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FBI Mistakenly Reveals Saudi Diplomat Suspected of 9/11 Link

Bureau lawyers failed to redact the name of a Saudi diplomat thought to have directed assistance toward two of the men who went on to become hijackers.

Lawyers for the Federal Bureau of Investigation inadvertently revealed the identity of a Saudi diplomat suspected of supporting the al Qaeda terrorists who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Yahoo News reports. The disclosure, filed in April but unsealed last week, came as part of documents in a lawsuit brought by families of 9/11 victims who have accused the kingdom of facilitating the attacks. The filing was meant to support the Justice Department’s assertion that the diplomat’s identity would remain clandestine, but in one instance, lawyers failed to redact the official’s name: Mussaed Ahmed al-Jarrah. He is a Saudi emissary who was assigned to its embassy in Washington, D.C. in 1999 and 2000. Some investigators suspected that he instructed two others, a cleric and a government agent, to assist the would-be terrorists in settling in the United States. Jarrah’s whereabouts are unknown. A spokesman for the families told Yahoo: “This shows there is a complete government coverup of the Saudi involvement.” The FBI confirmed it was a mistake. The FBI was reportedly never able to prove that Jarrah knew the men arriving in the U.S. were members of al Qaeda, or that they were planning terrorist attacks.