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REDACTION KEY
A. CLASSIFIED FBI INFORMATION RE-REVIEWED PURSUANT TO EXECUTIVE
ORDER 14040.
C-1. INFORMATION OBTAINED FROM FOREIGN GOVERNMENT(S) AND WITHHELD AT
THE DIRECTION OF ANOTHER U.S. GOVERNMENT AGENCY OR DEPARTMENT
PENDING FURTHER CONSULTATION TO BE COMPLETED BY THE DEADLINE IN
EO 14040 SECTION 2(D).
D. INFORMATION FOR WHICH JUDICIAL AUTHORIZATION TO RELEASE IS
REQUIRED. INFORMATION FOR WHICH JUDICIAL AUTHORIZATION IS OBTAINED
WILL BE RELEASED.
F. ADMINISTRATIVELY DESIGNATED FBI FILE AND/OR SERIAL NUMBERS OR
HANDLING INFORMATION.
G. SENSITIVE LAW ENFORCEMENT INFORMATION WITHHELD PURSUANT TO THE
LAW ENFORCEMENT PRIVILEGE.
J-1. SECTION 102A(i)(1) OF THE NATIONAL SECURITY ACT OF 1947, AS AMENDED BY
THE INTELLIGENCE REFORM AND TE RRORISM PREVENTION ACT OF 2004, 50
U.S.C. § 3024(i)(1).
J-2. INFORMATION PROTECTED FROM DI SCLOSURE BY THE BANK SECRECY ACT
(BSA) AND THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY REGULATIONS IMPLEMENTING THE BSA. SEE 31 C.F.R. § 5311 ET SEQ; 31 C.F.R. CHAPTER X.
J-3 INFORMATION DETERMINED BY ANOTHER DEPARTMENT OR AGENCY TO BE
PROTECTED FROM DISCLOSURE PURSUANT TO 8 U.S.C. § 1202(f).
O-1. INFORMATION WITHHELD AT THE DIRECTION OF ANOTHER U.S. GOVERNMENT
AGENCY OR DEPARTMENT.
P. INFORMATION RESTRICTED FROM PUBLIC RELEASE UNDER THE PRIVACY ACT
OF 1974. SUCH INFORMATION WILL BE PRODUCED IN MDL 03-1570 (S.D.N.Y.)
PURSUANT TO THE PRIVACY ACT PROTECTIVE ORDER ENTERED IN THAT CASE.
P-1. INFORMATION SUCH AS SOCIAL SECURITY NUMBERS, DATES OF BIRTH, AND
OTHER SENSITIVE PERSONAL INFORMATION.
S. NAMES AND OTHER PERSONAL IDENTIFYING INFORMATION OF LAW
ENFORCEMENT PERSONNEL.
NOTE: Classification markings (classification banners and portion markings) are redacted
without a code throughout the release.
Case Background
On 11 September 2001 four coordinated suicide attacks occurred in the
United States in New York City and the Washington D.C. area. 19
terrorists from the Islamist militant group, al-Qaeda (AQ), hijacked four
passenger jets and intentionally crashed two planes, American Airlines
Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, into the Twin Towers of the
World Trade Center in New York City. Hijackers crashed American Airlines
Flight 77 into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia. The fourth jet,
United Airlines Flight 93, crashed into a field near Shanksville,
Pennsylvania, after passengers attempted to take control before it could
reach the hijacker's intended target in Washington D.C.
The FBI investigation into the attacks, internally named PENTTBOM,
which included the cooperation of local, state, and other federal
agencies, identified the 19 hijackers and linked the hijackers to AQ.
Subsequently, in a number of publicized video, audio, interview, and
printed statements, senior members of AQ asserted responsibility for
organizing the September 11 attacks. Ultimately, the core investigation
revealed that Usama Bin Laden (UBL) and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (KSM) each
played critical roles in the 9/11 attack plot.
In June 2007, the FBI’s New York field office (NYO) opened a
subfile under the PENTTBOM investigation file to organize information
obtained from the planned exploitation of intelligence targets that were
previously identified throughout the PENTTBOM investigation.
Specifically, the NYO sought to obtain a greater understanding of 9/11
hijackers Nawaf al-Hazmi's (Hazmi) and Khalid al-Mihdhar's (Mihdhar) past
interaction with and connectivity to the Southern California Muslim
community in an attempt to explain how they may have gained assistance
after their arrival in Los Angeles in January 2000.
In October 2007, the NYO administratively moved the Title: To administratively close case
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aforementioned subfile to its own separate NYO investigation casefile
named “Operation Encore.” The predication of the investigation had the
same purpose as the original PENTTBOM subfile investigation in that it
served as an enterprise counterterrorism investigation into a possible
network of individuals who were suspected of providing assistance to the
hijackers and as an intelligence gathering operation into AQ’s tactics
and tradecraft. Specifically the named main subjects, Fahad Al-Thumairy
(Thumairy), Omar Al-Bayoumi (Bayoumi), and Musaed Al-Jarrah (Al-Jarrah),
allegedly provided (or directed others to provide) Hazmi and Mihdhar with
assistance in daily activities, including procuring living quarters and
assistance with assimilating into Southern California. The investigation
sought to determine whether these three subjects wittingly provided such
assistance with the knowledge that Hazmi and Mihdhar were here to commit
an act of terrorism.
Additionally, separate full investigations on other associated
individuals from other field offices, some of which were opened before
and after Operation Encore, were also administratively consolidated under
the Operation Encore casefile. Refer to Serial
Thumairy, Bayoumi, and Al-Jarrah, all NON-USPERs, remain
OCONUS, and are believed to live in Saudi Arabia.
Investigation Summary
The investigation was predicated upon the theory that Al-Jarrah
used his position as the Head of Islamic Affairs at the Saudi Arabian
Embassy in Washington D.C. to oversee and direct the facilitation of the
hijackers through his subordinates, Thumairy and Bayoumi, as well as, hisTitle: To administratively close case
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(A),(G),(J-1)
(F)
(F)
(F)
(G)
revealed outside of the CHS reporting and telephone information.
Al-Jarrah was also the subject of an FBI
investigation opened in January 2003 predicated upon information
He was interviewed
twice by the FBI in 2004 in connection with that investigation. Al-
Jarrah permanently departed the United States in July 2006
. While Al-Jarrah maintained regular
contact with the Saudi Embassy after leaving the United States, he was
no longer employed there. The investigation was closed in July 2007.
Thumairy
Thumairy, a Saudi national, was an Imam at the King Fahd
Mosque (KFM) in Culver City, California and was described in United
States State Department documentation as an Administrative Officer at
the Consulate of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in Los Angeles,
California.
Prior to Operation Encore, Thumairy was a main subject of a
Los Angeles full investigation based on his phone connectivity with
Bayoumi and his potential association to Hazmi and Mihdhar.
Furthermore reported that he was a "hard core extremist"
whose sermons at the KFM appealed to the extremist and militant
attendees of the mosque.
Lastly, a review of Thumairy's financial transactions revealed
connections with a Saudi individual, Jarallah Al-Jarallah, which were
believed to be linked to a Saudi based money laundering scheme to move
money around the Middle East region. FBI Los Angeles opened a full
investigation into those transactions in April 2005 and closed it in Title: To administratively close case
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(A),(G),(J-1)
(A),(G),(J-1)
(C-1)
(A), (G), (J-1)
(J-3)
(J-3)
Hazmi and Mihdhar in San Diego, California in February 2000 because
the hijackers did not have the necessary credit history for the rental
application and also because the leasing company did not permit cash
payments. In the fall of 2000, Bayoumi moved to Birmingham, England,
where he resided with his family and attended Aston University.
Bayoumi was detained by New Scotland Yard (NSY)
In a 2003 interview in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bayoumi stated
he received a salary from his employer, Dallah AVCO, and a stipend to
cover tuition fees, housing, and other living expenses while he
attended school in the United States.
According to Telephone Application (TA) there was telephone
connectivity between Bayoumi and Thumairy beginning in December 1998
and then sporadically until Bayoumi left the country in the fall of
2000. Connection periods included periods of time when Hazmi and
Mihdhar were in the Los Angeles and San Diego areas; however the
nature and/or content of those discussions were not revealed as part
of the investigation efforts.
Investigative Evidence
As part of the investigation that spanned from 2007 to 2016, the
case team reviewed financial records, telecommunication records, travel
records, conducted hundreds of interviews relating to the main subjects
in addition to known associates (voluntarily ,
conducted search warrants of various residences in Southern California, Title: To administratively close case
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(C-1)
(C-1)
(D)
including a review of materials collected by New Scotland Yard via search
warrant, and coordinated
efforts with foreign partners, in order to determine if the Southern
California Muslim community had a pre-existing support network in place
with advanced knowledge that the hijackers, Hazmi and Mihdhar, were in
the United States to commit an act of terrorism.
Additionally, during 2019 and 2020, the FBI re-examined the
Operation Encore case file to identify any missed leads, opportunities,
or investigative actions which may advance the case, including the
summarization ECs serials in Serials
documented in April 2016. Various CONUS based persons of interest were
re-interviewed; no additional information was obtained as part of those
interviews and no material contradicting statements were made as compared
to the initial interviews.
AQ Tradecraft
Consent statements from various AQ members, including KSM,
Abdul Rahim Abdu Al Nashiri, Walid Muhammad Salih Khallad Bin Attash,
Ramzi Bin Al Shibh, Abd Al Aziz Ali Ali aka Ammar Al Baluchi, and Mustafa
Ahmed Al Hawsawi, regarding the operational planning of AQ's larger scale
terrorist attacks, 9/11 and USS Cole, indicated that the AQ leadership
compartmentalized the attack groups and roles within the operation. They
did not make the attack plans known in advance to others for fear the
nature of the attack would be discovered, which is consistent with the
FBI's assessment of the last two decades of large scale AQ-related
attacks. Specifically, in relation to the 9/11 attacks, the hijackers
knew there was a martyrdom operation, but did not know about the nature
of the operation until shortly before the attack for operational security
reasons. Refer to Serials
This information corroborated that Thumairy, Bayoumi, and Al-Title: To administratively close case
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(F)
(F)
(F)
(F)
(A),(G), (J-1)
(F)
Jarrah did not knowingly conspire to assist the AQ hijackers in
furtherance of the 9/11 attack.
Material Support to Terrorism
For federal criminal charges of conspiracy to provide material
support and resources to terrorists to be filed in accordance with 18
U.S.C. 2339B, the totality of evidence from the investigation needed to
establish that Thumairy, Bayoumi, and Al-Jarrah each had "knowledge that
the organization is a designated terrorist organization...that the
organization has engaged or engages in terrorist activity...or that the
organization has engaged or engages in terrorism (section 6603(c)(2))."
As further explained in United States vs Warsame, 537 F.Supp.2d
1005 (D.Minn. 2008), “under the plain language of 2339B...the government
must prove that the defendant ‘knowingly provides material support or
resources to a Foreign Terrorist Organization [FTO]’, rather than to
individuals who happen to be FTO members...In other words, even where a
donor’s contribution to an individual FTO member confers some benefit
upon the terrorist organization, the prosecution must prove that the
donor knew the intended recipient of his contribution was a designated
FTO...Whether the donor knew the recipient was a member of a FTO could,
of course, be relevant to a determination that the donor ultimately
intended the contribution to go to the FTO itself. Nonetheless, the
prosecution must prove that the donor knowingly provided material support
or resources to the FTO.”
Based on the the totality of these investigative efforts and in
coordination with the Assistant United States Attorneys of the Southern
District of New York, it was jointly determined, that insufficient
evidence existed to prosecute Thumairy, Bayoumi, and Al-Jarrah for
wittingly conspiring to assist the AQ hijackers in furtherance of the
9/11 attack. The United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern Title: To administratively close case
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District of New York (USAO-SDNY) was consulted regarding FBI-NYO’s intent
on closing this investigation. USAO-SDNY had no objection to the closing
of this investigation.
Conclusion
After nearly twenty years after the attack, the FBI has not
identified additional groups or individuals responsible for the attack
other than those currently charged, which is consistent with the final
conclusion of the 9/11 Commission Report which stated that "no new
information to date that would alter the original findings of the 9/11
Commission regarding the individuals responsible for the 9/11 attacks or
for supporting those responsible for the attacks."
The NYO completed all logical and reasonable investigative
steps in accordance with established CTD guidance. No potential criminal
violations or priority threats to national security warranting further
investigation were identified. All leads have been completed. The NYO is
closing captioned matter. In the event additional derogatory information
is discovered regarding the captioned subjects, NYO will consider re-
opening this investigation.
Lastly, the SDNY concurs with the closing of the investigation;
SDNY is willing to re-engage investigative measures if new information
comes to light which may bear investigation.
♦♦Title: To administratively close case
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Addendum to Operation Encore Closing Electronic Communication Title:
Re: , 09/08/2021
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offered case managers the ability to electronically filter for specific
types of files such as FD- 302, FD-1057, etc. As documents were migrated
from ACS to Sentinel, the text of documents that were entered into the ACS system were usually, but not always, available in Sentinel, and were
all classified as “legacy” documents. This migration, however, did not
allow any electronic filtering of specific types of files, such as what was offered via Sentinel.
A manual re- review of the Operation Encore case file to
quantify the number of interviews conducted to include both FD- 302s,
which are most commonly used for interviews, and the ACS legacy files,
showed that approximately 60 interviews were conducted between 2007 and
2016 as it related to the case's main subjects and associates, and not hundreds as previously stated.
Therefore, the statement should be modified in the closing EC to
state that the FBI conducted approximately 60 interviews between 2007 to
2016 relating to the main subjects in addition to known associates (voluntarily and via Grand Jury).
♦♦
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