9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

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\ \\)'i,' \" \:~ren~~,{nterview of FBI SP~~ialAgeritll\,

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, \:"\ \, \~~~Cial}~~~~:~Ss~es;);Cc~SS Limited to Dieter Snell, Raj D~l------"'"

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\ \ 0;,\ Ll'cati~'\fBl, s~riieg~~i~'~Office

\ \ \\\\ pa\ticlp~~~\- Non-C~~~'i~$~:~; FB I ~~~iS~~'$peCial Agent Rick Kelly

, \ \<~art~iPa~i~i(;ommiSSio~;D,i~ier~e,lI, RajlJe"',

\ \ \\, \ \\', \ has been ;i~~tl!d'BrfQJ: 4.5 y~~~S' He was-working on a drug

, \ ~,~d ~rior to i,,' 9!J
as put~d ,intoc2i!n~r-terrori~ on 9/I'3f? I. He was
, j, unpfficlally assigned to a team under! ":"", ",~(or I year. !was~ub~uentIT t
• \ ~ QffiCially assigned:::,o\~ counter-terrorism.squad iriv.~~~igating Osama Basna.,v,
\ t++=Iand Diah ~fa~et for about 1.5 ye~~. T~~s 's~:~~d was initially}~d b'
\ iLLUand then bY'1 \, I \':" -. -..:',
\ I "~ \\\,1 linitiallym~i'\: ", "':' , 101. He was
\! investigating a lead related to another individual when he.me ''.'' There was a
\f r~o~~~l of people presentat the location where he w~~
l?lJrs.~ing that lead, and as he was
!. a~.ou~ '~Q leave he asked whether anybody had any information possibly related to the 9/11
!\ at~~c~s\ I Iwas in the back of the room, and ,~"silenHY
nodded HYe,~."

/ \ \' \1 \\ then approach~ '\ . ,\ '

! \ con~uctep a very brief interview, so as not to raw attention to-the discussion.
! ~hat he kn~w so~ebody n,!lmedOsam.aLNU wh~ was.~ery ril(ltl a"'n-d"""",-h-o"m
! c:::::Fa~ a gut feehng might have had something to do with the 'a~~acks.· Iso
f provided a\phone number for Osama LNU. \>..
f . t-tJdid SOme)niii~'I'rese determined that the indiVi~~
i talkm ~ was Osama Basfl9/'h Classified Infor~m~at~i~on~~~~~~~~~~~
! I hlso found an FBI document
! describing eXjeinist ~hadi materials that were found in a car registered to Basnan in the
f Virginia a~ea: ecided to do some initial investigation regarding Basnan. '1 I
.! agreed toprovide these two documents to Rick Kelly, who would in tum provide them to

•.... :...'.. Commission staff.

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\\ '-l. ~escribed two specific ~f~SiQI1S when he followed this pr~6~dure and
\~ \. '\'\\ ',I \,~~urately recounted what wasrecorded ...}'he first was the conversation in which
\ \. \.,\.,\ "I:lasnari"~ii:q,ethe comment that he did more than Bayoumi ever did (discussed below).
\. \ '\ \,\ The second \vas a conversation in which Basnan discussed his earlier encounter with the
\ \, :'\,\,:,:\,Fa,I regardi.!lg::'l~~salleged interacti,9~ with the Blind Sheikh~'1 Istated that "~n a scale
\ \ \\ \\ of 1.::-10,he ~~ufd.:,gradd las an 8.5 - he told the truth, but on occasion he may
have\~eld bac~::.~&i~;::."
\\ \'"""~\\:~:::\\ \"\
\ \, \\ \,,\. "1 b~~'d,th~h~asnan was more forthcoming in his conversations with"'--"
\ \ \~ \itnmediately after..90 I, 'b.~t by November 2001 Basnan seemed a bit m r erv
\ \ \1 \\ .... Idid not belieye.,thaf:~~t.h.;;.;er;..B;;..;..;.as,;.;n,;,;.a;.;.;n;...;o;..,;,;r...;Th;;",;;;,;;;a,;.;b.;.e~
....... In
\. \, \.fact both Basnan and Thabe1r-_..,. ..... P""'!'P'"""'!""f~ ...... ....,..P-'t~ __ ~~
\ \. \\ \, asked them abbut--him.

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\. \. tha:, ...
\ \. bee~',I.il:,:",,'''''"\------''''''''''-'''''----''-':

'\ \~ \;:\,,", Istated that a~sn~~1 ' I

For instance, he played
\ '~own\p'is relationship with Omar.al-Bayoumi, stating that he did not know hini very well.
\ Yet thl~ account was refuted'in a ~cent in~rview.. with the 302 is
\. still ber. written u . n late J7ebniary 2000,
\ art \\ \, \, rea ~tl, led Basnan, Bayoumi,
\ N~wa a ~flazmi, and Khalid al-¥idhat~., Accord~ni toL...-JB~youmf Basnan are ati~
\.the\.closest ...of friends. rI,mot,eover ;"has corroborated this account; F,tlrthennore,
1 ': ~tat¥, phone r~v~al "Ipughly}OO call~\betwee~!v4rious ,Ph9hes
subscribed
to by Bayourni and Basnan over '3; one year period (even discounting $oIj1e of the calls in
viewof the rriendship between their wives, the calls'between'jheir c~ils.~:phonesare most
likely: between the two men). \., \., \., \\ \., !i! !;/
., \en discussed how diffia~·lt.it was··f()~~;imand:' i ! /! Ito convince
\.\ ainst. Basnan. .
~l$o d~,~~ssed how difficult it
and t~~t CT agents needed
~-~-~--~~~~~~ru-g-a~~-~~:~~~~h-a-v-e~~~~.e-.-a1fri~~eru~WM~ct~

When ask~~isit the topic of'Basnan's stat~me~ith4ihe did more than

Bayoumi ever did,t~stated that he believed.it.was d)ea~rr(:/rft the context of the
conversation that Basnan was referring to his activlties 1. ye~rs!~go, not anything specific

•
to the 9/11 hi' ackers. tated that because ofthe intef(~st!·: .s sta e
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9/11 Personal Privacy

~!..~-;1 Law Enforcement Sensi ti ve :/ ',:9/11 Law Enforcement Privacy

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also discussed the con~ersation with!
I rltirmly believed that Basnan w~""
s-n-o-t......
\ \\ ....
,\, \,\:-., ~Jerrl~g to any-assistance he have to Haz~Midhar, but rather his activities in
\ \\ \\\... \....
><~tipport'ofMulsim'ea~ses years ago, !

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:, \ Turning to the\~Pic ofHas~t~ al-'At,~~~J ~ema~~e4 that ~e was recently

reviewing an interview report from 10/.,30/0 lof George Harb, his-landlord, and noticed
t~at Harb received a page.on 2/15100 from a telephone number that-turns out to be that of
Omar al-Bayoumi's cell phone, However, in his\~nterview, Harb stated that when he
returned the page, he spoke-with Nawaf al-Hazmi.] round this' significant because it
suggests either that Bayoumi. was helping the. hijackers make housing arrangements other
tha~ Park wood or that the hijackers were at J~~t using Bayoumi's ¢ell phone.during this
peri?d.1 Ifound this fact tQ,be even more significant in view 0/
the fact that,p.hone
records reveal that Bayoumi's phone had also called Harb on 2/91qO and 2/14/00,,1 1
said ~e would provide a copy of t~e Harb interview.report to Rick/Kelly, who agreed to
provide a copy to Commission staff. \" !
, r-lstated
\ cell ph~ing
\ phone should be analyzed ca!efully. H~.bel;:V~d
; ~~ Bre canf. from Bayoumi's phone to1 __ _ _
I: 'h~I:I~
that he was 98%',.sure that the hija~kers werdlikelY using Bayoumi's
the first couple of months of 2000, and'therefore the calls from that
yyas
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land others that might be sigriif 1. a ere were < ca s rom IS pllone to
Anwar Aulaqi on 2/4/00.2/10/00,2/16/00, and 2/18/00 as wel4'l ~oted that there

9/11 Personal Privacy

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\. \ \'" \ ..>...'\~ist,~me?' :;:::'<:-- -,
ffered to provide ..~ printout of the 8ayoumi phone records, as well as a
\ \. \. \.\. CQPYof a spreadsheetthat he made from.those records, to Rick Kelly, who agreed to
\. \. \" \...\... pro~i~e '~,~opy io':Cp#i~~s,sion staff. -;

\ \\ \\ .. \ ' <1.". ... ~Pted ~~~t:~:W~s~upposed to be on aflightfiol1\ Saudi Arabia to New

\. \ \. 'York on ·~ll,O/Or~'.~nd that he"~~, also-supposed to be on a flight from.New York to San
\. \. \, Fra~cisco o#"~/l 1/01,,(but that f1i~~,~as:8~Q,~nd-stopped after the attacks);·1 btated
\ \. \. thatJhis information WijS written up'in:'se.rhi1-7~l7, dated 9/17/01 and authored by
\ \ I \,\. \] ~ajd that the tim:ing,~f this::flisht is suspicious in view of the
\ \ hijackers' conneclion to Attas's apartment "ill.$j Dieg~.~d the fact that his wife
\. \. described him as a'.(riend of'Hazmi and Midhar .'.... ·lat~d,.trat the interview of Attas'
\ \ wife w~s"~one on 9/21101; does h~,mean Attas's girlfr'ic.t!~?l:'«~e',l?rimary investigator
\. \.for Attas i4 ~tate4 . I the·~~nt(jon:fte.am solicited bf
\ 'suggestions for possible interviews in Saudi Arabia a few weeks,.ago:··~ote her an
\ e-mail suggesting Attas and outlining the reasons he needed to be'in.1~rviewed'J I
\ said he would provide a copy of the e-mail to Rick Kelly, who agreedtoprovide a copy
\\ t<\
Commissi\n staff. .

\
\bl" '\, When \a,sked whether there were any other 9/1 1 leads he found interesti~gJ I
I

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at one interesting fact is that Osama Basnan' ~
, \. was in phone and e-mail contact with Ramzi Binalshibh in September 2000.
".st~tl!d.!:h~tt,at the)pparentlY
an American wife.
~et =: the internet, as Bi~alshib~ ~s
tated that Binalshibh has confirmed this fact In
looki~s·for
mterrogations.

\1 }als:··~tale~ that another interesting lead concerned an individual n~·ed

.....
_~~~n~ __ ~~~~~"c9nnections
1 with Basnan and other relevant subject~ ...and had
attended flight training. "H~ Iived in San Diego at the same time as the 9111 "hijackers, and
he also attended the icso.
·fn.an,interview dated I 1/9/01, a flight instructor recounted
how on May 23 of that yead h~d been asking a lot of suspicious questions about
radar coverage during a tour ofa'lQc'ar~"jation facility. ../
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