The CIA on Friday released 71 intelligence reports from the months and years leading up to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, providing a new look at what the spy agency told two presidents about al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden before the deadly strikes.
The trove of documents includes assessments prepared by analysts for the President's Daily Brief, which is distributed to the president and senior administration officials. The release, which coincided with ceremonies marking 25 years since the attacks, includes 70 documents from before the 2001 attacks and one report from the day after. Two of the documents had previously been made public during the course of the investigation by the 9/11 Commission, the body established by Congress to examine the attacks.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe said the disclosure was "the single largest release of CIA analysis related to 9/11 ever."
"25 years ago, the 9/11 attacks struck a blow to our Nation, but they did not break us. Generations of CIA officers have since dedicated their careers to securing justice for our fallen Americans and ensuring al-Qa'ida would never again harm our country," Ratcliffe said in a statement.