Phoenix, Part 6

We continue from Part 5 reviewing exhibits for the defense at the Moussaoui trial, many of which were classified papers from the FBI and elsewhere in the US Government that had been declassified for the trial. These exhibits can be found in the court archives for the U.S.D.C. Eastern District of Virginia.

First we consider Defense Exhibit 660, which was a Top Secret briefing presented on August 23, 2001:



It was for the office of the Director of Central Intelligence.



It had some interesting information about Moussaoui and his desires to fly a 747, even though Moussaoui had no corresponding aviation background.



Although this investigation was briefable at the highest levels in Washington, in the field the next day SA Harry Samit was busy sending emails trying to get it moving.

About 10:30 in the morning, SA Samit was sending an email expressing his concerns that members of middle management were not convinced that Moussaoui was in the process of committing a federal crime, nor were they convinced that he was connected to a foreign power.



A little over an hour later, SA Samit was trying to get more convincing evidence of Moussaoui's connection to a foreign power.





The higher-ups, it seems, were not impressed, even though it had been established that Moussaoui had been a recruiter for a Chechen mujahideen group that had ties to Osama bin Laden.



About twenty minutes later, SA Samit was sending another email discussing connections to Osama bin Laden.






Later that afternoon, SA Samit was still trying.



Again, SA Samit was disagreeing with the assessment by higher-ups that there was neither an indication of impending criminal activity nor a connection to a foreign power.



Keep in mind this documentation of what was happening on Friday, August 24th, as we see in Part 7 what was being briefed on Tuesday, August 28th.