US aviation officials failed to respond to dozens of warnings of a possible threat to airliners months before the September 11 attacks, according to a previously undisclosed report by the commission probing the assault, The New York Times reported on Thursday. The commission report said federal aviation officials reviewed 52 intelligence reports between April and September 10 that warned about Osama bin Laden or al Qaeda, the newspaper said.
The panel's report took the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to task for failing to take steps that could have deterred the attacks, the newspaper said.
The newspaper cited the report as saying that aviation officials had amassed so much information about the terrorist threat that they held classified briefings in mid-2001 for security officials at 19 of the busiest US airports to warn of the danger posed in particular by bin Laden.
Still, the commission concluded that aviation officials did not direct adequate resources or attention to the problem, the Times said. It quoted the report as saying that the FAA seemed more concerned about airport congestion, delays and safety issues than about security.
After the attacks, the government ordered cockpit doors hardened, took over the screening of passengers and bags at airports and co-ordinated "watch lists" among intelligence agencies.
The commission report concluded that prior to the attacks "aviation officials were 'lulled into a false sense of security,' and 'intelligence that indicated a real and growing threat leading up to 9/11 did not stimulate significant increases in security procedures,'" the Times said.
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