Editing Phoenix Memo

{{Short description|FBI letter in 2001}}
The '''Phoenix Memo''' is a letter sent to [[Federal Bureau of Investigation|FBI]] headquarters on July 10, 2001, by FBI Special Agent Kenneth Williams, recommending assembling a worldwide listing of civil aviation schools.<ref>{{cite web|title=Phoenix Memo|url=https://www.scribd.com/doc/941768/The-Phoenix-Memo|publisher=scribd.com|accessdate=2 December 2020|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090328213514/http://www.scribd.com/doc/941768/The-Phoenix-Memo|archivedate=28 March 2009|date=28 March 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref> Williams, then stationed in [[Phoenix, Arizona]], was investigating students at some of these schools for possible [[terrorism|terrorist]] links.

==Content==
The memo states that its purpose is to:<ref>{{cite web | title=Special Report: A Review of the FBI's Handling of Intelligence Information Related to the September 11 Attacks, Appendix 2  | website=Office of Inspector General  | url=https://oig.justice.gov/sites/default/files/archive/special/s0606/app2.htm | access-date=March 30, 2025}}</ref>

<blockquote>Advise the Bureau and New York of the possibility of a coordinated effort by [[Osama bin Laden]] to send students to the United States to attend civil aviation universities and colleges. Phoenix has observed an inordinate number of individuals of investigative interest who are attending or who have attended civil aviation universities and colleges in the State of Arizona.</blockquote>

The recommendations outlined by Williams were ignored or put aside because of other concerns. At least one dozen FBI officials, including [[John P. O'Neill]], saw the memo. Still, it was never passed to acting director [[Thomas J. Pickard]], his successor [[Robert Mueller]], or the [[Central Intelligence Agency]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/10/12/fbi-phoenix-memo/|title=FBI's 'Phoenix' memo unmasked|last=Behar|first=Richard|date=22 May 2002|work=Fortune|publisher= [[CNN]] |accessdate=11 September 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125235247/http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2011/10/12/fbi-phoenix-memo/|archivedate=25 November 2011}}</ref> In addition, the memo's existence was not made known to President [[George W. Bush]] and his senior national security staff until May 2002. 

Mueller told the [[United States Congress|U.S. Congress]] in an emotional hearing in May 2002 that the FBI's failure to act on the memo resulted from deficits in its analytical capabilities.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/21/us/traces-of-terror-the-fbi-memo-ashcroft-learned-of-agent-s-alert-just-after-9-11.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm|title=Traces of Terror: The F.B.I. Memo; Ashcroft Learned of Agency's Alert Just After 9/11|last=Johnston|first=David|author2=Don van Natta, Jr.|date=21 May 2002|work=New York Times|accessdate=11 September 2013}}</ref>

== Coleen Rowley (2002) ==
The memo became the subject of another communiqué in June 2002, when FBI Agent [[Coleen Rowley]] took advantage of the federal [[Whistleblower Protection Act]] provisions to inform FBI Director [[Robert Mueller]] that his public statements about lack of "advance knowledge" by the bureau had no basis. In her memo, Rowley wrote about the alleged suppression of the investigation concerning [[Zacarias Moussaoui]].<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Rowley|first=Coleen|authorlink=Coleen Rowley|date=21 May 2002|url=http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html |title=Coleen Rowley's Memo to FBI Director Robert Mueller: An edited version of the agent's 13-page letter|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20020602115353/http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101020603/memo.html|archivedate=2 June 2002}}</ref>

== See also ==
*''[[Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US]]'', August 6, 2001
*[[Capture of Zacarias Moussaoui]], August 16, 2001
*[[Khalid al-Mihdhar]]
*[[Nawaf al-Hazmi]]
*[[Risk aversion]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite magazine|last=Behar|authorlink=Richard Behar|first=Richard|date=2002-05-22|title=FBI's 'Phoenix' Memo Unmasked|magazine=[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]}}
*{{cite book|author=9/11 Commission|authorlink=9/11 Commission Report|year=2004|url=http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/fullreport.pdf|chapter=The System was Blinking Red|title=''9/11 Commission Report: Final Report of the National Commission on Terrorist Attacks Upon the United States''|publisher=[[U.S. Government Printing Office]]|isbn=0-16-072304-3|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160423032225/http://www.gpoaccess.gov/911/pdf/fullreport.pdf|archivedate=2016-04-23}}

{{September 11 attacks}}
{{Presidency of George W. Bush}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:2001 documents]]
[[Category:Classified documents]]
[[Category:Federal Bureau of Investigation]]
[[Category:Memoranda]]
[[Category:September 11 attacks]]

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