The memo presented fresh evidence that terrorists were planning hijackings and attacks with explosives inside the United States. "FBI information since that time indicates patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks, including recent surveillance of federal buildings in New York."
According to a "U.S. government official," the CIA
analyst who prepared the briefing obtained the two final items
from the FBI at the last minute, in an effort to sound a more
strident alarm about Bin Laden. "The agency doesn't write a
headline like that if it doesn't want to get attention," said a
separate "former administration official. "The CIA did not believe Bush
policymakers were taking the threat to the U.S. seriously."
A Washington Post article suggests, however, that
no one was taking the threat seriously that summer, even after
the Aug. 6 briefing. "In a pre-9/11 world, it was like, 'Check it
out and see what you find and get back to us after Labor Day,'"
said a former Bush aide, "who remains close to White House" but
refused to be named to "avoid angering the President and his
staff." "It wasn't just the president who was on vacation. It was
the whole government. It was the Bureau [FBI] and the Agency
[CIA], too. The attention to the threats was above and beyond
normal, but it obviously wasn't enough." |
