The CIA provides senior US policy makers with a classified warning of a potential attack against US interests that is thought to be tied to Fourth of July celebrations in the US. [Sunday Herald (Glasgow), 9/23/2001] The head of counterterrorism at the FBI, Dale Watson, will later recall that he and Cofer Black, the head of counterterrorism at the CIA, expected an attack to occur around the Fourth of July. [9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 265]
June 28, 2001: CIA Leaders Told Bin Laden Will Launch Spectacular Attack against US and/or Israeli Targets within Weeks
CIA official Richard Blee gives a briefing on the state of the terrorism threat to CIA Director George Tenet and Counterterrorist Center Director Cofer Black. According to an account by Tenet in his 2007 book, Blee identifies more than 10 specific pieces of intelligence about impending attacks. Tenet claims that experienced analysts call this intelligence “both unprecedented and virtually 100 percent reliable.” Blee specifically mentions: 
A key Afghanistan training camp commander was seen weeping with joy because he believed he could see his trainees in heaven, implying a successful suicide attack to come. For the last three to five months, al-Qaeda’s number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, is believed to have been involved in an unprecedented effort to prepare terrorist operations. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, one of the USS Cole bombing masterminds, has disappeared. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 149] Leaders of the Cole bombing are believed to be planning new attacks against the US. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 147] Other important operatives around the world are disappearing or preparing for martyrdom. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 149]
Blee concludes by saying: “Based on a review of all source reporting over the last five months, we believe that [Osama bin Laden] will launch a significant terrorist attack against US and/or Israeli interests in the coming weeks. The attack will be spectacular and designed to inflict mass casualties against US facilities or interests. Attack preparations have been made. Attack will occur with little or no warning.” [US Congress, 7/24/2003, pp. 322; Tenet, 2007, pp. 149] This warning, including the concluding quote, is shared with “senior Bush administration officials” in early July. [US Congress, 9/18/2002]
July 6, 2001: CIA Counterterrorism Chief Black Warns Some Arab Visitors that a Major Al-Qaeda Attack Is Imminent
Cofer Black, director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, tells a visiting group from an Arab country that an attack on an unprecedented scale is going to happen, but the details of when and where it will occur are unknown. [Kiriakou and Ruby, 2010, pp. 99-100; Real News Network, 4/23/2015; Truthdig, 8/12/2017] The CIA occasionally holds visits for members of the intelligence services of friendly foreign countries at its headquarters in Langley, Virginia. The visitors are usually given a tour of the CIA’s operations center, and allowed to meet the CIA director and other senior officials, if possible. The visit is a chance for them to get acquainted with the CIA, exchange gifts, and take some photos. “We wanted to make them feel welcome and important” because these intelligence services “could be additional eyes and ears in places where our own access was limited,” CIA officer John Kiriakou will later write. Today, Kiriakou is hosting one such group, which comes from an unnamed small Middle Eastern state. The group, which includes some relatively low-level military officers, is made up of people Kiriakou has been training. Kiriakou asked Black if he would stop by to meet the group and, to his surprise, Black agreed to do so.
Black Gives a Detailed Briefing on Al-Qaeda – “This is a really big deal,” Kiriakou explains to the visitors. Black, he says, is “the head of counterterrorism for the entire world, which makes him a crucial guy in our shop.” After he arrives, Black shakes the hands of all the visitors and, once everyone is seated in a conference room, he welcomes them to the CIA and says how much the agency values their friendship. In light of the Counterterrorist Center director’s busy schedule, Kiriakou is expecting Black to stay for only a short time, perhaps taking a few questions before leaving. But he stays for about 30 minutes, and delivers a detailed and comprehensive briefing on what he considers the most important topic: al-Qaeda.
Black Says, ‘Something Terrible Is Going to Happen’ – Black begins by telling the visitors about the growing terrorist threat. He then warns them that some kind of major catastrophic event is imminent, saying: “We know something terrible is going to happen. We don’t know when and we don’t know where.” He adds that, despite the lack of knowledge of its details, “We do know it’s going to be against US interests and it’s going to be big, perhaps bigger than anything we’ve seen before.” The visitors are silent upon hearing this alarming information.
‘Chatter’ Indicates an Attack Is Imminent – “The mood in the al-Qaeda training camps is one of jubilation,” Black continues. “We’ve never seen them as excited and as happy as they are now,” he adds. He says “chatter” has been picked up that appears to be filled with code words and phrases that CIA analysts consider frightening, such as, “There’s going to be a great wedding,” “There’s going to be a great soccer game,” and, “The salesman is coming with great quantities of honey.” These are all coded references to a terrorist attack, he asserts. “We’re sure it’s going to happen, we just don’t know where,” he says of the predicted attack. Black then asks the visitors for their cooperation in tackling the threat. “If you have any sources inside al-Qaeda, please work them now because whatever it is, we have to do everything we can to stop it,” he says. By the end of the briefing, the visitors are clearly unsettled. They are so shocked at the power of what they have been told that when Black asks if they have any questions, no one can think of any. Finally, the senior member of the group stands up and says he will pass on Black’s information to his country’s intelligence service, and it would do everything in its power to assist the US.
Black Will Say He Was ‘Very Serious’ in the Briefing – Later on, when he thanks Black for giving his time, Kiriakou will ask the Counterterrorist Center director, “Did you just make that up or embellish the state of play for their benefit, or were you serious in that briefing?” Black will say he was “very serious.” He will tell Kiriakou he has been to the White House and talked with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice about the threat, and White House counterterrorism chief Richard Clarke is also making a noise about the issue, but no one is paying much attention to them. [Kiriakou and Ruby, 2010, pp. 99-101] Black is one of only a few people in the CIA who have been trying to alert the Bush administration to the growing threat posed by al-Qaeda. [WBUR, 10/13/2020] All through the summer, he is telling anyone who will listen that something terrible is going to happen and a massive attack is imminent (see April 2001, July 10, 2001, and August 15, 2001). “But,” journalist and author Jane Mayer will comment, “one of the things that mystified Black’s colleagues was how he could have been as alarmed as he was about al-Qaeda yet fail to piece together the many fragments of the September 11 puzzle that reached the [CIA] prior to the attacks.” [Mayer, 2008, pp. 12]
July 10, 2001: Urgent CIA Request for Funds to Immediately Deal with Bin Laden Is Denied
On this date, CIA Director George Tenet and CIA counterterrorism chief Cofer Black give the White House an urgent al-Qaeda briefing that, if heeded, Black later believes could have stopped bin Laden. Tenet and Black strongly suggest that both an overall strategy and immediate covert or military action against bin Laden are needed (see July 10, 2001). According to a 2006 book by journalist Bob Woodward that is likely paraphrasing Black, one of Woodward’s sources for his book, “Black calculated that if [the White House] had given him $500 million of covert action funds right then and reasonable authorizations from the president to go kill bin Laden, he would have been able to make great strides if not do away with him.… Over the last two years—and as recently as March 2001—the CIA had deployed paramilitary teams five times into Afghanistan to work with the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance, a loose federation of militias and tribes in the north. The CIA had about 100 sources and subsources operating throughout Afghanistan. Just give him the money and the authority and he might be able to bring bin Laden’s head back in a box.” [Woodward, 2006, pp. 77-78; New York Daily News, 9/29/2006]
July 10, 2001: CIA Officials Black, Blee, and Tenet Warn National Security Adviser Rice about Possible Imminent Al-Qaeda Attacks
CIA Director George Tenet and two other senior CIA officials give a briefing at the White House in which they present National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice and other officials with information indicating an al-Qaeda attack, possibly in the United States, is imminent. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151-153; Whipple, 2020, pp. 186-187] Earlier today, Richard Blee, head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit, went to Cofer Black, director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, with compelling evidence that al-Qaeda will attack the United States in the near future, and the two men then presented this information to Tenet. Realizing its significance, Tenet called Rice and arranged to meet her right away (see July 10, 2001). [Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015; WBUR, 10/13/2020]
Briefing Is the CIA’s ‘Starkest Warning’ about Al-Qaeda – After arriving at the White House, Tenet, Blee, and Black meet Rice in her office. Also present are Stephen Hadley, the deputy national security adviser, and Richard Clarke, the White House counterterrorism chief. To emphasize the urgency of the information they are going to present, the three CIA officials sit at the conference table instead of on the couch. “I thought the more formal setting and stiff-backed chairs were appropriate for what was about to be said,” Tenet will later comment. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151; Whipple, 2020, pp. 186] The meeting that ensues will stand out “in the minds of both Tenet and Black as the starkest warning they had given the White House on [Osama] bin Laden and al-Qaeda,” according to journalist and author Bob Woodward. [Woodward, 2006, pp. 52]
‘Spectacular’ Attacks against the US Are Expected – Blee hands out briefing packages to the White House officials. He then begins with a PowerPoint presentation. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151; Whipple, 2020, pp. 186] Rice will recall that it includes “the threat information that we had been reviewing daily along with some new intelligence.” [Rice, 2011, pp. 67] Blee describes the threat facing the nation, saying: “There will be significant terrorist attacks against the United States in the coming weeks or months. The attacks will be spectacular. They may be multiple. Al-Qaeda’s intention is the destruction of the United States. This is an attack that is intended to cause thousands of American casualties somewhere.” He notes, however, that the location where any attack will occur is unknown. “We cannot say it will be New York City or the United States, but it is geared toward US citizens,” he says. It is also impossible to determine when an attack might occur. “We know from past attacks that [bin Laden] is not beholden to attacks on particular dates” and will act “when he believes the attack will be successful,” he explains.
Recent Statements Suggest an Imminent Attack – Blee then lays out the signs of an impending attack that have been observed. He says Ibn Khattab, a Chechen rebel leader, has promised some “very big news” to his troops (see (July 9, 2001)). He shows a chart that depicts seven pieces of evidence gathered over the last 24 hours that suggest an attack is imminent. These include an increase in the number of Islamic extremists that have been traveling to Afghanistan and significant departures of extremist families from Yemen. He then shows another chart that lists some of the most chilling statements the CIA has compiled through its intelligence work. These include a statement made by bin Laden to trainees in mid-June that there will be an attack in the near future; information from late June that referred to an imminent “big event”; information that mentioned moving toward decisive acts; and two pieces of information received just days earlier in which people were predicting “a stunning turn of events in the weeks ahead.” [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151-152; Whipple, 2020, pp. 186-187]
Threats Are Serious, Blee Maintains – Rice, Clarke, and Hadley are told that all the intelligence, from human and technical sources, is consistent and while some of it is uncertain, this kind of information is often the best indicator. [Woodward, 2006, pp. 51; Washington Post, 10/1/2006] Blee also asserts that bin Laden’s threats are serious. “Throughout the Arab world, [bin Laden’s] threats are known to the public,” he says. There would therefore be “a loss of face, funds, and popularity” if the threatened attacks were not carried out.
America ‘Must Take the Battle’ to Bin Laden – Blee summarizes efforts that have been made to disrupt specific targets tied to bin Laden. One goal of these actions was to prompt the targets to spread the word that bin Laden’s plans have been compromised, in the hope that this might cause bin Laden to delay any planned attacks. Blee then says immediate consideration should be given to moving from a defensive to an offensive posture. “We must consider a proactive instead of a reactive approach to [bin Laden],” he says, adding, “Attacking him again with cruise missiles after this new terrorist attack will only play to his strategy.” He says the US “must take the battle to [bin Laden] in Afghanistan. We must take advantage of increasing dissatisfaction of some Afghan tribes with the Taliban. We must take advantage of the Afghan armed opposition.”
US Needs to Go on a ‘War Footing’ – After Blee has finished his briefing, Rice turns to Clarke and asks him: “Dick, do you agree? Is this true?” “Clarke put his elbows on his knees and his head fell into his hands, and he gave an exasperated yes,” Tenet will recall. She then asks Black, “What should we do now?” In response, he slams his fist on the table and declares, “This country needs to go on a war footing now!” Rice asks what can be done to go on the offensive right away against al-Qaeda. “We need to re-create the authorities that we had previously submitted in March,” she is told (see Early March 2001). Tenet reminds her that before these authorities can be approved, President Bush will need to align his policy with the new reality. Rice assures him that this will happen. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 152-154; Whipple, 2020, pp. 187] She also asks him if there is more the CIA could do to capture Abu Zubaida, whom the government believes to be al-Qaeda’s chief facilitator and therefore someone who might know the details of the plot. [Rice, 2011, pp. 67]
Black and Blee Think the Meeting Was a Success – There will be contradictory accounts of how the CIA officials feel about the meeting after it ends. Blee and Black will say they felt they had gotten their message across. As they walk across the West Wing parking lot, they high-five each other. “We thought we’d finally gotten through to these people,” Black will recall, adding, “We had executed our responsibilities.” Blee will recall them telling each other: “Boom! We hit a home run. She got it.” [Whipple, 2020, pp. 187] But according to Woodward, Black, along with Tenet, feels that “they were not getting through to Rice” and Tenet leaves the meeting “feeling frustrated.” [Woodward, 2006, pp. 51; Washington Post, 10/1/2006]
Tenet Will Say He Was Happy with Rice’s Response – Woodward’s account will be disputed, though. “[B]oth current and former officials, including allies of Mr. Tenet, took issue with Mr. Woodward’s account that [Tenet] and his aides had left the meeting feeling that Ms. Rice had ignored them,” the New York Times will report. And members of the 9/11 Commission who interview Tenet in 2004 will say the CIA director “never indicated he had left the White House with the impression that he had been ignored” when he discussed today’s meeting with them. [New York Times, 10/2/2006] When Daniel Marcus, the 9/11 Commission’s general counsel, asks Tenet how Rice reacted to his message about the dangers of al-Qaeda, Tenet will answer: “She got it. She agreed. We were all working on it.” [Newsweek, 4/29/2007]
‘Nothing Happened’ after the Briefing, Blee Will Say – Black and Blee will be disappointed at what they see as the White House’s lack of action following the briefing. Blee’s assessment will be, “From July to September, nothing happened.” [Whipple, 2020, pp. 187] “To me it remains incomprehensible,” Black will complain. “How is it that you could warn senior people so many times and nothing actually happened?” he will ask. [Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015] Tenet will come to regard today’s meeting as “a tremendous lost opportunity to prevent or disrupt the 9/11 attacks,” according to Woodward. [Woodward, 2006, pp. 79] However, according to the New York Times, records will show that “far from ignoring Mr. Tenet’s warnings,” Rice “acted on the intelligence” and asked Tenet to make the same presentation he gave today to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Attorney General John Ashcroft (see July 11-17, 2001).
Rice Will Have a Poor Recollection of the Meeting – Controversy will arise when the existence of today’s meeting comes to light in 2006 and details of the meeting will be disputed (see September 29, 2006 and September 30-October 3, 2006). Rice will initially tell reporters she does not recall this specific meeting and note that she met Tenet numerous times this summer to discuss terrorist threats (see October 1-2, 2006). [Washington Post, 9/30/2006; New York Times, 10/2/2006; New York Times, 10/2/2006] However, in her memoir, published in 2011, she will simply write that her “recollection of the meeting is not very crisp” because she and Tenet “were discussing the [terrorist] threat every day.” [Rice, 2011, pp. 67] Furthermore, although Tenet discusses the meeting when he testifies before the 9/11 Commission, there will be no mention of it in the Commission’s final report. [Washington Post, 10/1/2006; Tenet, 2007, pp. 153; Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015]
July 10, 2001: CIA Officials Black and Blee Show Director Tenet Compelling Evidence of an Imminent Al-Qaeda Attack
Richard Blee, head of the CIA’s bin Laden unit, goes to his boss, Cofer Black, director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, with evidence suggesting al-Qaeda will attack the United States in the near future, and the two men then go and present the information to CIA Director George Tenet. Blee has been tracking “a cascade of threats,” according to writer and documentary filmmaker Chris Whipple, and “[t]he intelligence, while not specific about targets, left no doubt that major attacks were imminent.” “You saw 50 different signs of impending attack,” Blee will later recall. These are the kinds of indications that would lead a person to say, “Oh, f_ck, it’s coming,” he will say. He therefore bursts into Black’s office at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia, to report what is known. “Okay, the roof’s fallen in,” he announces. “Whatcha got?” Black asks and Blee shows him information about the alarming terrorist threat. Black finds this “absolutely compelling.” The information, derived from multiple sources, is “sort of the last straw,” he will say.
Tenet Is Shown Evidence of a Possible Imminent Attack – Black therefore promptly arranges to see Tenet. He calls Tenet’s secretary and tells her, “I have to see the director, I’m coming up with Rich.” The secretary says Tenet is unavailable. “I’m sorry, he’s in with the head of some foreign intelligence service,” she tells Black. But he retorts, “Kick the guy out, we’re coming up now.” Black and Blee then go to Tenet’s office to brief the CIA director. [Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015; CBS, 5/21/2016; Whipple, 2020, pp. 185-186] They show him communications intercepts and other top-secret intelligence that reveal the increasing likelihood of al-Qaeda attacking the US in the near future. “It was a mass of fragments and dots that nonetheless made a compelling case,” according to journalist and author Bob Woodward. [Woodward, 2006, pp. 49; Washington Post, 10/1/2006]
Information Makes Tenet’s ‘Hair Stand on End’ – Tenet realizes the importance of the information he is shown. Black will recall him “[c]hewing on his cigar, going back and forth, jumping up and down, his eyes flashing.” [Whipple, 2020, pp. 186] “The briefing… literally made my hair stand on end,” Tenet will comment. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151] Black, Blee, and Tenet agree that a meeting at the White House to discuss the information is urgently needed. [Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015]
Tenet Tells Rice He Needs to See Her Immediately – Tenet therefore calls the White House and talks to National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice. “I can recall no other time in my seven years as [CIA director] that I sought such an urgent meeting at the White House,” he will remark. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151] “I have to come see you, we’re comin’ right now,” he tells Rice. [CBS, 5/21/2016; Whipple, 2020, pp. 186] Rice immediately makes time to see him, Tenet will recall. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151] However, White House logs will show that the CIA director already has a meeting with Rice scheduled for today. The meeting that is supposedly arranged now is therefore “not an emergency meeting,” according to Philip Zelikow, who will be the executive director of the 9/11 Commission. [Newsweek, 4/29/2007] Furthermore, Rice will give a different account of what Tenet tells her when he calls the White House. He only says, “I’m worried about the chatter,” she will write. Then, after she asks him what he wants to do, he suggests that he come to the White House immediately and she agrees. [Rice, 2011, pp. 67] Black, Blee, and Tenet will subsequently make the 15-minute drive to the White House, and present Rice and other officials there with the information Blee has compiled (see July 10, 2001). [Tenet, 2007, pp. 151-153; Politico Magazine, 11/12/2015]
August 15, 2001: CIA Counterterrorism Head: We Are Going to Be Struck Soon and It Could Be in US
Cofer Black, head of the CIA’s Counter Terrorism Center, says in a speech to the Department of Defense’s annual Convention of Counterterrorism, “We are going to be struck soon, many Americans are going to die, and it could be in the US.” Black later complains that top leaders are unwilling to act at this time unless they are given “such things as the attack is coming within the next few days and here is what they are going to hit.” [US Congress, 9/26/2002]
10:00 a.m. September 11, 2001: Counterterrorist Center Does Not Evacuate with Rest of CIA Headquarters
At around 10 a.m., following reports that several aircraft were not responding to communications and could be heading toward Washington, CIA Director George Tenet orders the evacuation of the CIA headquarters building in Langley, Virginia (see (9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001). However, Cofer Black, the director of the Counterterrorist Center (CTC), is unhappy about this and tells Tenet, “Sir, we’re going to have to exempt CTC from this because we need to have our people working the computers.” The CTC, according to the Los Angeles Times, is “the nerve center for the CIA’s effort to disrupt and deter terrorist groups and their state sponsors.” About 200 employees are currently working in it. Eight of them are in the Global Response Center on the sixth floor of the building, monitoring the latest intelligence on terrorism throughout the world. The rest are in a windowless facility low down in the building. When Tenet points out that the Global Response Center staff will be at risk, Black responds, “They have the key function to play in a crisis like this. This is exactly why we have the Global Response Center.” When Tenet points out, “They could die,” Black replies, “Well, sir, then they’re just going to have to die.” After pausing, Tenet agrees, “You’re absolutely right.” Tenet later says, “Now that we were under attack, the Counterterrorist Center, with its vast data banks and sophisticated communications systems, was more vital than ever. Even as we were discussing going or staying, CTC was sending out a global alert to our stations around the world, ordering them to go to their liaison services and agents to collect every shred of information they could lay their hands on.” [Los Angeles Times, 10/12/2001; Woodward, 2002, pp. 8-9; Tenet, 2007, pp. 164-165]
Shortly After 10:32 a.m. September 11, 2001: CIA’s Counterterrorist Center Director Is Unable to Provide Much Information about the Attacks
Mike Morell, President Bush’s CIA briefer, speaks to Cofer Black, the director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center, who can provide him with little more information about the attacks on the US than is generally known. Morell, who is with the president on Air Force One, has just spoken to Bush, who asked him to call CIA Director George Tenet and tell him to inform the president immediately when the CIA has any definitive information about the perpetrators of today’s attacks (see (10:32 a.m.) September 11, 2001). Morell now sits down in the staff section of the plane, picks up the phone by his seat, and calls Tenet’s office at CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. However, the headquarters is currently being evacuated (see (9:50 a.m.-10:00 a.m.) September 11, 2001), and so Tenet and his staff are in the process of relocating to a secure site. The secretary who answers Morell’s call says Tenet is unavailable and Morell instead has to talk to Black, the nearest senior official, after the secretary passes the phone to him. During their conversation, Black tells Morell what the CIA currently knows about the attacks on the US, which, Morell will later comment, “was little beyond what the rest of the world knew.” Morell then passes on the president’s request to be informed right away as soon as the CIA has information about who is responsible for the attacks and asks Black to share the request with Tenet. As he hangs up the phone, however, Morell is doubtful that his message will be passed on. “I was not confident [Tenet] would get the word, given the evacuation and given everything that would be asked of Black over the next few hours,” he will recall. [Studies in Intelligence, 9/2006 
; Morell and Harlow, 2015, pp. 52-53] Tenet will inform Bush, for the first time, that the CIA has linked al-Qaeda to the attacks during a video teleconference at around 3:15 p.m. this afternoon (see (3:15 p.m.) September 11, 2001). [Woodward, 2002, pp. 26-27; 9/11 Commission, 7/24/2004, pp. 326]
September 12, 2001: British Intelligence Chiefs Fly to US; Delegation Visits CIA and Advises to Concentrate on Afghanistan, Not Iraq
Despite the restrictions on air travel following the previous day’s attacks, one private plane is allowed to fly from Britain to the United States. On it are Sir Richard Dearlove, the head of the British secret intelligence service (MI6), and Eliza Manningham-Buller, the deputy chief of Britain’s domestic intelligence service, MI5. In his 2007 book At the Center of the Storm, CIA Director George Tenet will admit, “I still don’t know how they got flight clearance into the country.” Manningham-Buller and Dearlove dine for an hour-and-a-half with a group of American intelligence officials at the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 173-174; BBC, 12/4/2007] In addition to Tenet, the US officials at the dinner include James Pavitt and his deputy from the CIA’s Directorate for Operations; A. B. “Buzzy” Krongard, the CIA’s executive director; Cofer Black, the director of the CIA’s Counterterrorist Center; Tyler Drumheller, the chief of the CIA’s European Division; the chief of the CIA’s Near East Division; and Thomas Pickard, the acting director of the FBI. Also part of the British delegation is David Manning, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s foreign policy adviser, who was already in the US before 9/11. [Salon, 7/2/2007] The British offer condolences and their full support. The Americans say they are already certain that al-Qaeda was behind the 9/11 attacks, having recognized names on passenger lists of the hijacked flights. They also say they believe the attacks are not yet over. [Tenet, 2007, pp. 174; BBC, 12/4/2007] According to Drumheller, Manning says, “I hope we can all agree that we should concentrate on Afghanistan and not be tempted to launch any attacks on Iraq.” Tenet replies: “Absolutely, we all agree on that. Some might want to link the issues, but none of us wants to go that route.” [Newsweek, 10/30/2006; Salon, 7/2/2007; Guardian, 8/4/2007]
