How could CIA/NSA/FBI miss the 9/11 attack?

Baah

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CIA had a Bin Laden unit called Alec Station, NSA monitored the Yemen hub and FBI ran the Cole investigation.

How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening? Especially when the whole intelligence community "knew" OBL was responsible only a couple of hours after the attack.

It is also interesting that Michael F. Scheuer left Alec Station in 1999 but came back right after the attacks as a supervisor.
 
yawn............

you act like OBL was on the phone with the hijackers every day at noon or something.

you don't seem to understand how these things work.

hand written messages are carried to certain people, who then make calls on lines that aren't being watched to another person, who carries another hand written msg to another guy.....wash,rinse repeat.

Plus when you think about that our intelligence network was designed to deal with Nations during the Cold War, it would have been amazing if they caught it.


It's not like these guys needed some enormous network of people to pull this off, once they were in Canada it was pretty much a cakewalk and they only had to follow their instructions and not lose their nerve.
 
How could they have allowed the final Challenger mission to proceed?
How could they have proceeded with the rework on the I-35E Mississipi River bridge?
How could they have not put enough lifeboats on the Titanic?
 
Baah said:
How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening?.
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Because they didn't, that's how it's possible. Everything that happens is possible.

Do you have any evidence that actionable intelligence of the attack was in the hands of those authorized to investigate it before September 11, 2001?
 
Baah said:
CIA had a Bin Laden unit called Alec Station, NSA monitored the Yemen hub and FBI ran the Cole investigation.

How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening? Especially when the whole intelligence community "knew" OBL was responsible only a couple of hours after the attack.

It is also interesting that Michael F. Scheuer left Alec Station in 1999 but came back right after the attacks as a supervisor.
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How is not possible to stop bank robbers? Murderers before they do it?

19 terrorists were good at keeping a secret. Flight training in the USA was normal for pilots from all over the world. 911 was an end run, which failed when the rules were known. Flt 93, failure for UBL's buddies.

How can you stop something you don't know is coming? You will have a car accident, why can't you stop it? UBL said he would attack us, why did we fail to stop it?

Why did the Intel Community know a couple of hours after? They knew, knew? I knew at the second impact (175) UBL was my #1 suspect. Oops, the Intel guys told me, and UBL told me he was going to kill us. After seeing the nuts who did it, UBL was a good possible "Charlie Manson" like leader for the 19 nuts. Do you think all 19 knew, or only the 4 pilots it was the Last Day?

UBL warned us. Who missed that back in the 90s? Were you born yet?

It is hard to imagine 5 passengers rushing the cockpit and killing whoever gets in the way, killing the pilots in seconds. Who would do that? They risked the mission by training pilots in the USA; and wasted money, it is easy to fly a 767/757, the only pilots in the world who can't fly and hit targets, and they brag about it, Balsamo and his failed pilots who sell dumb DVDs can't fly as good as the poor flying terrorist pilots.
 
Baah said:
CIA had a Bin Laden unit called Alec Station, NSA monitored the Yemen hub and FBI ran the Cole investigation.

How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening? Especially when the whole intelligence community "knew" OBL was responsible only a couple of hours after the attack.

It is also interesting that Michael F. Scheuer left Alec Station in 1999 but came back right after the attacks as a supervisor.
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Have you done any research whatsoever on the events leading up to 9/11? If you had you would not be asking that question. There are literally hundreds of papers, articles, and videos that address the intelligence failures prior to 9/11.
 
Baah said:
CIA had a Bin Laden unit called Alec Station, NSA monitored the Yemen hub and FBI ran the Cole investigation.

How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening? Especially when the whole intelligence community "knew" OBL was responsible only a couple of hours after the attack.
It is also interesting that Michael F. Scheuer left Alec Station in 1999 but came back right after the attacks as a supervisor.
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Nobody else has commented on this so... Morning radio "Shock Jock" Howard fricking Stern was saying that it was Bin Laden about five minutes after the second plane hit. Howard Stern could figure it out in minutes. Not to impugn Mr Sterns intelligence or anything but if a guy whose job is rude and crass jokes interspersed with guests talking about their various naughty bits can somehow put it all together from what was public knowledge what makes you think that it's surprising when the intelligence agencies can do it too?

Aside from that what exactly do you think that the intelligence community knew prior to 9\11? I can tell you that without specific details there was going to be squat that was going to be able to be done by them. Lets say that they knew that there was a plot involving hijacking airplanes on or around 9/1/2001. Imagine implementing DHS style airport security measures in that period (that's what it would've taken to stop the plot). Long lines and privacy invasions with no reason given to the public. How long do you think that that would have lasted? The date 9-11-2001 had no special significance, it was probably chosen because it was supposedly going to be a light day for travelers and that would make it easier to take control of the aircraft. If the airports temporarily ramped up security there was nothing to stop them from aborting their mission for the time being and doing it after the security went back to normal (and it would because the airlines and the public would be demanding it). So instead of September 11th it ends up being October 11th (or whatever). For AQ nothing would've changed as far as their goals were concerned.
 
Baah said:
CIA had a Bin Laden unit called Alec Station, NSA monitored the Yemen hub and FBI ran the Cole investigation.

How was it even possible NOT to find out about the 9/11 attacks and prevent it from happening? Especially when the whole intelligence community "knew" OBL was responsible only a couple of hours after the attack.

It is also interesting that Michael F. Scheuer left Alec Station in 1999 but came back right after the attacks as a supervisor.
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The US agencies didn't react because they were feeding the whole intelligence community.
 
Mostly the above, with the exception of the date lacking significance - I think 9/11 does have a great impact as a date, even in the UK most people know that it is the emergency number in the US.

You can have all the intelligence in the world, but at some point someone has to make a decision about whether what you believe is being planned is likely, and what your response should be. You have to join dots and make a credible picture, not just abstract shapes that might be any number of things.

Protesters in the US have been shrill enough about the threat to human rights and freedoms (perhaps justifiably) as a result of legislation introduced after the attacks, imagine the response had measures been introduced to counter a threat very few people knew about or would even believe to be credible.

Given the disbelief that the events of 9/11 actually happened in some quarters despite the very real evidence of their own eyes, what would those same areas of the dissenting public have said had it been prevented by massively increasing surveillance and security? Thousands of lives saved but no proof that it was for any purpose?

"What? Some guys in a cave are going to hijack planes and for this I have to wait in line longer? What do you take me for..." etc etc etc
 
Obviously these guys had US visas in their real names even though they were tracked for terror activities. CIA knew that, but nothing was done.
 
Here's an illustration that occurred to me after seeing a news report today of a volcanic eruption spewiunbg out ash.

A few years ago, our dream holiday to India wa cancelled because of an eruption in Iceland spewing out ash.

The risk was very small, arguably zero by the time we were due to fly, and hotly disputed by the airlines, but the impact in terms of lost business and personal travel was massive. There are many airline accountants who would argue that the response was disproportionate in reaction to a small theoretical risk.

Would you, however, want to be the one making the phone calls to relatives after one jet had hit enough ash to clog an engine? These are the kinds of decisions people have to make, and in the case of 9/11 (arguably just like Pearl Harbour) they made the wrong one.

In the case of the ash, the threat was visible and the risks quantifiable. In the case of 9/11, the threat was nebulous and details vague. and there are many examples where the threat of action was just as effective as no action in terms of provoking a disruptive response. Often they are just like those emails and facebook messages warnign of dire consequences if such and such a person adds you as a friend or an innocuous file is likely to cripple your computer - the message itself is the virus and there is no actual threat.
 
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Baah said:
Obviously these guys had US visas in their real names even though they were tracked for terror activities. CIA knew that, but nothing was done.
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CIA suppose to kill them on sight?

CIA knew what? Source.

Which terrorists were known terrorists before 911, and what is your source.
 
How could they have missed India getting the nuke?
How could they have missed the collapse of the Soviet Union?
How could they have missed the meteor that exploded over Russia a few weeks ago?

**** happens.
 
Baah said:
Obviously these guys had US visas in their real names even though they were tracked for terror activities. CIA knew that, but nothing was done.
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Yeah, it's a shame they weren't arrested for the crime they were about to commit.
 
Twoofers seem to think that the movie Minority Report was a documentary.
 
I'd love to magically be able to force all Twoofers to live, just for 24 hours, in a world where the US Intelligence Community actually acted on every tip, rumor, and piece of evidence for every possible attack that might happen just to see how absurd that would be.
 
Baah said:
Obviously these guys had US visas in their real names even though they were tracked for terror activities. CIA knew that, but nothing was done.
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The CIA didn't like sharing info with the FBI imagine the INS.
 
Very few people were not mouthing "OBL did it" shortly after WTC2 was hit.

How could so many draw such a quick conclusion and not be part of the intelligence community?

Years of U.S. propaganda declaring whom we should fear re: Al Qaeda and its purported leader is why.

Years that the CIA had to profile, track, infiltrate and monitor.

It doesn't get much easier.

Unless you know what you are looking for is not really there.

MM
 
Baah said:
Obviously these guys had US visas in their real names even though they were tracked for terror activities. CIA knew that, but nothing was done.
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So all of these other thoughtful posts on here explaining the answer to your question, and you respond with an unsourced claim that really doesn't have much to do with anything. Perhaps your mind is already made up, and even in the face of overwhelming evidence contrary to your position, your mind will not be changed?
 
different agencies had different pieces, and they didn't share well. A series of small missteps added up to one huge intelligence failure.

IMHO adding yet another layer of bureaucracy (the DNI) didn't do anything to help stop the same thing from happening again in the future.
 
BCR said:
How could they have missed India getting the nuke?
How could they have missed the collapse of the Soviet Union?
How could they have missed the meteor that exploded over Russia a few weeks ago?

**** happens.
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They didn't miss anything.

If somebody exposes a card do you tell them during the hand?
 
Miragememories said:
Very few people were not mouthing "OBL did it" shortly after WTC2 was hit.

How could so many draw such a quick conclusion and not be part of the intelligence community?

Years of U.S. propaganda declaring whom we should fear re: Al Qaeda and its purported leader is why.

Years that the CIA had to profile, track, infiltrate and monitor.

It doesn't get much easier.

Unless you know what you are looking for is not really there.

MM
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How did we become so much more intelligent than the work and file?
 
Clayton Moore said:
How did we become so much more intelligent than the work and file?
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I assume you mean rank and file, and this misplaced arrogance in the face of being totally wrong is what makes you truthers truly special and entertaining
 
Sam.I.Am said:
Nobody else has commented on this so... Morning radio "Shock Jock" Howard fricking Stern was saying that it was Bin Laden about five minutes after the second plane hit. Howard Stern could figure it out in minutes. Not to impugn Mr Sterns intelligence or anything but if a guy whose job is rude and crass jokes interspersed with guests talking about their various naughty bits can somehow put it all together from what was public knowledge what makes you think that it's surprising when the intelligence agencies can do it too?
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To be fair, that isn't really a good comparison. Mr. Stern can just guess; he pays no price for being wrong.
 
StankApe said:
It's not like these guys needed some enormous network of people to pull this off, once they were in Canada it was pretty much a cakewalk and they only had to follow their instructions and not lose their nerve.
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The hijackers entered the US through US airports, not Canada.
 
Clayton Moore said:
How did we become so much more intelligent than the work and file?
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Ape of Good Hope said:
Do you mean rank and file?
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twinstead said:
I assume you mean rank and file, and this misplaced arrogance in the face of being totally wrong is what makes you truthers truly special and entertaining
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Love it - what a classic. Is it stundiable though?

300-gervais-show.jpg
 
threadworm said:
Mostly the above, with the exception of the date lacking significance - I think 9/11 does have a great impact as a date, even in the UK most people know that it is the emergency number in the US.
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True, but now we think it all happened on the 9th of November
 
Miragememories said:
Very few people were not mouthing "OBL did it" shortly after WTC2 was hit.
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Right and the only explanation for that is a Twoofer conspiracy, not the fact that he was the most well know terrorist in the world, had openly threated the US, and had already carried out several successful terrorist attacks against US interest or anything crazy like that.
 
IIRC, the only thing that the CIA "knew" (based on that August 2001 security report) was that there was the possibility of terrorists coming in to the USA with the intention of getting flight instruction to pull off what was 9/11. What they didn't know was that the terrorists were already here, mostly trained, and the final plan was already well under way.

I may be a little off on the facts...haven't looked at the text of that report in a long time.
 
Miragememories said:
How could so many draw such a quick conclusion and not be part of the intelligence community?
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I spent a great deal of time in TX in the year 2000. OBL was prominently displayed on the wall of my nearest post office as #1 Most Wanted. It's not like he was a mysterious or obscure character.
 
Miragememories said:
Very few people were not mouthing "OBL did it" shortly after WTC2 was hit.

How could so many draw such a quick conclusion and not be part of the intelligence community?

Years of U.S. propaganda declaring whom we should fear re: Al Qaeda and its purported leader is why.

Years that the CIA had to profile, track, infiltrate and monitor.

It doesn't get much easier.

Unless you know what you are looking for is not really there.

MM
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That post demonstrates the most profound lack of understanding of history I have ever seen.

It is almost as if you don't understand that the 1993 Bombing of the Towers, the African Embassy Bombings and the attack on the USS COLE actually took place.

Or are you a truther on those events too?
 
Richard Clarke knew it was Al qieda and OBL. And he was trying to get Bush to take the warning seriously. But Bush saw it as a Clinton obsession. Remember Clinton did try to kill OBL. Knowing OBL is planing something is far from predicting it would happen on a particular date. We could have banned any Arab looking people from flying around tha time, but imagine the cries of oppression. We could have killed anyone with ties to any terrorist group. But we did not have the drones we have now.
 
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