The FBI has initiated a review of newly declassified material that reportedly shows two Saudi government employees in the United States in late 1998 and mid-1999 filming Washington, D.C., landmarks that later became focal points of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, U.S. officials and media reports said.
The material — described by journalist Catherine Herridge of the Daily Mail as video and related documents — identifies the two men as Mutaib al-Sudairy and Adel Mohammad al-Sadhan and includes footage from June 1999 of them filming the U.S. Capitol, the Washington Monument and the South Lawn of the White House. An FBI official confirmed the bureau is reviewing the report and that Assistant Director Marshall Yates of the Office of Congressional Affairs is leading the effort to examine any related materials.
Former director of the U.S. National Counterintelligence and Security Center Bill Evanina, who reviewed the footage for the reporting, told Herridge the clips were "clearly not a tourist video" and appear to show "visualization of multiple sides of the building, but also the security detail." Evanina, who spent 24 years at the FBI and led 9/11-related work, said naming the officials provides "new investigative leads for the FBI and our investigative services," while cautioning that the material does not yet establish whether the men were acting on behalf of the Saudi government or had other ties.
The reporting also identifies Saudi national Omar al-Bayoumi in footage taken in June 1999. Al-Bayoumi has previously been tied to two of the 9/11 hijackers and has been the subject of multiple U.S. investigations. He has long denied involvement in the attacks. Documents obtained by Herridge and cited in the reporting say al-Sudairy and al-Sadhan arrived in Southern California in December 1998, about 18 months before two of the hijackers first entered the United States via Los Angeles. The records allege the two men later moved to San Diego and that al-Bayoumi helped them obtain driver’s licenses, housing and other support.
A 2021 FBI report and a Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs review previously examined ties between al-Bayoumi and suspected hijackers and raised questions about whether he may have been an intelligence asset. The Senate report referenced links between al-Bayoumi and the two Saudi government employees, including movements between the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles and the King Fahad Mosque in Culver City, where some of the individuals associated with the hijackers are known to have spent time. The 2021 FBI assessment said some documents contradict al-Bayoumi’s earlier statements that his contacts with the hijackers were the result of chance encounters.
The newly declassified materials reported by Herridge add to a long-running body of records and litigation probing possible Saudi links to the Sept. 11 attacks. Victims’ families, congressional investigators and journalists have pressed for fuller disclosure of intelligence files for years. While lawsuits and congressional inquiries have produced some documents and settlements with Saudi entities, U.S. government reviews have not produced a definitive public finding that the Saudi government ordered or directed the attacks.
An FBI official, confirming the bureau was aware of the reporting, said the agency would search for any records related to the new disclosures and review them for investigative value. The official did not say whether the FBI had additional materials beyond those cited by Herridge or whether the bureau has opened a new criminal inquiry based on them.
Al-Bayoumi has been a focus of multiple investigations since 2001. Some U.S. probes have described him as having provided assistance to hijackers after their arrival in the United States; others have not established conclusive evidence that he acted as a formal intelligence operative on behalf of Saudi officials. The reporting that prompted the FBI review says al-Bayoumi co-signed an apartment lease with two of the hijackers in San Diego, and that his interactions with al-Sudairy and al-Sadhan connected them to U.S. locations the hijackers later used.
Officials and investigators have emphasized that the presence of foreign government employees in the United States is not by itself proof of wrongdoing. Evanina told Herridge the material "brings the U.S. closer" to understanding potential Saudi connections to the attacks but that it stops short of establishing whether the men were acting at the behest of Riyadh or had clandestine ties to al-Qaeda.
The FBI’s review follows the slow, iterative release of 9/11-related documents and the continued interest of victims’ families and some lawmakers in declassifying additional records. Any new findings from the FBI review could prompt further congressional inquiries or cooperation with other intelligence agencies, but officials cautioned that review and verification of records is necessary before drawing broader conclusions.
Representatives of the Saudi government did not immediately respond to requests for comment through available public channels. Al-Bayoumi has previously denied culpability in public statements and to investigators.
The Justice Department and FBI have, in past public statements, underscored the complexity of the 9/11 investigations, which have spanned criminal probes, intelligence reviews and civil litigation. The newly reported materials, if authenticated, may offer new documentary leads for investigators but would need corroboration to change prevailing assessments about state involvement in the attacks.
The Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed nearly 3,000 people. U.S. government reviews after the attacks, including the 9/11 Commission report, assigned primary responsibility to al-Qaeda operatives, while inquiries into possible foreign-state links have continued at varying intensity in subsequent years.
The FBI said it will continue to examine available materials and referred additional questions to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and other relevant agencies for any assessment they may make based on the records under review.