In the two years preceding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, U.S. agencies stopped three terror attempts by followers of Osama bin Laden, including one that involved chemical weapons, CIA Director George Tenet said yesterday while defending the agency’s efforts before a joint congressional panel investigating the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States (see GSN, July 18).

CIA activity “saved lives, perhaps in the thousands,” Tenet said.  “And it prepared the field for the rapid successes in Afghanistan last winter.”

Tenet detailed the “disruption” of a terrorist cell in Jordan “that had plans to use chemical weapons” (see GSN, April 19).

The CIA chief also described an operation to capture bin Laden, known as “The Plan,” which began in 1999.  The agency focused more intensely on bin Laden when it learned that al-Qaeda was pursuing weapons of mass destruction and had hired a physicist to work on nuclear and chemical efforts.

Before Sept. 11, the agency transferred 70 terrorism suspects to friendly governments, resulting in valuable intelligence and averting several terrorist attacks.  Since Sept. 11, 3,000 suspects have been detained worldwide, providing much greater intelligence than what was available before the attacks on the United States, Tenet said (Drogin/Meyer, Los Angeles Times, Oct. 18).

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