President's Daily Briefing

August 6, 2001

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 The Issue
On August 6th, 2001 The President was
briefed on the Summer 2001 terrorist
threat and its domestic implications.
The Joint Inquiry was unable to establish
the facts because responsive documents
were not made available and key
witnesses would not speak to the issue

3/24/03 Commission Sensitive

 Community Activities
Briefing Development
- Threat buildup
"Summer [2001] brought a storm of intelligence
warnings that blew longer and harder even than those
of the millennium...CIA Director Tenet worked himself
'nearly frantic' with concern." Washington post, May is, 2002
- 5 July Genesis
- 3-6 August Coordination
- 6 August Presentation

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 31 March - 11 September 2001
W = U.S. Awareness Week 24 Aug: Mihdhar-Hazmi
watchlisted
15 August: Moussaoui Arrest
Government Actions
10 Jul: Phoenix Memo 21 Aug: FAA
Directive
6-7 August: PDB/SEIB

U.S. Attention

Late June: Worldwide Alert

And other activities 22-26 June

Hijacker Plot .FourPi|0ts

•Nawaf al-Hazmi
— J
Hijacker Activities
31 Mar, Hanjour,
\
16-25Jun, \f 7-1 9 Jul, 23-31 Aug,
Events
Nawaf depart AZ UAE Calls 1 Atta Spain Tickets
Stages Assemble Organize Execute
Arrivals Pair Pair Trio Pair Pair Pair al-Mihdhar
Meetings VA CN FL NJ NJ NJ LV NJ

LV Trips 1st 2d 3d 4th 5th

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 Public Domain Information
Washington Post, Jan 20, 2002

"Tenet dispatched an urgent request on July 3 to 20 [re

upcoming Genoa meeting] to foreign intelligence services
asking them to arrest...al Qaeda members. Two days later his
Counterterrorism Center called in the FBI, Customs and Coast
Guard, as well as immigration and aviation authorities, to say a
major attack on U.S. interest appeared to be imminent -
likeliest, by now, in Saudi Arabia or Israel, but a target inside the
United States could not be excluded."
"By late July, according to one national security official, Tenet
had delivered so many warnings with so much urgency that
some administration colleagues grew tired of hearing them.

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 Public Domain Information
Washington Post, May 18, 2002

• "The top-secret briefing memo presented...on Aug. 6 carried the

headline, 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in the U.S.,' ...
primarily focused on...al Qaeda's past efforts to attack and
infiltrate the United States, senior administration officials said."
• "The document, known as the "President's Daily Briefing,
underscored that [bin Laden] hoped to 'bring the fight to
America'..."
• "Bush had specifically asked for an intelligence analysis
...because of information presented to him over the summer...
one source said the 'White House was disappointed because
the analysis lacked focus and did not present fresh
intelligence.'"

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 \c Domain Information

Washington Post, May 18, 2002 (continued)

• "Sharpest focus remained on the Aug, 6 [memo] which Rice

described...as historic and analytic in nature...As an
example...the memo cited the case of Ahmed Ressam..."
• "[Fleischer]...said the heading...was, 'Bin Laden Determined to
Strike the United States.' But sources...said the headline ended
with the phrase 'in U.S.' Fleischer described the briefing as a
summary containing 'generalized information about hijacking
and any number of things.'"
• "Rice.. .said the memo contains no reference to suicide
attacks...focusing instead on 'hijackings in the traditional sense.'
• "Some sources [said] that the FBI added the notion of hijackings
to the document, and that it had not included such references in
early drafts. 'Others said the report, prepared by the CIA, 'was
never looked at by the FBI.'"
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 Public Domain Information
NPR, May 23, 2002

• July 5th: Richard Clarke convened a White House

meeting of the counterterrorism Security Group
(CSG) and then met with Rice and Card, then again
with the CSG plus the FAA, FBI and INS. Clark told
them "Something spectacular is going to happen."
Non-essential travel of U.S. counterterrorism staff
was suspended. President Busk asked Rice to find
out what was being done about terrorist warnings.
• Aug 6th: Tenet briefed President Bush in Texas on a
generalized terror threat, including Usame bin Laden
and hijackings.

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 Public Domain Information
Time, Aug 4, 2002

• Early July: Richard Clarke convened a meeting to hear from the

Deputy Director, CTC on bin Laden's plans
- The presentation, according to an official present, was "very
gripping" that al-Qa'ida was planning "something spectacular."
- CTC released a report: "Threat of Impending al-Qaeda Attack to
Continue Indefinitely."
• Mid-July: George Tenet special meeting with National Security
Advisor, Rice, and aides
- "George briefed Condi that there was going to be a major attack."
- "Tenet couldn't rule out a domestic attack but thought it more likely
that al-Qaeda would strike overseas."
• Aug 6th: Tenet briefed the President in Texas
- Subject was the possibility of al-Qa'ida attacks in the U.S.

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 Joint Inquiry Actions
• Document Search
• Analysis Hearing
• Subsequent Work

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 WITHDRAWAL NOTICE

RG: 148 Exposition, Anniversary, and Memorial Commissions

SERIES: 9/11 Commission - Team 8
NND PROJECT NUMBER: 51248 FOIA CASE NUMBER: 30441

WITHDRAWAL DATE: 08/05/2008

BOX: 00006 FOLDER: 0005 TAB: 1 DOC ID: 31186159

COPIES: 1 PAGES: 1

The item identified below has been withdrawn from this file:

FOLDER TITLE: Miscellaneous Work Papers

DOCUMENT DATE: 03/24/2003 DOCUMENT TYPE: Report

FROM:

TO:

SUBJECT: Joint Inquiry Actions

This document has been withdrawn for the following reason(s):

9/11 Classified Information

WITHDRAWAL NOTICE
 Commission Task
• Get the PDB item and policy that
applied
• Require FBI and CIA to provide all
information on content coordination
• Require NSC to provide all
CSG,Deputies, and Principals
deliberations on the item, to include
individuals agency files of all
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