For more than 13 years, 28 pages documenting specific indications of foreign government support of the 9/11 hijackers were hidden from the American people.
Declassified on July 15, 2016, the 28 pages revealed a web of interconnections linking Saudi government officials, members of the Saudi royal family, suspected Saudi intelligence operatives and 9/11 hijackers.
Among those revelations:
- Saudi Prince Bandar—the ambassador to the United States—made payments to an avowed supporter of Osama bin Laden who boasted of helping two Flight 77 hijackers in San Diego.
- An unlisted phone number linked closely to Bandar was found in the phone book of al Qaeda associate Abu Zubaydah in Pakistan.
- Zubaydah also had a phone number for a bodyguard at the Saudi embassy in Washington who was under an FBI investigation prompted by his suspicious behavior in approaching U.S. intelligence community personnel.