"If they knew about it, why the hell didn't they do something?" said
Elaine
Moccia of Hauppauge, whose husband, Frank, died in Tower Two.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [apfn-1] FAA Warned 52 Times of 9/11 Hijackings
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:03:17 +0200 (EET)
From: Charles Bremer c@host202-125.esp.mediateam.fi
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-10-voa42.cfm
9/11 Commission Says US Aviation Officials Received Warnings About Possible
Hijackings
By VOA New
10 February 2005
The independent commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks says in the months before the strike, the U.S. agency that oversees
aviation failed to respond to dozens of warnings about possible terrorist
action on U.S. airliners.
The information is contained in a previously undisclosed report by the
September 11 Commission.
The report says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received 52
intelligence reports between April and September of 2001 that warned of
potential terrorist action by al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden.
Five of the security warnings mentioned al-Qaida training for airline hijacking
and suicide attacks. However, an FAA spokeswoman says there was no specific
warning about the deadly September 11 strikes on Washington and New York.
The report concludes that prior to the attacks, aviation officials were "lulled
into a false sense of security," despite intelligence pointing to a growing
terrorist threat.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/211561_nineoneoned.html
Truth held hostage
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
It's difficult to decide which is more outrageous -- federal aviation
officials' failure to follow through on intelligence reports before Sept. 11,
2001, that warned of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden using airliner hijackings and
suicide operations, or the Bush administration's refusal to let the American
public know about it before the November election.
The administration has for five months blocked public release of the full
version of the 9/11 commission report, even though former commission members
insist that it provides what The New York Times calls a critical understanding
of the failures of the civil aviation system that contributed to the
atrocities.
This revelation perhaps would not have changed the outcome of the presidential
election. But that could not have been clear to the administration in the
months between the report's completion and the resolution at the polls of what
was widely presumed to be a very tight race with Sen. John Kerry.
In April last year, President Bush said, "Had I any inkling whatsoever that the
people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we would have moved heaven
and earth to save the country. ..." The 9/11 commission report apparently found
that there were indeed such inklings, which should have "raised alarms about
the growing terrorist threat to civil aviation throughout the 1990s and into
the new century."
We're left with a pretty good inkling as to why the president moved heaven and
earth to keep it quiet before the election.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-usfaa0211,0,584001.story?coll=ny-statenews-headlines
9/11 panel: FAA warned about al-Qaida
BY SYLVIA ADCOCK AND DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY
STAFF WRITERS
February 11, 2005
In the months before Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration told some of
the nation's largest airports that if a terrorist wanted to hijack a plane to
commit suicide in a "spectacular explosion," it would likely be a hijacking on
U.S. soil rather than overseas.
The vivid description is contained in a newly released report from the 9/11
Commission that gives a clearer-than-ever picture of what FAA officials knew
about terrorist threats before the attacks of 2001.
On 52 occasions, from April 1, 2001, to Sept. 10, 2001, the FAA's own daily
intelligence briefings contained references to the al-Qaida terror network and
its leader, Osama bin Laden, mostly in regard to overseas threats.
The unclassified version of the commission's report, which contains numerous
blacked-out sentences and paragraphs, was made available Thursday by the
National Archives. The bulk of the commission's report was published in book
form last year and became a best-seller.
The report took five months to release because of "classification issues," the
White House said, including deletion of references to any existing security
measures.
"Civil aviation seems to have been lulled into a false sense of security," the
commission wrote, a lapse particularly surprising given the FAA's own
intelligence assessment about growing terrorist threats.
Top Transportation Department officials apparently felt the government had "won
the battle on hijacking," the commission said. So despite the new warnings that
terrorists had an increased interest in hijackings, the FAA's security
directives in the summer of 2001 did not address checkpoint screening to keep
weapons off planes or the security of cockpits.
The commission was clear on one point: It found no evidence that the FAA had
any information that terrorists planned to hijack airplanes in the United
States and use them as weapons.
The agency "received numerous threat assessments from the U.S. intelligence
community in the spring and summer of 2001," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said
in a statement Thursday. "However, the FAA received no specific information
before 9/11 about terrorist means or methods directed at aviation in the U.S.
that would have indicated specific countermeasures."
Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said in an interview
that because the FAA did not provide a direct warning about the new threats,
"what you have here is a pattern, which was a pattern of complacency."
He noted that in 2001 it had been more than a decade since the last airline
hijacking in the United States, and much of the FAA's focus was on congestion
and flight delays, not security. There was "so little attention paid by the
FAA, or anyone else for that matter, including the executive branch and
Congress," Hamilton said. "We all got it wrong."
The report says that for two months in the spring of 2001, the FAA's office of
civil aviation held classified briefings for 19 of nation's largest airports --
including Newark, Logan in Boston, and Dulles outside Washington, the departure
points for the four hijacked planes. During those briefings, FAA officials
discussed the growing threat from bin Laden and a renewed interest in
hijackings. In the briefings, security officials noted that a hijacking on U.S.
soil would result in a greater number of American hostages but would be more
difficult for terrorists to carry out. "We don't rule it out," the agency said
of a domestic hijacking.
The FAA also conducted 27 briefings for airlines between May 1, 2001, and Sept.
11, 2001 -- but each briefing addressed hijacking threats overseas.
The report notes that more than half of the FAA's daily intelligence summaries
in the five months before Sept. 11, 2001, mentioned bin Laden. Most of the
references were very general, but five mentioned hijacking and two mentioned
suicide attacks, though not connected to aviation.
The FAA's intelligence reports were based primarily on reporting from the U.S.
intelligence community. One top FAA security official complained to the
commission that intelligence officials were not focused on domestic threats.
"You guys can tell us what's happening on a street in Kabul but you can't tell
us what's going on in Atlanta," the official said.
Pilots said Thursday that none of the information gathered by the FAA filtered
down to them. "Not one word," said Dave Machett, a Boeing 737 pilot who is
president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, a grassroots organization.
"The flight crews were kept completely in the dark about this growing threat."
The revelations Thursday upset some families of 9/11 victims. One woman said
she was angry to learn that federal aviation officials had been warned about
possible hijackings.
"If they knew about it, why the hell didn't they do something?" said Elaine
Moccia of Hauppauge, whose husband, Frank, died in Tower Two.
Families outraged over FAA 9/11 warnings
February 10, 2005, 10:05 PM EST
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-fams0211,0,6253545.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines
==========================================================
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SUPPORT APFN
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Moccia of Hauppauge, whose husband, Frank, died in Tower Two.
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [apfn-1] FAA Warned 52 Times of 9/11 Hijackings
Date: Fri, 11 Feb 2005 11:03:17 +0200 (EET)
From: Charles Bremer c@host202-125.esp.mediateam.fi
http://www.voanews.com/english/2005-02-10-voa42.cfm
9/11 Commission Says US Aviation Officials Received Warnings About Possible
Hijackings
By VOA New
10 February 2005
The independent commission that investigated the September 11, 2001 terrorist
attacks says in the months before the strike, the U.S. agency that oversees
aviation failed to respond to dozens of warnings about possible terrorist
action on U.S. airliners.
The information is contained in a previously undisclosed report by the
September 11 Commission.
The report says the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) received 52
intelligence reports between April and September of 2001 that warned of
potential terrorist action by al-Qaida and its leader, Osama bin Laden.
Five of the security warnings mentioned al-Qaida training for airline hijacking
and suicide attacks. However, an FAA spokeswoman says there was no specific
warning about the deadly September 11 strikes on Washington and New York.
The report concludes that prior to the attacks, aviation officials were "lulled
into a false sense of security," despite intelligence pointing to a growing
terrorist threat.
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/211561_nineoneoned.html
Truth held hostage
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
It's difficult to decide which is more outrageous -- federal aviation
officials' failure to follow through on intelligence reports before Sept. 11,
2001, that warned of al-Qaida and Osama bin Laden using airliner hijackings and
suicide operations, or the Bush administration's refusal to let the American
public know about it before the November election.
The administration has for five months blocked public release of the full
version of the 9/11 commission report, even though former commission members
insist that it provides what The New York Times calls a critical understanding
of the failures of the civil aviation system that contributed to the
atrocities.
This revelation perhaps would not have changed the outcome of the presidential
election. But that could not have been clear to the administration in the
months between the report's completion and the resolution at the polls of what
was widely presumed to be a very tight race with Sen. John Kerry.
In April last year, President Bush said, "Had I any inkling whatsoever that the
people were going to fly airplanes into buildings, we would have moved heaven
and earth to save the country. ..." The 9/11 commission report apparently found
that there were indeed such inklings, which should have "raised alarms about
the growing terrorist threat to civil aviation throughout the 1990s and into
the new century."
We're left with a pretty good inkling as to why the president moved heaven and
earth to keep it quiet before the election.
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/state/ny-usfaa0211,0,584001.story?coll=ny-statenews-headlines
9/11 panel: FAA warned about al-Qaida
BY SYLVIA ADCOCK AND DEBORAH BARFIELD BERRY
STAFF WRITERS
February 11, 2005
In the months before Sept. 11, the Federal Aviation Administration told some of
the nation's largest airports that if a terrorist wanted to hijack a plane to
commit suicide in a "spectacular explosion," it would likely be a hijacking on
U.S. soil rather than overseas.
The vivid description is contained in a newly released report from the 9/11
Commission that gives a clearer-than-ever picture of what FAA officials knew
about terrorist threats before the attacks of 2001.
On 52 occasions, from April 1, 2001, to Sept. 10, 2001, the FAA's own daily
intelligence briefings contained references to the al-Qaida terror network and
its leader, Osama bin Laden, mostly in regard to overseas threats.
The unclassified version of the commission's report, which contains numerous
blacked-out sentences and paragraphs, was made available Thursday by the
National Archives. The bulk of the commission's report was published in book
form last year and became a best-seller.
The report took five months to release because of "classification issues," the
White House said, including deletion of references to any existing security
measures.
"Civil aviation seems to have been lulled into a false sense of security," the
commission wrote, a lapse particularly surprising given the FAA's own
intelligence assessment about growing terrorist threats.
Top Transportation Department officials apparently felt the government had "won
the battle on hijacking," the commission said. So despite the new warnings that
terrorists had an increased interest in hijackings, the FAA's security
directives in the summer of 2001 did not address checkpoint screening to keep
weapons off planes or the security of cockpits.
The commission was clear on one point: It found no evidence that the FAA had
any information that terrorists planned to hijack airplanes in the United
States and use them as weapons.
The agency "received numerous threat assessments from the U.S. intelligence
community in the spring and summer of 2001," FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said
in a statement Thursday. "However, the FAA received no specific information
before 9/11 about terrorist means or methods directed at aviation in the U.S.
that would have indicated specific countermeasures."
Lee Hamilton, former vice chairman of the 9/11 Commission, said in an interview
that because the FAA did not provide a direct warning about the new threats,
"what you have here is a pattern, which was a pattern of complacency."
He noted that in 2001 it had been more than a decade since the last airline
hijacking in the United States, and much of the FAA's focus was on congestion
and flight delays, not security. There was "so little attention paid by the
FAA, or anyone else for that matter, including the executive branch and
Congress," Hamilton said. "We all got it wrong."
The report says that for two months in the spring of 2001, the FAA's office of
civil aviation held classified briefings for 19 of nation's largest airports --
including Newark, Logan in Boston, and Dulles outside Washington, the departure
points for the four hijacked planes. During those briefings, FAA officials
discussed the growing threat from bin Laden and a renewed interest in
hijackings. In the briefings, security officials noted that a hijacking on U.S.
soil would result in a greater number of American hostages but would be more
difficult for terrorists to carry out. "We don't rule it out," the agency said
of a domestic hijacking.
The FAA also conducted 27 briefings for airlines between May 1, 2001, and Sept.
11, 2001 -- but each briefing addressed hijacking threats overseas.
The report notes that more than half of the FAA's daily intelligence summaries
in the five months before Sept. 11, 2001, mentioned bin Laden. Most of the
references were very general, but five mentioned hijacking and two mentioned
suicide attacks, though not connected to aviation.
The FAA's intelligence reports were based primarily on reporting from the U.S.
intelligence community. One top FAA security official complained to the
commission that intelligence officials were not focused on domestic threats.
"You guys can tell us what's happening on a street in Kabul but you can't tell
us what's going on in Atlanta," the official said.
Pilots said Thursday that none of the information gathered by the FAA filtered
down to them. "Not one word," said Dave Machett, a Boeing 737 pilot who is
president of the Airline Pilots Security Alliance, a grassroots organization.
"The flight crews were kept completely in the dark about this growing threat."
The revelations Thursday upset some families of 9/11 victims. One woman said
she was angry to learn that federal aviation officials had been warned about
possible hijackings.
"If they knew about it, why the hell didn't they do something?" said Elaine
Moccia of Hauppauge, whose husband, Frank, died in Tower Two.
Families outraged over FAA 9/11 warnings
February 10, 2005, 10:05 PM EST
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/nyc-fams0211,0,6253545.story?coll=ny-nynews-headlines
==========================================================
APFN-1 YahooGroups:
Subscribe: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/apfn-1/join
Unsubscribe: apfn-1-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
APFN MSG BOARD:
`In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.'
http://disc.server.com/Indices/149495.html
APFN CONTENTS PAGE:
http://www.apfn.org/old/apfncont.htm
Without Justice, there is JUST_US!
[LEAK-GATE] INVESTIGATING THE WHITE HOUSE
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LEAK-GATE/
Find elected officials, including the president, members of
Congress, governors, state legislators, local officials, and more.
http://congress.org/congressorg/dbq/officials/
SUPPORT APFN
http://www.apfn.org/apfn/kenvardon.htm
Message Board by American Patriot Friends Network [APFN]
