September 11 attacks Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === FBI === {{further|Hijackers in the September 11 attacks}} Immediately after the attacks, the [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] started [[PENTTBOM]], the largest criminal inquiry in United States history. At its height, more than half of the FBI's agents worked on the investigation and followed a half-million leads.<ref name='Pentbomb'>{{cite web |url=https://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/9-11-investigation/9-11-investigation |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101010030053/http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/9-11-investigation/9-11-investigation |url-status=dead |archive-date=October 10, 2010 |title=9/11 Investigation (PENTTBOM) |access-date=April 11, 2012 |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]}}</ref> The FBI concluded that there was "clear and irrefutable" evidence linking Al-Qaeda and bin Laden to the attacks.<ref>{{cite web|title=Testimony of Dale L. Watson, Executive Assistant Director, Counterterrorism/Counterintelligence Division, FBI Before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence|date=February 6, 2002|url=https://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/watson020602.htm |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|access-date=September 4, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410013616/http://www.fbi.gov/congress/congress02/watson020602.htm |archive-date=April 10, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[File:Mohamed Atta.jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Mohamed Atta headshot, expressionless, full face |[[Mohamed Atta]] was one of the main planners of the attacks and the operational leader, responsible for crashing Flight 11 into the North Tower]] The FBI quickly identified the hijackers, including leader Mohamed Atta, when his luggage was discovered at Boston's Logan Airport. Atta had been forced to check two of his three bags due to space limitations on the 19-seat commuter flight he took to Boston. Due to a new policy instituted to prevent flight delays, the luggage failed to make it aboard American Airlines Flight 11 as planned. The luggage contained the hijackers' names, assignments, and Al-Qaeda connections. "It had all these Arab-language{{sic}} papers that amounted to the Rosetta stone of the investigation", said one FBI agent.<ref name="Unraveling 9-11 Was in the Bags">{{cite news |title=Unraveling 9β11 Was in the Bags |date=February 6, 2009 |url=http://www.securityinfowatch.com/news/10555883/unraveling-9-11-was-in-the-bags |work=Newsday |access-date=April 11, 2012}}</ref> Within hours of the attacks, the FBI released the names and in many cases the personal details of the suspected pilots and hijackers.{{sfnp|Clarke|2004|pp=13β14}}<ref name="FBI 19">{{cite web |title=FBI Announces List of 19 Hijackers |publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation |url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-announces-list-of-19-hijackers |access-date=September 4, 2011}}</ref> Abu Jandal, who served as bin Laden's chief bodyguard for years, confirmed the identity of seven hijackers as Al-Qaeda members during interrogations with the FBI on September 17. He had been jailed in a Yemeni prison since 2000.<ref>{{cite book |last=Bergen |first=Peter |author-link=Peter Bergen |date=2012 |title=Manhunt: The Ten-Year Search for Bin Laden β from 9/11 to Abbottabad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=U7SriggSMckC&pg=PA29 |location=New York |publisher=Broadway Paperbacks |isbn=978-0-307-95588-3 |pages=29β30}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Soufan |first1=Ali |author-link1=Ali Soufan |last2=Freedman |first2=Daniel |date=2020 |title=The Black Banners (Declassified): How Torture Derailed the War on Terror after 9/11 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1tTXDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT302 |location=New York |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-54072-7 |pages=317β318}}</ref> On September 27, 2001, photos of all 19 hijackers were released, along with information about possible nationalities and aliases.<ref>{{cite web|title=The FBI Releases 19 Photographs of Individuals Believed to be the Hijackers of the Four Airliners that Crashed on September 11, 2001|url=https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/the-fbi-releases-19-photographs-of-individuals-believed-to-be-the-hijackers|publisher=Federal Bureau of Investigation|access-date=September 4, 2011}}</ref> Fifteen of the men were from Saudi Arabia, two were from the [[United Arab Emirates]], one was from Egypt, and one was from Lebanon.<ref>{{cite news |last=Johnston |first=David|title=Two Years Later: 9/11 Tactics; Official Says Qaeda Recruited Saudi Hijackers to Strain Ties|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/09/09/us/two-years-later-9-11-tactics-official-says-qaeda-recruited-saudi-hijackers.html|access-date=September 4, 2011 |newspaper=The New York Times|date=September 9, 2003}}</ref> By midday, the U.S. National Security Agency and German intelligence agencies had intercepted communications pointing to Osama bin Laden.<ref>{{cite news |title=Piece by piece, the jigsaw of terror revealed |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/piece-by-piece-the-jigsaw-of-terror-revealed-671334.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091015065134/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/piece-by-piece-the-jigsaw-of-terror-revealed-671334.html|archive-date=October 15, 2009|access-date=September 4, 2011 |newspaper=The Independent|date=September 30, 2001 |location=London}}</ref> Two of the hijackers were known to have traveled with a bin Laden associate to Malaysia in 2000<ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/911Report.pdf ''9/11 Commission Report''] pp. 266β72</ref> and hijacker [[Mohamed Atta]] had previously gone to Afghanistan.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121109021924/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C1000987-2%2C00.html The Manhunt Goes Global] Time magazine October 15, 2001</ref> He and others were part of a terrorist cell in [[Hamburg]].<ref>{{cite news |first1=John |last1=Tagliabue |last2=Bonner |first2=Raymond |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/29/world/nation-challenged-german-intelligence-german-data-led-us-search-for-more-suicide.html|title=A Nation challenged: German Intelligence; German Data Led U.S. to Search For More Suicide Hijacker Teams |work=The New York Times |date=September 29, 2001 |access-date=September 4, 2011}}</ref> One of the members of the [[Hamburg cell]] in Germany was discovered to have been in communication with [[Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]] who was identified as a member of [[Al-Qaeda]].<ref>[http://avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/911Report.pdf ''9/11 Commission Report''] pp. 276β77</ref> Authorities in the United States and the United Kingdom also obtained electronic intercepts, including telephone conversations and electronic bank transfers, which indicated that [[Mohammed Atef]], a bin Laden deputy, was a key figure in the planning of the 9/11 attacks. Intercepts were also obtained that revealed conversations that took place days before September 11 between bin Laden and an associate in Pakistan. In those conversations, the two referred to "an incident that would take place in America on, or around, September 11" and they discussed potential repercussions. In another conversation with an associate in Afghanistan, bin Laden discussed the "scale and effects of a forthcoming operation". These conversations did not specifically mention the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, or other specifics.<ref>{{cite news |title=The proof they did not reveal |work=Sunday Times |date=October 7, 2001|url=http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/10/07/stiusausa02012.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011116020322/http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2001/10/07/stiusausa02012.html|archive-date=November 16, 2001}}</ref> {{anchor|Origins}}{{Bar chart | title = Origins of [[Hijackers in the September 11 attacks|the 19 hijackers]] | label_type = Nationality | data_type = Number | bar_width = 20 | width_units = em | data_max = 19 | label1 = [[Saudi Arabia]] | data1 = 15 | label2 = [[United Arab Emirates]] | data2 = 2 | label3 = [[Egypt]] | data3 = 1 | label4 = [[Lebanon]] | data4 = 1 }} In their annual violent crime index for the year 2001, the FBI recorded the deaths from the attacks as murder, in separate tables so as not to mix them with other reported crimes for that year.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 28, 2002 |title=Crime in the United States 2001, Section V |url=https://ojjdp.ojp.gov/ojstatbb/ezacjrp/pdf/cius_911.pdf |access-date=April 13, 2023 |publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]}}</ref> In a disclaimer, the FBI stated that "the number of deaths is so great that combining it with the traditional [[crime statistics]] will have an [[outlier]] effect that falsely [[skewness|skews]] all types of measurements in the program's analyses".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2001/toc01.pdf|title=Crime in the United States 2001|publisher=[[Federal Bureau of Investigation]]|date=October 28, 2002|page=2|access-date=September 12, 2018}}</ref> New York City also did not include the deaths in their annual crime statistics for 2001.<ref name="HuffPost story">{{cite news|last=Hanrahan|first=Mark|title=Henryk Siwiak, Shot To Death On September 11th: Case Remains Unsolved|url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/08/911-only-homicide-unsolved_n_953864.html|newspaper=[[Huffington Post]]|date=September 8, 2011|access-date=September 6, 2016}}</ref> Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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