The Saudi Flights

National air space was closed on September 11. Fearing reprisals against Saudi nationals, the

Saudi government asked for help in getting some of its citizens out of the country. We have not

yet identified who they contacted for help. But we have found that the request came to the

attention of Richard Clarke and that each of the flights we have studied was investigated by the

FBI and dealt with in a professional manner prior to its departure.

No commercial planes, including chartered flights, were permitted to fly into, out of, or within

the United States until September 13, 2001. After the airspace reopened, six chartered flights

with 142 people, mostly Saudi Arabian nationals, departed from the United States between

September 14 and 24. One flight, the so-called Bin Ladin flight, departed the United States on

September 20 with26passengers, most of them relatives of Usama Bin Ladin. We have found

no credible evidence that any chartered flights of Saudi Arabian nationals departed the United

States before the reopening of national airspace.

The Saudi flights were screened by law enforcement officials,primarily the FBI, to ensure that

people on these flights did not pose a threat to national security, and that nobody of interest to

the FBI with regard to the 9/11 investigation was allowed to leave the country. Thirty of the 142

people on these flights were interviewed by the FBI, including 22 of the 26 people (23

passengers and 3 private security guards) on the Bin Ladin flight. Many were asked detailed

questions. None of the passengers stated that they had any recent contact with Usama Bin Ladin

or knew anything about terrorist activity.

The FBI checked a variety of databases for information on the Bin Ladin flight passengers and

searched the aircraft. It is unclear whether the TIPOFF terrorist watchlist was checked. At our

request, the Terrorist Screening Center has rechecked the names of individuals on the flight

manifests of these six Saudi flights against the current TIPOFF watchlist. There are no matches.

The FBI has concluded that nobody was allowed to depart on these six flights who the FBI

wanted to interview in connection with the 9/11 attacks, or who the FBI later concluded had any

involvement in those attacks. To date, we have uncovered no evidence to contradict this

conclusion

https://irp.fas.org/congress/2004_rpt/staff_statement_10.pdf