The CIA has released 71 President’s Daily Brief documents related to al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden, providing a new look at intelligence presented to senior U.S. officials in the years leading up to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe ordered the documents declassified to coincide with the 25th anniversary of 9/11, calling the release the agency’s largest-ever disclosure of presidential intelligence products connected to the attacks.
The documents span from February 1998 through Sept. 12, 2001, and total more than 100 pages, although substantial portions remain redacted.
Sixty-nine of the 71 documents had not previously been released publicly in their current form, according to reporting on the collection.
Ratcliffe described the disclosure as an “act of exceptional transparency” and said it was consistent with President Donald Trump’s broader declassification efforts.
The records offer additional detail about what American intelligence agencies knew about bin Laden’s intentions before the attacks, including repeated warnings that al-Qaeda wanted to strike U.S. targets.
One newly released document dated Sept. 10, 1998, reported intelligence that bin Laden was considering an attack involving an aircraft loaded with explosives being flown into an American city.
