What 9/11 evidence unsealed in court reveals years after the attacks

In its 2004 report, the 9/11 Commission described Saudi nationalist Omar al-Bayoumi arsenic "an improbable campaigner for clandestine engagement with Islamic extremists."

But grounds seized from his flat successful 2001 casts a antithetic airy connected Bayoumi, erstwhile members of the U.S. quality assemblage say. Gina Bennett, who was a counterterrorism expert astatine the CIA during the terror attacks, believes the 9/11 Commission lacked immoderate important information. 

Based connected the grounds she's seen, Bennett said she concluded "Bayoumi was an al Qaeda facilitator" who provided important enactment to "two hijackers, without which they whitethorn precise good person been caught."

The Bayoumi video

The precocious surfaced evidence, which was unsealed successful national court past twelvemonth arsenic portion of the 9/11 families' suit against Saudi Arabia, homes successful connected Bayoumi. The FBI says Bayoumi was surviving successful the United States connected a pupil visa earlier the violent attacks and was being paid by a Saudi aviation institution successful California, contempt not showing up for classes oregon work. 

The FBI says Bayoumi was an operative of the Saudi quality work and had adjacent ties to 2 of the hijackers. 

While successful the U.S., Bayoumi recorded video footage successful Washington implicit respective days successful the summertime of 1999. It includes entrances and exits of the Capitol, information posts, a exemplary of the gathering and adjacent landmarks. Bayoumi points retired the Washington Monument and says, successful Arabic, "I volition get implicit there" and "report to you successful item what is there." He besides notes the airdrome is not acold away.

Retired FBI supervisor Richard Lambert, who led the archetypal 9/11 probe successful San Diego, wherever Bayoumi and 2 hijackers lived anterior to the attacks, is present a advisor connected the lawsuit filed by the 9/11 families. He said knowing wherever the Washington Monument is successful narration to different areas would beryllium captious for anyone readying an attack.

Richard Lambert and Cecilia Vega 60 Minutes

Federal investigators judge the hijackers connected Flight 93, which crashed adjacent Shanksville, Pennsylvania, planned to deed the U.S. Capitol arsenic their apt target. Bayoumi tin beryllium heard referencing a "plan" successful his video.

"I deliberation he's talking to the al Qaeda planners who tasked him to instrumentality the pre-operational surveillance video of the intended target," Lambert said.

The video was taken wrong 90 days of the clip erstwhile elder al Qaeda planners decided to people the Capitol. That's erstwhile Osama bin Laden decided to o.k. the "planes operation" projected by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of 9/11.

The Saudi authorities says Bayoumi's video is conscionable a tourer video, a assertion that Bennett — who was the archetypal idiosyncratic successful the U.S. authorities to pass of the dangers of a planetary jihadist question led by bin Laden — disputes. 

Bennett, who has nary engagement with the 9/11 families' lawsuit, says she was unaware of the Bayoumi video's beingness until 60 Minutes brought it to her for evaluation. She was not the lone 1 astatine the CIA successful the dark: erstwhile CIA Director George Tenet, and Michael Morell, the president's regular quality briefer astatine the clip of the attacks, some accidental they were unaware of the videos. 

The erstwhile CIA expert said she was amazed they didn't larn astir the video aft the attacks, erstwhile Bayoumi was considered a suspect.

"I deliberation it's a substance of did they suffer the grounds oregon had they filed it distant successful a mode that it would not person seemed relevant?" Bennett said. "That I tin see."

The airplane sketch

British constabulary discovered the Bayoumi Capitol video, on with astir 80 different tapes and a trove of documents, during a raid connected the Saudi man's flat successful Birmingham, England, astir 10 days aft the 9/11 attacks.

An interior FBI report, dated Oct. 11, 2001, shows that "copies of each recovered exhibits" were "sent to FBI-New York via Federal Express." But the Capitol video ne'er made it to the San Diego tract office, wherever Bayoumi and the hijackers lived earlier 9/11.

Other seized grounds included a document featuring an airplane sketch and an equation. The sketch was stashed distant for much than a decennary until 2012, erstwhile Danny Gonzalez, past 1 of the FBI's pb 9/11 investigators, got a telephone telephone retired of the bluish from an FBI grounds technician successful Washington. He was told determination were boxes with Bayoumi's sanction connected them stashed successful a Washington warehouse. 

"They were gonna relocate these boxes oregon destruct these boxes, and they wanted to cognize if I wanted them," Gonzalez said. "I said, 'Absolutely.'" 

He had aviation and aerospace experts analyse the equation connected the level sketch papers for the FBI. They concluded that a aviator could usage the look connected the papers to cipher the complaint of descent to deed a people connected the horizon.

Bayoumi, who was ne'er charged with a transgression and who moved backmost to Saudi Arabia aft 9/11, was asked astir the sketch arsenic portion of the suit during a 2021 deposition. He confirmed the sketch was his, but said helium remembered small other astir it, including his handwritten notes astir the tallness of the level from the Earth successful miles, on with the region of the level to the horizon. 

"Perhaps this was an equation that we studied earlier successful precocious school, and I was trying to retrieve whether I'm going to beryllium capable to fig retired and lick it oregon not," helium said done a translator erstwhile pressed.

Bayoumi's connections to 9/11 hijackers

There's nary impervious that Bayoumi shared the equation with immoderate of the hijackers, but helium did conscionable the archetypal 2 to get successful the U.S. successful aboriginal 2000, astir 2 years earlier the 9/11 attacks.

Bayoumi claims helium met the hijackers — Nawaf al-Hazmi and Khalid al-Mihdhar — successful a accidental brushwood astatine a Los Angeles restaurant. He past helped them determination to San Diego, uncovering them a spot to unrecorded successful his ain flat complex, co-signing the lease, and helping them unfastened a slope account. 

He adjacent threw a party, which helium besides videotaped, capturing 1 of the hijackers connected camera. Bayoumi past introduced the eventual hijackers to others successful the community, who helped them get authorities IDs and enroll successful English classes and formation schools. 

Bennett says Bayoumi was indispensable to the occurrence of the hijackers' crippled due to the fact that they spoke nary English, had small ceremonial acquisition and nary anterior vulnerability to beingness successful the West. 

Retired FBI peculiar cause Danny Gonzalez 60 Minutes

While Bayoumi and the Saudi authorities accidental Bayoumi's actions were innocent, Gonzalez doesn't "for a second" judge it could beryllium coincidence. He couldn't find grounds of Bayoumi helping anyone too the hijackers. 

"He should beryllium present nether the tribunal system," Gonzalez said of Bayoumi. 

What investigators would person done with the uncovered evidence

Gonzalez, present a advisor for the 9/11 families' lawsuit, says helium ne'er knew astir the Bayoumi video during the 15 years helium worked connected the case. According to Gonzalez, nary of the lawsuit agents successful San Diego oregon successful New York knew astir the Bayoumi Capitol video until past twelvemonth erstwhile it was unsealed successful national tribunal arsenic portion of the 9/11 families' suit against Saudi Arabia.

"And we're talking astir the Joint Terrorism Task Forces that not lone person F.B.I., but we person different state, local, and national agencies," Gonzalez said. "They did not cognize either."

The retired FBI peculiar cause inactive doesn't cognize however it's imaginable that the video wasn't disseminated. 

"That angers me," helium said. "When I saw that video, I knew precisely what it was."

Gonzalez said helium needed that accusation to bash his job. He believes helium could person utilized the Capitol video to physique a lawsuit against Bayoumi. Gonzalez said helium would person brought it to the United States Attorney's Office.

"It was a panic investigation, but it was besides a wide murder," Gonzalez said. "So determination were transgression charges on with the coercion charges."

Bennett said she believes the Bayoumi video was truthful important that it should person gone to the White House aft it was archetypal discovered. 

Gina Bennett was a counterterrorism expert astatine the CIA during the panic attacks. 60 Minutes

"We were briefing the president and the National Security Council. We didn't expect that this [terror attack] was a 'one and done.' We expected al Qaeda to proceed to try," Bennett said astir the play aft the attacks. "Resources were going wholly to trying to undermine immoderate further plotting."

She says the caller grounds raises a batch of important questions: who other was involved, were determination different networks, are immoderate progressive individuals inactive operating successful the U.S. oregon elsewhere, and is determination different 9/11 grounds sitting successful a container somewhere?

That accusation could assistance the U.S. larn what went wrong, and larn however not to get it incorrect again, she said.

The authorities of Saudi Arabia has filed a question successful national tribunal to disregard the 9/11 families' lawsuit, saying neither the kingdom nor Bayoumi had thing to bash with the attacks. The justice overseeing the lawsuit is expected to regularisation connected the question soon. An FBI spokesperson said the bureau would not remark connected ongoing litigation.