In a court filing, the FBI revealed the name of an official at the Saudi embassy long-suspected to have directed support to two 9/11 hijackers. The release of the official’s name was a mistake, reports Michael Isikoff, a “flabbergasting” slip-up that belies nearly two decades of efforts by U.S. administrations to conceal the extent of Saudi involvement in America’s worst terror attack.
“This shows there is a complete government cover-up of the Saudi involvement,” said Brett Eagleson, a spokesman for the 9/11 families whose father was killed in the attacks. “It demonstrates there was a hierarchy of command that’s coming from the Saudi Embassy to the Ministry of Islamic Affairs [in Los Angeles] to the hijackers.”
Still, Eagleson acknowledged he was flabbergasted by the bureau’s slip-up in identifying the Saudi Embassy official in a public filing. Although Justice Department lawyers had last September notified lawyers for the 9/11 families of the official’s identity, they had done so under a protective order that forbade the family members from publicly disclosing it.
Now, the bureau itself has named the Saudi official. “This is a giant screwup,” Eagleson said.