Janice Kephart-Roberts

scaspersen@9-11commission.gov
. Wednesday, September 10, 2003 2:53 PM
1o: team5@9-11commission.gov; team6@9-11commission.gov; team7@9-11commission.gov;
team8@9-11commission.gov
Subject: JFT Airport Side Story

George and I (mostly George) have done some research on the rumor of
4 middle eastern men who supposedly were upset about having to disembark from
a commercial jet at JFK on September 11, after air traffic was closed and the
flight was canceled. This e-mail is lengthy and detailed, but to cut to the
chase this is of great interest, because there is some truth in the rumors,
and one of four Arabs had a U.S. flight school identification card.
Going through the Port Authority September 11 dispatch transcripts, George
discovered the record of a 11:11 AM phone call on 9/11 placed by a United
Airlines agent to the Port Authority police station at JFK. In the call the
United Airlines agent said that there were three Arabs who refused to get off
a flight that had been canceled due to the closing of air traffic. At 11:28
AM - 17 minutes after the call from United Airlines - a Port Authority officer
was dispatched by radio to look into that call. However, by the time the Port
Authority officer arrived at the gate, the Arab individuals in question had
disappeared. In George's opinion the 17 minute delay might be excusable, due
to the fact that so many Port Authority police officers assigned to JFK that
day had left to go to the World Trade Center. This is the body of evidence we
have for what transpired on September 11.
We have possession of a Port Authority Police investigative report which
ugrtains to certain events of September 13 at JFK. For the time being, the
/^ -t that we are in possession of this investigative report should not be
.ired with anyone outside of the Commission, as we did not receive it as a
result of a formal document request. The investigative report describes an
investigation of suspicious Arab males in the United Airlines Terminal
(terminal #6) at JFK on September 13, 2001. A call was placed by a United
Airline agent at terminal 6. The caller identified four Arab individuals who
were in the terminal on the 13th as possibly being ticketed customers for
United Flight 23 on 9/11, which had been canceled. Ir appears that the four
Arabs had flown from Saudi Arabia to JFK, landing early in the morning of
September 11, and were then supposed to take United Flight 23 from JFK to San
Francisco. As this flight was canceled, the four Arabs returned to JFK on
September 13, tried to get refunds for the canceled Flight 23 and made
inquiries into purchasing other plane tickets, both to California and Boston,
both at United Airlines and at Jet Blue. Their efforts to receive refunds and
to purchase additional plane tickets were not successful. At this point they
apparently tried to board a hotel van back to their hotel, but were detained
and questioned by JTTF. The four were identified from their passports and
visas (of which we have copies) as follows:

Saudi citizen, DOB/ /;:;>9/ll Personal Privacy

fSaudi citizen, DOB' - - 9/11 LaW Enforcement Sensitive

Saudi citizen, DOB/'

Saudi citizen', DOB
All four had Saudi passportsXand U.S. visas.
/H (was in possession of an identification card for a flight
structi6n School in,-Daytona, Florida named Embry-Riddle Arenoautical
university. This individual also had a Virginia driver's lisence.
I ( w a s i n possession o f a Mayo Clinic Clinic card.
' 1
 Copies of their passports suggest they were well traveled, having visited
Frankfurt, Germany; Slovakia; France; Egypt; Jordan; South Africa; and
Lebanon, and possibly many other places, whoses stamps George and I lack the
/'""^ertise to specify.

Tne Port Authority investigative report states that that the FBI did 302s on
each of these. We do not have these 302s in our possession. Finally, the
Port Authority investigative report states the investigation is open and
active.