US Heard 'Tomorrow Is Zero Day' on Eve of Attacks

[Guest franchise632]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. intelligence intercepted two messages the day before the Sept. 11 attacks that indicated an event was planned the following day, but the communications were not translated until Sept. 12, government sources said on Wednesday.

 

 

The sources said the National Security Agency, which eavesdrops on communications worldwide, intercepted the messages saying, "tomorrow is zero day" and "the match begins tomorrow."

 

The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the agency did not translate the messages until Sept. 12 -- the day after hijacked airliners smashed into New York's World Trade Center and the Pentagon ( news - web sites) killing about 3,000 people in a plot believed hatched by Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites)'s al Qaeda network.

 

The intercepted messages gave no details of the time, location or nature of the event that was to take place and it was not clear what language the communications were in.

 

The NSA handles a huge volume of intercepted communications traffic from around the world in many different languages.

 

One U.S. intelligence source said no action could have been taken on the basis of such vague messages.

 

"Sometimes we get the ambient noise and background chatter. You don't know who is talking," the source said.

 

"Is there actionable intelligence in this? Absolutely not. This is not a smoking gun."

 

U.S. intelligence agencies, including the FBI ( news - web sites) and the CIA ( news - web sites), have been strongly criticized by Congress and the media for failing to pick up on a number of warning signs before the attacks.

 

The FBI is undergoing fundamental reforms and President Bush ( news - web sites) has proposed creating a new Homeland Security Department headed by a member of the Cabinet to better coordinate intelligence and formulate responses to any future terrorist attack. "

[Guest DrTom]

I've yet to see anything that was a clear indication that terrorists would attack us from within on 9/11.  This is just more speculation that easily-influenced people can use to try and undermine a very successful administration.  Agencies like the NSA intercept cryptic messages all the time.  I'm sure decoding something in two days, given the volume of things to be processed and the work involved in decoding, is pretty good.

 

Basically, 9/11 was NOT a failure of our intelligence agencies, regardless of what many want you to believe.

[Guest franchise632]

I think it has alot to do with the fact that so many people can't deal with the fact that we are supposedly this superpower and we were able to be take like this and have no knowledge of it, they want to place the blame on something so they can say it was an internal problem and there is no way a country that they may think isnt on our level could get over on us. Its obvious there are flaws in every aspect of our government and security, and some people cant deal with the fact that we got our but kicked once, we need to tighten things up and then kick some ass.

[Guest DrTom]

I'm not trying to say our intelligence community is perfect; there is at least one thing that could have been investigated better prior to 9/11. But it's very easy to look at things after the fact and see their relation to 9/11. It was obviously a lot more difficult to connect cryptic dots before the fact.

 

Despite the changes that we've made and the heightened level of awareness everyone seems to be operating on in post-9/11 America, it's quite possible we could be the victim of another terrorist attack. Intelligence and counter-intelligence aren't foolproof; all we can ask is that the people in those positions do their best to keep us all safe.

[Guest JangoFett4Hire]

Of course, the feds KNEW 9/11 was going to happen, haven't you all seen the 20 dollar bill trick???

[Guest Ripper]

QUE???

 

 

 

anyway...I'm with Tom on this one. Until I see a report of them getting a message saying passenger planes are going to hit the WTC on 9-11, there is nothing they could have done. All of the "disturbing findings" that have come out have been vague. hinesight is always 20-20. The press does have a remarkable ability to predict the past.

[Guest dreamer420]

I've read about the message they received but I really doubt there was anything the u.s. would have been able to do to prevent the place hijackings.

[Guest LesnarLunatic]

It's all a fucking conspiracy! With Mossad, the FBI, the Rockefellers, the Aliens, all to get oil!

 

{/sarcasm}