Declassifying the 9/11 Report Little by Little

So now we're learning of newly released facts contained in the 9/11 report. On top of the press briefing "bin Laden intent on attacking inside the U.S.", now the report tells of dozens of intelligence reports that warned about Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. They specifically discussed airline hijackings and suicide operations.

The FAA warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable." The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system.

Among other things, the report says that leaders of the FAA received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all intelligence summaries in that time.