FBI releases first declassified 9/11 document after Joe Biden executive order
- The document relates to the investigation of the September 11 attacks on the United States and allegations of Saudi government support for the hijackers
- Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia but Saudi has long said it had no role in the attacks
The partially redacted 16-page document released by the FBI on the 20th anniversary of the attacks detailed contacts between the hijackers and several Saudi officials, but it did not draw a definitive conclusion whether the government in Riyadh was complicit in the attacks, which killed nearly 3,000 people.
Earlier this month, Biden ordered the Department of Justice to review documents from the FBI’s investigation into the attacks for declassification and release.
Relatives of the victims have been pushing for years for more information about what the FBI discovered in its investigation and have contended that the documents would show Saudi Arabian authorities supported the plot.
Fifteen of the 19 hijackers were from Saudi Arabia.
The Kingdom has long said it had no role in the attacks. The Saudi embassy in Washington did not respond to a request for comment sent out of hours late on Saturday.
A US government commission in 2004 found no evidence that Saudi Arabia directly funded al-Qaeda, the group given safe haven by the Taliban in Afghanistan at the time. It left open whether individual Saudi officials might have.
