(José Niño, Headline USA) Newly declassified FBI and CIA records have cast fresh doubt on the official account of the September 11 attacks, revealing what federal investigators call an “advance team” of Saudi government employees who began aiding hijackers years before the tragedy.
BREAKING: Newly Declassified FBI/CIA Reports Reveal Two Saudi Government Employees “May Have Served As An Advance Team” For 9/11 Hijackers
These records challenge the official 9/11 narrative shifting the timeline back to December 1998, almost three years before al-Qaeda… pic.twitter.com/okSx1QNIi9
— Catherine Herridge (@C__Herridge) September 9, 2025
The FBI and CIA documents, which were obtained by independent journalist Catherine Herridge reveal that two Saudi government employees “may have served as an advance team” for the September 11 hijackers, fundamentally challenging the official timeline by pushing potential Saudi involvement back to December 1998, nearly three years before the attacks that killed almost 3,000 Americans.
The explosive revelations emerged from Operation Encore, the FBI’s secret investigation into Saudi government connections to 9/11. Intelligence reports identify Adel al-Sadhan and Mutaeb al-Sudairy as Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs officials who arrived in Southern California in December 1998, thirteen months before the first hijackers landed in Los Angeles.
William Evanina, former FBI veteran and Director of the National Counterintelligence and Security Center who investigated 9/11, told Herridge in an exclusive interview on her Catherine Herridge Reports platform that the documents and videos make it “pretty clear that they were here for that particular reason.” The critical question remains “at whose behest” they operated, whether “from the Saudi government or were they working for Al-Qaeda directly and just happened to be Saudi employees.”
The most compelling evidence includes video footage from June 1999 showing the Saudi operatives conducting surveillance of Washington D.C. landmarks later identified as potential al-Qaeda targets. The footage captures the White House and U.S. Capitol with what investigators describe as specific intent focusing on “not only the visualization of multiple sides of the building, but also the security detail.” Evanina noted this was “clearly not a tourist video.”
British authorities discovered these videos during a raid on Omar al-Bayoumi’s Birmingham apartment just 10 days after 9/11. Al-Bayoumi, described by Evanina as “the fixer, the facilitator, the leader” of the surveillance cell, wrote letters to Saudi government officials referencing “complete cooperation and advanced coordination” in place.
The declassified records reveal a sophisticated support network involving multiple Saudi officials. Fahad al-Thumairy, connected to the King Fahd Mosque in Los Angeles and identified as a “reputed Islamic fundamentalist,” worked alongside American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who later became a major al-Qaeda leader before being killed in a CIA drone strike. The FBI assessed there was a “50/50” chance al-Awlaki had advance knowledge of 9/11.
Particularly significant is a February 2000 “welcome party” video, which accountability group 9/11 Justice highlighted in an April 27, 2025 press release, for two hijackers in San Diego. The footage shows al-Bayoumi instructing the videographer not to film one side of the room, but when the camera accidentally captures that area, it reveals Muhammad al-Qahtani, identified in court records as a Saudi government religious official. Evanina called this “another direct tie to an actual employee of the Saudi government in the welcoming party for two soon-to-be hijackers.”
The declassified documents indicate that al-Sadhan and al-Sudairy lived at the same San Diego address where hijackers would later stay. Investigators developed evidence showing the hijackers traveled from Arizona to Virginia in April 2001, passing through Oklahoma and Missouri where the same Saudi operatives had been assigned.
Evanina believes these locations served as “check-in spots where they had to check in with trusted people who helped facilitate their arrival.”
A 130-page FBI report concluded that Saudi government officials knowingly provided a support network, stating that their involvement “would logically be supposed to have the knowledge or concurrence of the KSA government.” The report describes a “militant network that was created, funded, directed and supported by the KSA and its affiliated organizations and diplomatic personnel within the U.S.”
These revelations carry significant implications for ongoing litigation by 9/11 families against Saudi Arabia. The documents emerged following President Biden’s executive order directing declassification after families threatened to boycott memorial events without transparency.
Evanina emphasized that the hijackers “did not speak English” and “had never been to the United States before,” making a support network “critically needed” for such a “sophisticated plot.” He called the current moment a “once in a lifetime opportunity” for the FBI, CIA and administration to work with 9/11 families and “deal directly with the Saudi government for access to these individuals.”
The documents were obtained in fall 2001 but never provided to the 9/11 Commission, raising questions about what other evidence remains classified. Saudi Arabia continues to deny any government involvement in the attacks despite mounting circumstantial evidence of official complicity in the deadliest terrorist attack on American soil.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
