Whitewash: FAA Had 52 Pre-9/11 Warnings

AP | February 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - The Federal Aviation Administration received repeated warnings in the months prior to Sept. 11, 2001, about al-Qaida and its desire to attack airlines, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission that investigated the terror attacks.

The report by the 9/11 commission that investigated the suicide airliner attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon detailed 52 such warnings given to FAA leaders from April to Sept. 10, 2001, about the radical Islamic terrorist group and its leader, Osama bin Laden.

The commission report, written last August, said five security warnings mentioned al-Qaida's training for hijackings and two reports concerned suicide operations not connected to aviation. However, none of the warnings pinpointed what would happen on Sept. 11.

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the agency received intelligence from other agencies, which it passed on to airlines and airports.

But, she said, "We had no specific information about means or methods that would have enabled us to tailor any countermeasures."

Brown also said the FAA was in the process of tightening security at the time of the attacks.

"We were spending $100 million a year to deploy explosive detection equipment at the airports," she said. The agency was also close to issuing a regulation that would have set higher standards for screeners and, for the first time, give it direct control over the screening work force.

Al Felzenberg, former spokesman for the 9/11 commission, which went out of business last summer, said the government had not completed a review of the 120-page report for declassification purposes until recently.

The unclassified version, first reported by The New York Times, was made available by the National Archives Thursday.

According to the report:

_Aviation officials were "lulled into a false sense of security" and "intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/ll did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures."

_Of the FAA's 105 daily intelligence summaries between April 1, 2001 and Sept. 10, 2001, 52 mentioned Osama bin Laden, al Qaida, or both, "mostly in regard to overseas threats."

_It notes that the FAA did not expand the use of in-flight air marshals or tighten airport screening for weapons. It said FAA officials were more concerned with reducing airline congestion, lessening delays and easing air carriers' financial problems than thwarting a terrorist attack.

_ A proposed rule to improve passenger screening and other security measures ordered by Congress in 1996 had been held up by the Office of Management and Budget and was still not in effect when the attacks occurred, according to the FAA.

_Information in this report was available to members of the 9/11 commission when they issued their public report last summer. That report itself contained criticisms of FAA operations.

happen. The real question IMO is who really did it.


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that deep down you are concerned about the well being of american citizens. that you are concerned so deeply that this news of 52 warnings that were recieved prior to 9-11 that resulted in the death of thousands of americans (who were mainly WHITE might i add) has you so upset that u have to type in "phuckin" to emphasize your hurt in your post title.

nigga please.

does anyone know that?

a majority of AMERICANS are white, therefore if there is something that says "X-thousands of americans" ANYTHING, chances are most of them are gonna be white...(unless we are talking about the latest HIV/AIDS cases)..

or would u argue that a majority of the employees that work at the WTC were african american? hispanic? middle eastern? asian?

the point of my response was that there is no way you can convince me that somebody can spend a majority of their time tearing down american people, WHITE people, the system, and all of a sudden have this "change of heart" to where he is concerned about americans well being...ALSO' if the govt purposely ignored the 52 warnings to see all those people dead (which is what people like him want us to believe) then doesnt this fall right along with their "theories" about the govt?

just more mixed messages from you psychos on here...

leap of logic I'm willing to make in such a cosmopolitan/international city like NY

leaps of logic and sweeping generalizations is how it's done. Fallacy or no, u gon have to deal with it or not respond to them.

Hyperbole.

But u get what I'm sayin.


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_____________________________
Inaug'ral Member of the OkaySports Hall of Fame.

www.ummah1421.com/boards
www.northernarc.net

damn yo

moment either.

pathetic.
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_____________________________
Inaug'ral Member of the OkaySports Hall of Fame.

www.ummah1421.com/boards
www.northernarc.net