Secret parts of 9/11 report have a Philly connection

A long-classified document suggesting involvement by Saudi Arabian government employees in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks was released by the House Intelligence Committee on Friday after a campaign by families and victims for its disclosure.

The 28 pages - available at philly.com/911saudi - had been classified for 14 years until Friday afternoon. "While in the United States, some of the September 11 hijackers were in contact with, and received support or assistance from, individuals who may be connected to the Saudi government," the report says.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Friday that the released pages "don't shed any new light or change any of the conclusions about responsibilities for the 9/11 attacks," but that the administration released them to be "consistent with the commitments to transparency that the administration has tried to apply to even sensitive national security issues."

Saudi Arabia itself had urged the release of the chapter since 2002 so the kingdom could respond to any allegations.

"It's important to note that this section does not put forward vetted conclusions, but rather unverified leads," added the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence chairman, Devin Nunes (R., Calif.), in a statement.

Senate intelligence leaders Richard Burr (R., N.C.) and Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.) stressed that it was particularly important to read a supplementary document detailing the results of CIA and FBI investigations "that debunk many of the allegations contained in the declassified section of the report."

The report indicates that FBI investigators and CIA officials following a strand of the plot in Southern California at one time suspected involvement by Saudi government employees.

But much of their evidence was circumstantial. It focused on the activities of a suspected Saudi intelligence agent, Omar al-Bayoumi, who helped settle two of the hijackers - Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Midhar - in the San Diego area 14 months before the attack.

In San Diego, Midhar and Hazmi had regular contact with the radical Muslim cleric and al-Qaeda operative Anwar Awlaki. Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen in 2011.

Suspected al-Qaeda operatives also may have tried at least one dry run of a plane hijacking in the U.S. In 1999, two suspected terrorists boarded a plane in Phoenix and tried twice to enter the cockpit. The plane made an emergency landing. The FBI investigated but did not prosecute. The two men were en route to a party at the Saudi embassy in Washington.

The FBI later learned that one of them, Hamdan al-Shalawi, had gotten explosives training in a terrorist camp in Afghanistan.

CIA officers and FBI agents involved in the probe complained to the Congressional Joint Inquiry into the attacks that the Saudis repeatedly turned them down when asked for assistance in terrorism probes, and rebuffed U.S. investigators when they asked for information on Osama bin Laden before the attacks.

U.S. officials speculated that the Saudis had declined because bin Laden, if captured, would give information about Saudi support for Islamist extremists.

Release of the report was hailed by family members and victims. "We are pleased that at long last these historical documents have seen the light of day," said Jerry Goldman, lawyer for Christine O'Neill, wife of John O'Neill, a former FBI counterterrorism official who became head of security at the World Trade Center and was killed on 9/11.

"Not only do they support the claims made in our pleadings, but this new material reinforces the need for the government to release the rest of the classified materials relevant to this tragedy."

Victims of the attacks, families, and insurers that lost billions at ground zero have sued the Saudi government, alleging that it financed charities that bankrolled the attackers and that Saudi officials in the U.S. and elsewhere assisted the hijackers.

The Center City-based Cozen O'Connor law firm has taken the lead in much of that litigation, filing one of the first lawsuits in 2003.

The information released Friday was originally included in the Congressional Joint Inquiry, but was classified in 2002 by the Bush administration, which said its release would compromise ongoing investigations.

The joint inquiry was followed by the 9/11 Commission, which found no evidence that the Saudi government "as an institution" participated in the plot. But individual commission members have said investigators found evidence that some Saudi government employees may have formed a support network for the hijackers in the U.S.

"The content of the report reflects possible Saudi government involvement in the attacks that 9/11 Commission members say is supported by substantial evidence," said Sean Carter, Cozen's lead litigator in the lawsuit against the Saudis.

The Cozen litigation has been slowly making its way through federal District Court in Manhattan, and the Saudis have twice been removed as defendants by trial judges.

Cozen also has been pushing legislation clarifying that the Saudis and other foreign governments can be sued for acts of terrorism in the U.S. The bill was unanimously passed by the Senate several weeks ago, and a House vote is expected when Congress returns from recess.

The question of Saudi involvement emerged shortly after the hijacked passenger planes hit the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. A fourth plane, which investigators believe was headed for the Capitol, crashed in a field in Shanksville, Pa., after passengers tried to wrest control from the hijackers.

Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were Saudis.

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, chairman of the Joint Inquiry, has long maintained that the information in the redacted 28 pages pointed strongly to official Saudi government support for the 9/11 hijackers.

Still, ranking committee member Rep. Adam Schiff (D., Calif.) said in a statement that the intelligence community investigated similar allegations after the 9/11 report "and was never able to find sufficient evidence to support them."

cmondics@phillynews.com

215-854-5957 @cmondics

This article contains information from the Washington Post.