The Eleventh Day_ The History and Legacy of 9_11 - Anthony Summers [308]
92 “That’s not”: Statement of Eleanor Hill. The headquarters failure to respond positively on Moussaoui was to lead to protracted outrage and regret. The wrangle had centered on the complex matter of how legally to get access to Moussaoui’s possessions. The options available were either a criminal search warrant or a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) warrant—permitted, in this context, if it can be shown that the subject is an agent of an international terrorist group and is engaged in terrorism on behalf of that group. The case agent in Minneapolis, concerned that there was insufficient probable cause for a criminal warrant, favored the FISA option—only to be confronted by legalistic hurdles thrown up by headquarters. The go-ahead was given only on September 11, after the two strikes on the World Trade Center. Evidence and detainee statements were eventually to link Moussaoui to KSM and Binalshibh, and he is now serving a life sentence for conspiracy to commit acts of terror and air piracy. As of this writing, the only other person convicted—of being an accessory to the murder of the people aboard the planes on 9/11—is Mounir Motassadeq, who is serving fifteen years in Germany. Motassadeq, an associate of the Hamburg-based hijackers, was accused of helping the hijackers prepare for the 9/11 operation. In a lengthy prison interview, Motassadeq told the authors that—while he had certainly been an associate and friend of the future hijackers in Hamburg—he had had no knowledge whatsoever of what they were plotting. The authors came away from the interview doubting that he was guilty as charged (warrant options: e.g., Graham with Nussbaum, 51; go-ahead: FBI IG; evidence/sentence: Indictment, U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, 12/01, AP, 5/4/06, CNN, 4/23/05; Motassadeq: NYT, 1/9/07, Der Spiegel, 1/12/07, Economist, 9/3/02, CBS News, 10/22/02, ints. Motassadeq, Udo Jacob, 2009).
93 second development/New information/Wilshire reconsidered/“Something bad”: CR, 266–,FBI IG. In the 9/11 Commission Report, and in a 2004 review of the FBI’s handling of pre-9/11 intelligence information issued by the Justice Department’s inspector general, relevant CIA and FBI personnel are referred to by pseudonyms. True names of many of the individuals were revealed in evidence prepared in 2006 for Moussaoui’s trial. Others have been asserted by independent writers, notably Lawrence Wright and Kevin Fenton, and the authors have used these identifications in the text. The CIA officer named here as Tom Wilshire is “John” in the official reports. The FBI analyst Margarette Gillespie is “Mary” in reports, while the FBI analyst Dina Corsi appears to be identical with “Jane” in the Commission Report and with “Donna” in the inspector general’s review. Steve Bongardt is “Steve B.” in the Commission Report and “Scott” in the review. Robert Fuller is “Robert F.” in the Commission Report and “Richard” in the review (CR 267–, & 537n63 et seq., FBI IG, McNulty to Troccoli 3/1/06, U.S. v Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit 952.B, Wright, 311, 340–, 352–, 425n, Kevin Fenton, “Aliases of 9/11 Figures Revealed,” 7/15/08, http://hcgroups.wordpress.com).
94 Wilshire suggested to Gillespie: Lawrence Wright’s The Looming Tower reads as if it was not Wilshire but CIA supervisor Clark Shannon who assigned Gillespie to this task. Wright’s New Yorker articles, however, also in 2006, say Wilshire assigned the work. So do other relevant sources (Wright, 340–. CR, 269–, New Yorker, 7/10/06, Substitution for the Testimony of “Mary,” U.S. v. Zacarias Moussaoui, Exhibit 940);
95 “It all clicked”/“watchlist”: CR, 266–, FBI IG;
96 not in U.S./FAA not informed: Report, JI, 15, Staff Report, “9/11 & Terrorist Travel,” CO, 42, Staff Statement 2, CO;
97 Corsi sent email/red tape/misinterpretation: FBI IG;
98 “Disneyland”: Wright, 353–;
99 “Someday”/Fuller: FBI IG;
100 “assigned no”: CR, 538n77.
101 Tenet fishing: Breitweiser, 193;
102 Tenet directed: Tenet, 159;
103 Tenet briefed/Aug. 23: ibid., CR, 275;
104 seriously/“If this guy”: Tenet, 202–;
105 “brow furrowed”/“no one