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UPDATE REGARDING THE DE CLASSIFICATION REVIEW
PURSUANT TO SECTION 2(C) OF EXECUTIVE ORDER 14040
December 30, 2021
Today, in carrying out the di rective in Executive Order 14040 , the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) rele ased over 300 additional declassified documents, totaling over 800 pages,
from the FBI’s investigation of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. With today’s release, the U.S.
Government has now declassified and released more than 400 documents, totaling more than
1,500 pages, in furtherance of the Executive Or der’s directive to maximize transparency
regarding information collected and generated during the inve stigation. The declassification
review remains ongoing, and hundred s of additional pages are expected to be released in 2022.
The President issued Executive Order 14040 on September 3, 2021, directing the
Department of Justice and othe r Departments and Agencies to conduct a declassification review
of certain documents concerning the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Since then,
Departments and Agencies have stood up teams of experts to conduct a ri gorous declassification
review. The declassification review process is re source-intensive and t ime-consuming. As noted
in the Executive Order, the indiscriminate release of classified informatio n could jeopardize the
national security, including the U.S. Government ’s efforts to protect against future acts of
terrorism. At the same time, the Executive Orde r directed Departments and Agencies conducting
this review to ensure that the U.S. Governme nt relies on classifica tion only when narrowly
tailored and necessary. Therefore, each document must be carefully reviewed, often by multiple
federal agencies and sometimes by one or more foreign gov ernment partners.
As the review proceeded, and the number of responsive documents identified increased,
the FBI, and other Departments and Agencies, ha ve continued to add resources to the team
reviewing the documents in accordance with th e process set out in the Executive Order:
As directed in Section 2(a) of the Execu tive Order, on September 11, 2021, FBI released
an electronic communication dated Apr il 4, 2016, from the subf ile investigation
described in chapter V of the 2015 Report of the Congressionally-directed 9/11 Review
Commission to the Director of the FBI. Th is electronic communication had previously
been withheld in full in the associated litigation.
As directed in Section 2(b) of the Executive Order, on November 2, 2021, FBI released over 100 documents totaling over 75 0 pages that were previously withheld as classified
in full or in part in the litigation.
Section 2(c) requires a declassification revi ew of “all interview reports, analytical
documents, documents reporting investigative findi ngs, or other substantive records (including
phone records and banking records, if any) from the FBI’s initial inve stigation of the 9/11
terrorist attacks—known as the Penta gon/Twin Towers Bombings (PENTTBOM)
investigation—that reference the individual subjects of the subfile invest igation and may be
found through search terms, keyword identifier s, and other diligent m eans.” The universe of
documents responsive to Section 2(c) significan tly exceeds those responsive to Section 2(b).
Over the last few months, Departments and Agencies have coordinated diligently to review this
set of documents, applying the standards set out in the Executive Order.
In an effort to ensure that as much inform ation as possible can be disclosed to the public
within the first four months af ter the Executive Order, the FBI, working in close coordination
with other Departments and Ag encies, is today releasing pub licly a tranche of documents
specified in Section 2(c) that is similar in size to the releas e of the documents specified in
Section 2(b) of the Executive Order. FBI anticipates releasing the remaining Section 2(c)
documents by the deadline specified in Secti on 2(d). These remaining Section 2(c) documents
will be part of the additional page s that will be released in 2022.