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Tracking a Counterterrorism Breakdown
Timeline Shows Failure to Connect Key Clues Before Sept. 11
 Listen to Mike Shuster's report.
 Read a timeline of pre-Sept. 11 counterterrorism activity.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice briefs reporters May 16, 2002, on U.S. intelligence agency warnings prior to Sept. 11.
Photo: Copyright 2002 Reuters Limited
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FBI Director Robert Mueller.
Photo: FBI
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May 23, 2002 -- The White House has been thrown on the defensive by revelations that weeks before the Sept. 11 attacks President Bush received an intelligence report that terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden possibly were planning to hijack airliners.
Lawmakers are questioning what the administration knew and when. NPR's Mike Shuster reports on Morning Edition that government agencies had several clues that might have triggered alarms in the months before Sept. 11. But no one put them together.
Senior government officials were frantic about threats from al Qaeda, going all the way back to June 2001. There were daily meetings in the White House, and alerts issued from the FBI, the State Department and the Federal Aviation Administration.
"The warnings were serious, the information specific and some of it had to do with the use of airplanes to kill the president and foreign leaders," Shuster reports.
Nevertheless, last week, when National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice briefed reporters on what the White House and Mr. Bush knew, she insisted the Sept. 11 attacks could not have been anticipated.
"I don't think anybody could have predicted that these people would take an airplane and slam it into the World Trade Center, take another one and slam it into the Pentagon, that they would try to use... a hijacked airplane as a missile," Rice said. "All of this reporting about hijacking was about traditional hijacking."
As Shuster reports, a close examination of the events before Sept. 11 contradicts that claim. Following is Shuster's timeline of behind-the-scenes counterterrorism activity among U.S. government agencies in the months prior to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Early June 2001
The Arabic television channel Al-Jazeera airs an Osama bin Laden video threatening attacks on Western targets.
June 13
The CIA is concerned about a possible al Qaeda attack on President Bush and other G-8 leaders scheduled to meet in Italy in July. Egyptian intelligence tells the CIA of a plot to use aircraft loaded with explosives.
June 21
Louis Freeh resigns as FBI director.
June 22
• State Department issues a worldwide warning on terrorism.
• U.S. military forces in Europe and the Middle East are put on Force Protection Condition Delta -- the highest alert level -- meaning a terrorist action against a specific location is considered imminent.
• CIA Director George Tenet is described as nearly frantic about the possibility of attack.
June 28
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice receives an intelligence summary warning a significant al Qaeda attack in the near future is "highly likely."
July 2
FBI warns of terrorist attacks overseas, does not rule out domestic attacks.
July 3
CIA's Tenet sends special request to 30 foreign intelligence agencies, urging them to arrest al Qaeda figures.
July 5
• National Security Council terrorism chief Richard Clarke convenes a White House meeting of the Counterterrorism Security Group; then meets with Rice and Bush Chief of Staff Andrew Card; then meets again with CSG plus, Federal Aviation Administration, FBI and Immigration and Naturalization Service. Clarke tells them: "something spectacular is going to happen."
• Non-essential travel of U.S. counterterrorism staff suspended.
• President Bush asks Rice to find out what is being done about terror warnings.
July 6
The Counterterrorism Security Group meets again in the White House; learns that targets for attack are located in Paris, Rome and Turkey.
July 10
Phoenix FBI agent Kenneth Williams sends electronic memo to FBI headquarters, urging investigation of possible terrorists connected to bin Laden enrolled in American flight schools.
Mid-July
CIA disrupts attacks in Paris, Rome and Turkey.
July 18
FAA warns airlines to exercise the highest level of caution.
July 20-23
• President Bush attends G-8 summit in Genoa, Italy.
• Italian government declares airspace above the summit site a no-fly zone; deploys anti-aircraft guns at Genoa airport to defend against possible terrorist attack from aircraft filled with explosives.
July 31
The FAA issues another warning to airlines: terrorists are planning and training for hijackings.
Aug. 6
CIA's Tenet briefs President Bush in Crawford, Texas, on a generalized terror threat, including Osama bin Laden and hijackings.
Aug. 17
The INS detains Zacarias Moussaoui for suspicious activity at a Minnesota flight school.
Early September
FBI lawyers deny request from the Minneapolis FBI field office to search Moussaoui's computer.
Sept. 4
• Robert Mueller becomes FBI director.
• FBI tells the FAA of Moussaoui's arrest. The FAA does not alert airlines.
Previous NPR Coverage
Search for stories on terrorism.
Other Resources
• Text of National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice's press conference, May 16, 2002
• Text of FBI Director Robert Mueller's prepared testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee, May 8, 2002
• Federal indictment of Zacarias Moussaoui
• White House's America Responds to Terrorism Web site
• White House Office of Homeland Security
• FBI's War on Terrorism Web site
• CIA's War on Terrorism Web site
• State Department Counterterrorism Office
• Defense Department anti-terrorism Web site
• Federal Aviation Administration
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