Usama bin Ladin and the FBI's 1999 List of 'Significant Events'
From the ruins of African embassies to the planning of an Alabama training center, a 1999 report hides a systemic failure to disrupt al-Qaeda before the 2001 attacks
By Desmond Okafor ·
al-Qaeda
Raphael Perl and the First Unreserved Preemptive Strike
Hundreds died in East African embassies while Washington pivoted toward a doctrine of preemption that remained a legislative study for years
By Desmond Okafor ·
Jalaluddin Haqqani and the 1999 Bargain for Usama bin Ladin
Kept under a 'NODIS' restriction, a 1999 cable shows U.S. officials negotiating with a protector of Arab militants while the man who would orchestrate 9/11 remained in place
By Desmond Okafor ·
Bin Ladin outpaced a state that refused to evolve
Intelligence warnings blinked red and a money trail led to California, yet American officials failed to synthesize the signals before the Planes Operation.
By Harlan Pryce ·