The 9/11
Commission
Report

 

 

 


COMMISSION
MEMBERS

Thomas H. Kean,
CHAIR

Lee H. Hamilton,
VICE CHAIR

Richard Ben-Veniste

Bob Kerrey

Fred F. Fielding

John F. Lehman

Jamie S. Gorelick

Timothy J. Roemer

Slade Gorton

James R. Thompson


COMMISSION
STAFF

Philip Zelikow, Executive Director
Christopher A. Kojm, Deputy Executive Director
Daniel Marcus, General Counsel

Joanne M. Accolla
Staff Assistant

C. Michael Hurley
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

Alexis Albion
Professional Staff Member

Dana J. Hyde
Counsel Professional

Scott H. Allan, Jr.
Counsel

John W. Ivicic
Security Officer

John A. Azzarello
Counsel

Michael N. Jacobson
Counsel

Caroline Barnes
Professional Staff Member

Hunter W. Jamerson
Intern

Warren Bass
Professional Staff Member

Bonnie D. Jenkins
Counsel

Ann M. Bennett
Information Control Officer

Reginald F. Johnson
Staff Assistant

Mark S. Bittinger
Professional Staff Member

R. William Johnstone
Professional Staff Member

Madeleine Blot
Counsel

Stephanie L. Kaplan
Special Assistant & Managing Editor

Antwion M. Blount
Systems Engineer

Miles L. Kara, Sr.
Professional Staff Member

Sam Brinkley
Professional Staff Member

Janice L. Kephart
Counsel

Geoffrey Scott Brown
Research Assistant

Hyon Kim
Counsel

Daniel Byman
Professional Staff Member

Katarzyna Kozaczuk
Financial Assistant

Dianna Campagna
Manager of Operations

Gordon Nathaniel Lederman
Counsel

Samuel M. W. Caspersen
Counsel

Daniel J. Leopold
Staff Assistant

Melissa A. Coffey
Staff Assistant

Sarah Webb Linden
Professional Staff Member

Lance Cole
Consultant

Douglas J. MacEachin
Professional Staff Member & Team Leader

Marquittia L. Coleman
Staff Assistant

Ernest R. May
Senior Adviser

Marco A. Cordero
Professional Staff Member

Joseph McBride
Intern

Rajesh De
Counsel

James Miller
Professional Staff Member

George W. Delgrosso
Investigator

Kelly Moore
Professional Staff Member

Gerald L. Dillingham
Professional Staff Member

Charles M. Pereira
Professional Staff Member

Thomas E. Dowling
Professional Staff Member

John Raidt
Professional Staff Member

Steven M. Dunne
Deputy General Counsel

John Roth
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

Thomas R. Eldridge
Counsel

Peter Rundlet
Counsel

Alice Falk
Editor

Lloyd D. Salvetti
Professional Staff Member

John J. Farmer, Jr.
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

Kevin J. Scheid
Staff Member & Team Leader

Alvin S. Felzenberg
Deputy for Communications

Kevin Shaeffer
Professional Staff Member

Lorry M. Fenner
Professional Staff Member

Tracy J. Shycoff
Deputy for Administration & Finance

Susan Ginsburg
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

Dietrich L. Snell
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

T. Graham Giusti
Security Officer

Jonathan DeWees Stull
Communications Assistant

Nicole Marie Grandrimo
Professional Staff Member

Lisa Marie Sullivan
Staff Assistant

Douglas N. Greenburg
Counsel

Quinn John Tamm, Jr.
Professional Staff Member

Barbara A. Grewe
Senior Counsel, Special Projects

Catharine S. Taylor
Staff Assistant

Elinore Flynn Hartz
Family Liaison

Yoel Tobin
Counsel

Leonard R. Hawley
Professional Staff Member

Emily Landis Walker
Professional Staff Member & Family Liaison

L. Christine Healey
Senior Counsel & Team Leader

Garth Wermter
Senior IT Consultant

Karen Heitkotter
Executive Secretary

Serena B. Wille
Counsel

Walter T. Hempel II
Professional Staff Member

Peter Yerkes
Public Affairs Assistant


Contents

Public Statement
Executive Summary
Preface xv
 
1. "WE HAVE SOME PLANES" 1
  1.1 Inside the Four Flights 1
  1.2 Improvising a Homeland Defense 14
  1.3 National Crisis Management 35
 
2. THE FOUNDATION OF THE NEW TERRORISM 47
  2.1 A Declaration of War 47
  2.2 Bin Ladin's Appeal in the Islamic World 48
  2.3 The Rise of Bin Ladin and al Qaeda (1988-1992) 55
  2.4 Building an Organization, Declaring War on the United States (1992-1996) 59
  2.5 Al Qaeda's Renewal in Afghanistan (1996-1998) 63
 
3. COUNTERTERRORISM EVOLVES 71
  3.1 From the Old Terrorism to the New: The First World Trade Center Bombing 71
  3.2 Adaptation--and Nonadaptation--in the Law Enforcement Community 73
  3.3 . . . and in the Federal Aviation Administration 82
  3.4 . . . and in the Intelligence Community 86
  3.5 . . . and in the State Department and the Defense Department 93
  3.6 . . . and in the White House 98
  3.7 . . . and in the Congress 102
 
4. RESPONSES TO AL QAEDA'S INITIAL ASSAULTS 108
  4.1 Before the Bombings in Kenya and Tanzania 108
  4.2 Crisis: August 1998 115
  4.3 Diplomacy 121
  4.4 Covert Action 126
  4.5 Searching for Fresh Options 134
 
5. AL QAEDA AIMS AT THE AMERICAN HOMELAND 145
  5.1 Terrorist Entrepreneurs 145
  5.2 The "Planes Operation" 153
  5.3 The Hamburg Contingent 160
  5.4 A Money Trail? 169
 
6. FROM THREAT TO THREAT 174
  6.1 The Millennium Crisis 174
  6.2 Post-Crisis Reflection: Agenda for 2000 182
  6.3 The Attack on the USS Cole 190
  6.4 Change and Continuity 198
  6.5 The New Administration's Approach 203
 
7. THE ATTACK LOOMS 215
  7.1 First Arrivals in California 215
  7.2 The 9/11 Pilots in the United States 223
  7.3 Assembling the Teams 231
  7.4 Final Strategies and Tactics 241
 
8. "THE SYSTEM WAS BLINKING RED" 254
  8.1 The Summer of Threat 254
  8.2 Late Leads--Mihdhar, Moussaoui, and KSM 266
 
9. HEROISM AND HORROR 278
  9.1 Preparedness as of September 11 278
  9.2 September 11, 2001 285
  9.3 Emergency Response at the Pentagon 311
  9.4 Analysis 315
 
10. WARTIME 325
  10.1 Immediate Responses at Home 326
  10.2 Planning for War 330
  10.3 "Phase Two" and the Question of Iraq 334
 
11. FORESIGHT--AND HINDSIGHT 339
  11.1 Imagination 339
  11.2 Policy 348
  11.3 Capabilities 350
  11.4 Management 353
 
12. WHAT TO DO? A GLOBAL STRATEGY 361
  12.1 Reflecting on a Generational Challenge 361
  12.2 Attack Terrorists and Their Organizations 365
  12.3 Prevent the Continued Growth of Islamist Terrorism 374
  12.4 Protect against and Prepare for Terrorist Attacks 383
 
13. HOW TO DO IT? A DIFFERENT WAY OF ORGANIZING THE GOVERNMENT 399
  13.1 Unity of Effort across the Foreign-Domestic Divide 400
  13.2 Unity of Effort in the Intelligence Community 407
  13.3 Unity of Effort in Sharing Information 416
  13.4 Unity of Effort in the Congress 419
  13.5 Organizing America's Defenses in the United States 423
 
Appendix A: Common Abbreviations 429
Appendix B: Table of Names 431
Appendix C: Commission Hearings 439
Guide to Notes 449


List of Illustrations and Tables

FAA Air Traffic Control Centers 15
Reporting structure, Northeast Air Defense Sector 15
Flight paths and timelines 32-33
Usama Bin Ladin 49
Map of Afghanistan 64
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed 148
The 9/11 hijackers 238-239
The World Trade Center Complex as of 9/11 279
The World Trade Center radio repeater system 284
The World Trade Center North Tower stairwell with deviations 288
The Twin Towers following the impact of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 312
The Pentagon after being struck by American Airlines Flight 77 313
American Airlines Flight 93 crash site, Shanksville, Pennsylvania 313
Unity of effort in managing intelligence 413



Transcribed and formatted for HTML by Jerry Holden for the HyperWar Foundation