10 July 2001, FBI: Phoenix AZ Special Agent Kenneth Williams to HQ re. Aviation Schools (Phoenix Memo) (PDF)
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/04/us/fbi-told-of-worry-over-flight-lessons-before-sept-11.html
F.B.I. Told of Worry Over Flight Lessons Before Sept. 11
By JAMES RISEN
May 4, 2002
An F.B.I. agent in Phoenix told counterterrorism officials at the bureau's headquarters last July that he had detected an alarming pattern of Arab men with possible ties to terrorism taking aviation-related training, and urged a nationwide review of the trend, according to F.B.I. officials.
The agent's recommendation was not acted upon before Sept. 11, however; bureau officials foresaw difficulties in scrutinizing the hundreds of Middle Eastern men who regularly attended flight schools and underwent aviation training in the United States.
After the Sept. 11 attacks, though, the F.B.I. agent's memorandum took on a new urgency within the bureau, as investigators hunted for possible links to the 19 hijackers who aimed jets at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The memorandum also gained attention as officials began to check whether they had missed warning signs of the attacks.
A review determined that none of the seven or eight Arab men identified by the agent in Phoenix had any connection to the Sept. 11 attacks or other terrorist activities, officials said. A few were detained on immigration violations, however, F.B.I. officials said.
''None of the people identified by Phoenix are connected to the 9/11 attacks,'' the F.B.I. said today in a statement. ''The Phoenix communication went to the appropriate operational agents and analysts at headquarters, but it did not lead to uncovering the impending attacks.''
Some in Congress expressed concern about the memorandum today after seeing reports about it. U.S. News and World Report first wrote about the memorandum in December, but The Associated Press distributed a report today with new details about it.
''It is imperative that we learn exactly what information was contained in the F.B.I. report, to whom it was sent and what actions were taken in response,'' Senator Patrick J. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.
Senator Charles E. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, added, ''The F.B.I. has to do a better job of connecting the dots when it comes to intelligence about terrorists.''
As Congress gears up for its first comprehensive investigation into the government's performance leading up to Sept. 11, the memorandum offers another tantalizing glimpse of what American experts in counterterrorism knew about the threat to the United States. The joint House-Senate committee conducting the Sept. 11 investigation has already been briefed on the F.B.I. memorandum, officials said.
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation emphasized that the Phoenix agent did not predict the attacks. The agent's report did not focus on Arab men seeking pilot training, but instead raised questions about individuals being trained in airport management. The agent wondered whether they might be getting training that could help them get jobs that would allow them to skirt airport security procedures.
But some F.B.I. officials acknowledged that the agent's report was as close to the mark as anyone came before Sept. 11.
''He wasn't saying, 'Hey, I know there are guys out there who are going to hijack planes and fly them into buildings,' '' one official said. ''But he did have the right industry.''
F.B.I. officials would not make the Phoenix agent available for an interview. But they said the agent first became suspicious after noticing a pattern among several Arabs being monitored for possible terrorist ties, as well as others thought to be associates of individuals suspected of having those connections.
The agent noticed that several of the men were attending Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. The agent thought he might have stumbled onto a larger pattern of Arabs coming to the United States to get aviation training for use in terrorist activities.
In July, he sent a memorandum to counterterrorism officials at F.B.I. headquarters recommending a study of the issue.
''Phoenix believes that the F.B.I. should accumulate a listing of civil aviation universities/colleges around the country,'' the memorandum stated. ''F.B.I. field offices with these types of schools in their area should establish appropriate liaison. F.B.I. HQ should discuss this matter with other elements of the U.S. intelligence community and task the community for any information that supports Phoenix's suspicions.''
It also recommended that the F.B.I. ask the State Department to provide visa data on flight school students from Middle Eastern countries so the bureau could track them more easily.
After the agent's memorandum arrived at headquarters, it was sent to the bureau's New York field office, which then had the lead in international terrorist investigations. F.B.I. officials identified 600 schools involved in flight or other aviation training in the United States, and determined that as many as 600 students from Middle Eastern countries attended them each year.
Most Middle East countries send pilots from their commercial airlines and their military to train in the United States. At the time, F.B.I. officials believed that a study of the Arab presence at American flight schools could be done as only a long-term project taking one to two years. No action had been taken on the issue by Sept. 11.
F.B.I. officials said there was reluctance at the time to mount such a major review because of a concern that the bureau would be criticized for ethnic profiling of foreigners. Bureau officials were also aware of the obstacles in asking colleges and universities to cooperate on such a sweeping review of students without specific evidence that they were guilty of any crimes.
''You had to ask, Was there valid intelligence pushing you in the direction of doing this? And the answer at the time was no,'' one F.B.I. official said.