Days before the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, FBI agents in Minneapolis raised serious concerns about Zacarias Moussaoui, a French national who was in US custody. They believed he could be preparing for a terrorist attack and wanted permission to search his belongings. But FBI headquarters in Washington did not agree with the Minneapolis team.
As the field office tried to obtain a warrant, officials at headquarters questioned the strength of the evidence, changed parts of the Minneapolis report and finally decided that there was not enough legal basis to obtain a surveillance warrant, according to reports cited by Newsweek.
An earlier version said Moussaoui was "preparing himself to fight." That wording was later changed to say that Moussaoui and his roommate had trained together in defensive tactics.
Another part was that the original wording indicated that Moussaoui's roommate may have heard him discuss such a plan. The revised version said Moussaoui "may" have had such a plan and that his roommate was not certain.
A later review by the US Justice Department's Inspector General found serious problems in the way the FBI handled the case. They found out that Minneapolis agents were alert and suspicious, but FBI headquarters did not act strongly enough on their warnings.
Moussaoui, a French citizen, was in the US in August 2001 for flight training. He had been taking lessons at a flight school in Minnesota. What made investigators suspicious was that he wanted to train on a Boeing 747 simulator despite having little experience as a pilot.
The Minneapolis FBI began looking into him after concerns emerged about his activities and background. He had travelled to Pakistan for about two months and had returned to the US less than three weeks before coming to Minnesota. Investigators also found that Moussaoui had about $32,000 in his bank account but could not properly explain where the money had come from.
In addition to this, he had paid thousands of dollars for 747 training, even though he was not seeking to become a commercial airline pilot. The FBI also found that Moussaoui had extremist views and had made statements about violence and becoming a martyr.
These details led the Minneapolis agents to believe that the flight training could be connected to a planned terrorist attack. Moussaoui was eventually detained by immigration authorities because of problems with his immigration status, according to the Department of Justice. His belongings, including a computer and personal papers, were seized.
The Minneapolis office began trying to obtain a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, warrant to conduct surveillance or searches in national security cases involving foreign intelligence.
The Minneapolis agents believed they had enough information to justify such a warrant. However, FBI headquarters disagreed.
The French intelligence said he had links to people involved with Chechen extremists and described him as a radical fundamentalist. They also warned that he was extremely dangerous and capable of following a plan for months or even years.
French authorities said he had travelled to countries including Kuwait, Turkey and Afghanistan. The Minneapolis agents believed this information strengthened their case. But FBI headquarters continued to question whether the man being held in Minnesota was the same Moussaoui mentioned in the French intelligence.
As the disagreement continued, FBI headquarters thought of deporting Moussaoui to France, where authorities could potentially search his belongings. By late August, the Minneapolis FBI had begun preparing for his deportation because headquarters had concluded that a FISA warrant could not be obtained.
The CIA officer also warned that if Moussaoui was released, he could eventually become involved in a suicide attack. He even wrote that, two years later, Moussaoui could be "talking to a control tower while aiming a 747 at the White House."
Less than two weeks later, four hijacked planes were used in the September 11 attacks. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when al-Qaeda terrorists crashed two aircraft into New York's World Trade Center, another into the Pentagon and a fourth plane into a field in Pennsylvania.
