Declassified CIA documents show clear warnings to presidents before 9/11

• Dozens of newly declassified documents detail US intelligence assessments of Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda before and after the September 11 attacks.
• The release includes presidential daily briefings and interviews with former Clinton and George W. Bush administration officials.

Dozens of declassified documents and presidential daily briefings detailing intelligence gathered by US officials on Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda were released Friday, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The documents provide insight into how national security analysts tracked bin Laden and his support network in the years leading up to the attacks, while raising concerns over growing threats to US interests.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe described the release as an “extraordinary transparency effort,” calling it the largest single release of highly classified presidential briefings prepared by the intelligence community for the country’s senior leadership.

Among the released materials is a February 1998 briefing prepared for then-President Bill Clinton titled “Terrorists Seeking Weapons of Mass Destruction Capabilities,” which referenced bin Laden and other extremists.

Another document, dated September 12, 2001, stated that the attacks had been planned for two years and indicated that the US Capitol was also among the intended targets.

The White House said the National Archives had also released an additional collection containing interviews with national security officials from the Clinton and George W. Bush administrations. The interviews were conducted as part of the 9/11 Commission’s investigation between 2002 and 2004.