DOCUMENT: Crime

2001 Memo Warned Of Bin Laden Aviation Cadre

View Document

2001 Memo Warned Of Bin Laden Aviation Cadre

APRIL 12--Two months before the September 11 attacks, FBI agent Kenneth Williams sent this memo to bureau brass in Washington and New York warning that a cadre of Osama bin Laden disciples might be training at U.S. flight schools in preparation for future "terror activity against civil aviation targets."

Williams suggested a nationwide FBI review to determine whether such a "coordinated effort" could be seen in other localities. The Williams memo was roundly ignored, of course, until after the World Trade Center was leveled. (8 pages)