Officials Warned of Attack Before 9/11

— -- Hearing Into 9/11 Intelligence Failures

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 18 — An intelligence briefing two months before theSept. 11 attack warned that Osama bin Laden would launch aspectacular terrorist attack against U.S. or Israeli interests,congressional investigators said today.

The briefing, for senior government officials, was part of "amodest, but relatively steady stream of intelligence informationindicating the possibility of terrorist attacks inside the UnitedStates," said the 30-page statement by Eleanor Hill, staffdirector for the House and Senate intelligence inquiry into theSept. 11 attacks.

But Hill said the credibility of the sources was sometimesquestionable and no specific details about the attacks wereavailable.

"They generally did not contain specific information as towhere, when and how a terrorist attack might occur and generallyare not corroborated by further information," her statement said.

Hill's statement was being presented to committee memberstoday at the inquiry's first public hearings. Lawmakers havebeen meeting behind closed doors since June, looking intointelligence failures leading up to the attacks and how they can becorrected.

"These public hearings are part of our search for the truth — not to point fingers or pin blame, but with the goal of identifyingand correcting whatever systemic problems might have prevented ourgovernment from detecting and disrupting al Qaeda's plot," saidSen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, asthe hearing opened.

Leaders of two groups of victims' relatives, Stephen Push andKristin Breitweiser, were the first scheduled witnesses. Both lostspouses in the attacks.

The July 2001 briefing for senior government officials said thatbased on a review of intelligence information over five months "webelieve that [bin Laden] will launch a significant terrorist attackagainst U.S. and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks."

"The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict masscasualties against U.S. facilities or interests. Attackpreparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or nowarning," it said.

Among other intelligence reports mentioned by Hill:

In September 1998, the intelligence community obtainedinformation that bin Laden's "next operation could possiblyinvolve flying an aircraft loaded with explosives into a U.S.airport and detonating it."

In the fall of 1998, intelligence agencies received informationabout a bin Laden plot involving aircraft in New York andWashington areas.

Between May and July, 2001, the National Security Agencyreported at least 33 communications indicating a possible, imminentterrorist attack.

But intelligence agencies generally believed that any attack wasmore likely to occur overseas than in the United States.