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July 9-10, 2001: CIA Receives Several New Pieces of Intelligence Indicating Al-Qaeda Will Attack Soon

2001-07-09

The CIA receives several pieces of intelligence over a 24-hour period, all of which predict an imminent attack. They include:
bullet Ibn Khattab, a Chechen radical connected to Osama bin Laden (see 1986-March 19, 2002), promises his troops “very big news” (see (July 9, 2001));
bullet Islamic extremists are traveling to Afghanistan in greater numbers;
bullet There have been significant departures of extremist families from Yemen;
bullet There are indications of threats against US interests in Lebanon, Morocco, and Mauritania.
This information will be promptly communicated to CIA Director George Tenet (see July 10, 2001) and National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice (see July 10, 2001). [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151]