Thursday, Sep 10, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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Before 9/11, the CIA tracked two future hijackers, without a specific plot identified.

The Claim

Before September 11, 2001, the Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation were aware of a specific threat to the United States involving the individuals who carried out the September 11, 2001 attacks.

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The Short Version

The evidence shows only a limited kernel of truth. Before 9/11, the CIA had important information about two future hijackers, but the FBI did not receive key details in time, and official investigations found that intelligence agencies had not identified a specific attack plan involving the 9/11 perpetrators. The claim overstates both the degree of shared CIA-FBI awareness and the specificity of the threat.

Caveats

  • Knowing that some future hijackers were al-Qaeda-linked is not the same as knowing they were part of a specific imminent attack on the United States.
  • The claim blurs a major distinction between CIA-held intelligence and FBI awareness; the record shows key information was not promptly shared.
  • Most of the eventual hijackers were not known to U.S. intelligence beforehand, so the claim implies a broader perpetrator-linked awareness than the evidence supports.

The Receipts

  1. The 9/11 Commission Report – Section 11.2 ‘Improving the FBI’s Capabilities’

    U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO)

  2. The 9/11 Commission Report – Chapter 8 ‘The System Was Blinking Red’

    U.S. Government Publishing Office (GPO)

  3. REPORT OF THE JOINT INQUIRY INTO THE TERRORIST ATTACKS OF SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

    Congress.gov

  4. Statement of Eleanor Hill: September 20, 2002

    U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

  5. Report of the Joint Inquiry into the Terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001

    U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence

  6. Final Report of the Congressional Joint Inquiry Into 9/11: Findings and Conclusions

    Federation of American Scientists (FAS)

  7. The 9/11 Commission Report

    National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States

  8. Joint Inquiry Staff Statement

    FAS / U.S. Congress (Joint Inquiry)

  9. Chapter Five: Two September 11 Hijackers: Khalid al-Mihdhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi

    U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General

  10. A Review of the FBI's Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks - Chapter 3

    U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General

+ 22 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Central Intelligence AgencyFederal Bureau of InvestigationSeptember 11, 2001 terrorist attacksUnited States

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