Terrorism Investigations

Newly Released Documents Related to the Sept. 11 Investigation

By Rohini Kurup
Monday, September 13, 2021, 1:51 PM

In an executive order on Sept. 3, President Biden instructed the Justice Department and other relevant federal agencies to review and declassify documents related to the FBI’s investigation into the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The order directs Attorney General Merrick Garland to publicly release the declassified documents within six months.

We’re tracking the releases here and will continue to update this post as new documents become public.

Sept. 11, 2021: Report on hijackers and the Saudi government

The first document, released on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, describes an FBI investigation into the connections between the 9/11 hijackers and the Saudi government. The 16-page, heavily redacted report summarizes a 2015 FBI interview with an unnamed Saudi man who worked for the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles. It details two of the Saudi hijackers’ contacts with Saudi associates in the United States and describes the "significant logistic support" the hijackers received in the U.S. The report contained no evidence that Saudi Arabia played a role in the attacks.