As the date September 11, 2001, drew closer, intelligence agencies intercepted communications that appeared to point to an imminent terrorist operation. Some of the most alarming messages reportedly emerged just days before the attacks, including one that referred to the following day as “zero hour”, reported Newsweek.
Nearly 3,000 people were killed in the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC on September 11, 2001.
According to accounts of the intelligence activity leading up to 9/11, the National Security Agency (NSA) intercepted its first communications indicating a possible imminent terrorist attack on September 8, 2001.
However, between September 8 and September 11, several intercepted telephone calls and other transmissions were reportedly neither translated into English nor widely disseminated.
Warnings Had Emerged Weeks Earlier
Signals suggesting a possible terrorist operation had reportedly been intercepted even earlier. On August 27, an al-Qaeda member in Madrid was intercepted during a telephone conversation discussing aviation.
One of the statements was initially translated as, “In our lessons we have entered the field of aviation. We’ve even cut the throat of the bird.” The NSA later reportedly concluded that a more accurate translation may have been, “We are even going to cut the eagle’s throat,” which was interpreted as a possible reference to an impending attack on the United States.
‘The Match Begins Tomorrow’ And ‘Zero Hour’
The warnings became even more striking on September 10, when the NSA reportedly intercepted two communications involving monitored individuals with suspected terrorist connections. One message reportedly said, “The match is about to begin,” while another stated, “Tomorrow is zero hour.”
In his book Intelligence Matters, former Senator Bob Graham wrote that an intercepted message from Afghanistan mentioned “the big match” taking place the following day, while another described the next day as “zero hour.”
NSA historian James Bamford also wrote that two messages intercepted from suspected al-Qaeda locations in Afghanistan included the phrases “The match begins tomorrow” and “Tomorrow is zero hour.” However, the messages were reportedly not translated until September 12, a day after the attacks.
A Series Of Earlier Terror Warnings
The intelligence community had already been dealing with numerous warnings of a possible terrorist attack in the months before September 11. Between May and July, the NSA reportedly intercepted at least 33 separate communications suggesting that a terrorist operation could be imminent.
Although the intercepts did not reveal specific details about where or when an attack might take place, or what form it could take, they were reportedly circulated through intelligence channels. The warnings also contributed to heightened security alerts in 2001, particularly around the July 4 period.
According to the Newsweek report, CIA Director George Tenet was said to be increasingly alarmed by intelligence suggesting that an attack could be imminent.
