TSA Releases Memo On Screening Of 9/11 Hijackers

By J.M. Berger
INTELWIRE.com



Nine of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were selected for additional security screenings before boarding their aircraft, according to a Transportation Safety Administration report obtained by INTELWIRE.

Read the Report

The document, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, was cited in the Final Report of the the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States (also known as the 9-11 Commission).

All five hijackers on American Airlines Flight 77 -- which crashed into the Pentagon -- had been identified and selected for additional screening. Two were selected for having insufficient ID, the other three were identified by a passenger profiling program.

However, the only security measure taken after the hijackers were identified was a positive passenger baggage match (PPBM), which checks baggage inventory against the passenger list -- a useless tactic in the case of September 11 or a "Bojinka" style attack such as the alleged plot intercepted by authorities in London today.

According to the report, three hijackers from American Airlines Flight 11 were selected for additional screening. One -- Ahmad al Haznawai -- was identified on United Flight 93. The checked luggage of these passengers were screened for explosives, again useless for an attack involving knives or in which the explosive material is transported in a carry-on.

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