|
(Before 8:50 a.m.): CIA Director Expresses Worry About al-Qaeda Attack |
|
According to one report, CIA
Director Tenet is eating breakfast with his mentor, former Senator David
Boren (D). “Before the planes hit the |
|
||
|
People and organizations involved: George Tenet, al-Qaeda, David Boren |
|
||
|
(8:50 a.m.): CIA Director, Told of
Attack, Immediately Suspects bin Laden |
|
CIA Director Tenet is told of
the first WTC crash while he is eating breakfast with his mentor, former
Senator David Boren (D). They are interrupted when CIA bodyguards converge on
the table to hand Tenet the cell phone. Tenet is told that the WTC has been
attacked by an airplane. Boren later says, “I was struck by the fact that
[the messenger] used the word ‘attacked.’ ” Tenet then hands a cell phone
back to an aide and says to Boren, “You know, this has bin Laden's
fingerprints all over it.” “ ‘He was very collected,’ Boren recalls. ‘He said
he would be at the CIA in 15 minutes, what people he needed in the room and
what he needed to talk about.’ ” [ABC News,
9/14/02; USA
Today, 9/24/01] According to other accounts, Tenet responds to the
caller, “They steered the plane directly into the building?” Tenet then says
to Boren, “That looks like bin Laden.” Tenet muses aloud, “I wonder if this
has something to do with the guy [Zacarias Moussaoui] who trained for a
pilot's license.” (Moussaoui had been arrested several weeks earlier.) [Stern, 8/13/03; Saint Paul
Pioneer Press, 5/29/02] According to another account, Tenet pauses while
on the phone to tell Boren, “The World Trade Center has been hit. We're
pretty sure it wasn't an accident. It looks like a terrorist act,” then
returns to the phone to identify who should be summoned to the CIA situation
room. [Time,
9/14/01] (Note that according to two accounts, Tenet was not informed of
the developing crisis until after the second WTC tower had been struck. [Washington
Post, 1/27/02; Bamford,
2004, pp 18-19] However, the majority of reports indicate that Tenet was
informed of the crisis right after the first WTC tower was struck.) People and organizations involved:
|
