. 

The National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, also known as the 9/11 Commission, was set up by President George W. Bush and the United States Congress on November 27, 2002, "to prepare a full and complete account of the circumstances surrounding the September 11 attacks."
 

FBI Interviews

142 pages of memorandum of key facts given in Commission interviews of FBI agents and associates. Interviewed were Special Agents, Supervisory Special Agents, Specialists, and Assistant Director Dale Watson.

 

Other Agencies and Individuals Interviews

299 pages of key facts documented by Commission staff derived from interviews of officials of the Saudi Arabian government, personnel from the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces, CIA, United States Department of State, and the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Includes Memorandum for the Record for interviews with Madeleine Albright, Osama Basnan, Omar Al-Bayoumi, Richard Armitage and Richard Holbrooke. 

Additional materials include 231 pages of transcripts of Commission interviews with Janet Reno (United States Attorney General 1993–2001) and John Ashcroft (United States Attorney General 2001–2005).

 

Subjects

While the documents in this collection cover many aspects of the September 11th attacks, these documents were selected for their inclusion of content related to possible support of 9/11 terrorists by Saudi individuals or Saudi Arabian government representatives. The subject matters include Fahad al-Thumairy, Osama Basnan, and Omar Al-Bayoumi; Activities of hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar; Contacts the hijackers had with Saudi connections in the U.S.; Cooperation of the Government of Saudi Arabia with the investigation of the terrorist attacks.

A key document in this collection is a report that was declassified on September 11, 2021. The heavily redacted, 16-page FBI Electronic Communication dated April 4, 2016, was a final inventory of circumstantial evidence and leads from the FBI’s investigation of Saudi ties to the 9/11 terrorists. The declassified document is related to logistical support given to two of the Saudi hijackers in the run-up to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The document details contact the hijackers had with Saudis in the U.S. but does not provide proof that senior Saudi government officials were complicit in the plot.

 

Extra Material

3,426 pages of extra material containing documents related to the theme of this entire collection. composed chiefly of finished reports by U.S. Government investigative bodies. Includes:

The 9-11 Commission Report (2004)

Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States, published on July 22, 2004, commonly called The 9/11 Commission Report.

 

Monograph on Terrorist Financing Staff Report to the Commission (2004)

Includes an introduction and executive summary. The report covers al Qaeda’s means and methods to raise, move, and use money; government efforts before and after the September 11 attacks; attempts at combating terrorist financing in the United States: The role of financial institutions; al-Barakaat case study; the Illinois charities case study; al Haramain case study; the financing of the 9/11 plot; and securities trading.

 

9-11 and Terrorist Travel Staff Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (2004)

This study is on immigration, border security and terrorist travel issues.

 

Joint Report on Intelligence Community Activities (2002)

Report of the Joint Inquiry into The Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001 – By the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.


Joint Hearings on Intelligence Community Activities (2002)

Two volumes of testimony transcripts and supplemental documents of S. Hrg. 107-1086, the Joint Inquiry into Intelligence Community Activities Before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11, 2001. Held September 18, 19, 20, 24, and 26, 2002 and October 1, 3, 8, and 17, 2002.

 

CRS Report for Congress - 9-11 Commission Recommendations - Implementation Status - December 4, 2006

This report provides a review of the 9/11 Commission recommendations and the status of their implementation at the end of the 109th Congress. The discussions are organized based on policy themes that are at the core of the 9/11 Commission’s recommendations, rather than through a review of each numbered item set out in the Commission’s final report. The analysis was produced by a large team of CRS Specialists, analysts, and attorneys who are responsible for the wide variety of policy areas covered by the 9/11 Commission in its work.