FBI Fumbled on Terror Financing, 9/11 Panel Says

[Nambe]

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

The FBI knew about specific suspected al Qaeda fundraisers before the Sept. 11 attacks but failed to tackle the problem, the Sept. 11 Commission said in a staff report released on Saturday.

In a broad critique of the government's surveillance of terrorist financing, the report said "gaps appear to remain in the intelligence community's understanding of the issue." ..

The 9/11 plot cost al Qaeda $400,000 to $500,000, of which about $300,000 was deposited into U.S. bank accounts controlled by the 19 hijackers, the report said.

Al Qaeda funded the hijackers using cash, travelers checks, wire transfers and credit cards in transactions so unremarkable that they largely went unnoticed, it said.

Perceptions that Osama bin Laden personally bankrolled the attacks are incorrect, it said, concluding he had no access to significant personal wealth just before the attacks.

"Rather, al Qaeda relied on diversions from Islamic charities and on well-placed financial facilitators who gathered money from both witting and unwitting donors, primarily in the Gulf region," the report said.

FBI street agents had intelligence about specific suspected fund-raisers before the attacks, but the agency "did not systematically gather and analyze the information its agents developed," the report said. ..

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[gumby]

1. Unlike the Public Schools

the FBI surely needs a bigger budget.

Who ya gonna make sweat?

[DeepModem Mom]

2. If we knew everything that went on at the FBI pre-9/11...

I have a feeling we'd have the answers to a lot of questions.